AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE – Part 1 – Botswana and Namibia
Out first destination was Impalila Island Lodge. Situated where the four countries of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe meet. The journey began flying from Heathrow to Johannesburg on a flight of just over 11 hours, then taking a connecting flight to Botswana of just an hour to Kasane Airport in Botswana. From here we were taken by minibus to a jetty to meet our transfer by boat with a man who turned out to be our game ranger and companion for the first four days of this adventure – TT.
After passing through immigration in Botswana in the space of 10 minutes we then started our transfer down the Chobe River, stopping at another immigration office, this time for Namibia. We then went on to our lodge; Impalila Island Lodge. We were greeted by the staff on the wooden jetty as the lodge was based right on the river banks of the Mombova Rapids, close to the meeting point of the mighty Zambezi and Chobe rivers.
The lodge has only eight rooms. Each is individually located around the river banks with an infinity pool and decking area and outdoor restaurant area. This really is beautiful and peaceful – except for the resident hippo who reminded you he was there with his calls frequently and the birds and other wildlife to keep you company.
We were here for three nights and our game drives were taken along the rivers in the early morning and evening, returning for breakfast or dinner. We saw hippo, elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles, baboons, monkeys and amazing birdlife. It was a completely different experience from land based safari game drives. Whilst here we also went fishing on the Zambezi for tiger fish; big fish with big teeth! We all caught plenty, TT seeming to know where all the fish were! If fishing or bird watching is your thing, this is one place you have to visit.
We also took a walk one morning through the local village, which was around 10 minutes away and passed the local tree to the enormous Baobab, which is thought to be around 2000 years old. Seeing the local life was wonderful. Anything we had wanted to do on the river was arranged and was never any trouble. We could do as little or as much as we wanted.
After our three nights here we left for Elephant Valley Lodge, bordering the Chobe – Land of the Giants, in Botswana. After returning by river back to Kasane, this time our transfer was by road for about 30 minutes to Elephant Valley Lodge, a game lodge with around 23 luxury tents situated overlooking a water hole, which was always busy. We were unfortunately only here for one night but as soon as we arrived we had lunch and left for our first game drive into the Chobe.
It was a 20 minute drive to the entrance into the reserve, but your game drive really began on leaving the lodge as we saw plenty of elephants and bush bucks even on the transfer. The game rangers were excellent and we were in the reserve until it closed for the night at sundown. As we were leaving at 11 o’clock for our flight back to Johannesburg we didn’t think we would get another game drive, but our ranger realising this asked if we minded getting up early? So the next morning our wakeup call was at 5 am! We left the lodge at 5.20 to be the first at the gates of the park for opening at 6am. This meant we had another three hour game drive just for the three of us, before returning to Elephant Valley to get breakfast and leave for our flight. Fantastic. End of Part One.