The trip to Mack Air in Botswana was very exciting. It started out as usual with Kadday picking us up. He drove us to the Zambezi River crossing. On the way, I saw a woman with her two children by the side of the road. The woman was squatting over a bucket washing clothes. I chalked this up to the other weird things I had seen along the side of the road.
As we approached the river, freight trucks were lined up for a least ½ a mile on the side of the road. Kadday said they were in line waiting to cross the river. Transportation by freight trucks is a big issue. It seems that there are no bridges that go from Zambia to Botswana. The trucks have to be loaded on to a ferry and the ferry can only hold 2, maybe 3 trucks at a time. These trucks line up along the side of the road waiting sometimes for up to two weeks for their turn on the ferry. It takes longer if you are on the Botswana side.
We stopped at the Zambian border to have our passport stamped for exit. While Kadday took care of this, the hawkers accosted us. We drove down to the river crossing and as we were getting out of the vehicle, we were hounded once more. I was very glad to leave this aspect of Zambia behind.
We had our own private boat crossing into Botswana. When the boat reached the middle of the river, the captain pointed out that we could see where 4 countries meet; Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Once we landed, we were picked up by the next driver who helped us maneuver through immigration and customs. This was a very interesting procedure. At the first gate, our passports were checked to see if we had been traveling in certain countries in Africa to make sure we were not bringing in any diseases such as Ebola. Next we were headed to customs and immigration office but we hit a traffic jam of the freight trucks and could not get through. The driver suggested that for the sake of time, we get out of the van and walk around the trucks to the office. All of us felt a little uncomfortable doing this, but we did.
As we approached the river, freight trucks were lined up for a least ½ a mile on the side of the road. Kadday said they were in line waiting to cross the river. Transportation by freight trucks is a big issue. It seems that there are no bridges that go from Zambia to Botswana. The trucks have to be loaded on to a ferry and the ferry can only hold 2, maybe 3 trucks at a time. These trucks line up along the side of the road waiting sometimes for up to two weeks for their turn on the ferry. It takes longer if you are on the Botswana side.
We stopped at the Zambian border to have our passport stamped for exit. While Kadday took care of this, the hawkers accosted us. We drove down to the river crossing and as we were getting out of the vehicle, we were hounded once more. I was very glad to leave this aspect of Zambia behind.
We had our own private boat crossing into Botswana. When the boat reached the middle of the river, the captain pointed out that we could see where 4 countries meet; Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Once we landed, we were picked up by the next driver who helped us maneuver through immigration and customs. This was a very interesting procedure. At the first gate, our passports were checked to see if we had been traveling in certain countries in Africa to make sure we were not bringing in any diseases such as Ebola. Next we were headed to customs and immigration office but we hit a traffic jam of the freight trucks and could not get through. The driver suggested that for the sake of time, we get out of the van and walk around the trucks to the office. All of us felt a little uncomfortable doing this, but we did.
Back in the van, the driver made his way around a freight truck only to be totally blocked in by the freight trucks jockeying for position to be the next on the ferry. Apparently one truck had broken down so another truck tried to jump in front and was stopped. The driver of the truck stopped in the middle of the road and several others broke out into a fight blocking the entire road. We thought we were going to be stuck there and miss our plane. After several anxious minutes, the truck was moved and we were on our way.
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At the airport we were met by another gentleman who walked us through the whole process of getting our tickets, handling our luggage, going through security, and walking us out the door to the very tiny 12 seater charter flight. It was very cramped. The aisle of the plane was less than 1 foot wide and you could not stand up at all. We boarded the plane. It took a little over 1 hour to fly to the Xakanaxa airstrip for our stay at Camp Xakanaxa. We were greeted by 2 members of the camp staff and loaded into 2 jeeps with our luggage. Mom, Victoria, Karin, and Ellen rode in one jeep while Evie, Lee, Linda and I rode in the other. Our jeep was in the lead when we approached a very large deep puddle in front of the camp. The driver drove right into the water and got stuck. The other jeep drove on past. I think our driver pumped up the tires from inside the jeep to make them grip better. It took us several minutes to get out, but we did.
We were escorted directly to the dining area for lunch and camp orientation. After lunch, we were escorted to our tents to put away our belongings and get ready for the evening safari.
Camp Xakanaxa is a beautiful semi-primitive camp. The sleeping tents are huge and on platforms. The beds are singles and very high off the floor. The exterior walls are canvas with huge windows that are covered with mosquito netting and have flaps that affix with Velcro at night. The front door is a wood framed sliding screen door. The bathroom is very large and nice. The walls in the bathroom are covered with twigs lashed together with mosquito netting around the outside and under the wooden floor. The bathroom is divided into three areas and has one large window that is nothing but mosquito netting across the back of the room near the ceiling. There is a beautiful front porch that overlooks the delta. All of the furniture is very rustic looking. The only thing primitive is the fact that there is no full time electricity. The camp runs on a generator which is shut down every night; therefore the tents are not heated.
Camp Xakanaxa is a beautiful semi-primitive camp. The sleeping tents are huge and on platforms. The beds are singles and very high off the floor. The exterior walls are canvas with huge windows that are covered with mosquito netting and have flaps that affix with Velcro at night. The front door is a wood framed sliding screen door. The bathroom is very large and nice. The walls in the bathroom are covered with twigs lashed together with mosquito netting around the outside and under the wooden floor. The bathroom is divided into three areas and has one large window that is nothing but mosquito netting across the back of the room near the ceiling. There is a beautiful front porch that overlooks the delta. All of the furniture is very rustic looking. The only thing primitive is the fact that there is no full time electricity. The camp runs on a generator which is shut down every night; therefore the tents are not heated.
We chose to go on a water safari for the first one in this camp in the hopes that we would see something different from the other camp. The boat itself looked like a flat bottom bass boat with plastic chairs mailed to the floor. We climbed on board and off we went.
There really wasn’t much to see. Mostly birds and plants until near the end of the ride. Conrad saw a couple of elephant on the bank so he pulled into a channel to get a better look. We noticed that there was a baby elephant among the memory. All of a sudden the elephants started coming right at us into the water. Conrad moved the boat out of the way of the elephants. We watched as the 4 elephants and the baby swam across the water. The baby held onto its mother's tail and the elephant behind them kept pushing the baby up, preventing it from drowning. The last two elephants stopped to play in the water, one of whom laid down and started kicking his feet. This became my OMG moment of the day.
There really wasn’t much to see. Mostly birds and plants until near the end of the ride. Conrad saw a couple of elephant on the bank so he pulled into a channel to get a better look. We noticed that there was a baby elephant among the memory. All of a sudden the elephants started coming right at us into the water. Conrad moved the boat out of the way of the elephants. We watched as the 4 elephants and the baby swam across the water. The baby held onto its mother's tail and the elephant behind them kept pushing the baby up, preventing it from drowning. The last two elephants stopped to play in the water, one of whom laid down and started kicking his feet. This became my OMG moment of the day.
We were a little late getting back to camp so it was almost dark when we climbed off the boat. We received the traditional welcome with warm wash clothes to wipe off with. Dinner was on the dining porch and served buffet style. After dinner, we were all handed “bush babies” which we realized were hot water bottles. They were very warm and really helped during the night.
