Pans to Maun

Now Thamalakane River Lodge near Maun was the most stunning of all the lodges we stayed at. Wonderful  setting. I trotted down to Val and Betty’s chalet at the end (with its own splash pool) and out of the kindness of my heart helped them consume a bottle of champagne on the veranda overlooking the river and watched the sun go down.

Then stupendous dinner – huge beef fillet washed down by some cider and another bottle of wine. (Oh must have seen some animals too...)

Chobe river to Makgadikgadi Pans

Morning game drive in Cohbe National Park was a little disappointing given the game supposed to be in it, and what we had seen from the river the night before. Then a 6 hour drive across very monotonous landscape to the Makgadikgadi Pans.

These gained a certain notoriety from a Top Gear expedition. We asked what we were being whisked off to see and we were told the sun setting over the beautiful nothingness. Well one can argue about the aesthetics but not the nothingness. Short grass as far as the eye can see in one direction; dried mud in the other. Classic comment from an elderly lady on the trip "Is it safe to leave our bags here?" There wasn't as much as a tree let alone another human in a at least a km radius! It was as if Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon would have been "Is it safe to leave stuff here?"

So watched the sun going down over nothing, which is a little unimpressive, so we had to improvise with props to get a decent photo....

At least the Nata Lodge was nice, but never had the time to use the pool.

Chobe river

Woken at 6.30 not by roar of lions but roar of aircraft from nearby Livingstone Airport. Needless to say more than a little grumpy from day before. But off we set for the Botswana leg of the journey, starting with the ferry over the Zambezi. Now don’t think of cross-channel ferries. This one takes foot passengers, one lorry and one other vehicle at a time. The queue of lorries was so long that we were told it can be up to a 5 day wait. Apparently, a major source of AIDS, as the lorry drivers one distraction for their long wait was visiting prostitutes. So want to reduce AIDS in Africa? Build a bridge across the Zambezi.

Lovely lodge at Kubu. Nice pool.

And evening cruise along the Chobe River was just stunning. Lots of wildlife on the banks, and finished off with elephants at sunset.

South Luwangwa to Livingstone

Not a good day.

A visit to the Textile Factory (ie gift shops) hardly sets the pulse rating, but that was our stop on the way to the airport. I feigned a little half-hearted interest in the various stalls while the ladies entered into a frenzy of shopping for cushion-covers and table-runners. In the end I settled on a sofa with a cold drink, a book and my mp3 player and waited til it was all over.

Then on to the airport. Now Mfuwe International Airport seems a bit of misnomer since all flights seem to be to Lusaka. And unfortunately due to an administrative cock-up, we weren't booked on any of them. And the airport has hardly any facilities, and such as they were (a small refreshment kiosk) were padlocked. So not the best place to spend an afternoon fretting on how we were going to continue with the tour in the absence of space on the plane.

Ultimately solved, some hours later, by chartering a 6-seat ex-Vietnam war Cessna aircraft. Well, a bit of an adventure. Felt rather like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. We all had individual headsets so could actually hear all contact with air control as well as the pilot.

But great sunset from above the clouds

And when we finally reached Lusaka, only an 8 hour drive back to Livingstone. Bed at 2.30am. Long bad day.

South Luwangwa

Perhaps the surprising thing not to have seen in Kafue was zebra, and I am particularly fond of zebra. But they were here, and an especially nice sub-species with very sharp stripes. Lions appeared again, and a rather mangy male, whom we understood had fought with a younger lion and won. Having said that he didn't look too good. On the way out soon one guessed, particularly when one saw his opposition who looked a lot better. And indeed we caught up with him a day later, happily involved in mating with a lioness. Watched the whole thing. More than once. The lioness asking for it by arching her back and stretching seductively, the male languidly getting up with that "Oh do I really have to do this again" look (as indeed he had just finished his last session 10 minutes ago) then quickly mounting her and almost as quickly dismounting and plopping down exhausted, she then doing a post-coital role of pleasure (well lions don't smoke so what else?) and then they both lie down to recuperate for a few minutes before starting all over again. This led me to thinking I should set up a kitty porn web-site with a video of this. Well, every other specialist taste is catered for on the web. Perhaps it should be extended to other large mammals. As I say I have a thing for zebra. And on the antelope front I really go for the sheer elegance of the impala with their slim features and one twist horns. So much more refined than the big kudu with their double spiral horns - impressive yes but a bit brassy. And then the water-buck with their white rings on their bottoms as if to say "Here is your target big boy - enter here." Just no class, but might appeal to some.

It was my birthday here, which the ladies kindly arranged to be marked with a chocolate birthday cake at dinner, but I didn't get my birthday wish of a leopard, just the sight of a leopard kill - a dead impala hanging from a tree with a pining hyena underneath. Unfortunately for him, hyenas can't climb trees, which is why the leopard could leave his dinner unattended.

However, the next evening I got my prezzie a day late. Indeed not one but two leopards. The second was very well hidden in a tree, but then suddenly came out and passed behind our vehicle, so fast that I couldn't zoom  out and refocus fast enough for a decent shot. But since I was sat at the back, basically I will never get closer to a leopard without it actually eating me. Quite a thrill really.

On our drives we looked for giraffe but found none. But then while sitting by the pool one day, they just came to us, 13 of them crossing the dried river bed to get a drink from the still flowing channel.

Some of our night drives started to turn up nocturnal creatures in the spotlights, including a wild cat, a genet and the rather rare and aggressive honey badgers (which I had never even heard of let alone expected to see). And a giant eagle owl with a dead genet in its claws - you can see the photo with stripy genet's tail under the owl's talons

And not to be outdone, some truly spectacular birds on offer, including the lilac-breasted roller and the carmine-breasted bee-eater. Just splashes of brilliant colour.

And sunsets. Did I say I wouldn't burble on about sunsets...?