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Well now...
...Thought a crocodile ate me didn't you! Last time I wrote I think I was on my way out of WINDHOEK and I had just finished a Gemsbok steak - MAN WAS THAT A GOOD PIECE OF MEAT!
From Windhoek we went to Waterberg plateau. On Waterberg plateau we (Ryan, Jon, myself) went on an unguided 4 day hike. This plateau had no lion or hyena, but it does have rhino, buffalo, and leopard. We basically walked on a path in a loop. It was about 40 to 50 km. After each six hour walk there was a cement type structure with a roof, no walls or doors. I only slept from the hours of 5 to 7am cause I couldn't fall asleep with all the animals around. During the day we walked along the edge of the plateau and you could see the curve of the earth on the horizon. The edge of the plateau had all these amazing natural arches and strange stone formations. One stone was completely round, about the size of a house, resting on a small cone shape stone about as tall as a human, and as wide as a garbage can. We didn't get chased by any rhino or buffalo...or even see a rhino, which was the whole point. But the geography was amazing and it was cool to be very far from other people. A vinagroon was in our campground; well it was more like a cross between a vinagroon and a tarantula.
From Waterberg we went back to Windhoek. And left that morning...
So, I left Windhoek in the morning on a mini-bus, the cheapest transport available (besides hitching). A mini-bus is just an extended van with a trailer on the back. Add that to really old tires, cracked windshield, loose nuts/bolts, no driver's license or insurance, the car is packed with twice the recommended capacity and you have a really shitty car ride. But it's really not that bad. The cool thing was when the driver hit the goat. He decided that he ha the right of way and felt the3 goat should move, never mind you that the van was traveling at about 85mph. So after the goat took a hit, spun in the air twice, it ran away. Then the driver decided that we were all going to help him find the goat, stuff it in the van with us, and find the owner demanding that he owe the driver money. You see, that's when I stepped in... I couldn't let this nonsense continue.
(..much, much later)
We made it to the border of NAMIBIA/BOTSWANA and it was about 7:30pm. We figured no problem someone has got to be coming by sooner or before the border closes at 10pm. NO. We had to spend the night over a field of goat shit.... now that was interesting. The guy we had been traveling with was a diamond smuggler and was watching us a little too closely so we had no choice but to stay with the goat shit.
We flew from Maun over the delta for about 45 minutes. I saw herds of buffalo in the 100s, elephant, reedbuck, waterbuck, hippo, baboons, crocodiles, lichwa, fish, kingfisher eagles, etc... EVERYWHERE...there was so much life. Not to mention the hundreds of waterways, rivers, pools, lakes, grooves, snaking water paths, thousands of animal paths. It was worth it just for the plane ride there and back. Our pilot was even doing aerial stunts with us to make sure at least one of us booted, one Israeli girl did. We then landed in Seronga, the only town in the delta. From Seronga we (I mean myself, Jon, not Ryan - he is in Zimbabwe right now - and three Israelis that we met again in Maun), we got into 2-3 person canoes and went out to the middle of the delta for 3 days. We camped on an island. We went on a canoe/walking safari everyday. We walked among the elephants and others, completely on foot. At night it was very interesting to hear all the animals. We then left Botswana basically as fast as we could, cause it is not really friendly to backpackers, it's expensive and it is a stated policy not to be friendly to backpackers in Botswana.
The Okavango was like a dream come true, if any one out there wants to see one of the wonders of the world, this is it.
After Okavango we traveled to Johannesburg with just one of the Israelis. She left the country the day after she got to Jo'burg, back Israel. Right now I am back in Yeoville, Jo'burg. Got my mail, applied for a research position, had some Israeli food, going to watch Cheek & Chong (yeah!!!) and will be in Maputo tomorrow (June 19).
It's funny cause the people in Botswana weren't really nice, but it is supposed to be a really safe country, low inflation, stable currency, good economy, low corruption in gov, high education...sounds like a western country. But then in Johannesburg the people are really nice and friendly.
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