Victoria Falls & Botswana

In some of my previous blogs I focused on the golf side of things – we are a golf specialist after all – but you simply cannot travel to the far tip of Africa and not experience more of what this amazing continent has to offer.  So, following on from my theme of ‘journeying’ not ‘travelling’, this blog will take you north from South Africa into Zimbabwe to Victoria Falls – one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, and ends on safari in the incomparable Botswana.

I find it’s best to travel in late April to mid-May, which is by far the best time to enjoy both the incredible power of Victoria Falls, which is when the mighty Zambezi River is at it’s peak flow and when the annual flood of the Okavango Delta usually arrives. The weather is also not too hot during the day, nor too cold at night.

Rovos Rail – Pretoria to Victoria Falls

The journey will start as you pull out of Pretoria in style aboard one of Rovos Rail’s elegant ‘train sets’ for the three night (900 mile) itinerary, crossing through South Africa’s Limpopo Province and passing the town of Bela Bela, famed locally for it’s warm mineral waters. The pioneers who ‘discovered’ the springs called it Warmbaths, which was factually accurate just not terribly original, but the Victorians were not that creative in this regard! On route you’ll have enjoyed a wine paired four course lunch and afternoon tea, and will cross the Tropic of Capricorn over dinner.

The next morning you’ll clear customs formalities and cross into Zimbabwe travelling through Matabeleland to the city of Bulawayo. The landscapes here are vast as the train takes you across the seemingly endless grasslands of the high veld. Take the opportunity to visit the rear viewing deck, gin & tonic in hand of course, for an African tradition - a toast to the sun as its dips below the horizon. African sunsets are somehow magical, but perhaps it’s the G&T adding to the experience.

Dawn sees the train closing in on the Hwange National Park, a diverse wildlife area where you’ll most likely spot wildlife from the train but to be sure, you’ve the chance to disembark for a game drive with local rangers into the park.

After another good night’s sleep you arrive at the world famous Victoria Falls at about 10:00. I checked into The Royal Livingstone on the Zambian side for the night and took a pre-arranged tour  (thank you Rovos) of the Falls. Known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya (‘the smoke that thunders’), it is truly impressive with all your senses assaulted at the same time.

I awoke already in great anticipation of the next four days and shortly after breakfast was collected for the hour or so transfer to Kazangula, where a boat awaited to take me across the Zambezi, and onwards to Kasane, the northern hub for access to Botswana.

Botswana

I had a four night stay arranged at two camps, one in the more remote Linyanti region abutting the Chobe National Park and one in the heart of the Okavango Delta. The light aircraft across the Chobe lasts about 45 minutes and gives an amazing view of the major features within the park, especially the life giving watercourses that feed the Zambezi. A short open game drive transfer later will see you arrive at Duma Tau, a camp with 10 en-suite tented rooms set in the bush on the banks of the Osprey Lagoon, the most perfect setting for sundowner G&T’s, open air dining and post safari yarns at the fire pit.

The wildlife in this part of northern Botswana did not disappoint, on the first game drive later that afternoon we came across a small pride of lions waking from their daytime slumber and were privileged to watch them for over an hour as they woke up, walked over to greet each other and set off for a night’s hunting. That nights sundowner was a lavish affair with a full bar with safari bean bag set up in a large clearing ringed by mopane woodland, out of which came the same pride we had just watched walking directly towards us!

As if that wasn’t enough wildlife interaction for one day, over dinner it was noticeable that the guides were getting a little distracted. The ever rising sound of branches breaking announced the arrival of a herd of some twenty elephants, who proceeded to enter the lagoon about 30 yards from the dining deck and swim across the lagoon. Dinner was paused as we watched an elephant calf holding onto its mother’s tail disappear into the darkness. Quite a way to end the day.

A short flight from Duma Tau into the heart of the Okavango Delta took me to Little Vumbura, comprising just 6 en-suite tented rooms situated on a small-tented island in a permanently flooded part of the delta and only reached by boat. Naturally water based activities are a major focus of Little Vumbura, both in expertly poled mekoros (dug out canoes) and powered boats.

Following a ‘is that really the time’ wake up call, our early morning safari took seven guests through the pristine water channels of the delta, home to an incredible variety of flora and fauna; birdlife is especially prolific from the tiny yet beautifully plumed malachite kingfisher to the majestic fish eagle, both of which were seen that morning along with giraffe, lechwe and zebra.

My final activity of the trip was a sunset mokoro ride with five other guests to a small island for a walk and the ubiquitous G&T. On our return journey a hippo appeared from the riverine grasslands about a hundred yards in front of us, turned to look at us and walked on.

Perhaps it was Botswana’s way of saying ‘come back and we’ll show you more’.