Photos from South Africa

Day 93 - 97, South Africa

We entered South Africa, aware that the main chunk of our trip was now over. Ahead of us were roughly 1000km to Johannesburg, where we were headed to return our trusty car/home. First stop over the border was the town of Upington, in the Northern Cape province. Here we found a nice and extremely cheap camping site, on the banks of the Orange River. In the evening we headed into town and had a rather fancy meal in a very nice restaurant on one of the main roads. Although the town itself seemed deserted, we nearly crashed into a car whose driver decided to speed through a red light. Our light had just turned green and thankfully we were going slow. It does make you think though, how a fraction of a second can make such a big difference.

After a rather cold night (worse for our hitchhiker friend John who didn't have a mattress and duvet like we did), we drove off to Kimberley. This city was the heart of the diamond industry in its heyday, and it's where De Beers originates from. Although we were on a tight schedule to head back to Joburg, we stopped here for a tour of "The Big Hole". A 450m wide, 200m deep hole, it was dug using picks and shovels by thousands of miners who migrated here in the late 19th century. The museum shows how mining conditions were at the time, as well as a chance to see some of the precious stones inside a tight-security vault. There's also a platform that allows you to see the actual hole from above.

It was in Kimberley that we said bye to John, who was hitchhiking his way down to Lesotho. We instead were heading on the opposite direction and the plan was to drive as far as possible, to anywhere that brought us a bit closer to Joburg. The place ended up being Wolmaransstad, a small nondescript town where we found a comfortable lodge. Here we had some food, re-packed our stuff and cleaned out the car, which, after more than 30 days serving as our home, really needed it.

Thankfully our whole experience driving in Africa had been problem-free, so it was a bit ironic that our only issue happened as we entered Joburg, arguably the biggest city of the continent. A policeman stopped us for what looked like a routine check, as other cars were being stopped too. Kai handed him his German driver's licence, the guy looked at it and claimed that to drive here we needed a temporary licence (whatever that meant). We told him we were sure that we could drive with the one we had. I think he realized that we knew what we were doing, since he then moved on to ask us for something for his lunch. We refused to bribe him so openly, but when he asked for money for a cold drink, we handed him a bottle of Coke and drove off.

Rather than heading straight into the car rental office, we couldn't help ourselves to a last glimpse of the king of the jungle and stopped for a visit to Joburg's famous Lion Park, to see a few last furry animals. Here we had a chance to hang around with lion cubs, petting them and obviously taking advantage of the great photo op. In our many safaris/game drives in three countries we got amazing chances to see lions in the wild. Seeing them in the lion park was clearly not as impressive, but they are still magnificent animals to look at. And getting a chance to play with the cubs is just too cute an opportunity to miss! On top of that we also saw meerkats, which I had been looking out for all over Namibia to no avail, and got a chance to hand-feed a giraffe.

After that is was only 50km or so to the car rental station where we arrived an hour before closing time. Having done around 8500kms across 5 countries in 31 days it felt strange to give the keys to our trusty companion to a stranger, and we left the place with mixed feelings, reflecting once again on the various highlights of the trip and discussing how our last remaining days would be spent.

Photos from Southwestern Namibia

Day 87 - 93, South-Western Namibia

After two days of "city life" it was time to get back into wilder territory, so after returning from the boat trip and playing with the pelicans we turned the car eastwards into the direction of Sesriem and the famous dunes of the Namib.

Our first stop turned out to get us right back into wild territory proper. After a short stop at Dune 7, a dune popular with locals running up and down it, and after driving east for a few hours, we turned off the "main" road (which was still only gravel) to get to our destination for the day. This campsite had been recommended to us by the family in Palmwag, who had mentioned that it had been the most spectacular campsite of their trip. When we arrived, we learned why. High up on a hill, with a little cave dug out of a cliff wall, we could look out over the empty land for kilometers and except the farm house there wasn't a sign of human habitation around. The facilities were integrated into the environment, with our shower consisting of a handle bolted into the sheer rock face. Our hosts, a farming German/Namibian couple were very nice as well and Yeya got to befriended Linus, the tame mountain zebra of the farm.

Unfortunately, the wind picked up substantially in the night, so we didn't get as peaceful a rest as the setting could offer. In the middle of the night we repositioned the car for more wind protection and we slept in as the wind eased towards the morning. Off again on the gravel road, we made our way towards the dunes, with a stop in appropriately called Solitaire, a place of 5 houses that serves as a well-known stop for travelers. To our surprise, they had a bakery with the most delicious apple pie! We arrived in Sesriem in the afternoon, but realized that not booking ahead would cause us some problems, as the main camp sites were all full. After mulling over a few options and checking the still prevailing wind, we decided on the overflow camp area which lacked in wind-protection, but was the shortest approach to the dunes for the early morning we planned. For the evening, we only took a short drive into the park, checking out some of the dunes and concluding the day at a lookout point.

5am was the time for the alarm clock the next morning, to get a glimpse of the famous Sossusvlei sunrise. 5.45am saw us crossing the park gate (still in darkness), where one of the rangers hitched a ride with us to the dune area. We were running a little late unfortunately, but managed to get up on a dune for the big moment due to some speedy driving, although we had to "abandon" our car in the middle of the track to run up the dune to be in time. Sunrise itself was not as impressive as we had been made to believe, but the dunes in general were very impressive and gave us a certain Lawrence of Arabia feeling. After a slightly chilly breakfast we slowly drove back, admiring the massive dunes and letting the atmosphere sink in. Originally, we had planned to spend two days in the park, but we decided that we had seen enough sand for the time being and carried on southwards.

After another long day of driving through the at times dramatic but always vast and long-distanced countryside, we arrived at our next stop, another curious artifact of the colonial times. A German baron had built a mini castle to impress his wife and do some horse farming in the early 1900s, but after dying in World War I, his wife never returned to claim her property. The result is an authentic but still strange place, which was interesting to see. As there was still a good bit of wind going, we decided to go for four sturdy walls for the night and call it a day. With the walls came a kitchen and a nice bed, so dinner and a good night of sleep were on the agenda.

We slept in the next day, savouring the comfort of a house before going back on the seemingly endless gravel roads. Our destination for the day was the imposing feature of the Brukkaros, a 2km wide crater of a giant volcano that had exploded 18m years ago. We arrived well in time, but were surprised to see the community camp site deserted and empty. We drove as close to the crater as possible and pitched camp on a site that rivaled the Rooiklip camp in its spectacular setting and loneliness. Unfortunately, it also rivaled it for the force of the wind whipping up the side of the mountain and after cooking dinner and observing the situation we decided that putting up the tent on top of the car would not really let us sleep due to the noise from the wind. After experimenting a little we found that the inside of the car offered more than a comfortable setup including light, so we took our books and retired into the car for the night.

Our last major destination in Namibia before crossing back into South Africa was the Fish River Canyon National Park. One of the largest canyons in the world, it is said to be on par with the Grand Canyon in regards to scenery and visual impact, so we were pretty excited to go. The way proved to be yet another long drive through empty countryside, which we only broke by a short stop in Ketmanshoop, the only town of any substantial size in the south of Namibia. We arrived at the Hobas camp site at the north side of the canyon in the early afternoon and this time we were more lucky with our plan-as-you-go approach as there was plenty of space on the camp site. We chose a nice spot (wind-protected!) before heading out to the rim of the canyon in time for the setting sun. I'm not sure how it compares to the Grand Canyon (I was 12 when I saw that), but the landscape must certainly be called dramatic. The Fish river has dug a double canyon into the land, which snakes for nearly 100km through the barren land and reaches depths of more than 500m. We were properly impressed! Coming back and doing our last barbecue of the trip, a French guy dropped by our camp spot and wondered if we were going to South Africa as he was looking for a ride. It turned out we didn't go quite the way he intended, but we left the invitation open anyway.

The next morning, he (John) dropped by again and said he had decided to join us for a ride to Upington on the other side of the border (~400km away), despite us spending another day in Namibia. We loaded him and his luggage into the car and drove off towards our last stop in Namibia, the thermal springs of Ai-Ais at the southern end of the canyon. Before getting there, we took a long drive along the edge of the canyon that offered a wide variety of views and lookouts into the canyon itself. After that, it was just a 100km drive south to the camp, which beat all of our expectations. Instead of a simple camp site with some thrown-together hot water pools (as we had seen in Chile and Peru) this place more resembled a flashy resort in Europe or the US. The pools had been shaped into a large outdoor pool and an inside spa area complete with full massage and beauty treatments. The campsite itself was right next to the river, with glorious views and very good facilities and there was a nice restaurant attached. As a result, lots of South African and Namibian tourists were present, probably also because it was a Saturday and people had come out for the weekend. Plenty of braiing (African BBQ) was happening, but we decided to treat ourselves to dinner and went for Kudu steak and some nice red wine in the restaurant. The wine and the calm night meant that we were in for a good nights sleep.

A last drop in the spa pool in the morning and we were off to the border. 100km into the drive we left the gravel road for good and the drive went by eventless. So did the border crossing and within 15 minutes we had left Namibia and were back in South Africa, which we had left nearly 30 days before.

Photos from North-Western Namibia

Day 82 - 87, North Western Namibia

We had left Etosha in the morning to start touring the North Western part of the country. Our first stop was the town of Oujo, where we fueled up and asked in the local garage if they could weld our by now severely cracked car. The answer was negative, as they said the result would only last minutes once we took to some of the more remote roads. So we continued with the duct-tape arrangement. Before heading to our next stop, Oujo did delight us with a traditional German-style bakery, though. It seems curious to find such a place in a small Namibian town but it is not uncommon, as there are still remnants of the colonial times peppered across the county from the days when it was known as German South West Africa.

Some roads that afternoon proved to be pretty bumpy, leading us through many small, traditional hamlets with rondavel mud-huts. Our @house@ survived and that night we camped in Palmwag, but before retiring for the night, an oryx steak was in order. The taste could be loosely compared to beef, but it has its own distinct flavour and we really enjoyed it. The next morning we had visitors to our campsite, when two German kids started talking to Kai, asking him if he was writing a book (he was on the laptop writing the blog offline). They were heading to Etosha, so we were able to make some recommendations, whilst they happily shared their tips for the opposite direction and showed us their best pictures.

Next stop for us was Twyfelfontein, or "Doubtful Spring". The land in this part starts getting drier as it gets ever closer to the harsh Namib desert and people have managed to live in this area for centuries, but were highly dependent on the random water springs. Here we did another community sponsored tour, where we were shown some very impressive and very old rock paintings. Although originally we thought we could make it all the way to a mountain formation called Spitzkoppe, a "closed road" sign and the emminent sunset stopped us about 80km short of it. We ended up spending the night in the tidy and well-organized town of Uis, near the Brandberg mountain, at nearly 3000m the highest point in Namibia.

In the camp we asked about the closed road, as we really didn't feel like having to drive the extra 50kms on gravel to get to our destination. The guy assured us that with our 4x4 we could safely take that road and ignore the sign, so we did just that the following morning. It was a good thing too, as the landscape was stunning, with beautiful yellow hills, the odd-river bed and although hazy at first, a very good sight of Spitzkoppe, the so-called Matterhorn of Africa. It was at the foot of Spitzkoppe where we stayed in one of the more rudimentary, but probably most amazing camping areas of our trip. It was basically our car, surrounded by really interesting huge rock formations that turned fiery red as the sun set. We climbed the rocks to get a better view of the surroundings, and enjoy yet another stunning African sunset, next to the lizards and the rock dassies. Because of the remoteness of it all, the night was dead quiet. Although the moon was nearly full, we could also see clearly the Milky Way.

From Spitzkoppe, we headed west to the South Atlantic coast. As you drive through the dry desert towards the cold, wet sea, you can see the huge fog cloud that engulfs the coast, similar to how it is in the north of Chile or Lima. Our destination was the town of Swakopmund, but we first made a stop at the Cape Cross seal sanctuary. Here we were met by around 90,000 seals, all lying on the beach close together. Before we could see or hear them, we surely had smelled them - or rather their fishy excrements. Although rather smelly, it was really an impressive sight to see that many seals of all sizes, going about their daily activities in total oblivion of the dozen or so human visitors.

We then drove on to Swakopmund, a quiet German-style town, where we found a hostel to spend the next two chilly nights. In Swakopmund we checked out the lighthouse, bought some books in a quaint pretty bookstore and even went to the cinema. We also had lunch in a restaurant that looked like it could have been anywhere in Germany: The Swakopmund Brauhaus.

One of the highlights of the area is to drive into the Namib Desert, taking in the Welwitchia drive and Moon Valley. After having seen the Atacama desert in Chile, here we found ourselves in yet another moon-like landscape, with rugged valleys and alien looking flora. Kai certainly enjoyed driving the rougher desert roads and gave the recently abandoned 4WD mode a spin!

For the following morning, we had booked a boat trip leaving from Walvis Bay, 30kms south driving through the desert dunes. Soon after launch, we had our first surprise. A (rather large) cape fur seal swam behind the boat and climbed onboard. The captain teased the seal with some fish and encouraged it to reach up and put its flippers on my lap. I really wasn't expecting to have a seal partially on top of me, and between the laughs and excitment, I realized the seal was super soft and not smelly at all. We also got to see dolphins swimming by the boat, and plenty more friendly seals cajoling in the sea. On the return trip to the shore we were offered fresh oysters and champagne, as well as other finger-food, and we enjoyed the rest of the cruise with warm sunshine breaking through the coastal cloud cover.

At the harbour we were welcomed to the sight of a few very large pelicans walking casually amongst the tourists. And with that, we took off and said goodbye to the north-western part of Namibia.

Photos from Etosha National Park

Day 79 - 82, Etosha National Park, Namibia

After having been to three magnificient national parks, we were slightly concerned that Etosha might be turn out to be "just another one". Boy, we shouldn't have worried. If Kruger had been our entry park and Chobe and Moremi had given us ample wilderness and driving through the untamed bush, Etosha turned out to be another jewel with good infrastructure and more cat sightings than all of the other parks combined.

We arrived in the morning to Namutoni, our first camp of three, which is set around an old German garrison fort that housed a range of conveniences: shop, restaurant, swimming pool to name a few. Before settling down for the day we decided to try our luck on an afternoon game drive and although we missed out on any cat sightings at our chosen waterhole just before sunset, we did see quite a few other animals. The big draw of Etosha is that water is very limited in winter, so most animals crowd together in a small area of the park close to the waterholes. Conveniently, that area is criss-crossed with a number of good roads - which we now explored. Besides a fairly large number of springboks, zebras and other plains game, the highlight was a huge rhino crossing the road just in front of us.

Coming back just before sunset, we went to check out the arguably biggest attraction of the park, right outside the fort. All of Etosha's camps have an man-made waterhole next to the electric fence that runs around the camp. You basically show up, sit on a bench or stand around, and the animals drop by to drink all through the day. This is a markedly lazy way to do spotting and you had to share the moment with a few dozen other guests, but it proved to amazingly satisfying nonetheless. It is also the next to only way of spotting any wild animals after dark, as driving in the park itself is not allowed on your own after sunset. Contrary to initial assumption, a wide variety of animals showed up and weren't bother the slightest bit with the rather large amount of camera lenses and binoculars pointed at them from a few meters away. This makes Etosha a paradise for easy photo tourism and there were some ridiculously large cameras around when we arrived at the observation area. Our "welcome committee" consisted of three large elephants drinking, mixing with a few giraffes and antilopes. And half an hour later we hit the jackpot, as a fully grown leopard jumped out of a tree at dusk at the opposite side of the waterhole and slowly walked along the edge of the water. Leopard almost exclusively move at night and under stealth which makes them extremely difficult to find on self-drives, so we were super excited to finally get to see one. Even though it lasted only a few minutes, we were buzzed!

Day two in Etosha saw us moving to Camp Halali, slowly moving through the park from east to west. We got up early and took our time, leisurely driving around the park and looking out for the wildlife. We were rewarded with lots of sightings, including some hartebees (new animal!) and a pair of lions at one of the waterholes. Despite an armada of cars and people with monster cameras pointing out of the windows we initially didn't know about any lions and were trying to understand what everbody was looking at. There were so many other animals at the waterhole that we thought it unlikely for predators to be around. Only after about 10 minutes and changing observation point, we could see the twitching ears - which also explained the extreme caution of the Kudus and other antilopes around.

We arrived in Halali at noon, and after a quick lunch Yeya made a visit to the freezing cold pool which also served as the hangout place of about 30 odd junior rugby players from England that were touring Namibia. We decided to skip our customary afternoon drive in favour of a siesta and a longer sit at the waterhole in Halali and an arranged night drive, which turned out to be an expensive but very good decision. On arrival at the waterhole an hour before sunset we saw our second leopard of the trip, this time still in daylight. And during the night drive, the searchlight from the car hit a springbok on a ridge and seconds later we could see a lioness storming towards it. It missed out on the kill and our guide explained that the searchlight had probably disturbed her stalking and that she had had to attack before being in position. We felt sorry to have disturbed her dinner plans, but seeing her sitting 5m away from the car, reconsidering her next move and mustering us disapprovingly was breathtaking nonetheless. We saw about a dozen more lions on the drive, but most of them were further away and difficult to observe, so we felt very lucky that we had been so close to a hunt.

We had learned much about the prides of lions walking around Etosha from our guide during the drive, so come next morning we decided to try and capitalise on this information. We went back to the waterholes that were most promising and sure enough, we struck lucky when a huge male lion came striding right towards our car at one of the waterholes. Growling, marking his territory and drinking, he walked around for about 10 minutes before laying down for a siesta, giving us the opportunity for some fantastic pictures and videos. The rest of the morning drive gave us tons of more animals, including a giant (500+) herd of zebra, plenty oryx and springbok, another lion and two elephants before arriving in Okakuejo, our last camp in Etosha.

After the success of the camp waterholes, we decided to dedicate the evening exclusively to waterhole watching, again striking lucky. At least three black rhinos and a large pride of lions showed up over the course of the evening, together with the usual suspects of elephants and antilopes plus a surprisingly large number of black-backed jackals. We sipped red wine and enjoyed the show!

On our last day we leisurely ambled around the backroads of Etosha one more time, before hitting the exit gate at around noon. Happy and satisfied with our last animal-centric highlight of the trip we kicked the car into high gear and rolled of on the tarmac towards the Namibian hinterlands...

Photos from Okavango Delta

Day 74 - 78, Okavango Delta, Botswana & Namibia

After Chobe and Moremi National Parks, Maun, the so-called gateway to the Okavango Delta was overwhelming and compared to where we had been for the previous days Maun felt like a metropolis. We made the most of our couple of days in "the city" to get things done. Our comfortable lodging including a fully-functioning shower, there was a laundry service in town under a large tree, a sports bar for the inaugural TGIM Maun (whilst Johnny Logan played on the radio!) and even free wireless in the local fast food joint. During our Moremi drive we had managed a slow puncture thanks to those massive thorns that cover all the bushes, so we got it fixed whilst in town. This took 45 minutes to repair and the invoice was for the incredible amount of 2 euro! We also met up with Gill, the local agent from our 4x4 rental company, so that he could check out the crack in our canopy that had started to grow considerably from what had originally been a simple fissure. He assured us that the crack was nothing to worry about and that we could continue on to Namibia as planned. His main suggestion was that we could avoid excess dirt and dust coming into our canopy by duct-taping the car. With another 20 days still left on the road ahead of us, his prognosis made us fell more assured.

Before leaving Maun, we got to do a scenic flight on a small cessna-type plane to take in the expanse of the Okavango Delta from the air and also catch a glimpse of buffalos, elephants and giraffes from above. The animal-sighting was made much easier by having a Zimbabwean guy as the third passenger on the plane, as he could spot much better than I.

Afterwards we headed north along the Okavango delta to Sepupa (350 kms north), where we took a sunset trip on the Okavango river with our guide "Fish". This guy was able to spot a crocodile hiding in the reeds at full boat speed and he also showed us the papyrus so common to the area. Sepupa is on the way from Maun to the northern border with Namibia, but before heading there we took a 40km detour to visit the Tsodilo Hills, known for it's ancient rock art. Here we took a good community based tour, and were able to see the San rock drawings of giraffes, rhinos, anetelopes and much more. And onwards we continued to the Namibian border, which we were impressed by, as it only took a few minutes to cross-over. No crazy hassles, or deep-rooted bureucracy. Just a new stamp on our passports and off we went.

A couple of Capetownians had recommended a campsite just over the border, called Ngepi. Rather than camping, we opted for our own little tree house, which basically meant an open hut by a tree next to the river. It had a comfy bed, sheltered by a mosquito net, and not much more. A hammock, and and outdoor toilet and shower completed the accommodation. The whole camping and lodge area was really nicely done, and we would reccomend it to anyone visiting that area. The night was a little chilly, but listening to hippos and other animals, and seeing sunrise between our toes the next morning completed the experience for us. The next stop was a short game drive throught the Mahango Reserve, where we saw the usual suspects, but a family of hippos close by to us and a sable antilope (new animal!) were the highlight.

Only a few dates on this trip were actually pre-planned and pre-booked and one of those were the days we were to spend in Etosha National Park. In order to make it on time, we left Mahango early and drove basically non-stop to Tsumeb, via Rundu (as close to Angola as we would get). Our only stop was at the Hoba farm, where the world's largest meteorite remains. That night in the Kupferquelle camp site, the wind picked up considerably and we tried to fix our tent so that it would make less noise. We weren't able to fully solve the situation, but at 3am or so, whilst groggily doing this, I saw the brightest shooting star I have ever seen.

Photos from Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana

Photos from Chobe National Park, Botswana

Day 69 - 74, Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana

Wild animals, bad roads, wilderness camping and waking days from sunrise to sunset and defined the next days of our trip. Before we could fully embark on one of the key parts of our 4x4 safari adventure, we had to make some last minute preparations though. First: Fuel up and lower tire pressure to 2 bar on all wheels. Second: Negotiate with the campsite guys to change our bookings last minute. Third: Stock up on plenty of food and water.

Our first day was meant to be a dry run, with only a daytrip to the Chobe waterfront and another night outside the park. It ended up being an amzing afternoon with animals literally left, right and center of us. Probably a dozen herds of elephants, a pride of nine (lazy) lions, a huge herd of sable antilopes and tons of other animals crossed our path - in less than 6 hours. We didn't even have to make an effort to see anything, it all came to us as we drove through the most Northeastern corner of the park. For long times we just parked the car next to the river front and watched as the animal kingdom unfolded itself around us. We still like zoos, but after seeing this it is very difficult to not be somewhat underwhelmed by what can be shown in the confines of even the nicest man-made enclosures. Properly impressed and thoroughly exhausted we returned in the evening to our campsite outside the park, equipped with a tremendous respect for the park and its wildlife. We also brought back some valuable experience with the famous Botswana sand tracks. Besides the animals, driving in full 4x4 mode in seriously sandy conditions was the second big thing of the afternoon and should be a defining part of the next few days.

The morning of the next day saw us refueling one last time before we got on our way through central Botswana to the town of Maun, five days away on sandy tracks. We quickly learned that our 4x4 experience had its limits still, as we got stuck in deep sand about 10km from the park gate. To be very clear, it was not the fault or inability of the car to handle the conditions, it was stupid driving on my side. Luckily, a local drove by with 8 or 10 guys in the back of his truck and after 3 minutes work with our spade and a quick push from the guys we were free again. No harm done, luckily, but the road conditions stayed challenging and concentration was needed. There was less wildlife around than the day before, so we pushed on fairly quickly, knowing that we had a really long drive ahead of us for the day. We met some Swedes on the way who we had seen previously and wished each other luck for spotting something spectacular. A short tar section gave some respite from the sand, but Yeya quickly hit some hard and heavy conditions afterwards, bringing us and the car to its offroading limits. We made good progress though and by 2pm we had reached our last designated break, where we had lunch and gave notice to the rangers of our existence and plans. Then we were off to our final destination for the day, the remote camp site of Linyanti.

We had been warned about this last stretch of road, but except for 6 nasty kilometer of sand the road was much better than expected and as a result, we reached our camp early. Inexplicable, we managed to end up doing most things pretty late though, as darkness fell quickly. Botswana national park camp sites are not fenced, and Linyanti is home to anything from lions to hyenas and elephants, so we didn't like the idea too much to hang around outside after dark. When an elephant "dropped by" (as in coming up to about 20m from our car) while we were barbequeing our steaks, we decided that dinner would have to happen inside the car, rather than at our carefuly laid out camping table. In the end it became a bit improvised, but it was still an enormously tasty dinner and we very much felt as being part of nature (despite being a potential dinner to other, more adapted species).

Getting up at 6 and being last at the bathroom facilities was interesting to say the least. Animals are most active in the mornings and afternoons and we were determined to make the most of it, but apparently others were even more eager! With us there were two Swiss couples at the camp site who had the same route as we did, so we chatted a bit before heading out back into the park at around 7.30am. The first two hours were quiet though, until we hit some open plains with wildebeest, elephants and other grazers. This is where the physical map we had failed us. Two diverging roads of decent conditions were indicated - we chose the left. We obviously don't know what the other road looked like, but ours essentially disintegrated into a barely visible track across the grassland, rigged with waterholes, deep potholes and overgrown with grass for most of the way. If we hadn't had a trusty Google map with enabled GPS to let us know we were still on a road at all, we would have turned around. As a consolation, we did see quite a few animals on the way and got to drive through a thoroughly deserted part of the park, giving us a true explorer feeling. And finally, trust in technology and our gut feeling turned out well and we reunited with the other road. Conditions still weren't good though and we also knew that parts of the road ahead had been flooded and we would be forced to take a 100km detour as a result. Not something we were looking forward to when the average speed of driving was 30km/h. Nonetheless, we made it and pitched our tent at the North Gate of the Moremi Reserve before 5pm. What was more, the sightings book at the gate showed plenty of sightings over the previous days, so we went to our rolling bed hopeful.

Over the next three days we explored the Moremi reserve in all its glory (and from sunrise to sunset). A few key takeaways upfront. Rains were heavy this year, which means that the Okavango delta (which Moremi is a part of) had high levels of water - which in turn meant that roads had high levels of water. Result: Some roads were closed and for all others we learned to drive through water. Also, once you figure out how to drive on sandy tracks, it becomes pretty straightforward and you can look out for animals at the same time. Lastly, Moremi is fantastic for game viewing and we added a ton of animals that we hadn't seen before, either in Chobe or in Kruger. Over the course of the three days we saw honey badgers, cheetahs, wild dogs, black-backed jackals and a red lechwe, most of which we managed to get photos of. The cheetahs had just killed an impala when we saw them first, so they didn't move much for the next 24 hours and we ran into them a few times. We also got stuck in a big herd of about 25 elephants on our last morning, with one of them coming to within 5m of our car. Let me tell you, it is a pretty terrifying feeling sitting in a 3 ton car knowing that the 6 ton animal in front of you can easily demolish your only safety mechanism if it is in a bad mood. There was no sign of hostility from the herd though and after about 15 minutes we all went our separate ways again.

Other notable events included yet another encounter with the monkey world, and predators in camp. Our monkey encounter happened on our first morning and went along similar lines as the first two ones in Kruger and Livingstone, only that this time the monkey was a fully grown male baboon and he wasn't scared. We were guarding our breakfast closely, but when we took our eyes of the table for a moment he sprinted towards us, grabbed our (only) loaf of bread and made into the nearest tree before we were able to react. Slightly shaken and with the baboon 25m above the ground, we concluded that cereals was to be our breakfast of choice from now. The next morning, we saw some tracks next to our car and on inquiring, we learned that a hyena had checked us out in the night. The next night, a group of lions tramped through the campsite, maybe 50m away from our tent. Luckily - or unfortunately, depending on your view - we were fast asleep for both events. We also had frequent run-ins with our friends from Sweden and Switzerland, with who we continued to share tips and sightings as we all made our way through the reserve.

All good things had to come to an end at some time, so after a last morning game drive we left Moremi three days after we had arrived on our way to the town of Maun, where we arrived in the afternoon.