Nathan's Insights

World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas

Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 44 Okavango Delta, Botswana

January 6, 2018

Thursday 04 January 2017. Photos.
Highlights: Mokoro Canoe Ride, Dusk Walking Safari, Bush Camp under the stars

We headed out for the Delta at 8.30 am after loading up our gear truck. The drive to the delta took roughly 1.5 hours with the last 25-30 minutes being rough driving conditions as we past though several local villages. At the delta we offloaded our limited equipment and moved to small canoes. Richard joined my for our mokoro ride with our poler being Brandy who took great care of us. The mokoro ride took about 1.5 hours as we gently moved through the small water laneways. We stopped out one point to get out and view eating and relaxing zebras.

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Africa Travel Co, Botswana, Moroko, Okavango Delta, On The Go Tours
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 42 Chobe National Park, Botswana

January 4, 2018

Tuesday 02 January 2018. Photos.
Highlights: Morning Game Drive – Chobe National Park

Last night I slept very well in our bush camp, maybe it was the fact we didn’t have animals chasing us yesterday unlike the las time I was in Chobe National Park but I suspect it was having a cot bed in my bed 🙂

I was up at 5.15 am a little earlier than planned but when you have to pee you have to pee. The breakfast around the morning fire was very enjoyable, maybe too enjoyable as the morning drive was supposed to start at 6.30 am but we left around 20 minutes late. However our guide went way overtime during this game drive, instead of being back at based by 9.30 am it was actually 11.00 am which made everyone happy.

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Africa Travel Co, Botswana, Chobe National Park, On The Go Tours
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 41 Victoria Falls to Chobe National Park, Botswana

January 3, 2018

Monday 01 January 2018. Photos.
Highlights: Dusk Game Drive – Chobe National Park

Today I formally met the new tour members for the last leg of the trip Victoria Falls to Cape Town, officially this tour started started on 30 December but I missed the group meeting as I was on a night game drive that resulted in seeing a rhino up close :). There are 19 tour members (including me); Alicia, Brett, Marjan, Isabelle, Olivia, Ella, Andrew, Richard, Sarah, Ross, Laura, Rita, Christina, Ann, Jordan, Adam, Alexander and from my previous trip Roz and Arran. The truck is actually smaller so there is only two free seats and I have a seat buddy in Brett from now on. Our tour leader is Onary who now lives in South Africa but was originally from Zimbabwe.

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Africa Travel Co, Botswana, Chobe National Park, On The Go Tours, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 40 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

January 3, 2018

Sunday 31 December 2017. Photos (Victoria Falls & Zimbabwe)
Highlights: Guided tour of Victoria Falls, New Year’s Eve Dancing

Today I went on my final visit to one of the seven natural wonders of the world the great Victoria Falls. This time I was visiting on the Zimbabwe side on foot to compliment the helicopter flight of both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides and the visit at ground level on the Zambia side.

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Africa Travel Co, NYE, On The Go Tours, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 38 Chobe to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

January 3, 2018

Friday 29 December 2017. Photos (Botswana and Zimbabwe)
Highlights: Morning Game Drive (Chobe, Botswana), Sunset Cruise On the Zambezi (Zimbabwe)

The overnight bush camping went well, while a few animals could be heard in the background nothing really came into the camp ground itself. Still hearing lions in the background and only having a thin layer of tent material between us definitely gets the senses working at full stream.

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Africa Travel Co, Botswana, Camping, Chobe National Park, Lions, On The Go Tours, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 39 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

January 3, 2018

Saturday 30 December 2017. Photos (Victoria Falls & Zimbabwe)
Highlights: Helicopter Flight over the Falls, Night Game Drive (Rhino sighting)

Today was the day I fulfilled one of my life ambitions in going on a helicopter ride and I got to do it over the magnificent Victoria Falls!

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Africa Travel Co, On The Go Tours, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 37 Livingstone to Chobe, Botswana

January 1, 2018

Thursday 28 December 2017. Photos
Highlights: Chobe Water Safari, Chobe Dusk Game Drive, Bush Camping

In many ways today was the most dangerous day I’ve spent travelling when in the space of a few minutes I experienced upset elephants undertaking mini charges at our 4WD and having past them saw a lion jump out of the bushes and chase after our vehicle. It’s enough to get your blood pumping fast for sure.

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Africa Travel Co, Botswana, Chobe National Park, Elephants, Lions, Livingstone, On The Go Tours, Zambia
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 36 Lusaka to Livingstone, Zambia

December 31, 2017

Wednesday 27 December 2017. Photos (Victoria Falls).
Highlights: The Amazing Victoria Falls, Sunset over the Zambezi

Today was a morning drive from Lusaka to Livingstone that took roughly 5.5 hours. On arrival we all headed to the activities centre only to find that most of the activities required you to be there earlier in the day. Ideally we should have driven closer to Livingstone the day before. Still for me I was able to book a guided tour of Victoria Falls on the Zambia side with Tara and Yukon joining me and boy was this a great optional activity.

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Africa Travel Co, Livingstone, Lusaka, On The Go Tours, Victoria Falls, Zambia
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 35 Petuake to Lusaka, Zambia

December 30, 2017

Tuesday 26 December 2017. Photos.
Highlights: The long drive

Today was a long drive to position ourselves closer to Livingstone for 27 December. This meant a 12 hour day in the truck covering 600 km. The only real highlight was the number of times we got rain which changed the scenery somewhat and going though a number of local towns as people traded.

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Africa Travel Co, Lusaka, On The Go Tours, Petauke, Zambia
Africa Trip 2017-18: Day 34 South Luangwa to Petauke, Zambia

December 28, 2017

Monday 25 December 2017. Photos
Highlights: Game drive – colourful wild dogs

Christmas Day was finally here. I woke up early with my tent companion Bill still sleeping soundly. This gave me a chance to go to the bar area and long into the wifi and received various Christmas messages from those back home who were almost finished with their Christmas Day being 9 hours ahead of Zambia. This made me miss home and my family in particular my nieces and nephews. I might have to forgo future trips at this time of the year despite the numerous advantages in getting time off from work in December and January.

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Africa Travel Co, On The Go Tours, Petauke, South Luangwa, Zambia