Southern Africa Safari 2017- Days 11, 12 and 13

Southern Africa Safari 2017- Days 11 & 12

Day 11

This was a day off from driving and some important tasks needed to be accomplished, the first being laundry, and Denise said she would do the smalls when we saw the price list for laundry, which was split into wash only, iron only and wash and iron, without quoting prices all we can say is that laundry in hotels and lodges is a good profitable business.

To start the day off we went for a walk up the Chobe River towards the Ngoma Bridge, which took us nearly two hours, then the tasks, I had to tell you we were still in the land of the living in the form of the blog, which takes forever using the Lodges Wi Fi connection not to mention my slow typing speed and the up loading of photos, I vowed to do it daily after a marathon 3 hours by this time Denise had done all the washing, I think I owe her nearly R500 and that was just for underwear and socks and she read half a book, repacked her suitcase and one hundred other things.

We booked a boat cruise on the Chobe, which would take two and a half hours together with a Swiss couple. Other than some Waterbuck, Zebra, Giraffe, Buffalo and Baboons we did not see Elephant, which we thought unusual for this area, although it is some 70kms from Kasane and we only went 14kms down the river. What we did see was an abundance of birdlife, I cannot remember all the names and my bird book went up in flames so I had to rely on the guide, suffice to say it was considerable.

The other highlight of the trip was one free drink and the guide then handed out what he called the Buffet, which was dry salty cracks and that was the sum total of the snacks! As we got to shore he said “you have not eaten the entire buffet” we all managed to keep a straight face, but had a good laugh afterwards.

As we got back to the Lodge the sun was setting what a spectacular sight our Africa sunrises and sunsets are. As we approach the lodge we came across a herd of buffalo, which numbered close to a thousand and the sound of 1000 buffalo munching grass was quite an experience and unbelievable.

Our 5 course dinner consisted ravioli stuffed with butternut and sage, followed by delicious pea soup with small slice of toast with melted cheese, the mains course was roast Springbok, potato cake, carrots and broccoli and if you had room there was lemon meringue pie, not to mention the buffet on the boat, now we needed that walk to Ngoma Bridge.

Day12

Despite the huge meal we slept very well, I find it difficult to describe waking up in the wilds of Africa and hearing all the sounds, it is like an opera, it starts with the early bird giving a twitter almost apologetic asking if anyone else was awake, then another would join in the conversation and slowly the cacophony of sound would grow to a crescendo with the fish eagle giving the cry of Africa, only interrupted by the howl of a hyena, the barks of zebras and the croaks of frogs who were not going to be left out of the chorus, which consisted white egrets, yellow billed storks, pelicans, grey herons, pied and malachite king fishers, starlings, wood hoopoes, purple breasted rollers and  fork tailed drongo’s, all with their own welcome of the new day, but it all seemed to fit in and is pleasant on the ear.

Then there is the African sunrise and despite what my granddaughter Shannon says they are not all the same and they are wonderful to witness.

We leave the Chobe River behind and head for Katima Mulilo and the great Zambezi River where we are staying at the Caprivi River Lodge right on the banks of the Zambezi across which lies Zambia.

The lodge is owned and run by Keith and Mary Rooken Smith who hail from Kenya and Angola, Keith’s mother Heather lives here and we brought a small parcel up for her from her daughter Lindsay who lives in Albertinia in South Africa. Heather has written a book about her life in Kenya, Angola, Namibia and South Africa called Daisy’s Daughter - Our Lives for Africa, well worth a read especially if you have lived in one of these countries over the last 80 odd years or even if you have not had that pleasure it clearly describes the fortitude of Africa’s early settlers their resilience through some harrowing times and their contribution to the development of Africa.

We have two nights here before we go onto Namushasha Lodge near Kongola on the Kwando River also in the Caprivi now known as the Zambezi Province. We have 8 more days in Namibia before we cross back into South Africa.

Our house re-build is well underway and we thank Harry for keeping us informed and representing us at all the Friday site meetings. The house at one end is up to window height and at this rate it will be close to roof height in 16 days time we are in for some exciting times.

Day 13 
We went down the Zambezi by road to Schukmannsburg in the Zambezi flood plains, it is difficult to comprehend that this flood plain when the river is in full flood can be as wide as 70kms. For a long way you have no idea that the river is 200metres from the road or less, we saw some birdlife, but no wildlife at all, we hope to rectify that tomorrow.

Heather Rooken-Smith who is 86 years old shared some of her experiences of publishing her book Daisy's Daughter - Our Lives for Africa, which turns out not to be an easy task, she very kindly signed two books for us and one for Susanne in Eastford Vale who so enjoyed the book I loaned to her.

I have to apologise, I am hoping to load the words, but am having a problem uploading the photos, which I will do tomorrow Day 14