Country Round-Up: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia

Jon & Lana Sotherland Botswana, Country Round-Up, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe

*Note: Rather than doing a separate country round-up for each of these four countries, we have combined them into one post since we spent such little time in each.

Statistics

Days: 25. We were in Namibia February 14-26, in Botswana February 27-March 3, Zimbabwe March 4-6, and Zambia March 7-10.

Cities: 13. Namibia: Orange River, Fish River Canyon, Sesriem, Namib National Park, Swakopmund, Spitzkoppe, Etosha, Grootfontein, and Bagani. Botswana: Okavango Delta and Chobe. Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls. Zambia: Livingstone.

Apartment Rentals: 0.

Hotels/Hostels: 3. Most of our time in these four countries was spent camping, but we did stay in three different lodgings: Municipal Rest Camp in Swakopmund, Namibia; N1 Hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe; and Ngoma Zanga Lodge in Livingstone, Zambia.

Modes of Transportation: 7. Intrepid truck, mokoro, 4×4 Jeep, boat, zipline, walking, and taxi.

We spent a lot of time relaxing in the comfortable lobby of Ngoma Zanga Lodge in Zambia. It was one of our favorite places we’ve stayed!

Q&A

What was your favorite site or place that you visited?

J: Victoria Falls (the actual falls, not the city). It was much different than visiting Niagara Falls and incredible to get so close to them.

L: This is a REALLY hard question to answer since we visited so many incredible places! If I have to pick, I’m going to give my top three: meeting the San Bushmen and getting to learn about their lifestyle; Etosha National Park, since it was our first encounter with wildlife; and Victoria Falls, from both sides of the falls. There are so many other places I loved visiting, but I think that these are my top choices.

We got so close to Victoria Falls – despite the ponchos, we were soaking wet!

What was the biggest surprise you had during this time?

J: Meeting the locals. I didn’t know what to expect when traveling throughout Africa and the locals were all very generous, hospitable, friendly, and polite. I liked getting to know the people who live in the places we visited!

L: Both how remote everything is and yet how accessible it can be. The distances are long with not much civilization along the way, making you aware of just how far removed you are from anyone else. However, despite the distances and isolation, I was also surprised at how accessible it could be for someone to visit on their own. Jon and I had debated for a while on taking a tour like Intrepid or traveling independently. We were both scared of the unknown so elected to take a tour for part of our time. While we definitely don’t regret that decision, since it was a highlight of our entire year abroad, we realized how easy it would be to travel on our own when we return.

This was typical of the roads we drove on – unpaved and no civilization in sight!

What was the lowest point for this part of the trip?

J: I didn’t like the city of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. It was sad to see such high unemployment and how many people were begging and trying to sell things every time we walked by.

L: I got a bit overwhelmed after spending two days bush camping in the Okavango Delta. Those who know me, know that I’m not a very outdoorsy girl and had to “practice” camping before we left on our adventure. Two days of camping in the bush was enough for me so I needed to take a nap, shower, and have a beer to rejuvenate myself and remember why I was doing it! Other than those few hours to myself, I don’t think we had any low moments while visiting these countries!

What was your favorite food or meal that you had?

J: The lamb chops that Peter and Makori (our cook and guide on the Intrepid trip) made for dinner one night while at bush camp in Namibia. (Lana’s note: Jon originally said the sushi that we ate at Ocean Basket both in Swakopmund and Livingstone, but wanted to change his answer to a meal not from a chain restaurant!)

L: Easily the curry chicken dish that Peter made for dinner two different nights. Our entire group loved it so much the first time he made it that he cooked it again for his last evening with the group before he left. I only wish I would have gotten the recipe from him because I would love to try and recreate it!

This was one of my favorite meals – curry chicken made by Peter. Complete with wine and candlelight!

What would you change if you were to do it again?

J: I would have gone further on the tour with Intrepid. We had a great time with the group and I wish we would have had the time and money to continue with the tour.

L: Had I known how great our Intrepid tour would be and how much we would love traveling with the friends we made on the tour, I would have booked a longer trip with them. However, it’s hard to say that I would book a long trip in the future since a tour like that really depends on the people who are in your group. We loved our group so much that I wish we would have been able to continue traveling with them through more of Africa, but I’m happy that we got to meet and interact with them for the three weeks that we did!

What advice would you give someone doing a similar trip and route?

J: I would advise going with a group when travelling across multiple countries in Africa. It seems like it would be difficult travelling on our own and crossing borders. I had talked to a few solo travelers who had been harassed by the officials wanting bribes. It was easier traveling with our group where Markori (our tour leader) took care of logistics. We saw the highlights of each country and our time was maximized by the schedule that Intrepid had put together. I also liked having a cook and driver with us so that we didn’t need to worry about those aspects on our own.

L: Keep a journal! There was so much that we did and saw every day that it is easy to forget some things. I tried to write in my journal every or every other night and looking back, I’m so happy that I have that record of everything we experienced. Memories fade and having that to reference is invaluable. I think the other piece of advice would be to throw yourself into the experience. Makori  encouraged us to talk to locals, try new foods, discuss politics, and do things we ordinarily wouldn’t do. Because he pushed us to experience all that we could, our time in Africa was richer for the things we tried and did.

Having Makori available to help with logisics, particularily with border crossings, made our overland trip smooth and worry-free!

What is the best memory that you’ll carry with you?

J: Lana’s birthday, where we took a pontoon boat ride to a little island and watched the sunset, then had a good dinner with birthday cake later. I also liked trying my hand at poling the mokoro in the Okavango Delta and loved all the different game drives we took. (Lana’s note: Jon also mentioned one other memory that I won’t post in this blog, so ask him for details about our arrival at bush camp in the Okavango Delta!)

L: Making friends on our Intrepid tour was the best memory that I have. The people made our experience so much more personal and enjoyable than we could have imagined. A very close second-best memory that I have is of all the amazing sunsets (and a few sunrises!) that we saw. There is absolutely nothing like an African sunset, whether it’s seen from the top of a mountain or across a parking lot of a campground. Although I’ve seen other sunsets  around the world that are beautiful, there’s nothing like an African sunset.

We spent my birthday taking a pontoon boat ride to a sandy island on the Okavango River in Namibia – what a special memory!

We saw too many beautiful sunsets to count – Africa gave us some of the best we’ve ever seen!

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Read about our time in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia…

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