Botswana is a remarkably modern country, its development helped by the find of large diamond deposits shortly after independence. Its major natural features include the Kalahari Desert, where the original so-called Bushmen used to live, and which we didn’t visit; the Okavanga Delta, which is a unique place in that it is the only place in the world where a river does not run into a lake, sea or ocean, but rather it runs into the desert and peters out; and Chobe National Park, which is one of the most impressive gameparks in Southern Africa.
We visited the Okavanga Delta, which is only accessible by Mokoros (the canoes you see above). We camped out in the Delta for two nights.
Among the things we saw were fish eagles and mating hippos (doesn’t he seem to have fun? – you had to be there to appreciate the sound…)
We went to a place called Tsodilo Hills, where there are some ancient rockpaintings (left); on our way there was the first time we had to dig the truck out, using sandmats as in this picture…(right)
Baboons in Chobe National Park
A large crocodile in Chobe National Park (it seems our cameras scared him away)
Chobe has one some of the largest elephant herds in the world
Hippos in and out of the water
And of course, lots of antelope like this impala