Winter Road...

We seem to spend numerous hours in our car, and one of my favourite occupations on a road trip is to take photos through the windows...

Here is a typical July scene - the lush greenery of past months has now given way to a slightly more parched look, and the roadside grass is pale and wintry. These pictures were taken last week during a business trip, on the road from Kasane to Ngoma.

This tarred transit road cuts through a section of the Chobe National Park, and is a very appealing drive through indigenous teak forests and grasslands, ending up on a ridge overlooking the Chobe floodplain and the Botswana/Namibian border crossing.
On the way we passed a camouflaged herd of zebra under shady trees on the left, and watched a magnificent sable antelope galloping across the road. Ground hornbills and baboons are usually dotted around on the tar road surface, or busy foraging around in the grass, and this was no exception.

We have also encountered wild dog, and even a lioness on this route before! As ever, in the bush, I'm very aware that we only see a small percentage of what sees or could potentially see us...

Walking in Giants' Footprints

I have an ongoing fascination with elephant footprints - crinkly, wrinkly ovals in the soft sand, replicating the contours of their foot soles.

Last time I wrote about this, there was no scale to show the size of the prints, and people were curious, so I've been needing another photo opportunity...

A couple of weeks ago en route to one of the weddings, we overnighted at Elephant Sands Lodge, near Nata.

Footprint maker...

Elephant visiting our favourite waterhole (last seen here) for a reflective late evening drink.

The elephants covered the vehicle tracks overnight....

Even though the sand was icy cold at six on a cold May morning, and I had no shoes on...

...I stepped inside one for a photo. (My foot is about a size 5 UK shoe size, if that helps!)

It's an awesome feeling to take a walk in their tracks, and I like to attempt striding from one footprint to the next, even if this does result in some fairly undignified leaping behaviour!

On the way out, we saw miniature, perfectly formed baby elephant footprints, but we couldn't lose our momentum in the thick sand, so I was unable to capture them this time. Watch this proverbial space!

Warm African weekend greetings to all reading this 

Rivery Magic

The need to get out on the river was extremely compelling on Sunday, so, throwing aside any well meaning ideas about a day devoted to (much needed) catch-up work, we spent most of the day out on the water.

As we launched our boat, I placed my small human footprint in the squishy mud next to a huge elephant print, and the slightly smaller indentation of a hippo, before wading bravely into the shallow water to release the boat from its trailer - all the while under the critical observation of a gang of small boys.

Smiling sweetly, they unhelpfully yelled "Crrrrockkkodiayallll" at the tops of their voices! Happily they were crying 'wolf', and the fact that I am sitting here typing my blog shows that I have lived to tell the tale!

The day on the boat was pure heaven... I will just let a few photos tell the tale, again.

An amazing feeling of freedom!

The Mighty Zambezi River

We stopped in here.. for a quick business chat!

The sunset was so exquisite,I could not stop photographing it..

This last picture was taken just before we took the boat out of the water. More wading in purple tinted shallow, sun-heated water.. Just beautiful!

Surprise, surprise - we are off again this weekend, to attend another special wedding, this time in the same continent, at least. We shall be driving south to Limpopo province, South Africa. I shall be back in the middle of next week, sending warm autumnal african greetings to all reading this 

Blog World Meets Real Life in Kasane!

On Friday, Val of 'Monkeys on the Roof' blog, appeared in my Kasane office straight off the ferry from Zambia, and we went together to meet Lori of 'Lori times 5' blog - in the flesh! Lori, husband Chuck and sister Lindy had actually detoured off their planned trip to include a couple of nights in Botswana, especially to visit the Daycare Centre in Kazungula (quite famous in my blog, by now, and loved by blog friends! Last write up appeared here)

Lori took these children to her heart, all the way from California, and embarked on a project to create a special gift, made with love, for each individual child. Here's her own story about this.

It's a slightly weird feeling meeting a person in real life, after becoming friends online! However, as I saw Lori materialise on the pathway in the gardens of Kubu Lodge, I recognised her immediately from her blog. As expected, she is just as lovely and genuine as she comes across in her writings... A beautiful, ethereal, soft-spoken person with an aura of something very special about her...

Although the three weary travellers were straight off the road from Zimbabwe, via too many global airports to count, they were whisked straight into the world of the little vulnerable children they had travelled so far to meet. Teacher Emeldah gave them a comprehensive tour, and the slightly sleepy kids responded to all the warmth and love.

Lori (seated), Val (right) and Lindy (left) are shown the kids' schoolwork by Emeldah, while chaos reigns - the exhibitionists in the foreground!

Songs were sung, schoolwork was inspected, and as we got down to floor level with the kids, Lori's and my eternally fascinating locks of caucasian hair were siezed upon and either lovingly stroked or enthusiastically yanked, while 'high fives' were administered by tiny hands with resounding force and gusto!

Each child was given their own soft and cuddly animal-themed knitted hat, and the teachers received some thoughtful goodies for the school, kindly carried around in luggage through the countless airports!

I had to laugh at myself, actually - having immediately gone into boring stereotypical mode (you're a boy, you will have this blue hat...), I was intrigued to hear from Lori that lots of the little boys in her part of the room went straight for the vibrant pink ones - being allowed to make their own choices! Hmm.. how we learn a little more about ourselves and others, every day!

Lots of photos were taken, and I am quite sure Lori will post her own impressions and images of the Daycare once she returns, so I shall stop here.

Group picture, just before saying goodbye

Later that evening we drove out to Elephant Valley Lodge, to join Lori and family for dinner. What a magical setting - with elephants of all ages and sizes congregating around the illuminated waterhole, providing a continuous backdrop and soundtrack for our chilly outdoor barbecue!

At one point, Lori and I stood next to the open the fire together, looking up at the magnificent constellation of Scorpio shining down over the elephants, and we agreed it was a surreal but wondrous experience!

To complete the crazy blog-theme, Val also rang Geli of 'Letters from Usedom' blog, while we were there, and we all spoke to her, to make up for the fact that she couldn't be with us all... certainly not through lack of wishing, though!

I know that Lori was a very, very tired person by the end of the evening, but I hope she will agree that it was a tremendous pleasure to meet up, and I found it a very renewing, worthwhile and happy experience to connect with somebody on such a level, from halfway across the planet, having only ever trusted to and communicated via the written word up till now... Yes, I do love my blog friends, and there sure is a new dimension that blogging has added to life!

Sensational Salt Pans - Sun/Moon rises..

Barely awake, I glanced out of the tent door at eye level - straight onto a flat, grey, moonscape of a beach. A line of shiny gold water marked out the shallows of the shoreline, and beyond this, rippled grey waters stretched out to the edge of the bay. Up above, a solitary white star hung in a coloured sky streaked with orange, yellow, purple and deep blue. Alien shapes drifted around in the shallow waters, amidst the constantly changing colours. For a minute, I wondered exactly which planet I was on...

Pre-sunrise, with star and flamingoes

... until I noted a thoroughly earthly cowpat on the ground in front of me, and I remembered that this was pre-sunrise, Planet Earth, Easter Sunday. As the sun came up, a terrestrial cup of steaming coffee and a squished chocolate easter egg took the chill off, while the view over the flamingo-dotted water took my breath away!

Easter Sunday Sunrise

The day before, we had done a bit of work away from home over the Easter weekend, and had decided to camp in the bush - right on the edge of the great and mysterious Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. The pans are a magnificent relic of an ancient super lake, now a vast expanse of white/grey flatness, offering varying degrees of accessibility and deceptive treacherous surfaces. Not to be ventured onto without extreme caution!

In days gone by, when living in the area, this particular spot used to be one of our favourite haunts for a mini break. Not much more than half an hour away from a busy main road, it's a little enclave of utter nothingness, only really frequented by local cattle and herders. During the dry season you can cross white, crusty bays of salty surface, but at this time of year these bays are usually filled with water, and assorted water birds.

We picked a spot on the shore, overlooking the water and the flamingoes, parked our tent on the crusty surface of the salt pan, then just experienced the slipping away of the day into a clear, chilly autumn night. Flamingoes flying past at sunset...spectacular yellow moonrise... erie lunar-synched jackal cries ... swishing of wading flamingoes feeding in the shallow waters... slow drifting constellations up above... a general sense of oneness with the great Universe...

Moonrise

On the way back to the tar road, passing these tumbleweeds blown up against the fence, I couldn't resist photographing them.

Westward on the water...

Last Saturday, we found ourselves hitching a ride on an impromptu boat trip... heading west over the new lake currently covering our flood plain. We could have just kept going for miles and miles, in an illegal immigrant kind of way, over what is supposed to be dry land! Sadly though, we eventually had to turn around and come back home under the light of the half moon...

Staying with the water theme, here's another flood photo, especially for people who know this part of the world. Viewed from the river, this is the Sedudu Bar in the campsite at Chobe Safari Lodge. Now merely a part of the great Chobe River/Lake!

Since it's a long weekend, I shall be away for a couple of nights, camping in the bush - enjoying the stars and the full moon!

Sending love and happy Easter wishes to all reading this

Magical Termite Mounds, Baobabs and more..

I realise this blog has been rather quiet lately. Last week I was being incredibly (and unusually) disciplined. Thus, sadly, had to prioritise other tasks. But here I am, continuing the tale of the weekend before. Images actually seem more expressive that words in this case, and I hasten to add that all but one of these were taken by Tiennie, not me!

The amazing Planet Baobab orbits peacefully on the edge of Botswana's Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, and marking the turnoff is this superb Anteater - all the better to tackle those giant ants inside the anthills mentioned in last week's post!

Seriously, I should really have named them properly as Termite Mounds, which are fascinating mini-civilisations in their own right. I was also asked about the topic of anthills a few months back, after posting a picture of me sitting on a very differently shaped one, during our most fabulous New Year Break (see older post here).

I have now come across a great website about termite mounds and how we humans could learn from their technology and engineering. It really does make for fascinating reading - have a look here: www.sandkings.co.uk.

Here, the old Planet Baobab (Kalahari Surf Club!) signpost soars atop a tall anthill/termite mound, reminiscent of the planet inhabited by Le Petit Prince.

Here's the new look, new image signpost, which also helpfully includes GPS co-ordinates! It's close to the village of Gweta, for any Google Earth fans.

*Some more useful/useless info here: Gweta is where the Mma Ramotswe Ladies No 1 Detective Agency movie was shot.

We stayed in a traditional Bakalanga Hut, set amongst Terminalia Prunoides trees (purple pod terminalia). You can possibly make out the rich purply-maroon pods on the left.
Or, we could have also stayed in these huts...
This immense, ancient, mysterious, stunning baobab just blew my mind. Apologies for the profusion of adjectives, but it can't be helped! Regular readers of this blog will know that in this photo where I appear merely for a bit of scale - I am, of course, preparing to hug the tree!

A secluded sandy clearing on the left is home to a couple of double-sized hammocks which swing invitingly under the lower branches. I would probably never have left that spot, if we hadn't already paid for some perfectly marvellous accommodation just next door!

Truly an otherworldly experience, to live among the baobabs...
The beautiful fountain and bubbly water at the far end of the pool, under a cool thatched roof...

Same scene, taken from the opposite end of the pool, with gorgeous baobab in the background. The shadowy presence is me on the other side of the fountain, blocking out the sun and enjoying the spray.

In the late evening we ordered sundowners, and retired to this offbeat concrete lounge, complete with elegant painted carpet. Here Tiennie humours me by posing on his comfy concrete sofa!
As the sun dropped and twilight colours softly glowed, we watched from our special sofa as the pool fountain died down, and the night lights winked on. The crescent moon showed its dainty sliver in the sky, and also in the undisturbed surface of the pool below.
Eventually darkness and dinner lured us away from the beautiful concrete lounge suite, until we ended up enjoying a few too many night caps at the bar counter, for just as long as we could stay awake...with its quirky ambience and soulful African music, we found ourselves quite unable to leave!

Here is a photo of the bar counter. The framed art behind the bar features a reflection of the awesome chandelier - made of old green beer bottles.
Well, all journeys must continue, and later next day it was time to head back north to the floods and the elephants, but at the same time feeling rested and calm, having found serenity in this magical place. I have to confess that I am already counting the days till I can somehow get back there...