29 November – Maun

Today is al our last evening in Maun (ma oen) where we are on a beautiful camping (Crocodile Camp, safari & spa). It is really nice with our own ablutions.

Since the last time that I wrote, when we still in Kasane, some days have passed. Monday morning we left from Kasane, on the A33 direction Nata a village at about 300 km distance. First we filled our gas cylinder. That goes here what, eeeeeh, unsafe with large bottles in tubes. They do not smoke at least! They did overfill the bottle so of first time that Lisa cooked was interesting. The way to Nata is long, beautiful built with wide open strips where game is present. We saw a elephant and many kudu’s. The purpose was to camp on a camping called Eselbe in Nata. This is a campsite run is by a inspired owner who tries Botswana to the recycle. the campground is small but very nicely set up with a campfire in the middle where we could talk with our fellow guests. Amongst those a couple of Southafricans were present who wanted to flee their country because everything was terrible now the government want to give land back. We have listened very carefully and they are right in some points. Jacob Zuma has made an incredible mess with huge corruption and nepotism.

The next day we left early for Maun over the A3. This road runs through a number of national parks with huge salt plains. We saw again elephants and lots of other wildlife along the side of the road. According to the South Africans, who wanted to emigrate to Botswana, this road was the worst they had ever seen, but we found that they were exaggerating. Ah, a few potholes (pretty much) but Mozambique was worse. Maun is a great place with lots of facilities (shops) and we have taken our chances at Nando’s. Delicious just! After that we went to the campsite and we have been there since Tuesday evening. As mentioned, this campground is really good. Wednesday we held a rest day where made the fridge suitable for 220v and that now works perfectly. We have also been so clever to set up both tents so that we have a lot of shade but that this fridge is now just working is fantastic (beer!).

Tonight there were very heavy thunderstorms.

Today we made a boat trip to the Okavango Delta and we impressed us. How beautiful it was. The Okavango starts in Angola and ends here, in the middle of Botswana. The river simply disappears because the evaporation is too large. That results in a wonderful area with many small and shallow creeks and lakes filled with beautiful water lilies, flowers and birds. From the campsite we first went about 50 km NW with a speedboat and that alone was an experience. Like you’re in a video game! We saw a crocodile, but also many many birds.  After 50 km we stepped over into a much smaller boat in the form of a hollowed out tree trunk (Mokoro) powered with hand force (a long stick). Here we went, along with a guide, into the swamps and creeks. We saw an elephant at a few meters distance and many birds and flowers. Especially the silence was overwhelming, just no sound whatsoever to be heard other than the wind and birds. We walked another hour over an island and ate some food and drinks after which we got back to the boarding place for the speed boat. This started it energetically but after half an hour the boat stopped, so we were floating on that river between the crocodiles and other animals. It was very hot! Luckily I had my phone with me and we could call for help but in the meantime the guide paddled in the direction of the camp site, something like 10 km away. That help never came, and eventually the guide got gasoline (after two hours) after which we were 10 minutes later at the campsite.

Tomorrow we head towards the NW. I have emailed a campsite if there is a place for us and will hear this tonight.