We travelled north from Maun to Kasane on the local buses. We got the first one ok at 6.30 am arriving at the one horse (but 3 fuel station) town of Nata by 9.30 am. However teh promised 1 bus an hour never materialised and after one minibus came through full we started to be concerened. We tried hitching - unsuccesfully, but eventually at 1.30 pm a bus arrived that we could get on. It was well over 40 degress in Nata - so it was long hot wait. The road north was as straight as a Roman would build and it was very flat terrain, mainly bush with one section of cultivation. We arrived at the lodge where we camped and had a very welcome shower, then dined at the lodge restaurant which overlooked teh Chobe river and was an oasis of calm and coolness after such a day.
Next morning we were picked up and started a 2 day safari in teh Chobe National park. We started with a 2 hour boat cruise up the river. It was fabulous, so many elephants (there are 60,000!!! in teh park) coming down to wallow in mud and swim. There was also lots of birdlife - african darters and cormorants, egrets and herons. Of course there was no shortage of hippos or crocs either. We then got dropped off and joined our vehicle on shore. As ever it was bumpy, hot and dusty bouncing around in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser. Still we saw plenty of game, highlights being:
Mongooses, Sable Antelope, A pair of mating lions (plus another male lion that hung around hoping he may get a turn!), a short glimpse of a lepoard darting through the bush, carmine bee eaters, lots of fish eagles and Puku antelope which are only now found in Chobe. We camped in teh bush for 2 nights and enjoyed teh company of our fellow travellers - being danish, dutch, belgian and israli. Sitting round a campfire, sipping red wine whilst watching the moon rise is one of those experiences I will take away from Africa and treasure.
We liked the boat cruise so much that we did another on our last day in Kasane, this time a late afternoon one. Several large herds of elphants came down to drink and we spent quite a lot of time looking at teh various birds (I have become a bit of a birder on this trip!). The highlight though was as we were speeding back to teh jetty a group of elephants started to cross the river - a beautiful sight with the sun setting behind.
Our journey back from Kasane to Maun was even more exciting (?!) than going there. We were told that there were 3 buses a day to Nata - where we could change for Maun. We chose the 8am one, knowing that it may be late as this is Africa but as we had seen it leave on Sunday we were confident it would go on a work day. Well, how wrong we were - only one bus had arrived teh day before, so there was only one that could leave - the 6am one an dwe missed it. After some consideration we got a cab to take us to a spot near the border with Zambia wich was meant to be a good hitching place. There were loads of locals, zambians and zimbabwians with the same idea however. When a vehicle stopped to pick someone up it was chaos as peopel competed for teh place. A minibus caused pandimonium and having full backpacks we were at a real disadvantage. However, we got lucky and a car stopped and we managed to get in the back along with a man and his one year old daughter and Rhondas pack balanced on our knees. It was a long, hot journey, with a 100km stretch of potholes and a bit of worry when teh car's engine died a couple of times - but we were delivered to Nata for teh same price as teh bus - a modest 60 pula or 5 pounds. It was interesting talking to teh 2 lads who picked us up - they were on holiday, one from the army the other a tour guide in Kasane. After 1/2 an hour in Nata where we drank several soft drinks to try and cool down we got on a bus and arrived safely in Maun about 5.30pm. We fly to Joberg tomorrow and then after one night get on an overnight train to Port Elizabeth - I love train journeys so am a teeny bit excited about this one. In Port Elizabeth (or P.E. as the locals call it) we plan to rest for a few days (we have been getting up early for safaris and travelling an dit is often too hot to get restful sleep) and hire a car so that we can drive down to cape town. Next post will probably be from P.E.
Murray & Rhonda
