canadian_robin

Your trip from Savuti to North Gate sounds so different from ours. You clearly encountered a lot more water than we did. We only had to make one water crossing on our whole trip between Maun and Kasane, and that was between North Gate and Xakanaxa - none between North Gate and Savuti.

At the crossing between North Gate and Xakanaxa, the water came up to the top of our tires. We had no difficulty crossing thanks to some excellent advice from a fellow camper at Nxai Pan, who had just come from Moremi - he drew us a little (but very detailed) map of the crossing, telling us exactly where to approach and leave the water. Later in the day, we came across a German couple standing beside their vehicle. Crossing at the same spot, but not knowing how to approach it, the water had come over the hood of their 4x4. In their panic, they had taken the crossing too quickly and damaged the cooling system. Only then did we fully appeciate the value of the information we had been given.

It is hard to believe that it had dried up so much by the time we traveled between North Gate and Savuti. Clearly the locals are correct - the water levels can change dramatically from day to day.

Your baboon sounds like a charming fellow - not sure the slingshot would have worked with him.

Weren't the hippos at North Gate great? - such a lovely way to fall asleep - listening to the hippos. The hyena visited us as well. Robin

tockoloshe

Robin
Strange indeed how the tracks must change day by day, also because of how much they get churned up by bigger vehicles - we found it very hard to follow directly on sandy tracks left by wider vehicles than ours, for example. Shows how important it is to get advice from anyone who's just travelled the same route.

Hippos were the soundtrack to much of our stay this time, it's something I wish we could have recorded. We later stayed in a tree house on stilts in what they call the panhandle in Namibia (Ngepi)and the hippos browsed under us all night there too, chomping and grunting away.

On with the report - slow going when real life and work interferes with my reminiscences! I daren’t look at the forum some days because I get too involved in the trip reports and I’m transported to Africa ....

Day 15 North Gate - Xakanaxa (40km, about 1.5 hours)

Short and fairly easy drive to Xakanaxa, some water to cross but by now we were old hands and got through no problem! Got there early and asked if we could stay there instead of South Gate, no problem, they even offered us 2 nights which we took willingly. We thought this was the best campsite, sites were well spaced out, next to the river with views over the grassy plain. Although there were 3 permanent camps not far away we didn’t see much traffic from there, and certainly no traffic jams around game – the area is huge enough with different habitats and tracks to be able to get away from other vehicles.

In fact I was surprised to read this in Torrem’s report on Camp Moremi in August:

“Then towards the end of the drive we saw a leopard. It was a big old male, we followed it as it was walking around marking its territory. The only problem is there were 12 other vehicles also following. This is one of the downsides of this area: Moremi Game Reserve is accessible by road from Maun, so there are many private cars in addition to the ones from the 3 camps here. Right after seeing the leopard we found a big group of lions. Mod said this is a pride of more than 20 including cubs, and it is the only pride they normally have around this area. We saw 11 of them, including 4 small cubs that were suckling, and the 2 big males. There were 8 other cars at this sighting”.

Maybe it’s because we were there a bit later in Sept, but we didn’t see even one other vehicle at any of our ‘big’ sightings (in my mind meaning leopard, lion & cheetah) and didn’t see a group of cars around anything. Maybe we saw the same leopard, especially if it had that territory – it was a funny experience because we’d been sitting a while bemoaning the fact that we hadn’t see much thus far, and I saw a movement in the rear view mirror and there was a leopard stalking towards us. I only got one good (photographic) shot at it as I leapt into action facing backwards sending binoculars and drinks flying!

I was saddened to hear this incident from Torrem too:

“A funny thing happened on the way back to camp: an elephant was browsing in the middle of the main road, blocking it, which created a traffic jam of 8-10 vehicles that were trying to get to the camps before dark. After waiting for a few minutes without the animal moving at all, one of the other Camp Moremi vehicles asked everyone to stand back and then charged!! it was comical to see the elephant running up the road trumpeting with the car chasing behind. After a few seconds, the ellie decided to clear the road and we could all pass”.

We saw some extremely calm and unthreatening elephants round camp, and they wandered up really close so we got some great close-up photos (no 45-50) and I would hate to think they’d been the target of this maniac. They also came right up to the campsite to browse and were wandering around the camp throughout the night.

When we arrived we booked a boat trip from Xakanaxa boat station for the afternoon ($US30 an hour, we had a boat for 12 for just 2, which was more expensive but all they had available) Was great sitting up on the ‘roof’. I think you would have to stay at Xakanaxa, North Gate or at a push Third Bridge to be able to do the boat trip, but it’s definitely worth doing. You forget how much noise you make rattling round in the car until you get onto the peaceful river. Good views of the channels and islands around the lagoon, a chance to see how the other half live as you pass the lodges with rooms looking out onto the lagoon – Camp Moremi, Xakanaxa Lodge and Camp Okuti. We spent some time at what I think is called the heronry, clear and close-up views of yellow-billed storks, marabu storks, white egrets, and cormorants, and also sightings of elephant, hippo, and red lechwe.

Hippos were out at night again, elephants plodding past and hyaena activity round camp, apparently they stole a heavy metal tool box from a campsite in the night. The people at the boat station knew where to find the hyaena den and recovered the booty, saying that the hyaenas were just a bit naughty! I have this vision of the hyaenas sitting in their den round everything they’ve stolen giggling away:
“What’ya got?”
“A shoe – tee hee”
“A shoe? We got tons of shoes – look what I got”
“What is it?”
“Don’t know, but I bet there’ll be trouble when they find it gone hee hee ha ha”


Next up, more Xakanaxa and Third Bridge

canadian_robin

Interesting that Xakanaxa was your favourite campsite, as I remember WildDogs saying the same thing.

Xakanaxa was full when we were there in August and we could not get in - we tried (with the rangers), hoping to give up one of our 3 nights at North Gate in exchange for a night at Xakanaxa, but no luck.

After talking to the rangers, we stopped in to see the campsite. It looked incredibly crowded with more than one group on several sites. I have read one blog from a camper who was there in August who was surprised when a group showed up to their site and announced that they had been assigned to the same site. We also noticed that there was considerable garbage strewn about and there was water from a toilet streaming out of the ladies' ablution block. We weren't quite so disppointed that we hadn't been able to get in. However, it did mean that we couldn't go on the boat trip and that was a disappointment.

We too experienced several cars at a couple of sightings - 9 cars at a lion pride in the Khwai River Valley, for example. Thankfully, this was the exception, not the norm. Most of the time, we would see few other vehicles.

The hyaenas are sly creatures - we had one come into our site at Third Bridge and creep within a couple of metres of us before we saw it - gave us quite a start!
Robin

tockoloshe

Robin,
About Xakanaxa campsite ...
Maybe just a few days between August and Sept make a big difference to how busy it is. We honestly had about 100m between us and the next people, and couldn’t hear anything from their campsites so we almost felt like we were bush camping (could even use our portable shower and no-one could see us). We were up at the end near the boat station. I did notice that people were more crammed together under the trees nearer the ablutions, I wouldn’t have liked those spots at all. And we did notice that they didn’t remove any garbage from the bins for the 3 days we were there – luckily they weren’t overflowing but I can imagine that at busier times or if something goes rummaging into the bins then it could be messy. The ablution blocks were obviously being allowed to run down because the new ones were nearly ready. I can quite see how the number of people there would impact on your enjoyment of the place. But to lie in our tent and see the ellies feeding on the grass in front of us was stunning.

Will try and finish off the Botswana part of this trip ...

Day 16: Xakanaxa-Third Bridge-Mokoro boat station-Xakanaxa 27km 2.0 hours (total 54km)

Headed off to beyond Third Bridge for a mokoro trip, no way of booking it in advance, just hoped that someone would be there. Quite difficult tracks again, very bumpy in places, ruts and some deep sand. We got stuck in the sand AGAIN but before we had time to assess the situation another vehicle came along and they seemed very keen to get their tow rope out so we were out in a jiffy. From Third Bridge to the boat station (16km) there were large areas of open grassland which was very high and so difficult to see what might be lurking there. Saw a lion disappear into the grass from the roadside so that was frustrating. Someone was there at the boat station so we had a relaxing hour-long mokoro trip ($US25) – worth doing, it’s a different perspective from so low in the water. Didn’t see much wildlife, small crocs and birds, but it was good to chat to the ‘driver’ and just relax. Saw one of the mobile campsites, could well have been one of Masson’s, between Fourth Bridge and Third Bridge – actually found it by mistake when we took a wrong turning – in a lovely spot under some trees overlooking a waterhole. We’d have loved a spot like that! Slow drive back to camp – reluctant for our last evening in Moremi to come to an end. Rewarded with another leopard sighting by the side of the road, wouldn’t have noticed him at all if he hadn’t looked up to see who was making all that racket, then he melted away into the bush.

Day 17: Xakanaxa to South gate and exit (43 km), South gate to Kazikiini (28km)

(for tracks4africa map planners – the interactive map makes it look like the road to South Gate is a minor one when in fact it’s a good gravel road)

The road was much better than we anticipated so got to South Gate quickly and easily, didn’t see a creature all the way so decided we couldn’t leave under those circumstances! Decided on a last detour up in the direction of Third Bridge from South Gate, thought we’d go as far as the lagoon on the map. Road was quite difficult, very sandy in places and we wondered about the wisdom of the detour. Saw a lot of the usual suspects – zebra, impala, warthogs, etc until we bumped along and round a corner came face to face with a pride of lions lying right next to the track. We were literally speechless, I couldn’t even take a photo I was so stunned – it was what we’d been waiting to see in all the years we’ve been in Africa! (seen lone males/females before but never a pride). There was a beautiful male with 3 females and 4 cubs of varying ages. We parked up alongside them and they didn’t seem to mind so we stayed for hours watching them – not one other vehicle came along. When you get so near a scene like that you can forget about taking photos and just enjoy the moment – at least I did (I got a good few … hundred … but it was amazing just to watch them). Everyone also says that they just sleep and do nothing else, well it wasn’t exactly an action packed scene, we didn’t see them make a kill or anything, but there was always some little scene playing out: One of the youngsters wanted to nurse but Mum was having none of it, she pushed the little thing away from her roughly and with quite a snarl. One of the females must have been about to come into heat because when she moved the male followed her every move – she wandered off to the waterhole for a drink and he lumbered after her, then lumbered back and dropped under the tree again to recover from the wasted effort. One of the cubs got bored and went round bothering all the others who just wanted to sleep – so he kept getting a slap from his older brothers/cousins(?).

We didn’t want to leave at all but decided we’d better make our way out. The ranger on the gate must have thought I was demented – I was bursting to tell someone about our lions and hoped they’d pass the info on to the next people at the gate.

If we had known that we might have been able to stay longer than our original bookings allowed we’d have planned to have more food & water and would have stayed longer, but without knowing the situation we’d planned for a certain number of days (plus a bit extra) and didn’t have enough supplies to stay – fuel was also running low so we had little choice.

Since we left the park later than planned we thought we’d try and stay somewhere between Moremi and Maun. I’d read about the Community campsite at Kazikiini and had been told it wasn’t really worth a stop, but I’d also read (from their own website) that they had wild dogs in the area so we thought we’d give it a try – still reluctant to leave the area altogether!

South Gate to Kazikiini approx 28 km.

Once out of South Gate it’s an easy wide gravel road to where the road changes to a tar road nearer Maun. In fact I would say that if you’re still a bit unsure about whether you could manage a trip like this, (and don’t let our experiences put you off!), then I would say that the drive from Maun to South Gate is very easy, South Gate to Xakanaxa relatively easy, with a bit of deep sand just on the approach to the campsite, and most tracks around the area are easy if a bit bumpy and uneven at times, but nothing too difficult. So maybe give that a try!

We arrived in time to do a game drive with one of their guides in our own vehicle (40 pula).
Apparently you have to use a guide on their concession in case you accidently cross over onto the hunting part of the concession (!) Could debate I suppose on whether to boycott or not hunting concessions. This community has land bordering on Moremi, on one side of road is hunting area, one side is for photographic safaris. The community can’t survive on either one alone. Hunting brings in a large income which helps the community - this is what they told us anyway. I’m clearly against hunting, and our guide didn’t like to see trophy hunting either, but accepted that it’s a necessity.

The guide took us right back nearly to South Gate and into their concession which is effectively an extension of Moremi. He didn’t have any information about wild dogs, and seemed reluctant to talk about them, even though we’d seen that there was a wild dog research facility in the area. We drove to the river, passing Santawani Lodge, and he found us what we hadn’t seen up to now – 3 cheetahs hunting. What a finale for our stay in the park, a private audience with lions AND cheetah. We watched the cheetah as they woke up and started looking around for a meal – there was a female with 2 adolescent cubs who were more of a hindrance than a help. We did some pretty rough driving since we could go off-road in the concession, at one point getting stuck in quite deep muddy water – our guide didn’t panic though and guided us out without much ado.

Because we spent so much time with the cheetahs the drive back was in the dark – a novelty for us, and we saw hyaena, elephant and porcupines on the way back. The whole drive was a bit longer than we expected, (80km) and we were a bit worried about the fuel level, but it was OK in the end and worth it.

We decided to use their simple rondavel instead of setting up the tent in the dark when we got back – a good move because we had to rush into dinner (good, simple fish’n’chips, we were at the end of our own supplies) so it was nice to fall into a proper bed after we’d eaten. We fell out of bed when we were disturbed by loud rustlings outside, and caught a honey badger rummaging through the bin – now that was a perfect end to the day.

Next morning had an ‘incident’ in the shower, hubby went into one of the showers and backed out at speed as a furry creature leapt out and used his leg as a springboard, giving him quite a scratch. “What was that? A civet? A serval? A mongoose?” I hated to disappoint him: “Er, no it was a squirrel ...” He was most disappointed again not to have an ‘African’ story to tell, first the bees and now the squirrel, not exactly like his charging elephant story!!!

It was very quiet there, I think we were the only people in the rondavels plus one other couple in the camping area. The staff were delightful, couldn’t do enough to help, and were obviously keen to make a go of the place. There are clean open-air showers and toilets, and plenty of hot water. A good stop if you leave the park just too late to get back to Maun. (The lodge, on the same concession, Santawani, is up near South Gate , and is nearer the ‘action’ if you want to pay lodge prices – could be an alternative if you can’t get in at South Gate. Although having said that, it would seem easier to drive up the good road from Kazikiini to South Gate for 28 km than it would be to do the 20 km South Gate to Santawani Lodge on a bumpy sandy track.

Day 18: Made our way back to Maun next day (60km) and decided to try out Sedia Hotel – rooms were fine if a little tired, but they did have a bath – much needed after a few days camping! And a nice terrace & swimming pool area for relaxing, planning our next moves and eating out. Did our scenic flight in the early evening ($270) -worth doing if you don’t get to take a flight over the delta to get to a camp. Visibility wasn’t great, bush fires again, but saw lots of game and large buffalo herds. Very interesting to see the land from above. We used the GPS to track our flight path (with permission from the pilot) so when we got home we could see exactly where we'd flown.

We were tempted to re-supply and head back to Moremi but in the end stuck to our provisional plan to go to Tsodilo Hills so that we could do a bit of walking after being in the car for a few days. We usually like to do a walking safari but couldn’t find anything suitable this time. Also were hoping for more game viewing along the Okavango Panhandle and into Namibia.

Will report on Tsodilo Hills(fascinating, and beautiful spot to camp), Drotsky's, Mahongo National Park & the Namibia part of the trip if anyone's interested, otherwise will get on with planning the next holiday!

canadian_robin

Wow! What great sightings you had in Moremi - we saw lions, but no cheetahs or leopards. Thankfully, we saw both in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

What a difference a month must make - we really were completely put off by Xakanaxa. Our favourite site was Third Bridge, although you can't beat that view from Ihaha.

I'll look forward to reading about the rest of your trip - please do continue. Robin

Treepol

Tockoloshe,

I am enjoying your report very much. Yes, please do continue if you have time.

Cheers,


Pol.

cary999

Great read, keep it coming. Perhaps make a book of it and publish!!!!

regards - tom

sniktawk

I would like to hear what you thought of Mahongo, we drove through earlier this year and were thinking of stopping for a couple of days on our next trip.

Kavey

Just caught up, some great experiences. Looking fwd to reading about Tsodilo...

canadian_robin

Just posted a photo version of our trip! Robin

Leely2

I'm still enjoying this too, catching up when I can. Looking forward to the rest!

lincasanova

please keep it coming! our kids are just back from south africa, and the more i read about all the areas.. the more i want to go SOON.

your trip report is fascinating. no yawns here!

Lillipets

Reading about your and CanadianRobins self drive trips has been wonderful.
I think you guys should lead a bunch of us fodorites on a self drive convoy! You have the experience and can help the rest of us novices.
We might not see as much, but we'd sure have fun!

canadian_robin

Tempting! My husband and I already have our next trip booked - a self-drive through Kenya and Tanzania in August 2009. Can't wait to get back in that roof-top tent! Robin

tockoloshe

More coming soon, I came to the forum to write something about the next bit of the trip then got caught up in Robin's photo report. Luckily she's more of a details person - anyone planning a trip like this should definitely read her report!

Maybe not a good idea to follow us, Lillipets, (even with our newly-learned GPS skills!) we're just enthusiastic amateurs, we muddle through somehow, but if we can do it anyone can.

Also yearning for that tent again, Robin.

canadian_robin

Oooops! Sorry for distracting you. My post is now complete so....no more excuses. Looking forward to more! Robin

tockoloshe

OK will try not to get distracted by the goings on here, and finish my report!

Day 20-21 Maun to Tsodilo 385 km

We were attracted to the Panhandle area by 2 things, the chance to see the Tsodilo rock paintings at Botswana's first world heritage site, and the description of the area in the Bradt travel guide:
“If much of the Okavango Delta is the preserve of the privileged few who can afford to fly-in to exclusive safari camps, then the Panhandle presents more egalitarian options. Here you'll find the raw edge of Botswana's safari industry, camps on the edge of the Delta run by idiosyncratic owners or local communities – without marketing aids or slick glossy brochures. This is the Okavango's safari scene as it was 20 years ago!”

I’m not sure this is still the case, I think it has developed rapidly since this was written, and the slick operators have moved in, but it’s still true that it offers a Delta experience at a more affordable rate.

Easy drive (385 km all on tar roads), more vet gates but only checking incoming vehicles not vehicles heading north. We stopped at a few little villages, surprised at how the traditional villages co-exist with the newer developments, seems to be a lot of investment in the area, supermarkets springing up in the larger villages.

On the way we spotted a broken-down jeep so stopped to see if we could help, it was 4 army guys and they seemed surprised we’d stopped to offer help but we offered our tool kit and they set about trying to fix the problem – nothing was quite right so out came the leatherman, which did actually have the right tool for the job, so they all hunkered round the engine while I gathered firewood for our next camp. In the end they couldn’t fix it, and they said they’d already sent for help so we left them a few litres of water (they’d been there for hours and had resorted to drinking the river water - always travel with water, folks!) They thanked us and said maybe they’d see us in Windhoek for a beer sometime ... we were very pleased to be thought of as locals (Windhoek number plates on car) – I told hubby he should get some of those short tight shorts beloved of the Southern Africans to which he could attach his leatherman – that would really complete the picture (no offence meant!)

The Bradt guide gives clear instructions which track to take to Tsodilo, which has recently been upgraded to a gravel road (instead of sand) and is not at all difficult. There is a roadsign at the tarmac for Tsodilo Hills. You enter a small village at the foothills of the Male Hill and there is a gate on the right – watch out for it because the track is unclear and we drove right past it, but got a good view back to the hills from a couple of km further on! Didn't use the GPS because we thought 'we can't miss it'. They said that the gate is usually closed to keep cattle out, but you can push it open – if you don’t know this it might be a bit off-putting if you arrive to find the gate closed and no-one there. It’s another 3.5 to 4 km to the office depending on which route you take – we found the track signposted ‘trucks’ was easiest – keep going even if it looks like you’re getting no-where, we thought we’d got lost yet again until we suddenly came across a clearing where the office and museum is located. Report to the office and sign in, there’s nothing to pay but they’ll explain how to hire a guide (more about that later). They are not very good at explaining where the campsites are so make sure you have a good map (Tracks4Africa again). You have to camp at designated campsites and there are about 5 sites. A couple are close to the museum/office and close to the ablutions. Unless you really want to be close to the ablutions then the others are much more attractive. The more remote sites, Sedibeng and Malatso, can only be reached by a 4x4 due to deep soft sand – Malatso is a great site and about 5km from the office. Of course we chose this one and almost regretted it, it was getting dark and we had to plough through some deep sand and long grass and the 5km seemed very long indeed. When we found it we were so pleased we’d made the effort, it’s a tiny site, surrounded by trees on 3 sides and the rock face on the other, so I’m not sure what sharing would be like, but we had it to ourselves.
It was quite strange camping beneath the rock face, so different from the open spaces in Moremi and Chobe.

I had read the Laurens van der Post book 'The Lost World of the Kalahari' again before we left and was thrilled to have made it to this mystical place, 'home of very old and very great spirits’ In The Lost World of the Kalahari you can read how the group ignored the advice of their guide, and disturbed the spirits of the hills, by hunting on their way. Once at the hills, cameras kept jamming, tape recorders stopped working, and bees repeatedly attacked the group – and the problems only stopped when they made a written apology to the spirits.

The Bradt Guide gives a word of warning:
“However, after several visits over the years, I am left remembering the captivating feeling of spirituality in the hills far more than simply the images of the paintings, however remarkable. I've known this to disturb some visitors profoundly; they were uneasy to the point of wanting to flee the hills, and couldn't wait to get away – whilst others find the hills entrancing and completely magical. So if you come here, then do so with respect and take some time to stay here – don't just come to tick it off your itinerary and leave”

So mindful not to offend the spirits, we set up camp and a made a huge fire, it somehow seemed more important than usual, maybe because we were so far away from anyone else! We had a lovely peaceful evening, the night was very still and quiet, didn’t even hear any animal rustlings, which actually got a bit eerie!

Next morning we were looking forward to having a San guide who could explain more about legends and stories associated with the hills, but the experience was a bit sad and disappointing.

You can go to the office and they'll assign a guide for you - you pay the guide dirctly. A 2-hour guided tour of the Rhino Trail, with about 13 panels on view, was 40 pula, excellent value, but the guides clearly resented visitors going walking round on their own, and couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t pay the 40 pula (U$6) for a guided tour. We started badly when at the first painting a rather loud visitor shouted to our guide “Where’s the Van der Post panel?” (a particularly famous piece of this rock art) This seemed abrupt even to our ears after the gentle greetings ritual we’d got used to. Our guide shrugged his shoulders and moved on – and this clearly put him in a bad mood and he marched off at a pace to the next painting. He eventually explained that they are worried that the visitors will destroy the paintings and hate to see people wandering around unaccompanied. Yes it’s marvellous to have unrestricted access to a place like this, but you don’t find it in places like Twyfelfontein, in Namibia, and as access gets easier they are going to get more visitors. So our guide was quite taciturn all the way round, and also went very quickly – it was hot and the trail climbed up some steep paths but he wouldn’t slow down! We did think ‘no wonder no-one goes round with a guide!’ So we got no legends and stories from him! He got crosser and crosser every time we passed people without a guide (not that it was busy, we passed 2 other couples and a group of 4). It was, however, very interesting to see the drawings – there are even drawings of penguins and whales, and excavations indicate that people were using coloured pigments here more than 19,000 years ago. When we got to the plateau of the hill after a particularly steep climb we found elephant droppings – the guide said they had been there just a few days previously – why they would climb up there is a mystery (we did find elephants at the top of a high koppie when we did a walk in the Kruger, so we knew they don’t mind a climb). We got back to the office very hot and bothered, we’d have liked to have done the walk a lot slower and stayed longer.

After a break and a walk round the excellent little museum we did a walk of our own around the Cliff trail which was near our campsite, and didn’t see another soul there, and although we felt bad about not hiring a guide we enjoyed it a lot more! We tried to compensate a little by buying (yet more) crafts from their small gift shop when we left.

That evening we enjoyed another peaceful braai, and it was deadly quiet until we heard a cough above us – yikes – we’d never heard a leopard cough ‘live’ before but we’d seen enough wildlife programmes to recognize it! It was probably much further away than it sounded but …. Luckily we’d finished eating so decided to make it an early night, and convinced each other it was because we’d had an energetic day! It was the first time I really didn’t want to leave the tent at night when nature called! Well before first light a strong wind blew up and kept us awake for hours, the tent was flapping around all over the place, so we didn’t get up very early next day, and had a late and leisurely breakfast – enjoyed having the space and privacy.

So all in all, we certainly enjoyed the walk and the exercise after being cooped up in the car, and the rock paintings were worth seeing if you are interested in that kind of thing, but we were a bit disappointed not to learn more from the locals than we could find out for ourselves in a book, and the area is clearly gearing up to mass tourism (overland trucks etc), which is good for the community but some of the ‘magic’ has been lost, I fear. In fact apparently the San believe that their spirits have now abandoned the Hills because of these intrusions (intrusions like us, I suppose), which is very sad.

Day 22 Tsodilo to Drotsky’s Campsite 60km

The drive from Tsodilo to Drotsky’s Campsite was only about 60km, so we took our time and arrived in the afternoon. There are some nice-looking cabins at Drotsky’s, with a lovely restaurant deck on the Okavango. The owners were very welcoming. We stayed in the well-organsied campsite , nice private pitches right on the river (so we got the hippo chorus again – soundtrack to our stay in Botswana) with the best ablutions we’d found so far, more like private bathrooms. We’d intended to do a river trip but the site was so nice we just settled down to an afternoon doing chores like washing clothes, baking bread (I was getting good at my beer bread by now) and watching the abundant birdlife. There was an eagle’s nest above us with a chick in it and we watched the 2 adults bringing back a steady flow of food all afternoon. A great place to stay if you’re heading up to Namibia. They also have a lodge which is reached by boat further downriver – friends of ours stayed there and said it was excellent.

After a comfortable and uneventful night we set off for the Namibian border.

sniktawk

tockoloshe

Thanks for the info on the road conditions from older reports it sounded like a long hard slog.We will now try to make time to visit on our next turn through Northern Namibia.

tockoloshe

sniktawk
The Bradt guide book has clear directions and GPS co-ordinates, but it's the middle of the 3 possible tracks which has been upgraded, and is clearly signposted. I think quite a few 'old hands' are disappointed because it's easy now for the overland trucks and apparantly they speed up and down that track like maniacs, then destroy the peace and quiet once found there. No wonder the spirits have fled.

canadian_robin

I too have read "The "Lost World of the Kalahari" - I kept waiting for you to say that you had been descended upon by bees! Pity the guide ruined the experience for you - the guides are not helping their own cause. Perhaps their reputation is putting visitors off.

Your campsite sounds fantastic. I have only heard a leopard cough once - in Bitterpan Camp in Kgalagadi (South Africa). It's an unmistakable sound and one you don't forget. How exciting!

I'd be interested in the beer bread recipe if you are willing to part with it. Robin