After the Kruger Park part of my tour I stayed in hostel on the outskirts of Johannesburg. There was some discussion with Eugene in the Selous Safari office as to when I would be picked up for the trip to Victoria Falls.
The owner of the hostel confirmed my thoughts- “Eugene is a dill”. The owner told me that “he has never old him the correct numbers to expect to be staying at the hostel – surely that can’t be difficult”. It seems that Eugene finds most things difficult, including telling the time.
Anyway, it was finally agreed that I was to be picked up a 5.00 a.m. The driver, David arrived 10 minutes early.
We headed into the Maboeng Precinct to collect some more passengers. They turned out to be an English Bloke in his early twenties who works for Transport for London, a young Canadian student, a Swiss nurse and German dental technician.
Off to Pretoria
We head out of Johannesburg for Pretoria. Once into the city, it immediately reminded me a bit of Canberra.
We went into the suburb where a lot of the embassies are located. Our next passenger was German bloke who is an Economics Professor. He was in Pretoria delivering some lectures at the university. He was taking advantage being in RSA to do this safari.
Long drive
With all the passenger on board we headed north towards the Botswanan Border. It was a very long drive. The journey was broken with meals stops, comfort stops and a stops, short of the border, to buy some supplies.
Crossing the Border
Crossing the border was uneventful, however I did notice that the window for the Diplomats was also where the ‘Retirees’ were processed. I guess these two groups have similar characteristics.
Rhino Sanctuary
It was late in the evening when we arrived at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary where we were to stay the night.
David checked us in at the office at the main gate. We then drive on a very sand track to the camp ground, which turned out to be over 3 kilometers from the main gate.
We had to pitch our tents. This was a bit of a slow process in the dark. Once that was done, David cooked a meal. This was a great effort considering he been up since before 2.00 a.m. and had driven all day.
Wake up to be the Animals
We were woken up before dawn.
One of the park Rangers arrived in 4WD. We were off to see some rhinoceroses at other animals. It was quite a long drive through quite dense low trees and bushes before we emerged in to an open area.
The Ranger pointed out a rhinoceros in the distance. He said that we would see it later and we drove on. We came across some Zebra and lots on antelope.
As we continued on we came across some wilder beast. One much to the amusement of the Swiss nurse decided to relieve himself. This was a very long process.
We turned back to the where the Ranger had spotted the rhinoceros. Has had fully grown horn. There is no need to take the horns off in the park, as there is no poaching. The Ranger told up the “the military deal with poaches”. I think we can guess what ‘dealing’ means.
As we moved on we came across a herd of springboks. At various times they would suddenly start to run in one direction, leaping into the air as they went. They would then turn and head back to where they had come from. The Ranger explained that they were “teaching the young how to run and jump. This is how that they escape from lions and leopards.
We then came across two young rhinoceros. One was on the ground. The other was nudging it. The Ranger said the one on the ground was a female and the other, a male, was trying to get her to stand. It was funny to watch.
As we headed back to the camp, we crossed lots of different tracks. It would be very easy to get lost in the park.
Back at the camp, David had cooked breakfast. It was really good.
Heading further North
After breakfast we were back in the bus and heading north. It was another long day of driving.
We stopped for lunch at a shopping centre. The most popular place to eat seemed to be Wimpy. This was because it had internet Wi Fi , not because of the food.
Elephant Sanctuary
Our camp this night was at the Elephant Sands resort. This is a fairly flash place. We had a meal in the restaurant. It was very good food.
The main entertain was a ‘Bush Baby’ a.k.a Gagalao – tiny monkey. It was very tame and played with the guests.
Very Early Start
We had a very early start in the morning. David explained that he wanted to get to the Zimbabwean border as soon as possible to avoid being delayed.
As we approached the border, we came across a large number of trucks. These trucks were headed to Zambia. The Zambian border is very close. David explained that trucks the trucks have to wait up to a week to cross the border as there is no bridge and there are delays on the ferry.
Border Crossing
The border crossing into Zimbabwe turned out to be relatively painless. You are required to purchase a visa in USD. There ae a number of prices, depending where you are from. Surprisingly Australia is in the cheapest category. The UK and EU citizens pay the mid-range. Much to the horror of the Canadian girl, there is a special higher price for them. Somehow the Canadians must have upset Mugabe. I suspect it was Harper.
I bought a ‘double entry’ visa. This would enable me to cross over to Zambia while we were in Victoria Falls.
Once from the border we were soon at Victoria Falls.
We had breakfast and we ready to head off to see the falls.
Flickr Links
Link to Khama Rhino Sanctuary
http://www.khamarhinosanctuary.org.bw/
Elephant Sands
Bush Baby
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