Chobe - Botswana & Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe

Chobe National Park runs along the Chobe river separating Botswana from Zambia and Namibia, stretching inland into the Chobe Forest reserve. The park is renowned for it's large herds of Elephant as they move to and from the reserve to the river. It's a very nice park which once you get away from the majority of traffic along the river is quiet and wild.

The park has just the one public campsite situated at a lovely spot on the river called Ihaha. The old campsite at Serondela had to be closed, officially because of the damage to the environment and the threat from Elephants, unofficially because of the threat from Namibians and Zambians who would canoe across in the night and rob the campers. 

We arrived at Ihaha around 4pm and found it was almost empty and nicely laid out with 10 sites spread along the river bank, each out of sight of the others. We had been allocated site number one which is the furthest from the ablutions but the nicest as we had no one camped close by. After setting up the tents Ruth, J and I went for showers leaving Sue to start dinner. Whilst we were away she enjoyed a lovely sunset with a G&T then had a visit from a couple of Buffalo and a Warthog who wandered into camp looking for food, an auspicious start.

I was still feeling pretty crook so unfortunately could not enjoy either the sunset nor the dinner and went to bed early. The next day by common consent we stayed in camp (as it was I could not stray far from the loo) but fortunately Ihaha is a great place to chill out with lovely views across the river to Namibia so the others welcomed the chance to relax for a while.

That morning the warthog came around again clearly expecting some titbits, he was a large male whom we christened Billy (no mates) as he was always on his own.

That evening once again Ruth, J and I went for showers whilst Sue started dinner. I finished first and left Ruth & J to finish up  to walk back to our camp on their own, normally I would have waited to escort them back but it was still light and I was feeling a bit guilty leaving Sue on her own yet again. However, sods law on the way I was waylaid by a couple on another site who started  to chat about Rupert and our trip. 

Thus Ruth & J arrived back at camp expecting me to be there but when I hadn't turned up and it was getting dark they started out again to look for me. Not long after they left the safety of the camp a herd of 12 Buffalo came galloping down to the river next to our camp requiring Sue to jump in the tent.

I had finished gabbing and was walking back to camp on a different path arriving back just after the Buffalo had left so I was oblivious to all the commotion that had gone on in my absence. After a tongue lashing from Sue about taking so long to come back we now started to become concerned for Ruth and Swainey as it was almost dark.  The night was starting to look like a scene from Marx brothers farce.

I was just about to go out once again to look for Ruth and J when to our relief we saw two familiar shapes approaching through the gloom. It turned out Ruth and Swainey had also encountered a couple of the Buffalo on the path and had dived into nearby campsite for sanctuary. They were surprised when the people  there asked if they were looking for their Uncle, it was the same camp I had stopped at just a bit earlier. 

After all the excitement we should now have been able to enjoy a  nice night around the camp fire but unfortunately I was feeling even worse so went off to bed early leaving the others sitting round the fire. According to Sue Ruth and Swainey were very nervous about staying up with just Sue not just because of the animals but also because of the Namibian robbers coming across the river.

It hadn't helped that that afternoon we had seen two Namibian fishermen out on the river in their mokoros and I couldn't resist winding Ruth & J up by saying they were casing our camp before it got dark.

Clearly Ruth & J didn't want to sit up nor did they want to leave Sue on her own. Sue realised this and played her part by saying she wanted to stay up to take in the night noises and was painfully dragging out her drink!. To Ruth's credit even though she was very nervous she insisted on staying up until Sue was ready to go to bed so eventually Sue relented and everyone was quite early to bed that night.

Next day we left the Chobe to go onto Kasane, it was a shame I wasn't at my best as we had missed out on a couple of game drives but at least we still had most of the day in the park before we were due to exit and Kasane was not far away. Before we left Billy came calling one last time to say his goodbye, we would miss him and hoped he wouldn't come to any harm as he is clearly quite used to humans.

The drive out of the park along the Chobe river is lovely especially in the early morning and late afternoons when the light on the river is quite stunning. As we drove along we came across quite a number of water Monitor Lizards along the  river shore. These are big reptiles which can grow to over 6ft, they mainly live and hunt along the river banks where they will raid Crocodile nests and take other small mammals and birds.

A bit further on we came across the unusual sight of a dead Elephant in the river. He didn't look as if he had been dead that long as the Vultures were still on him and although the flesh had gone from the head quite a bit remained on the carcass.

It is always sad to find dead animals but especially more so when it's as majestic as an Elephant. More usually you find young ones which may have got separated from the herd but this one was clearly an adult. It was hard to say what had killed it but we noticed the tusks had been sawn off near the base so it could have been poached, although that was unlikely within the park. More likely the park rangers had discovered him and had taken the tusks to prevent the Ivory being disposed of illegally.

On the way out Sue and I were keen to stop by Serondela to see where we used to camp in the 80's. Nowadays the campsite is used only as picnic stop so it is pretty over grown and was deserted when we got there. The loo's are broken down but still useable so Sue and Ruth went for a visit while Sway and I took a look around. 

Serondela is much higher than Ihaha so you look down on the river and as I looked I suddenly saw an enormous Crocodile swimming close to the bank. From the size of its head and what I could see of the body it must have been getting on for at least 20 feet and was one of the biggest I've ever seen. Unfortunately by the time Swainey came over it had gone and I only managed to get one photo off before it disappeared. One thing though you wouldn't want to swim or fall in the Chobe with these monsters about.

Kasane is a small town just outside of the national park which serves as the tourist gateway to the border crossings at Kazenguela to both Zambia and Zimbabwe. In the 80s there was less than a handful of lodges here but now there are quite a number of them, all very up market and plush. From these lodges well heeled tourists combine visits to Botswana and to Victoria Falls either on the Zambian side at Livingstone or on the Zimbabwean side at Victoria Falls town itself.

Originally we had planned to camp at one of the lodges but by now Ruth and J had been camping for a week and Sue and I for about two so when the swish Chobe Safari Lodge said they could let us have a family chalet with two bedrooms and a sitting room for the equivalent of £30 per night we jumped at it. 

Breakfast at the Safari Lodge is excellent so next morning we took advantage of the full monty with fresh fruit, cooked breakfast the works. We tried eating out on the terrace overlooking the river but once again the Vervet Monkeys were hanging around looking for what they could pinch so one of us had to stand guard over the table at all times but it was fun watching how they still managed to nick stuff off the other less vigilant tourists.

Ruth and J were very keen to see Vic Falls before they left so we were looking to arrange a day visit if we could. I was very wary of driving across to Zimbabwe, especially as we heard that fuel was in short supply and the Zim customs where charging self drive tourists duty on their fuel brought in!  Also we didn't want to drive Rupert out of Botswana for just one day as that would have meant getting the Carnet stamped out and in again. Our gut feeling was to go to Livingstone but the views of the falls are better on the Zimbabwe side so if we could arrange an easy way in and out to Zim then we decided we would go for that.

The safari lodge could organise a day trip but it was very expensive so after breakfast we went into town to try and see if we could get anything cheaper. The local travel agent wanted  over $US500 each for just a day trip but then we remembered that on one of our fly in holidays to Botswana in the 90's we had stayed at a concession on the Selinda spillway at a couple of excellent permanent tented camps there, called Selinda and Ziblijane.

As part of that trip we did a three day walk in the bush between the permanent camps, staying each night in temporary 'fly camps' set up especially for us in the bush. Our excellent guide then was an ex South African ranger called Grant and his wife Sharon who organised the fly camps which Grant, ourselves and Letota a bushman tracker walked to each day. Over the 3 days we got to know each other quite well and Grant has now moved up to be a director of the safari company based in Kasane  whilst Sharon has moved onto managing a new lodge outside Kasane called Kubu.

Although it had been some years since we had seen either of them we thought we would go over to say hello, see what the lodge was like and see if they could recommend someone to take us to the Falls. Grant wasn't there but we met Sharon and she told us they used a very good local guy called 'Mr Brown' who for 250 Pula (~£25) each would drive us for the day to see the Falls either in Zambia or Zimbabwe and bring us back to Kasane. We would still have to pay for our Zambian or Zimbabwean visas and the USD 20 entrance to the falls but this sounded by far our best option especially as Sharon very kindly waived their 50 Pula per person booking fee so we ended up with a mates rate!

She duly arranged for Mr Brown to pick us up at Kubu at 8.30 the next morning so now that was sorted, all that remained was to do a bit of shopping then head back to the Chobe Safari Lodge to enjoy a Sundown cruise on the river. All the lodges in the area do morning and afternoon cruises along the Chobe river and each afternoon at around 3pm a motley assortment of craft takes to the water to see the game on the riverbank and hopefully to enjoy a nice sunset.  The average cost is around £10 per person for a 3 hour cruise which is great value, but of course what the lodges are banking on is the punters will buy loads of booze whilst on board to boost the takings. However we weren't having any of that as we filled a cool bag with Gin & Tonics, Gin Riokeys, Beer, Hunters Cider and assorted nibbles.

By the time we got to the boat the lower deck, with all the seating, was full so we  went up on the top deck where you can only stand and where there is no shade, but no worries it was a lovely afternoon and the views are better from up there anyway.

To avoid hassle with the boat guys about bringing on our own booze we had filled lemonade bottles with G&T's and Gin Riokeys so they looked like soft drinks and had plastic cups to surreptitiously pour the beer and cider in.

No sooner had we left the dock than the bar opened both theirs and our's. Sue, Ruth and I started on the Riokeys and Swainey decided to help himself to a beer. We were looking at the scenery so didn't take much notice until one of the boat guys came upstairs and we then realised to our horror that Swainey had forgotten to be discreet and was swigging his beer straight from the can - the shout went up....Oh Swainey!

Too late the boat guy spots the errant beer can and soon after a head honcho appears to tell us we must pay an extra 40 Pula each if we want to drink our own booze - it took all my powers from kissing the blarney stone to talk him out of it but once again we had been Swainied!   

We saw quite a bit of game along the river bank and it was a lovely afternoon and sunset, the only reservation was the sheer volume of boats which now congregate at the spots on the bank where the game is trying to drink and relax - these days it's a bit too much of a circus for our liking but still we came away suitably relaxed!

Before departing on the cruise we had stopped by at reception to warn them we would be staying another night as we couldn't get to Vic Falls till the following day. When we had booked in the receptionist had told us the chalet was available for three nights so we thought it was understood we would book in for two but they would hold it for us if we needed the third night. Now we received the bombshell that the chalet had been booked out for the third night and we would have to vacate before we left for Vic Falls in the morning!

The receptionist we had booked in with was not on duty and all they would say was he must have made a mistake and had failed to pencil us in for a third night and they had now let the chalet go. All they could offer was to let us have two separate rooms at £60 per room, this was quite a hike from the £30 we had agreed for the chalet but as we were about to go out on the cruise we had no time to debate the issue and would have to try and sort it out when we returned.

On the boat we agreed I would handle the negotiations as we didn't want to end up in a free for all, I knew from experience in Africa that this would only make the hotel staff dig their heels in more! The only problem was whilst I was still fairly sober I now had  two sozzled scousers and a belligerent Glaswegian in tow so all agreements went out of the window as soon as the discussion got underway!

Picture if you will we are at the height of the debate, the duty manager is standing behind the counter which is quite a bit higher than us and I'm trying to convince her we should be allowed to stay in the chalet or be given the alternative rooms for the same price.

Just as I sensed I might be getting somewhere Ruth who is shall we say petite pipes up in her Scouse accent from almost under the counter that "it wasn't fair to expect us to pack up at short notice and demanded the lodge do something about it!"  If the situation hadn't been so serious it would have been really funny as the receptionist had to almost lean over the counter to see where this demand had emanated from, for a second a picture of the pigs in space routine they used to do on the Muppet show flashed across my mind!

I could see the duty managers back was now up and we weren't going to get anywhere that night. The hotel manager and deputy manager had left for the day and she was unwilling or unable to do anything without higher authority so there was nothing for it but to wait and hope we could get it sorted in the morning before we left for the Falls.

Bright and early I went to reception on my own and managed to collar the deputy manager. Very politely I explained our situation and asked if the lodge could help us, knowing it's in the African psyche to try and help someone in distress, she listened very attentively then without saying a word she went to check out some details then came back, apologised for the mix up and said she would let us have the two superior rooms for the same price as the family chalet - happy days now had two much better rooms facing the river and even better all we need do was quickly pack up our stuff and the lodge would move it while we were at the Falls, now that's customer service.

Prompt at 8.30 Mr Brown turned up at Kubu lodge in his little white mini bus. We were his only clients which was great as we could suit ourselves. He does this trip almost daily so he knows nearly all the border guards and police at the roadblocks so it was much easier than us driving ourselves. I also welcomed a day off from driving and sat up front with him where we chatted  all the way about Botswana, situation in Zimbabwe, football, politics and even religion, all we needed was a pint and a barmaid!

The British pay the highest amount of all nationalities for their visa's into Zimbabwe, even more than Americans. A Dutch guy at the next counter paid just $30 but we had to pay $65 each!  When I asked why the big difference the immigration officer just shrugged and said the price reflected what the UK charges Zimbabweans to enter the UK, once again the long arm of Tony Blair and co somehow buggered us.

The drive from the border to the falls goes through some rich game areas and you have a good chance of encountering Ele's crossing the road but today it was quiet and all we saw was the odd dropping. We were concerned that the social and political situation in Zim was having an adverse effect on the wildlife with an increase in poaching.

It had been 20 years since Sue and I had last visited Vic Falls, then the whole area was just coming out of a 10 year drought period so the water levels were fairly low. Now with all the good rains the Falls were looking really full and very spectacular, the only problem was it was hard to get decent photo's through the constant spray that the Falls throw up plus the rain forest on the edge of the gorge was now much thicker and darker.

In the 80s you could visit the falls for very little, now the cost is a hefty US$20 per person so we wanted to spend as long as we needed there. Luckily being Mr Brown's only clients we could more or less please ourselves so we arranged to be picked up about 2pm to go have lunch then paid our $20 and went through the turnstile.  What struck me almost immediately was how few people were around, in the old days the place had always been busy but now there were very few tourists about which was good for us but not for the Zimbabweans.

To see the Falls you walk through the rain forest along their edge breaking off every now and then to look out from a viewpoint on the edge of the gorge. The forest is very lush with an assortment of trees, plants and lichens and hides a multitude of birdlife. The only problem is when the Falls are high as they were now then the spray they generate is like walking through a torrential rain storm. Sue and I had come prepared with rain jackets but poor old Swainey and Ruth had to make do with a snazzy range in green bin bags!

After the falls Mr Brown picked us up and took us to the venerable Vic Falls hotel, Mr Brown had recommended we go to another hotel to eat but we were curious to see how it looked now. In the 80's we had never had the moolah to afford to stay overnight but had eaten there on a number of occasions.  After all the recent problems in Zimbabwe we expected it to be a sad shadow of its former self so we were pleased and surprised to see it was looking well and if anything looked much smarter.

As we walked through the grand entrance once again we were taken by the almost complete lack of tourists, a bevy of waiters in white dinner jackets and white gloves stood around and the Maitre D came over to greet us and ask if we were joining them for 'afternoon tea'?  Although the whole scene seemed somewhat surreal it would be nice to at least eat there if possible so I asked how much was afternoon tea? 

11,695,000 Zim dollars each came the reply which a quick calculation roughly worked out as around £60, a bit steep for a pot of tea and some cucumber sandwiches. I'm sure if we asked again a day later the price would be over 12 Million dollars such is the state of the economy!

We politely declined the afternoon tea but after a bit of negotiation managed to get some toasted sandwiches with a free bowl of chips for about ZIM$ 7,000,000 all in, a snip at around £38! We sat eating on the lovely terrace at the rear gardens with it's view of the Falls, we were the only people eating, in fact apart from a couple of Japanese tourists the place looked deserted which was sad to see given it's history.

By now it was late afternoon and time for us to head back for the border. On the way we stopped at the main curio market, normally we would have told Mr Brown not to bother as Sue and I have seen most of it many times before but as this was all new to Ruth and J and had been mostly in the bush and had not seen much on the road we thought it would be an interesting experience for them.

The market is a maze of narrow alley's between literally hundreds of stalls each selling almost exactly the same wooden Giraffes, Hippos, Ele's, Spears, chess sets, bowls etc as the last one.

Normally you are immediately surrounded by the hawkers and stall holders to come to "their shop" but we had noticed that all around the town and especially here where groups of men with bibs on labelled "Tourist Police". Clearly the government wanted to ensure what few tourists were visiting the country would feel as safe as possible and the word had gone out not to hassle the tourist when they walked around so it was very strange as we entered the market each stall owner stood deferentially while you looked at his stuff - it felt like you were Prince Charles on a walkabout.

However, once we ventured further inside the old habits soon came back and we had guys following us trying to get us to buy at their shop. Apart from one lone American girl we were the only tourists there so it was hard to hide. The American had just arrived but was already looking like she had had enough and was trying as best she could to get out and away.

I enjoy going around the odd market and having a bit of banter with the guys, sometimes you find something different and nice and its always fun to get into a bit of haggling but Sue and I weren't looking to buy as we literally have no space to haul anymore crap around with us so as each guy accosted us I told him we were travelling a long time in the bush and couldn't carry anything more so they then started to hassle Swainey instead.

Pretty soon Swainey was feeling the pinch so started saying he was travelling in the bush also and couldn't carry anything either! Nice one Sway. Even so we saw a very nice Giraffe carving which was different to the all the others so we bought that then Ruth got a few pieces.

On the way round Sue noticed a small carving of a warthog which reminded her of Billy, it turned out to be a fridge magnet without the magnet but Ruth got it anyway! Later on Ruth said she would like the Giraffe carving so she gave us the money for that as well so she and J came away with some nice things, plus it was good to give the guys out there some custom as they are clearly going through lean times and the standard of workmanship is generally really good.

We arrived back at Kubu at about 7.30pm after a very enjoyable day, the total cost per person not including the food and curios etc was around £70 which wasn't bad at all.

Next day we left Kasane to head back to Maun on the tar road via Nata, the journey would take all day but was straightforward so we could relax and enjoy it. As we neared Maun we passed the vast grasslands of the Makgadigadi which stretch onto the Kalahari and were treated to one last beautiful sunset.

It was 7.30pm when we turned into the Sedia Hotel where we had started our journey from two weeks before, we had booked into our old chalet and had meant to have a nice meal out but everyone was pretty knackered so we got in a takeaway and watched a movie with Gin Riokeys all round.

Ruth and J were not flying until the following afternoon but we were all up early as Sue and I were moving back to a chalet at  the Island Safari lodge and we wanted to get that sorted and then chill out before until it was time to go to the airport.

It was a lovely sunny day so we relaxed in front of the chalet with a few last G&Ts before heading off to the airport. Ruth and J had really enjoyed their trip, we just hoped that their brief experience of Botswana would lead to them love Africa as much as we do.