| Introduction
to Botswana, the Zambezi valley and Zambia
Rains originating in the Angola Highlands and flowing southeast into Southern Africa as the Okavango, Kwando, and Zambezi Rivers form one of the world's most fascinating ecologies. This area encompasses many of the great wildlife parks and regions of the world, including the Okavango/Moremi area, Savute, Linyanti and Chobe, the upper and lower Zambezi National Parks, Matusadona, Mana Pools, Kafue, and North and South Luangwa Parks. We
at Cape to Cairo began our fascination with this region 20 years
ago on an overland camping safari using a Land-Rover to travel through
Magkgadikgadi Pans, Nxai Pan, Moremi, Savuti, and Chobe up to Victoria
Falls. The little visited Nxai Pan National Park remains one of our
favorites to this day. It was reached, in those days, by the old
Nata to Maun road, which was still a dirt road, often flooded as it crossed
through Suwa Pan. Just south of Nxai Pan, on the opposite side of the Maun
road lies the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, whose rolling grasslands
are today one of the last remaining venues for the zebra and wildebeest
migrations throughout Africa, taking place at the first hints of new rain
and fresh grass in the semi-desert areas.
Maun itself was a traditional African village with goats, mud huts, and the refugees of the British Empire, whose livers were as unreliable as the Landrover’s they drove. In those days, when back from conducting safaris into the remote parts of the Okavango, guides and hunters sought cures for the former malady at the bar of Riley’s hotel, and while awaiting repairs to the latter at Riley’s garage, not much more than a tin shed with an Indian mechanic regarded as a font of wisdom and possessed of magical powers by native and expat alike. The unreliability of vehicles in those days was well portrayed in Jamie Uys’s popular movie “the God’s Must be Crazy,” which, should be regarded - at least on this account - as historical documentary, and not the slapstick comedy it appears to the uninitiated. One of the watering holes en route was, and remains the well-known Gweta rest camp. In days gone by it was run by Keith and Margie Poppleton. We remember being regalled around the camp fire by Keith's tales of adventure in the bush, and recordings at Savute of hyena chasing lion off of kills, a phenomena now well documented, but much doubted in those days when fiction loomed larger than fact in African wildlife stories. and were saddened to learn more recently of a terrible accident when Keith was fatally injured by a wild-gunshot fired by a panicking ranch hand while Keith was leading a hunt for a lion that was maurauding the local cattle. The panic occurred when the lion they were tracking rounded them and turned up in the middle of the line. While one mourns the passage of a certain romance that has disappeared with paved roads and competition from the far more reliable Toyota's, one must congratulate Botswana on what it has achieved in the past two decades as one of the real success stories of Sub Saharan Africa. Wealth generated by the discovery of diamonds at Jaweng and Orapa have been wisely invested in providing broad oversees educational opportunities for the citizens of Botswana. Twenty years ago a border guard found a New York City subway token during a baggage inspection and laughed with incredulity at our description of its use and intent. Today the son’s and daughters of those customs officials now call us for flights on 747’s to return home from their studies at universities across the United States. While modernizing, the other result of the success of Botswana has been its unsurpassed commitment to wildlife conservation with large parks and private concessions containing a fabulous quantity and diversity of wildlife. Transportation and accommodations are as good as they need to be while not compromising the unspoiled nature of the experience in Botswana. With a low population density and a deliberate policy of high-quality low-impact tourism, the wildlife, birdlife, and natural beauty have to be experienced. Many citizens take up careers as safari guides in the reserves and concessions. While tribal pride, traditions, and language remain, these are a subcurrent to a thriving national culture that has emerged in recent decades. North of Maun is the Okavango/Moremi area, which is the end of the Okavango river as it flows into a myriad of channels in the desert and evaporates. Further north still is the Kwando River, which flows into Linyanti marsh, reemerges as the Linyanti River and flows into the Chobe river which joins the Zambezi at the meeting point of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana. |
Zambezi
Basin- Five Rivers Safari Special - $200 per person per night
Five companies in western Zambia, Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and northern Botswana have joined in cooperation as the very first step towards the formation of a Transfrontier Park envisaged within the Zambezi Basin area. The participating camps and lodges are:
Central Kalahari Game Reserve: Deception Valley Lodge. |
