Zavadil trip to Namibia Botswana and Zambia May 2010

Africa

Carol and Marc's trip to Namibia, Botswana and Zambia in May 2010

We arrive at the Amani lodge after 20 hours of travel from home via Frankfurt, Joburg and Windhoek, Namibia.

Note the typical wood structure and thick thatch roof common to all the lodges we will visit.

Next day after saying good bye to the friendly wart-hog we drive 330 Km south to

Sesriem on gravel roads (max speed 100Kmh) ... going over passes 2100m high

and magnificent landscapes.

This is the top of the Spreetshoogte pass overlooking the namib desert.

We arrive at Kulala lodge near the world's biggest sand dunes and amidst

many wild animals like Oryx, Sprinbok, Ostrich and incredible scenery.

At sunrise we climb Dune45....

and visit the Dead Vlei at Sosussvlei and the 300m high 'big Daddy dune'

Tea time with Joost and Magreet and family

Preparing Kulala coffee ... (in other places called Irish coffee) note the resemblance of the 'marmite de l'escalade' of Geneva

Trying to film ostriches in the desert ...

After two nights at Kulala we drive 350Km north-east, across the desert,

to WalvisBay and Swakopmund

to a very nice BandB

Fun for the surf-dudes, thanks to Wayne and his Namibian ski-lift of duneseven.com

Probably the only place on earth where you have dunes with a 34 degree slope

which are long enough to sand-board on.

And fabulous scenery from above thanks to a flight arranged with Andy at Bush Bird.

Note the wave, star and parabola shaped dunes, depending on prevailing winds.

After two wonderful nights and excellent dinners (including Oryx schnitzel) in Swakopmund

we drive north along the coast and oops... Luckily two nice south african fishermen

and their 4x4 help get us out of the sand and away from the cold Atlantic.

Good tip from them: let out 50% of the tire pressure when stuck in sand (or before you get stuck), and then find a service station to re-inflate the tires when going back onto paved or gravel roads... or better yet, bring a pump with you.

Now we drive inland on very long and very straight roads and looking back we see the ocean fog far away...

This is what can happen if you get too distracted...

After three hours of crossing the desert this sign says it all : watch out for beasts eg elephant, zebra, giraffe, etc

We are now in Damaraland and arrive at the Doro Nawas lodge

Sleeping 'under the stars' at Doro Nawas ...thanks to a roll-out bed. How cool is that?

We also visit Zwyfelfontein to view the ancient rock engravings of the San bush people...

Then a short 90Km hop to Palmwag where they pick us up for the 36Km

and 3 hour ride to the Desert Rhino Camp .

We see the wild black Rhino the next day after a 4 hour game drive. And the mountain Zebra with the white belly.

Sundowner with our favorite guide Rosy

After two days at Desert Rhino we drive south 330Km to the great Africats Lodge

Incredible sundowner with a GandT overlooking the 30km x 30km game park

after seeing cheetah and leopard

Our lodge

An Oryx is just outside our lodge entrance

After driving back to Windhoek we fly from there to Maun (about 1 hour) and another 30 minutes to Shindi lodge in the Okavango delta (worlds largest inland river delta)... this is the airstrip. Pilots must watch out for elephant, giraffe and baboons.

We see our first lions, crocs and enjoy some more nice sundowners

This is not a boat but the LandRover which can go through 1 meter of water when needed.

Sometimes a dugout cannoe or a Makorro is best suited for the deeper waters of the marsh...

After two nights we fly 10 minutes (via bush pilot) to the very nice Okuti Lodge

and more amazing wildlife...

The african fish eagle.

Yellow-billed Hornbill or the flying banana

The plains zebra ... note the different colored stripes compared to the mountain zebra.

The african buffalo. Definitely do not get close to these beasts.

The leopard, like the lion simply ignores people in their Land-Rovers and goes on hunting or roaming.

After two days we fly north for 60 minutes with a very agile bush pilot

who avoids a crazy ostrich on the 'runway'...

and arrive at the incredible Chobe park area, home of one of the worlds largest wild elephant herds

We see lions, crocs, elephants, hippos and many other animals.

This is a Baobob tree overlooking the Chobe river flood plains. Largest flooding in 26 years.

Lion on the hunt. But giraffes, kudus and baboons have already seen or smelled the predator and let her know it.

During the day hundreds and hundreds of elephants go from the bush to the chobe river for a drink.

Hippos and crocs are everywhere.

We even see a giant lizard 2 meters long and a small chameleon.

Last sundowner at our Muchenje Lodge in Botswana

Next day we start on our incredible journey via Land-rover, boat (to cross the croc

infested Zambesi river) and more Land-rover to reach Vic Falls in Zambia after 2 hours.

And the amazing Stanley lodge

and the even more amazing Vic Falls. Ten million 10 liters per second going over the 1 mile wide ledge.

NB Twice the water flow and twice as high as Niagra Falls.

and the view of the Zambesi river and Vic Falls from our chopper ride.... Zimbabwe is on the left and Zambia on the right side

we even set foot in Zimbabwe on that 100+ year old bridge built by Cecil Rhodes who wanted to link Cape Town to Cairo by rail and bridges

and view from the jacuz side

Our lunch table in the garden.

with the final sundowner before heading home the next day.

..and an unforgettable 'Carol-100 year' celebration:

40th anniversary + 60th birthday.

Great game, great places, great food and very nice people everywhere

Many more pix on Carol's flickr page

Click below to view or download WMV videos approx 10MB to 60MB each (originals are full HD 1080p videos made with Canon 550D and GoPro HD head cam):

WartHog and road from Amani to Kulala

Namibian Ski Lift

Zav-sand-boarding on Dune7

Safari at Shindi and Okuti

Okuti Elephant downs tree

walk the Knife-edge bridge at Vic Falls

Vic Falls and Canyon Helicopter Ride

Click below for more information on the places we visited: