We met up with our new travel companions at Grubby's Grotto in Livingstone the night before our tour departed. Good job too, as the message hadn't quite made it to the driver that we were joining them! We also must have a thing for making people leave African Trails as this driver, Drew, was also on his last tour with the company (he's heading to France to be nearer his missus). Drew's mum, Carol, was on this tour too (as a guest). Also joining us were Ian and Helen (circa 30 from England also on year's travel) who would leave us after the Delta in a week's time. Ian and Sean are the same height, both wear glasses, both dark haired with beards, are both management consultants and both like cricket. Weird! Our other passengers are Nat (lovely 19 year old British girl who has just done 6 months work on Mafia Island and is now heading home), Megan (23 year old crazy Brit lady) and Mercedes (originally from Argentina and has been working in Cape Town for last year and now travelling before heading home). We were also to be joined by Jay the following day (34 year old from Canada).
We also had a slightly smaller truck this time, but still the familiar Af-Trails style:
So we settled in with a few beers and our first meal together. Drew's cooking standards are high (we had healthy rice salad and bbq chicken) so after our previous couple of weeks of eating anything we could find that was cheap and in a tin Sean and I were excited about our eating prospects on this trip! The group seemed to gel well and we went to bed excited that we were all going to get along just peachy.
We picked up Jay that morning after some confusion over where she was staying. Ian amused himself by playing a small prank on her by hiding himself in the luggage compartment and thus giving her a small fright when she went to load in her bag. Silly Ian!
We then left Livingstone (and the torrents of clouds from the thundering Vic Falls) behind and headed to the Kazungula ferry which you take to cross the border to Kasane in Botswana. It only takes 10 minutes, but you have to queue for a while to get it because it only can take about 2 trucks at a time.
Our first campsite, Thebes River Lodge, was very posh indeed. We had only a few minutes there before we were to take our first activity - an evening game drive in Chobe National Park.
Chobe can be seen by boat or by jeep. We were advised that we would see more animals by jeep so that's what we took. It turned out to be a great game drive. We saw hippos, a crocodile sunbathing on the river bank, were introduced to the kudu (a large antelope with a neat stripe) and even saw a randy male trying to get his thang on (much to the protest of the lady I might add), giraffe, impala, several fish eagles and lilac breasted rollers (a beautifully colourful bird and the Botswana National Bird), two groups of baboons fighting each other (it was very vicious and we even saw blood get drawn!) and of course - elephants. There are apparently 65,000 in this park! We encountered so many of them as they crossed the road to drink at the river, but our best encounter was when we came across a family of 6 in a mud hole getting muddy. The father and mother were a bit cautious of us since there was a very little baby with them. The father positioned himself behind our jeep and the mother came up to the passenger side, so close that we were literally staring at our reflections in her eye - it was quite scary!
We also witnessed an incredible sunset. The sun here is so red - it's breathtaking.
Here's a collage for you:
Drew continued to delight our tastebuds with a fish dinner on a bed of mash with green beans and a butter sauce - all stacked nicely like in a proper restaurant! He even pulled down his trousers and served in his pants. Now there's service for you.
Tomorrow we start a long drive down to Maun to head into the Okavango Delta so best get some sleep now!
Other things Jennie will Remember:
1) Spielberg Game - where you have to shout "Spielberg" if you see an older gentleman with a full beard
2) Meeting Frank - the name for our truck safe
3) The small snake outside the entrance to the bar at Thebes River Lodge
4) Passing the fields of sunflowers all in uniform rows on our drive down to Chobe:
Here are the photos:
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