With no major travel in our motorhome planned for the Summer of 2024 - 2025 our thoughts were focussed on the top of our Bucket List adventure. Although this activity involved neither travel in our motorhome or in fact travel in any part of New Zealand, we wish to share with you our photographic record of our Safari in Africa. Starting in Livingstone at the spectacular Victoria Falls on the equally impressive Zambezi River, our journey took us on a circuitous route of around 5000 kilometres over twenty five days in Botswana, Zambia and mainly Namibia. This fully guided safari offered by The Safari Company of New Zealand was run by our expert guide and safari truck driver Andy, with the support of his very affable and able assistant and cook Nico.
Our major focus of the safari was the abundant wildlife, large and small, of this area of Southern Africa and although there were many other activities available our photographic gallery here is predominantly dedicated to the animals we saw on guided bush walks, from the safari vehicles and the numerous river cruises.
A brief itinerary follows;
- Before leaving Livingstone we took our first game drive by Four Wheel Drive vehicle in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park incorporating a Walking Safari with White Rhinos.
- Travelling west we spent three days exploring Etosha National Park and the Etosha salt pan.
- Continuing west through Damaraland visiting a 280 million year old petrified forest and ancient rock drawings at Twyfelfontein.
- Further west through remarkable geological formations and scenic vistas to reach The Skeleton Coast National Park and Cape Cross Seal Reserve on the shore of the South Atlantic Ocean where it is claimed up to 210,000 seals congregate in the breeding season of November and December.
- Turning to the east and skirting the northern extremities of The Namib Desert we visited the small settlement of Solitaire with its rusting vintage cars on display, before reaching the giant sand hills of Sesriem. Animal life can be found even in this harsh arid environment.
- Proceeding north then east across the northern fringes of the vast Kalahari to the Okavango Delta ( the largest inland river delta in the world ) where we were poled by local guides in Mokoros (dugout canoes) for a night camping out on the Delta and guided bush walks.
- After a night at Elephant Sands Lodge getting close to Elephants drinking at the flood lit water hole our next stop was in Kasane on the banks of the Chobe River for our last 4WD game drive of the safari in Chobe National Park, Botswana, followed by a nature cruise on the Chobe River.
- Back in Livingstone, our last sunset cruise on the upper Zambezi River concluded our trip of a lifetime.
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