BOTSWANA: FROM JOHANNESBURG TO MAUN TO THE OKAVANGO DELTA TO THE KADIZORA CAMP

It was a little tricky to get from Namibia to our next destination in Botswana as there were no flights between the two places.  We started with a flight from Windhoek, Namibia, to Johannesburg, South Africa. We spent the night in Johannesburg (see previous post) and then took a flight to Maun, which is the jumping off point for the busy Botswana tourism industry in the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve. With a population of about 55,000 people, Maun (the "au" pronounced "ow" as in "ouch") is the 5th largest city in Botswana.

Our Johannesburg-Maun flight took about 1.5 hours, just enough time for the attendants to feed us a light, tasty lunch. When we landed in Maun, we walked down the rollaway stairs and got in a s-l-o-w passport control line that snaked around several u-turns in the outdoor heat. 

After about half an hour we made it through passport control and security, but then we had to wait again, this time in a little room with chairs lined up auditorium-style facing a tiny TV playing animal documentaries inexplicably made in the USA:

I did have one random observation in the tiny Maun airport. The toilet seat covers were made by Kimberly-Clark, a company that has connections to my home city. (The Kimberlys used to spend the winter where I now live, and their beautiful Victorian home has become a local historical landmark.) Weird, I know, but an indication of how small our world is--in some ways.

Finally, it was our turn to board a tiny 8-seater plane (pilot, co-pilot, and 6 passengers) bound for the Kadizora Camp in the Okavango Delta.  This plane, and a few more we would take like it, was the reason that the only luggage we brought with us was a small-ish duffel bag and a backpack. It's the least amount of luggage we've ever traveled with, and I don't think we'll travel so lightly again unless we have to.

Up, up and away!

I have read and loved The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith, and I reread a couple before this trip in anticipation of our time in Botswana. The books are set in Gaborone, Botswana's capital, which is far away from where we were traveling, but I figured we would see small communities that reminded me of the books, right?

Wrong. This was the closest I got to seeing a "town" in Botswana:

However, I also re-watched the TV series, and there are actually some scenes shot in the Okavango Delta, so I still feel like I had some of the Detective Agency experience.

But back to the flight, which had spectacular views:

Those are trees sticking up out of the water, not animals wading in it:

We were flying fairly low, and the ride was bumpy. I'm not good with air turbulence and was feeling pretty green. (When we finally arrived at our camp, I was given some juice with a hefty spoonful of cinnamon stirred into it to quiet my upset stomach. It did seem to help.)

We noticed quite a bit of smoke and learned later that the government burns the old, tall brush to encourage new growth, which in turn encourages wildlife, which, of course, brings in tourists and tourism dollars.

After about 20 minutes in the air, we went in for a landing.  Two men from Los Angeles who were on the plane were going to a camp in this area:

This waterhole appears to have a herd of zebras around it:

The outskirts of the Okavango Delta:

Touch down on a short dirt airstrip . . .

. . . a quick drop off, and then right back up into the air for another 30 minute bumpy flight to another dirt airstrip. Can you see our shadow?

The fingers of the delta claw their way into the dry land:

After all the dry, scorched earth we had flown over, the delta looked particularly spectacular:

Hundreds of miles from civilization, we said good-bye to our pilot and his cute plane:

We were met at the airstrip by KT, a local Botswanian who would be our personal guide for the next 24 hours or so. He drove a 9-passenger Land Rover, and we were his only passengers. In five or ten minutes, we arrived at Kadizora Camp, where we were warmly welcomed by part of the 38-member staff:

The camp has room for about 30 guests, but there were just 15 on our first day there. We were extremely well-taken care of, even after the camp filled up the next day.

One of the first things we saw when we walked into the lodge area was a large elephant standing right next to the deck. Unfortunately, my camera was buried deep in my pack. John, the general manager, said they have named this elephant Franklin. Apparently this area had been his feeding ground for many years before the camp was built, and there was no way he was going to let a bunch of buildings and a few dozen humans change that. A giant tree grows over the tents that make up the lodge area, and it drops hard chestnut-sized balls called marula that are Franklin's favorite food. He hangs around for hours every day, sweeping his trunk along the ground to scoop up the fruit and swing them up to his mouth, where he crushes them between his shoe-sized molars.

Unfortunately, Franklin causes all kinds of problems, such as breaking railings, pulling down support poles, and so on. He also has two friends who hang out with him occasionally, and they are even more destructive than he is and harder for the staff to chase away. Every year the three of them cause hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of damages, and there isn't much that the camp can do about it.

Hanging out in the common area

After we signed some liability-release forms (THAT always inspires confidence), we were escorted to our luxury tent cabin, where we were able to unpack and freshen up before returning to the main lodge area. We had been warned that after dark we would have to be escorted to and from our quarters by camp personnel because of the risk of encountering an unfriendly animal in the dark, and we were given a bell to be used to call for help.

I had been a bit nervous about our accommodations when Bob told me we would be sleeping in a tent. The word "tent" used to define our quarters is misleading. Our room had a concrete floor covered by a sisal rug, two very comfortable beds covered with white coverlets, screen windows, and a full indoor bathroom--with TWO sinks.  It also had electricity, although not enough to run a hair dryer.

All my concerns about our lodgings were put to rest, and I could tell we were in for a fun adventure. As it turned out, our time at Kadizora Camp in Botswana was my favorite part of the trip.

READING AND VIDEO

The obvious reading choice for a trip to Botswana is the Alexander McCall Smith series, The No.  1 Ladies' Detective Agency. There are 19 volumes, the first written in 1998 and the most recent written this year. Smith has averaged almost a book a year.  Even though these books are set in Gabarone, which is in the far southeast corner of Botswana, and we were in Kadizora Camp in the northwest corner of the country, there are many things in the book that applied to our experience. For example, the main character in these books is Mma Precious Ramotswe. It took me a while to make the connection, but our safari driver called me "Mma." At first I thought he was saying "Mama" or "Ma," but then I realized it was "Mma," a Botswanian term of respect akin to "ma'am." 

 Book 11 in the series, The Double Comfort Safari Club, is even set in a safari camp in the Okavanga Delta. It's high on my "To Read" booklist.

The BBC/HBO TV series, starring the wonderful Jill Scott as Mma Ramotswe, is as fun to watch as the books are to read. It premiered in England in 2008 and in the US in 2009. Sadly, only six episodes were filmed, in spite of very positive reviews. The episodes were all filmed in Botswana, making it the country's first major film or television project. It is available on Amazon Prime.

The episodes follow some of the plots in the books, but in addition to the creative storytelling, viewers get to hear Botswanian accents, observe typical behaviors, see authentic clothing and food, and enjoy lots of shots of the local flora and fauna. If you like the books, you'll love the TV series, available on Amazon Prime Video.

Finally, when I was looking for video material about Botswana after the trip, I ran across this extended interview with the book series' author, Alexander McCall Smith. The 50-minute documentary begins with Smith leading the cameraman and viewers to various places in Botswana that have figured in his books. His obvious love for the country and its people shines through.

In the second half of the video, in which McCall introduces the difficult issues facing Botswana today, such as HIV/AIDS problems and inadequate medical care, was interesting but unrelated to the book series.