Kasane

Greetings from Kasane in northern Botswana. We have now gone as far north as you can in Botswana.  To the north of us lies Zambia, to the northeast Zimbabwe and to the northwest Nambia.

This is the 2^nd most popular tourist destination in the country, or possibly the first.  The reason is the Chobe River and Chobe National Park.  The park is full of wildlife and arguably the largest concentration of elephants in Africa.

From Maun and the Okavango Delta we retraced our steps and spent last night (Wednesday) in Nata.  A village of no great merit but it breaks the trip to Kasane into 2 manageable sections.  I guess the equivalent of Wawa in northern Ontario.  A place on the way to somewhere else.

I should add we did not leave Maun until 2:00 p.m. Wednesday because we spent the morning on a boat tour of the Thamalakane River at the fringe of the delta.  This gave us a feel for the delta from the water’s edge and countless birds.  Probably not as exciting at animals but spectacular in their own right.

From Nata we spent the morning driving north to Kasane.  300 km’s of very little and not helped by the fact that 130km’s of the road were under construction and we had to take a detour road parallel to the main road. Our speed was limited to 60kph.

The one bonus of this section of road is that we passed numerous ostriches and elephants beside the road.  It got to the point we no longer slowed to take photos because we already had enough!  You see 1 ostrich you have seen 100!  Same with the elephants.

The road north terminates at Kazungula where you run into the mighty Zambezi River.  A fascinating place since there is a rather primitive ferry that provides the road connection from Botswana on the south side of the river to Zambia on the north side.

This is the route that takes goods from South Africa via Botswana north to Zambia and even countries further north in Africa.  As a result there was a very long queue of over-sized transport trucks lined up waiting to board the ferry.  The ferry could take 1 transport and 1 car or regular sized vehicle.

In addition to trucks, there was a crowd of people waiting to head north to Zambia with a wide range of goods that they could use or re-sell across the border.  Either these goods such as laundry soap or plastic meal containers that you would get at a fast food restaurant were hard to get in Zambia or must more expensive.  Consequently, there was a lot of pedestrian traffic getting on the ferry to head north and they carried all sorts and sizes of bundles.

From Kazungula we turned west a short distance to Kasane.  A very small and dusty place with very little in the way of stores but a lot of lodges (hotels) primarily catering to the higher end tourist.

We are staying at a guest house up on the ridge overlooking the Chobe River and Zambia.  The owner is a cousin of a friend of ours from Botswana who lives in Ottawa.  Three bedrooms, 2 showers, a living room with tv and a fully kitted kitchen with everything except the food. We shopped at the Spar grocery store for food for the next 3 days.  However, for supper we did break down and got a bucket of 21 pieces of chicken from KFC.  Yes KFC!

Just before sundown we went to the Chobe Safari Lodge to watch the sun set over the river and have a drink at their riverside bar.  Not cheap by any standard and the place was over-run with elderly European tourists (mainly women).  I would hate to guess what the daily room rate was or what supper would cost in the lodge’s restaurant.

We also inquired about a boat cruise on the Chobe River.  We have tentatively booked a 3 hour cruise for 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to get to Victoria Falls either through Zimbabwe or via Zambia (and the ferry). It will be interesting to see how feasible that jaunt is going to be?

I have posted 7 more photos on Flickr which I believe are self-explanatory (?).