A message from Maun

Well, day 4 and time for our first update. We managed to find internet connection here in Maun, Botswana after an eventful couple of days driving across the Zambia-Botswana border and through Chobe National Park. The border crossing went reasonably well, with lots of paperwork and checks for whether we had fresh meat, milk or fruit with us as Botswana does not allow these things to be brought into the country. We managed to get through with just our tomatoes taken from us, as we were prepared for this. Day 2 was spent with a lot of driving and I had my first attempt at driving the Nissan Patrol. I managed to drive for an hour on tarred road without any problems, after which I handed over to Joost to do some serious off road driving through the park. We drove for hours passing just the odd vehicle. In the park we had a rather scary encounter with an elephant who didn't seem to want to let us pass, and it was only later as we managed to get through that we realised that there was a whole herd in the trees keeping a close eye on us. As we were finally nearing Savuti camp site, we came across a German couple who had gotten stuck in the sand and Joost did a great job using our air jack and recovery skills to help them out. At the camp site we settled in at our allocated camping spot under a tree and were about to prepare dinner when we noticed an elephant in the river behind us, only about 30m away! He or she was simply drinking from the river, but it was a little unnerving knowing they could walk over at any point as the camp site is not protected and all the animals just roam freely. That night we spent our first night in the roof tent, which was actually quite a cool experience (much better than a tent on the ground!). The only problem for me was that we had some visitors by way of at least an elephant or two and a group of hyenas that night. The elephant(s?) just walked around the vehicles and the hyenas were making noise rummaging through things, but we couldn't quite see what. On top of that a mosquito managed to make it into our tent and bit my face in two place before we killed it. Let's just say I didn't get too much sleep. The next day we made our way out of the park with lots more off road driving before getting to Maun. Joost did the majority of the driving, but I managed to help out and give him a rest by taking over for about an hour, including my first off road driving experience! Tomorrow we are off to the Okavango Delta for two days, after which we will be joined by Joost's parents and brother for 10 days as we head to the Central Kalahari desert and on to Namibia.

Here are a few photo's from the last few days:

Our little house under the tree at Savuti camp site...

...the elephant a little too close for comfort near our little house under the tree....

Joost reducing our tire pressure as we hit the sand

Feeling of accomplishment after having set up the roof tent for the first time

Christelx