Botswana

On Thursday, February 13, those of us continuing into Cape Town and/or Namibia repacked Songwe, our truck that had broken down. In the three days we'd been at Victoria Falls, our truck had been repaired and we found out it would in fact be taking us the rest of the way. The real silver lining of the breakdown, however, is that we started sleeping on mattresses from a different truck, which were an absolute game changer, and we found out we'd get to take the good mattresses with us to Cape Town. They were twice as thick as the ones we were using previously and even though our tour leader Eva understandably lamented how much more space they took up in the truck, for me, it was a no-brainer.

After all of our stuff was put back in the lockers, we had breakfast before we hit the road, and it gave us time to say goodbye to the people who were going home or those who were splitting off on a different tour (which ended in Pretoria so they could go to Kruger National Park in South Africa).

Our travel time that day was remarkably short to be crossing a border, but our first stop at Chobe National Park in Botswana was not far from the Zambian border. We did, however, have to cross the Zambezi on a ferry, which carried our truck as well.

Ferry that carried us and our truck across the Zambezi

We got through the border without much fuss, although we did have to clean all of our shoes before they allowed us over in order to prevent an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Botswana. We continued on to our campsite in Kasane, which was right near Chobe National Park. Because our travel time was so short, we had time to directly go for a game drive in Chobe, and honestly, the quantity and proximity of elephants there was absolutely incredible. Despite how many elephants we'd seen so far, I don't think I could ever tire of it.

In Chobe National Park, Botswana

Hiding from the sun (and protecting the little ones in the center)

Mama and baby

They were so close!

Cape buffalo having a drink

Three "male teenager" giraffes, according to our guide ("Bros," according to us)

Again, so close!

My friend Kate Wilson was in the front of our 4x4 so this is her video

After our obviously amazing game drive, we did a game cruise on the water and got pretty close to hippos, crocodiles, and an elephant swam across the river right in front of us.

Game cruise on the Chobe River

Sunbathing crocodile

Hippos out of the water for once (and an elephant in the background)

Hippos in the river

An elephant crossing the river

Eva had gotten s'more making supplies at the grocery store so I hosted S'more School that night after dinner, since a number of people on the trip had never made one before and surely my job as an American is to share the wealth (Spoiler alert: I don't really like s'mores all that much, since I'm more of a roasted marshmallow kind of girl, but I was happy to impart my knowledge of s'more making.).

On Valentine's Day, we made a quick trip of getting to Nata, Botswana, to our next campsite, which was called Elephant Sands. This was definitely among the best campsites of the trip because there's a massive watering hole in the middle of the camp, which draws many animals but especially elephants. We got within feet of several who came for a drink, and being able to float in a pool nearby was completely surreal.

At the watering hole at Elephant Sands

We camped in tents, not those adorable bungalows behind the elephants, in case you're wondering

Talk about surreal

If you watch this with the sound on, you can hear him drinking (Yes, it really is that loud)

We spent all day at the watering hole, and when I went to shower before dinner, I could see elephants heading toward or leaving the watering hole through the slats in the wall. It was so, so incredible to casually be that close to them. We watched a group of young male elephants after dinner as well and could hear them making argumentative noises and pushing each other, so it's good to know that some things never change, regardless of species.

The next day, we traveled to Maun, the gateway to the Okavango Delta. Once we arrived and set up camp, we spent most of that day hanging by the pool, getting in touch with family (because this campsite had good WiFi), or chilling in the bar. But the following day we were headed into the Okavango Delta itself. A local guide drove us to the edge of the delta in a truck, which took about two hours I think, and then we met the local guides who would be taking us to our campsite for the night, which was on an island in the delta. We climbed into the mokoros, or dugout canoes, and set off into the delta.

Only a little excited, obviously

In case you're wondering, yes, I did sing "Just Around the Riverbend" from Pocahontas shortly after I took this video

I don't have any decent photos of them but we also were lucky enough to see hippos and giraffes from our mokoros, which was a delight.

The campsite on the island in the delta was really nice, with pre-erected tents, beds, and rudimentary bathroom facilities, so I was a happy camper (pun intended). Everyone else but me went on a game walk later that afternoon, but the sun was blazing and it was hot and I just knew that if I went, I'd be grumpy, so I decided to stay behind with Eva (I showered and took a nap in the time they were gone). No regrets, honestly, because I spent so much of this trip trying to hide from the sun, and there was no shade on that game walk.

Our guides cooked for us, taught us a game, and sang for us around the fire that night. We could hear owls in the trees and hippos in the water nearby, and the stargazing was top-notch. The time we spent in the Delta was just magical.

After breakfast the next morning, we took the mokoros back to the poling station and then got a ride back to the campsite in Maun, where our truck and tents were waiting for us. We spent more time at the pool and the bar. The following day was a long travel day because, hard as it was to believe that our time in Botswana was so short, we were headed for Namibia.