From Chobe National Park (Botswana) to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)

Our visit to the Chobe National Park was rather brief, but absolutely enthralling. After a stopover at the Nata Lodge - part of the same group as the Moremi Crossing - we spent one day/night at the Thebe River Lodge not far from Kasane, from where we were treated to a lengthy sunset wildlife-spotting cruise on the Chobe River. There we saw dozens and dozens of hippos (one of which briefly attempted to attack our boat, which was, fortunately for us, rather too large for him to take on), dozens more elephant herds with several young ones, many buffalo, crocodile, and countless fascinating birds. Chobe is the second largest park in Botswana, and forms part of a mosaic of lakes, islands and floodplains from the Kwando, Linyanti and Chobe River systems. Apparently, due to the high concentration of elephants in this region after it was declared a non-hunting area back in 1932, culls have occasionally been considered but so far always rejected as too controversial.  

The next morning (1 December) we drove from Kasane to the Zimbabwean border and on to Victoria Falls, which I'm sure needs little introduction here, other than to say that, even in this driest of dry seasons, its power and size was as breathtaking as it's possible to get. In fact, we're told, it's usually better to visit in the dry season - possibly a little earlier in the year than we managed - because during the rains it's often impossible actually to see the falls themselves because of the spray which bounces off the water as it thunders down the 108m -high gorge. There are two islands on the crest of the Falls (Boaruka or Cataract Island, and Livingstone Island) that are large enough to divide the curtain of water even at full flood, and from which, particularly during the dry season, numbers of real adrenelin-junkies jump into small flooded craters right at the edge of the Falls and, with their ankles being gripped by local guides, creep forward to look right over the edge! What is particularly brilliant for (more sane) tourists is that, from the Zimbabwean side, it's possible to view virtually the whole width of the falls face-on, at the same level as the top, as close as 60m from where the whole Zambezi River just literally and suddenly drops into the deep narrow chasm in front of you. The older, African name of Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders) is still in official use just across the bridge on the Zambian side, but - perhaps surprisingly, given recent history - the Zimbabweans continue to use the name bestowed upon this truly awesome natural wonder by a certain Dr Livingstone (I presume. Sorry!).

In Victoria Falls, we were lucky enough to be staying at the 5-star Elephant Falls hotel, a rather ugly building, but with very large, comfortable rooms, and set in beautiful grounds with lots of wildlife, and a very large and beautiful swimming pool complex. We learned that our tour company, Nomad, had taken advantage of the massive drop in tourism following the recent troubles in Zimbabwe, to negotiate a really good price for its tours, rather than choose (as many other companies have done) to move their clients into Zambia instead. The deal is conditional upon the hotel continuing to honour the arrangements if and when the tourism industry picks up again. So, speaking for ourselves, we were very happy indeed to spend what turned out to be our last two nights of the trip in such luxury.

As we took our leave of our travel companions for the past 20 days (whose company we had enjoyed so very much, and with whom we had had such fun), a few of us were preparing ourselves for another two days of 'African full-body massage', having booked on an overland transfer truck through Botswana to Johannesburg. As things turned out, however, the truck we were supposed to be travelling on was proving unreliable, and so Nomad - concerned at the possibility of it breaking down hundreds of miles into the desert - instead arranged for us to fly, at their expense, from Vic Falls to Johannesburg, and paid for us to stay for the night on arrival at one of the airport hotels. Quite a result!

So, with that phase of our trip now over, we're looking forward to meeting up again with Janet, a new-found friend in Johannesburg whom we met for the first time in England this summer, whilst she was in Brighton visiting her son, daughter-in-law and new grandson (all friends of Sharne who lives next door to us in The Quad).