WOW!! WOW!! WOW!!
Our big Summer trip this year was a 10 day camping safari in Botswana, Africa. This holiday was a dream come true for me - such magical memories for our family during this spectacular trip of a lifetime. I have been wanting to do a safari for many, many years now and this trip far exceeded my expectations - it was completely and utterly amazing!!
I could try to describe the animals, sunrises, sunsets, waterfalls and new friends that we made but I could never fully explain how it really truly felt to actually BE there - to actually see and soak in these incredible sights ... but I'll do my best here so you too can share in our fabulous memories of beautiful Botswana!!
Firstly, some quick facts ...
Geographically Botswana is flat and up to 70% is covered by the Kalahari Desert. Botswana is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point. The Chobe River lies to the north, providing a boundary between Botswana and Namibia. The official language of Botswana is English although Setswana is widely spoken across the country. Ok – that’s enough of that … here’s a little bit about our trip …
Our safari guide was Anthony and his apprentice, Joe joined us too. Both really fabulous guys. Anthony is a very smart, knowledgeable guy and is absolutely passionate about his country - he was a sensational guide who we are lucky enough to now call our friend. Anthony and Joe were with us for our entire trip and they cooked all our delicious meals and even better - they did the dishes too ;-) The truck Anthony had been given to use to navigate the deep sandy roads was a 20 year old Toyota Hilux and we bounced around in the back while pulling a trailer that held the camping equipment and food. The kids thought the truck was "awesome" ... no seat bets, no windows, no doors - they loved it!! With Anthony's help we saw every animal imaginable....elephants, giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, lions, buffalo, antelopes, impala, warthogs, hyenas, wildebeests, zebras, baboons, and so, so many different varieties of the over 570 species of birds in Botswana ... we saw it all ... no rhinos in Botswana though :( We stayed in 5 different campsites - each day consisted of dawn and dusk game drives with a few hours at the campsite during the day for lunch and relaxation.
The weather was fabulous - cold mornings and evenings but hot days with endless blue sky and sunshine - perfect!! The sunrises were gorgeous and very welcomed but the sunsets were outstanding ... absolutely breathtaking - the colors were mindblowing - so beautiful!! One of our campsites had a waterhole where up to 40 elephants at a time would come to drink and play in the water several times a day - it was amazing. We floated off to sleep to the trumpeting of elephants enjoying the water at the end of a hot day - it was such a wonderful sight to see!
We enjoyed a fabulous boat trip on the Chobe River where we watched elephants swimming across the river and we were chased down by hippos and saw crocodiles up way too close for my liking!! Yikes!! On our last day we left Botswana on the ferry and crossed the Chobe River into Zambia to experience Victoria Falls - WOW!! Victoria Falls are the largest falls in the world located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. What an amazing sight!! We were so sad that our African adventure had come to an end :( We flew out of Livingstone in Zambia, through Johannesburg (where we collected the long lost luggage - yay!!) then home to cold and rainy Munich :(
It was with heavy hearts that we left Botswana ... before this trip we were calling this holiday a "trip of a lifetime" but already we are planning to return to this spectacular country.
