Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Main Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

Map

It was a day of tickets. We drove from Victoria Falls to here in 4 or 5 hours. The road was good, but there were adventures.

Zimbabwe police set up roadblocks every 20 or 30 miles, checking travelers for 'violations'. Basically, it's a way of extorting money. They have a long list of things they can 'fine' you for. We got stopped twice and got tickets both times. For me, one ticket was for a broken backup light – that was $10.00 The other was because the camper didn't have a fire extinguisher or the weight ratings for the vehicle printed on the side. That was $40.00.

Josh got one for a broken tail light, a missing gas cap (that he had left back in Kasane before we got into Zinbabwe), and the fire extinguisher/ratings thing.

Back in Victoria Falls, he had called around and found that the Toyota Repair place in Bulawayo, a fairly large town about 3 hours away had the gas cap, so our plan is to drive down there tomorrow and see if we can get it along with the taillight lenses.

In the meantime, we've got a whole “lodge” to ourselves for 4 nights. It's 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, bath, dining area, and a sitting room. All for under $90 a day. It's not fancy, or even new looking, but it is comfortable and fairly clean.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Another adventurous day.

The morning was spent looking for car parts and getting things fixed. I got the flat tire fixed, so that's not a worry any more.

Josh had left the gas cap to his camper back in Kasane where we last filled up. We went to a couple of places here in town, but nobody had one, so he started calling around. He found a dealership in Livingstone, just an hour or so away, but that's in Zambia It would mean crossing back into Zimbabwe again and we wouldn't have the helper, so that was out.

Then, he found a dealership in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and they had one. It's several hours past where we're staying starting tomorrow, so the plan is to move to Hwange National Park tomorrow and then on Wednesday, driving down and getting the part.

This afternoon I went out to see the falls. Even in the dry season, they are impressive:

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Rainbow Hotel, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Another travel day. We left Chobe and, after fueling up in Kasane, made for the Zimbabwe border.

The border crossings into Zimbabwe are notoriously complex. There are stories of people being mobbed by people offering to 'help' but not doing anything. When we picked up the campers in Maun, the Bushlore people said to find the “Rasta Man” at the border to help us. When we arrived, a fellow in a bright red shirt and dredlocks came right up to us. We knew we had found the Rasta Man, or rather, he had found us. Apparently, he sort of works for Bushlore and looks for their logo on the campers. He handled the paperwork for getting the campers through the border with a minimum of fuss.

Then it was an hour drive to the hotel. This is an old world kind of elegant place. It's just a little tattered around the edges, but the service people are excellent. Bellboys to carry your luggage, laundry service, call the front desk for any thing you need.

The complex is built in a garden setting on the side of a hill and everything looks in to the garden.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Ihaha Camp, Chobe National Park, Botswana

We started the day back at the buffalo carcass watching the lions, but it was a bit chaotic. All the game drive guides had found it and it was just a mess of cars jockeying for position on the narrow 1-lane road. And then the parks people would come along and make people move.

So I went to another position and managed to get some pictures of the lions coming in from the river:

Then I decided to go down to the river to see if there was anything to see. Nothing to take photos of, but there were some jackals and another lion, but it was all very far away. So, I went back to camp. On the way, a giraffe posed for me:

The rest of the day was spent washing a few clothes by hand, watching the slow activity on the river and processing photos for the blog.

Friday, August 12, 2016

Ihaha Camp, Chobe National Park, Botswana

When we got back to camp lasts night after getting the camper out of the sand, we discovered that my camper had a flat tire. So, Josh went out alone today and I stayed in camp and changed the tire.

Around 10:00 am, he came roaring back saying he'd found lions, so we piled all my camera gear into his truck and took off. There were 3 lions around a kill near the river. They kept coming back to the road and resting in the shade and then going back out:

The lion in the shade was about 15 feet from the camper.

Then we heard that there was a kill near the road above where we were, so we headed that way. We found a dead buffalo and a single female with 3 cubs. On the other side were 2 males sleeping under a tree.

After a while, we went back to camp for lunch and waited for the evening. When we got back, the female with the cubs had moved closer to the carcass. They were about 100 feet from the road.

Later, several more came up from the river. By the end of the evening, there were 10 adults and 3 cubs in the area. We had lost sight of the males by then.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Ihaha Camp, Chobe National Park, Botswana

Map

It was about 5 hours of driving to get here, It was mostly sand, but we finally found some pavement. It was only about 20 miles, but it was very welcome.

The campsite is right on the Chobe River and there is all kinds of wildlife – elephants, giraffe, hippos, zebras, buffalo, impala, sable and several other antelope species.

Soon after we got here, we went into the town at the edge of the park for supplies and diesel. We took the scenic route back along the river. On the way, we came across a camper stuck in the sand. We tried to free it and was having no success when another camper stopped to help. Then, a tour truck came along and with all the people and the tour truck, we managed to get it out.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Savuti Camp, Chobe National Park, Botswana

We drove ourselves around a bit today and found lions.

First we found a small waterhole with lots of elephants, and more kept coming in.

They seemed to be all males.  There were a couple of warthogs and a jackal hanging around the edges.

Then, we saw movement along the edge of the brush and there were 3 lions lurking.  Then, an elephant came charging out of the brush, chasing this:

Went back in the evening and the whole pride was there, but they were all laying down in the grass. Occasionally you would see one sit up and move around: