21st - Onwards!

The first day of the second part of the trip was spent driving. Another long day of 9 hours was required to get us to the next camp site, so no time was wasted in the morning. All and everything got packed, a few previous group members showed up to say goodbye and off we were heading for the Zambia/Zimbabwean border.

The border took slightly longer than the previous crossings, but compared to what one could expect from the crossing it went very, very smooth. So lucky us!

In the afternoon we reached our destination where we are going to stay for two nights. Tomorrow we will be going on a game drive the entire day and mixing in a couple of walks trying to get close to the park’s rhinos and hippos. Hopefully the leopards will also make an appearance, but not too close.

If anyone wasn't aware; the moon.

20th - Day off

Today we had the day off as this day was spent getting people detached from their truck in the morning and getting presented to their new group (if doing so) in the evening. The resort had a large variety of activities so one had no excuse for not doing something.

I started the day going on a lion walk in the early morning. You would be brought to a lion sanctuary where they take care of lions that are born in captivity and prepare them to give birth to kittens that effectively won’t have any contact with humans – like “normal” lions. With guides and assistants we followed 3 7-month old lions around and saw them interact with the environment and briefly get to pet them. It was, honestly, a money/tourist trap, but it was interesting to hear what they had to say about the process and getting that close to them wouldn’t have been possible in any other situation (unless you had a death wish).

When the lions reach an age of app. 15 months the get too big for the tourists – and keepers – to get close to them, so they are moved out into a large fenced area where they get to be on their own and establish their own social ranks without having humans as dominants. They will still be assisted in form of food drops if necessary. When they have established themselves in stable relationships, they are moved out in a much larger area whey they are by themselves and are fully dependent on being able to catch all their food by themselves. Here they will also get their cubs, which will therefore be growing up without human contact. When old enough, the will be removed and put out into the wild, where they will be “normal” lions. The ones they came from the sanctuary will never be put out in the wild as they will not have the instinctive fear of humans.

In the early afternoon I went on a 15 minute helicopter ride over the Victoria Falls. While it was more expensive than the morning’s lion walk it felt much more worth the price. And I got to strike out “ride a helicopter ride” from my bucket list. So, win/win all around.

After an afternoon with nothing planned the evening quickly approached. An introductory meeting was held for the new group and afterwards we had dinner which would also include inviting the old group members to the table, getting to say the last goodbyes.

The 3 lions we followed.

"Rawr, I'm big and dangerou... Oh look! A stick!"

The Falls from above.

These monkeys were all over the place at the camp.

19th - Livingstone, I presume?

Early in the morning at 0530 we were picked up to go on a morning game drive in Chobe NP. We saw plenty of animals, none we hadn’t seen before, and unfortunately no cats even though we saw several lion tracks and a spot where a leopard had been seen the day before.

Coming back to the camp at 0930-ish we had a quick breakfast before driving an hour to reach to border to Zambia. First we checked out of Botswana, took a ferry 5 minutes across the Zambezi River, got into Zambia, got our visas and in the end fighting ourselves through hordes of salespeople (which we actually never – except from here – really had any issues with).

Back on the road we aimed for Livingstone and a couple of hours later we arrived as planned. We didn’t stop but continued on to Victoria Falls where we spent a couple of hours admiring the sights and having a walk.

Going back to Livingstone we found our camp site, established the tents and went for a sunset boat ride. The name of the ride, the Booze Cruise, sounded more dangerous than it actually was. The concept was a sunset cruise with game watching including dinner and a free bar for 2-3 hours. We all enjoyed the trip, some significantly more than others, but firmly back on land we ended up in the resort’s bar where we spent the rest of the evening and half the night.

This night was also the last night we would have with this group, hence the more than average intake of alcohol. The trip I’m on is in reality two trips; one from Johannesburg to Livingstone, and one going from Livingstone to Johannesburg. This site is where 3 different G trips converge (Cape Town – Livingstone, Nairobi – Livingstone and Johannesburg – Livingstone, with the two former taking the same path back and forth and the latter (my trip) following a circular route with Livingstone being the middle point), and people mix up, change trucks, arrive and leave, depending on where they will be going next (e.g. Nairobi – Cape Town, Johannesburg – Nairobi etc.). In total we are 5 people doing the Johannesburg – Livingstone – Johannesburg trip, and after being 22 up until Livingstone we will now only be 20.

Some of the elephants got awfully close that morning.

Warthog.

Hippos having a rest.

Victoria Falls.

The border crossing to Zimbabwe - and also where they do bungie jumping.

Victoria Falls.

Crocodile close-up in the evening.

Second confirmation

... and shortly after this year's first confirmation the first trip of the year (for now...) was also confirmed.

12th of July

Departure from Copenhagen

13th of July

Arrival in Johannesburg after a short layover in Frankfurt. Looking forward to it - second leg is with an A380!

14th - 15th of July

Going north into Botswana we aim for Khama Rhino Sanctuary, including a visit of nearby villages Serowe and Maun.

16th of July

Further north we end up at the Okavango Delta where we will spend time in a bush camp where we will be going on game walks and getting around in mokoros, a traditional dug-out canoe.

17th - 18th of July

A quick trip back to Maun where we pick up any luggage we didn't bring to the delta and we continue on to Gweta, located in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, apparently a great place to see some beautiful sunsets. We continue on to Chobe National Park which can boast of having the largest elephant population in Southern Africa.

19th - 20th of July

We cross the Zembezi river and enter Zambia to go to Livingstone. Here we will have access to various activities, including the Victoria Falls.

21st - 22nd of July

Crossing into Zimbabwe, going to Bulawayo which will function as our base when visiting Matobo National Park. We will be exploring the national park by both foot and open safari vehicles. Among many other things it will be possible to see both white and black rhinos.

23rd - 25th of July

Going back south back into South Africa we spend a single night in Musina before going to Kruger National Park.

26th of July

Return to Johannesburg.

27th - 28th of July

Return back home, same route as before. Including the A380.