Bots & Zim Tour

Ever heard of someone missing their flight while sitting at the boarding gate? You have now!

I learned the hard way that South African Airways has a policy of not calling the names of missing passengers as a final boarding call. I was sitting at the gate, where you get onto a shuttle bus which takes you out to the plane, when they called first boarding. The sign about the gate listed the flight number and said "Priority" so I sat down to wait out the first batch of passengers and while sitting started talking to a couple from Australia. After a little bit I still hadn't heard final boarding called or my name called so I asked them, "Are you on this flight too?" Although they and all the other people at the busy gate were heading to Victoria Falls, they were getting there on a different flight. for some reason, they were just chilling at the wrong gate. So I ran up to the desk and said that I needed to get on the flight (15 minutes before takeoff) but the SAA rep told me I was too late. I pleaded for her to take me out to the plane, there was still time, I had been sitting right there - but no luck. I was told I needed to go and rebook my flight, the next of which was the same time the following day. SO FRUSTRATING!

I went through the process of rebooking my flight, paying the ticket price again and headed back home to sulk so I could return again the next day. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of the tour company I was supposed to meet up with the next day and everything on that end was fine.

I flew to Victoria Falls a day late and still had time to go down and walk along the falls. It was beautiful and with the sunshine of the afternoon there was a double rainbow over the falls - gorgeous!
A couple of us who were joining the Nomad Tour through Botswana had sundowners overlooking the Zambezi River and then had dinner as a group before settling in for the night, ready to set off the next morning. It was a good group of 10 of us (6 of us were camping and formed a nice little crew) and I enjoyed getting to know everyone new. Specifically there were a few people who also live in Gauteng, South Africa so we'll keep in touch which is awesome.

We head on our truck from Vic Falls up to Chobe National Park in Botswana and had a packed day. We went on an afternoon game drive and saw loads of animals up close. And then went straight to a boat and cruised down the river seeing more animals in the water and watched the sunset on our way back. This day was definitely the highlight of my tour.

The next day we traveled up through Botswana and into Namibia. We didn't really do anything in Namibia, just relaxed at our campsite on the river and prepared to head back into Botswana the next day. We went this route so that we could access Botswana's Okavango Delta from the North where there were the highest water levels.

In the delta, we went out on Mokoro boats (traditionally canoes carved out of local trees) which are manned by polers who push the canoe using long poles again made from a specific tree in the area. The delta is full of tall grasses and lily pads; it's really peaceful to float along. Although, at the same time you know you're just in a small canoe traveling through waterways created by hippos who could be anywhere in the water. The polers seemed to have a pretty good idea about where the hippos hang out at different times of the day though so it was safe - we even got out in one spot to go for a swim. We also popped by one of the deeper pools of water where the hippos were hanging out. We cut through the grasses and sat along the edge of the pool and just watched the hippos chilling out. It was pretty cool to be so close to them. Unfortunately, we didn't see any other big animals in the delta, even though the Big 5 do live in there, but I guess just not where we were. Kind of a letdown!

There was some confusion from the tour company about the itinerary and our booking which was a little worrying at first because we thought we might miss our flight home, but then it ended up being a blessing in disguise because Nomad Tours decided to charter a flight from our remote area of the delta over to Maun, where we were flying from. People usually pay for these scenic flights and we got it for free! Super cool views over the delta and neat to be in a small four-seater plane (including the pilot).

 All in all - a great trip! Now next week onto Rwanda for another exciting trip!