Month: March 2024

  • Tuesday 5th March

    Heading back south today towards Hwange National Park. Had to go and see the “Big Tree” which is a 1200 year old baobab. Went to ATM to get some dollars. Tried three cards before I got anything. Making payments with cards a nightmare. Economy is shot. Goods in supermarkets priced in old worthless currency , have to divide by 17,000 to get price in dollars. Bizarre. Expensive country. Diesel same price as UK , wine twice the price as SA, National park fees for 2 days $100. $230 to enter the country, all going to a corrupt government I suspect. People are charming and intelligent. Such a shame. Drought in all areas and small farmers have no food , maize crops up here non existent. Arrived Robins Camp in Hwange NP at 12.30. Nice camp and lodge area. Had a swim and went for a game drive at 4pm. Saw large herd of buffalo, Zebra and Waterbuck. Hot

  • Monday 4th March

    Earlyish breakfast so we could get to Vic Falls by 8am, all went well taxi picked us up at 7.45. We followed the track which leads you to several view points. It was amazingly big and noisy. We got very wet with the spray from the falls. Very majestic and impressive sight. The walk took us about 2 hours. The falls are very difficult to photograph, the sun not in the greatest position first thing in the morning and of course all the spray. Photos don’t do it justice. We finished with a coke on ice at the cafe by the gate. Our taxi picked us up, we spent an hour or so at the lodge before getting in the vehicle and going for a game drive. We went into Zambezi National Park, saw very little for a while then got into very close quarters with a herd of elephants. We were in before we realised and needed to make a quick retreat. There were some pretty big bull elephants!! Apart from seeing about 50 elephants, we saw zebra, impala, baboon, warthogs. The elephants were by the Zambezi, tearing down bushes, we thought we may be next, so got out of their way. Dinner at the lodge, I had stir fried crocodile, it was really very nice a cross between chicken and fish. Good WiFi at the lodge. Not sure what we are going to get for the next 4 days in Hwange. Whatch this space.

    The Zambezi River Upstream.

  • Sunday 3rd March

    Decamped from Mwandi View and left for Vic Falls. Stopped off in Kasane for diesel and a little shopping. Short drive to the border which went reasonably well but still a lot of people to do the jobs of one. $230.00 in all to enter Zimbabwe. $110 for visas and $120 for some sort of road tax? Generally officials polite and efficient unlike the equivalent in Botswana. Took about 45 mins. Straight road with no traffic to Vic Falls. About hour and a half. Checked into Phezula Lodge at about 1.45. Nice place and a real bed for two nights. Had a nice fish meal in the restaurant. Nice change from steak or chicken. Ordered taxi to take us to the Falls tomorrow at 7.45. Pleasant and efficient staff.

    Mwandi View Deck

  • Saturday 2nd February

    Chobe River sunset boat trip booked for 3.30 this afternoon. Chilled all morning around the pool. No game apart from some Zebra in the distance. Identified a few birds around and a lizard. Left for Kasane at 13.00 for our trip on the Chobe. A good and well informed trip. Lots of birds, elephants, hippo and birds. 3 hours in total. Very mixed companions. Half our age. Just made the gate through the Transit Road which closes at 7pm for registration. Totally crap non sensical system. Arrived back at camp at 20.00, not an easy drive in the dark as game all along the roads. Steak and salad again for dinner. Steak and chicken is generally the only option. No hippo in the camp waterhole this evening. Vic Falls tomorrow.

  • Friday 1st February

    Trip through the Chobe Waterfront of the National Park. . 80 km’s along the Chobe river. 6 hour drive. Never seen so many elephants all along the banks. Also herds of buffalo, impala and Zebra. Giraffe dotted about also. Lots of birds to try and identify large and small. Good day out. Arrived back at camp at 3.30. Dunked in the pool and had a drink. Ate in the lodge. Stuffed mushrooms, salad, steak (of course) with nice veg, choc brownie and ice cream. All very yummie. Best food in Botswana so far. Watched the hippos drinking and dunking again, also about 10 Waterbuck passed through.