Southern and Eastern African Safari
Africa trip
July 30: IAH to JNB
Checked in at the United lounge after reaching the airport. Free food and drinks, though it was busy. The Turkish Airlines flight took off on time.
After some restful sleep on the flight, I landed at Istanbul airport. I took the airside Yotel, which charges $20 an hour. It’s a small room with a shared bathroom. The shower costs an extra $15. I slept on and off for 4 hours.
The dinner prices at Istanbul airport are a scam! It was $85 for one Adana kebab and a glass of Turkish red wine! The Turkish alcoholic beverage Raki was much more reasonable. The airport is huge! As a result, there is a lot of walking involved.
The next flight was late at night, too, so another round of sleeping on the aircraft.
August 1: JNB to WDH
Landed in Johannesburg and immigration asked me why I was heading to Namibia later that day - what is there to see in Namibia, he asked! I like immigration officials with a sense of humour!
Checked into a nearby Radisson Hotel for a shower and nap. Then headed to the airport. The flight was delayed, so I had drinks with a fellow passenger. The alcohol is very cheap in Southern Africa!
My flight to Windhoek was short. The hotel forgot to send a car, so I took an airport taxi. The airport is far and in a desolate place. The hotel Avani was nice.
August 2: G Adventures
The next day, I took the city tour of Windhoek. It’s a small city with some German influence. The odd part is that they took us to the shanty town/ slum. It didn’t look as bad as slums in Asia, though it was all tin shacks.
After the tour, I headed to a local restaurant and institution called Joe’s Beerhouse. It was a pretty outdoor restaurant. I had game meat of 5 animals - zebra, springbok, oryx, giraffe and crocodile! My vegetarian friends and family would have been scandalised 🤣.
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Christuskirche - German-style church Steak meats from 5 animals
That evening, I checked into Hotel Auas and met my fellow G-Adventures travellers (https://www.gadventures.com/trips/botswana-and-victoria-falls-adventure/DADF/itinerary/). There were two families - one from France and the other from the UK. We all had dinner together with our guide, Charlton and bus driver Elwyn.
August 3
The next day, we started out for Botswana. The landscape was mostly desert - we were definitely in the Kalahari now. After a break in a border town, we crossed over to Botswana. It was mostly Western tourists at the border immigration.
Our lodge was a local Bushmen tribe run eco-friendly place. The two Bushmen tribal women took us for a nature walk in the evening. The ant-eater hole was particularly interesting.
That night we had a BBQ with all the food we got in the border town. The lodge ran on solar power, so electricity was switched off at 8 pm. There was no wifi either. But we had a bonfire after dinner - the night was chilly since it was winter in the southern hemisphere.
August 4
The next day, we headed to Maun, which is the main town of the Okavangu Delta. There was a mall where we had lunch, and it looked very first-world.
Once we checked into the Sedia Riverside hotel, I just relaxed while my fellow travellers took a helicopter ride over the delta. We had a fun dinner with a lot of South African cognacs.
August 5
We boarded a Toyota Land Cruiser, which was open and designed for a safari. The trip to the Okavangu Delta was a real cross-country drive on a sandy pathway. We saw elephants, zebras and hyenas.
My tour group
Elephants on the way to Okavango Delta
We reached our tented camp early afternoon. We had lunch with fellow travellers from the camping G Adventure group. Our tents were clamping style - with a bed, lights, a shower and a toilet. The camping group said this was luxurious. We said this was the lowest standard hotel on our trip!
In the late afternoon, we boarded onto canoes called Mroros, which were made of fibreglass. They used to be built by morro trees, but the government stopped that to preserve the forest. Deb and I got into one. We had seen hippopotamuses in the river earlier, so I was a bit nervous. But our guides were experienced and took us around the delta. We then walked for an hour looking at a lot of animal poop - especially elephant, giraffe and buffalo dung. One of our guides tasted the dung and identified it as belonging to a female giraffe 🤮.
We got back to our tents in the mroros. That night, we hung out in a big group around a campfire 🔥 and played games. It was fun and chilly! Luckily, I had brought some alcohol from Maun. Kept Mark and me quite warm.
August 6
The next morning, after a hot shower, we went for a nature walk about 30 minutes from the camp. We saw giraffes, termite mountains,
We then headed back to Maun, where we had left our luggage. After picking that up, we headed to Sedia.
Our chalets at the Elephants Sands Hotel were around a pond, where elephants came every night! The chalets were big but had no heating, so multiple blankets were needed later at night. The bar and restaurant were right in front of the pond, so elephants started showing up in the evening. We were barely 10 feet away with no barriers!
. August 7
After a chilly night and then a relieving hot shower, we had breakfast and checked out.
We then drove to Chobe. After checking into the Hotel, there was a river ride scheduled. We had a big boat to ourselves while the camping G Adventure group were squeezed into a boat the same size as us, while they had three times the number of people!
We saw a variety of animals on the river island and its banks. There were hippos, elephants, crocodiles, buffalo, etc.
Dinner was pre-ordered and pretty good.
August 8th
We started out for an early morning game drive in Chobe National Park. It was very chilly in the open game SUV, but luckily, they gave us blankets. We got to see impalas, deer, and finally lions. That was the highlight of the game drive.
Later that morning, after breakfast, we got ready to cross over into Zimbabwe. It was pretty smooth to get through with our KAZA visa (which is valid for Zambia and Zimbabwe). I didn’t even have to show the immigration officer my printed visa - he probably saw it online when he had my passport.
We were taken to a local lunch cooked by a women’s association in Victoria Falls. They are usually widows, single mothers and so on. There were a lot of vegetables, peanut-flavoured stews, dried fish and meat.
We took a walk after lunch to see the Victoria Falls. It is the largest waterfall when one considers the height and width of the falls ( it goes on for kilometres). It was a $50 entrance fee, but well worth it. The water was spraying strongly on some sections so it felt like heavy rain! There was also a section for bungee jumping and being lowered down on a chair.
Typical Zimbabwean meal with pap, local vegetables and various meats
Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwean-Zambian border
Later that night, we had dinner for the last time with our group. There was a traditional dance performance. We then headed to a touristy bar next to the hotel. Alcohol was a lot more expensive in Zimbabwe compared to the previous countries 😳.
August 9th: LVI to LUN
We went for some souvenir shopping after breakfast. The market was right next to the hotel and very cheap. There was bargaining involved, and I am terrible at it!
I then took a taxi across the border to Zambia. It was a pretty smooth process. The driver offered to take us around Livingstone, which worked perfectly because I had a guided tour and then a flight in the evening.
The Livingstone city tour was pretty tame. The one thing that struck me was the number of Indian and Chinese businesses around.
The airport was small and new. The flight was uneventful. I got a Hertz airport transfer car to take me to the Holiday Inn hotel in Lusaka. The city looked quite developed and orderly at night.
August 10th: LUN to DAR
The next morning, I arranged for a local taxi to take us to the National Museum and Arts Centre. The National Museum was empty, but a great place to see the history of Zambia. There were a lot of wooden sculptures. There was also a whole section devoted to the Chinese-built TAZARA railway, which connected Zambia to Tanzania.
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I then headed to the Arts and Cultural Centre, which happened to be tourist shops selling souvenirs. They were pretty cheap, so I bought a couple.
The taxi then took me to the airport. The airport looked brand new and spotless. It had a few restaurants and souvenir shops. A couple of cocktails helped to spend time! The Springbok cocktail has South Africa's national colours - it is also the name of their rugby team!
The flight to Dar Es Salaam was 2 hours. Once I landed, the immigration took a bit longer than usual. I got an airport transfer to the Coral Beach hotel, which was on the Indian Ocean.
August 11
There was a city tour scheduled, which started with a visit to the local fish market. It was extremely stinky, and I had to cut that short. Then there was a visit to the National Museum, which listed the history of Tanzania. It used to be in two parts: Tanganyika, which was German-controlled till the end of World War I. Zanzibar was controlled by the Omanis. Our next stop was the traditional village of the local tribe. Their hut was actually much bigger than I expected. There was a tribal dance and music performance after.
. The most colourful octopus I have seen
August 12
I had to get up early for my flight to the Serengeti. The domestic airport was small and quick to get through. The aircraft was a propeller, and the airport in Serengeti was an airstrip with a small building. I had to chase my checked bag to make sure I got it!
Flight to Serengeti
My safari guide, Andrew, came to pick me up and took me straight away for a game drive. There were giraffes, zebras, and baboons. The highlight was the lions. They lazed around us. One lion went to sleep in between our game drive open-topped SUVs. When the SUVs started, he refused to move!
The next highlight was the leopard. It was hidden in the trees. It’s a very rare sighting.
The final piece de resistance was the wildebeest migration. The wildebeest migration is a circular, year-round movement of about 1.5 to 2 million animals across Tanzania's Serengeti and Kenya's Masai Mara ecosystem in search of fresh grazing and water. The herds are driven by the rains, typically moving northwest from the southern Serengeti's plains between April and June, crossing rivers like the Grumeti and Mara, and entering the Mara in Kenya around July. They then begin the journey back south in October, arriving on the Serengeti's southern plains by December for the calving season.
The Osero Camp was a glamping site. The tents had running water, a shower and a toilet. There was a charging plug too. At night, we had to be escorted by camp attendants to avoid animals that roam around. It was really peaceful to have a few Tanzanian beers and watch the sunset. Dinner was a pretty decent buffet.
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August 13
My tour began after a good, solid breakfast.
Cheetah in front of our SUVs
August 14
My flight was changed, as I found out by email. I had to head back to the airport strip, where multiple small aircraft were taking off and landing. My first flight to Arusha was fine, but then I rushed to catch my second flight. I was the last passenger on the 40-seat aircraft. At Zanzibar airport, they insisted that we had to have insurance specific to Zanzibar. An online payment of 50 dollars sorted that out.
My hotel, the Madinat al Bahr, was a very Dubai-esque one from the 1990s (in other words, a bit over flashy). It was some cross between Las Vegas and an Arab fortress. The Ocean Views were beautiful. The oceanside restaurant served some excellent lobster.
Madinat Al Bahr Hotel
August 15
The next morning was my tour of Zanzibar. It was quite disorganised. We waited for 2 hours before all the other guests showed up. Luckily, the first ride was to a long strip of an island called Nakupenda. It was probably over a kilometre long and 100 metres wide.
After having a freshly cooked seafood lunch, we headed to Prison Island. Before that, there was some drama. The other tourists want to stay in Nakupenda. But there was only one boat. There was a French girl who said she would stay on the island, even if she died there! Finally, the travel agency agreed to send a boat for her and her friend.
Typical Door in Zanzibar
Stone Town Fortress
. Freddy Mercury's home in Zanzibar
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Zanzibar Stone Spice Market Church next to a mosque in Zanzibar 
Meanwhile, we took a tour of Prison Island, which originally served as a prison and later became a quarantine location for travellers from Europe. There were several 200-pound turtles and very beautiful peacocks. There was a tiny museum there, too.
After that, we returned to Stone Town and walked around the fortress. We started from Freddie Mercury’s house, where he was born. After that, we went by a mosque next to a church. Then a quick peek at the Jaws corner - a gathering old-fashioned cafe where people in very Arab clothing were playing board games.
Dinner that night was Zanzibari cuisine, with grilled meat and pap.
August 16th
I needed a printout of my ferry ride, which I got from their office. I bought a VIP ticket, so I had access to a lounge where there was air conditioning and juices. There was a ferry that left 30 minutes before mine - I joined the group heading to that ferry only to be told by the check-in officer that it was the wrong one!
I then boarded the right ferry, which had comfortable seating and a bar on board. It was a smooth ride of 1.5 hours. I got a taxi with someone who asked me if I needed one. The price was decent, so I took it to the Coral Beach Hotel, which was now quite familiar to me!
August 17th
My flight was at 3 am, so I left at 12:30 am. The airport is fairly new and nice, with a lot of souvenir shops that were open at that time. The flight back was uneventful via Istanbul. This time I didn’t make the mistake of having any food or drinks at the airport. Well, maybe one raki or two :)
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