20 September

I am now in Maun, a fairly large city (small by european standards) and the safari capital of Botswana. All the companies and lodges have their offices here, and the airport hosts all the small airlines that ferry people from one lodge to another. Most people who visit Botswana do fly between camps; many are inacessible by land, but most people aren't up for the exertion, preparation and effort (and of course risk) that goes into driving through remote wilderness like we have. However tomorrow we will be flying to a lodge, right in the heart of the Okavango delta. We have no other choice as it is completely surrounded by water.

For now we are enjoying the wifi here, and reliving today's memories while I write up the blog.

We went on a game drive at Sango this morning, and went into Moremi to follow up on a leopard sighting. We did manage to see them, but as we were inside the National Park we weren't allowed to off-road to get closer, so they remained in their tree in the distance. We then left the park again to find the lions from last night. We succeeded, but, as lions do, they were just lazing around and not even eating the ripped up zebra carcass lying next to them.

Face wanted to go into the forest and find the female leopard with the cubs, and another guide told him the direction in which she was moving. We moved to anticipate her, and after driving around for a while on the riverbanks realised she wouldnt show up.

It was getting hot, and late, and we were about to move to camp when a guide parked at the road told Face about a wild dog pack which we shortly found lying down. Quickly they got up and walked into the bush and we drove around to the other side where they reappeared. They immediately ran to the water behind us and began to lie in the shallows and lap it up.

Finally driving back to camp, the air was thick with smoke and the bush looked hazy. The sky was gray. Bushfires must have been raging in the distance, as we had seen the red glow in the nights before, many kilometers away. Face would go tonight and fight it by burning a back-fire.

After a relaxed lunch we left, and began the drive through Moremi to Maun. It was fairly boring away from the water and just dry woodland with little signs of life. After leaving the park we had to pass a veterinary fence, and some of our fruits were confiscated.

We began to see small villages and goats grazing at the road-side just like in the Caprivi, and for a second our illusion of Botswana's wealth was shattered when 3 kids came asking for sweets while we failed to get our tyre compressor going.

Here in Maun, we're camping on a site along the Thamalakane river and planning our route back to Namibia and to Mundulea. We had always assumed we would continue south-west along the trans-kalahari highway, but the GPS tells us that it will be quicker if we go up along the delta and enter Namibia in the caprivi before going south. After some calculations we could only agree, and are excited at the prospect of revisiting Mahango, Rundu and Divundu - if only during a quick drive-through. The best part however is that we can visit the Tsodilo Hills, a world heritage site and sacred rock-art site for the bushmen. We will camp there on our way.