Botswana and Namibia - in a GIANT nutshell

Well, I knew I would fall behind at some point on the blogging.  I blame it on Breaking Bad, but now that I have finished Season 2, I turn my attention back to updating you all on the trip :)

To be honest, I think Botswana was a victim of my lack of planning.  I had such a great time in Zambia with Sarah, and we had planned that portion weeks in advance, so I kind of skipped over any planning for Botswana.  I knew I wanted to visit Chobe National Park, and then spend some time in the Okavango Delta,and that was my full plan.

Highlights in Botswana include:
 - Senyati Camp near Chobe - it had a watering hole that hundreds of elephants visited daily, to cool off and enjoy some fresh water.  And it had a hide, where you could get very close to them, without them seeing you.
 - Chobe River and Okavango Delta boat rides - doing a water safari is a nice change of pace and allows you to get very close to some of the animals.
 - Old Bridge Backpackers in Maun - thank you Kira, it's a great backpackers!
 - The lack of tourists in the parks - so it feels less commercial than some other parks
 - Meeting fellow travelers doing similar trips, and exchanging tips and stories over beers and wine
 - Being set up with another single traveler (male) who she thinks you'll get along with

Lowlights in Botswana include:
 - Due to lack of preparation, agreeing to a last-minute 4 day safari in Okavango, in a car, when you've just done an 8 hour ride from Chobe, and have another 10 hour drive ahead of you.  I should have though about how much time I wanted to spend in a car, animals or no animals.
 - Being a single person and not being able to do a multi-day mokoro trip because they need a minimum of two people (booooo)
 - Trying to self drive in Chobe.  I'm not a great spotter when someone else is driving me, so not sure why I thought I could do that, along with trying to keep myself on the loose sand tracks in the park.  I saw some animals, but I wouldn't call it a success...
 - Realizing the person the camp manager is trying to set you up with is clearly evaluating you as a potential life partner, 10 minutes into your conversation, and later determining that maybe self driving for a second day won't be such a bad thing...

So while there were definitely some positives in Botswana, I realize that to enjoy it more, I should have put in the planning time... ah well - next time Bots!

A gemsbok

I then crossed into Namibia.  For those that don't know, I hadn't known much about Namibia before planning this trip, but it's probably one of the countries I was most excited about when I left Dar.  I started with one night in Windhoek, mainly just to recuperate from a long car ride.  It seemed like a clean, modern, small city, but again, this is really just from a few hours in the city, before I crashed at my hotel.  And then I was on to Etosha National Park in the north.



I thought I was uninterested in safari-ing once I left Botswana, but I figured I would see Etosha since I was there.  Within 30 minutes in the park, I had seen two animals I'd never seen before (gemsbok and black-faced impala), and I was excited about my two nights there. On my first drive in the evening, I realized the terrain is incredibly dry and barren, and that I would be much better at spotting here :)  And I was!  I spotted a black rhino and spent 20 minutes with him alone, just watching him eat and wander. I stayed at the Okaukuejo camp site, where there was a watering hole, where multiple black rhinos visited it every night.  you get to silently watch, while nature goes about her business around you... pretty amazing.  Overall, it was a great safari experience and I truly enjoyed Etosha.

Next up was Skeleton Coast.  I was so intrigued, that I made last minute plans to stay at the only hotel in Skeleton Coast National Park and set out.  the scenery on the drive was amazing - vast desert, with both dry pans and sand dunes.  Once I got to the hotel, which was pretty much empty, I asked the woman what people did in Skeleton's Coast (it was freezing).  Fishing was the answer... So I guess I should have done a little more research before I booked :)  but amazingly enough, my hotel cost included a 4 course meal.  Well done Skeleton Coast!  After seeing a few small shipwrecks on the coast, I continued down to Swakopmund, where I am now.


I decided to spend a few days here, to get my car checked out (all's good - Baby Blue is a champ), and relax in a hotel (Deutsche Haus - highly recommended) before I have a week of camping.  Well, Swakopmund is a weird place.  The best way I can explain it is this: it's like a Florida vacation town, except that it is always cold, and everyone speaks German.  It feels nothing like the rest of Africa to me: no rowdy crowds, no dirty streets, and not all that many black people.  So odd!  But, with my many days here, I have spent the time running outside (yup - they have a running path here), catching up on Breaking Bad, quad biking in the dunes (kind of like a Super Mariokart race, where I couldn't stay on the track and kept accidentally making my own course) and kayaking with seals and pelicans.

 
I had planned to also visit Sandwich Harbor and drive myself through the dunes, but after a little web research, I have realized it is crazy for me to try this on my own... so now I am off to bed, to try and book a last minute guided trip there, while on my way to Sossusvlei.  So that means I'm off to bed now.

I'll probably edit this later (and add pictures), as I'm rushing through, but wanted to get something up while I had this great high speed internet :)  I'll try to be better at blogging in the future!