Travels With Maria

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…