Zambia & Botswana

From Malawi we headed to Zambia and a bit more animal spotting at South Luangwa National Park. We stayed at a lovely campsite on the bank of the river, where we could see hippos and elephants amongst other animals.

Monkeys in the camp at South Luangwa

Walking safari in South Luangwa

A couple of drive days took us to Livingstone and the mighty Victoria Falls. The campsite was very nice, it had not one but two swimming pools! One overlooking the Zambezi River, the other in the gardens. Unfortunately, Zambia is having severe electricity shortages at the moment and power is not supplied for 8 hours every other day. Which means most places run their electricity from their own generators every other day. So the nice peaceful campsite sounded more like the runway at Heathrow every other day.

It is dry season at the moment, so the water levels on the Zambia side was pretty low. But that did mean that people could go to Devils Pool – a natural rock pool on the top of the falls where you can swim right to the very edge of the falls and look over. The rocks form a natural barrier to stop people going over the edge. But the rocks don’t stop cameras from going over the edge….

The water was more impressive from the Zimbabwe side of the falls, so many people took a trip to Zimbabwe. Not only to see the falls, but to enjoy a typical overlanding activity – high tea at a fancy hotel!

Overlanding has gone posh

Bruce & Lee having high tea

There was lots going on at Victoria Falls, helicopters over the falls, walks, Devils Pool, white water rafting, microlight flights. But we still managed to find time for some pool action and water fights. The water pistols we bought were a great investment – hours of fun!

Lenny & Ciara

Lee & Bruce enjoying an iced coffee

Still a way to go!

After three days of enjoying all that Livingstone and Victoria Falls had to offer, we headed to Botswana. We spent a couple of nights at a campsite on the river, a very beautiful and serene spot – until 3am when the hippos started chatting amongst themselves. We took a boat safari along the river, spotting lots more wildlife along the way.

Boat safari in Chobe

Tony & Ciara relaxing on the river safari

Hippo

We then spent a couple of nights at Elephant Sands – a camp & lodge in the plains of Botswana. They have a water hole for the elephants, and as there is such a water shortage across the region at the moment, there were constantly elephants walking around the camp looking for the water. Luckily they also had a TV there, so we were able to watch the World Cup final. A little difficult at times to hear the commentary over the noise of the elephants… But well done New Zealand!

An elephant came into the bar for a drink

We also celebrated Halloween at Elephant Sands. Pumpkins and fancy dress outfits are a bit difficult to find out here, so we improvised. Pumpkin carving became, pumpkin, melon, squash or apple carving. And we all made masks using paper plates. Wilma’s zebra was by far the most creative.

Halloween pumpkin, melon, squash and apple carving

Wilma and her paper plate zebra mask

Lee & Tony having a swimming race... minus the water in the pool

Killian keeping cool in the heat of Botswana

The gang at Elephant Sands

Tony & Killian hiding so the elephants don't see them

We left Elephant Sands to head to Maun, where we had one nights before heading into the Okavango Delta. We took traditional Mokoro boats in, and then set up a bush camp in the middle of the delta. Many people also took a helicopter flight over the delta to appreciate the scale of this beautiful area.

After this, it was time for us to leave Botswana, heading to one final overnight stop in Nata before crossing the border into Zimbabwe.