Paul & Irene’s Travels

Author: Butty

  • Saturday 24th February

    Leisurely breakfast, checked tyre pressure for puncture which was ok and did some washing. Went to reception and gave them laundry to do. This is a real treat for us campers. The luxury of being able to camp at a lodge. Also the lovely pool of course. Bought a bird and mammals book and sort of tablecloth. Chilled around the pool and then went off to the Nata Bird Sanctuary  and the Pan. No water so very few birds. Saw some flamingos with binocs in the far distance. A few other birds and quite a few Wilderbeest. Back to the lodge and pool which is surprisingly cool. Great. Plus a cold beer of course. Decided to go back to the Bird Sanctuary and the pan for the sunset at about 6.30.  Tried out my new lightweight tripod. Left to get back to the gate for 19.00. Made it. Lots of Wilderbeest about on the way back. Mince and mixture of rice and veg for dinner quickly knocked up by Er. Bottle of red out the fridge. Camp fire. 

    Please any comments on the blog go to the “go go travelling” page and scroll down. emails do not show on the page. 

  • Friday 23rd February

    Left Woodlands about 9.30am. Travelled into Francistown to do a bit of food shopping. This will be our last major shop until we reach Victoria Falls in 12days time! Hit market day, got into a taxi rank of about 100 vehicles! Nothing moved for ages! About to give up shopping when we saw a mall with a Woolworths (Africa’s version of M and S). Parked, shopped in a tiny shop to find Pick and Pay ( supermarket) around the corner! Set off for Nata Lodge. Advice from owner of site was keep to 80kph and watch out for speed traps. Arrived in Nata about 3.15 pm at a balmy 40 degree’s, it’s very hot. Chose site, sat for a few mins and decided to take to the pool. Had a couple of cool off swims, very pleasant. Ate in the restaurant, typical Botswana menu, but OK . Off to bed around 9.30pm

  • Thursday 22nd February

    Getting used to early rises, 6.30 today. Leisurely brekkie, not far to travel today ,just outside Francistown to Woodlands Stopover Lodge. Stopped at Khama reception to make use of  wifi  and finally catch up on blog. iPad now charged. Charging is a real pain. 2 iPhones, iPad,  backup battery pack, camera batteries and really important electric toothbrushes. Three and a half hour  trip to Francistown along the A1. Main road for trucks to Zambia/Zimbabwe. Filled up with diesel at 90p a litre. Done about a 1000 K’s so far. Arrived Woodlands at 1.45. Really nice shady site with good swimming pool and ablutions. Birds and monkeys around. We are 10 k’s off main road and soon in the bush. Hottest day yet at 38 degs. Beanpot and rice for dinner plus Pinotage. Site electric so can finally give everything a good charge. We have weak WiFi so hopefully will download today’s blog. 

  • Wednesday 21st February

    6.45 rise because it’s light and bedtime earlier than usual 

    Lots of birds about the camp in the trees making a real din. After breakfast went out to the reserve and saw a few rhino together with zebra, wilderbeast, giraffes, vultures and more. . Back to reception to make phone call to our domain name provider, missed subscription deadline, couldn’t do online because in different country. Sorted. A couple minor problems with camper so phoned Bushlore. Sorted. iPad out of charge and didn’t have pad to usb cable. Went shopping to Spa in  Serowe for wine glasses,matches,fruit and other bits and pieces. Found shop for cable. Great. Sorted. Back for another trip around reserve and a beer. More rhino around the pan than this morning. Pasta and Kanankop Pinotage for dinner. 37 degs , sunny. 

  • Tuesday 20th February

    Up at 6.30. Breakfast and cold shower. Wash up and tidied. Set off at 8.45 for Botswana border. Huge numbers of trucks. They take about 2 days in queue to cross the border. Cars are quicker but had to try and negotiate our way around them. No official to help. SA side no  problem. Botswana side totally rude officials. Took an hour to get through. Arrived Khama Rhino Sanctuary at 3.30. Hot 37 degs. Chilled ,showered and went off to site “restaurant “ to have dinner. Us and two others eating. Took forever but supped a bottle of red whilst trying to catch up with mails etc. No time for blog. WiFi worse than Coleford. No complaints. This is Africa!  

  • Monday 19th February

    Drove around the reserve, some roads ok but most , challenging off road. Visited a couple of dams and view points. Some imported game around. Lots of bird noise. Couldn’t get hot water. Ribs and salad for dinner. No network signals or WiFi hence no blog. Had an hour of rain. Hot by day but pleasantly cool at night.

  • Sunday 18th February

    Up at 6.30 and left for Midrand to pick up camper. Usual speel  on the use , lots to take in as we haven’t hired this lone before. We always forget something important. On the road at 10.30 heading for 1st night stop at Waterberg Wilderness reserve. Awful off road to campsite. Wilderness sums it up , very peaceful,we the only ones there . Chicken and salad. 1485 m elevation. Warm but coolish at night

  • Saturday 17th February

    Shopping for the trip at Woolworths after breakfast. Light lunch and met Cheryl’s mother. Chilling then off to Gregory’s for BBQ. Trip around his gated housing estate including golf course

  • Friday 16th February

    Second day with C&J in Boksburg. Went for a walk first thing around the estates. Jeff needed to collect his computer and a chair so went on tour with him. Chilled in afternoon. Went to Richard’s in evening for a BBQ and visited his new CBD oil manufacturing facility.

  • Thursday 15th February

    Flight arrived 20 minutes early at Joburg. Very pleasant smooth flight. Dozed a bit.
    Jeff and Cheryl met us at airport and took us back to their lovely new home in Boksburg.
    Spent the day catching up. Dozed a bit pm. Sunny and 30 degs. Great.
    Curry tonight

  • Wednesday 14th February – On our way

    Left Exeter on the 9.10 National Express coach for Heathrow Airport and arrived at 1pm with five and a half hours to kill before our 18.30 flight to Joburg.
    Flight left a little late. Seats 65 A & B on Airbus A380. Chicken breast and Chile red wine for dinner.

  • Our pending trip to Southern Africa

    Leaving UK on the 14th February

    A day by day blog of our road trip from Johannesburg to Vic Falls and back travelling through South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

  • All below up to December 2018

    A year later Covid struck the World and travelling was a No No

    We travelled to Europe only when all was clear

  • Saturday 15th December

    Left Kei at about 9am to go to East London airport, dropped off the car, flight on time and arrived Jo’burg airport at 1.30. Couldn’t check in until 4pm. Put our luggage in storage and went across the road (20 meters) to the Intercontinental Hotel and had lunch on the terrace. 

    Checked-in and went to the lounge to update blog. 

  • Friday14th December

    Took a little drive around Kei, had a cuppa at Yellowwood , a very interesting campsite and coffee house. Walked the beach at Morgan’s Bay and had lunch on the Deck, part of the hotel. Last day with Jeff and Cheryl. Great stay.