On the road

We just returned home from a 2 week trip to Francistown, Botswana; Maun, Botswana; Limpopo, South Africa; and Johannesburg, South Africa and nearly 2000 kilometers (about 1200 miles).

We started our journey and drove 5 hours to Francistown, Botswana for the Kabika Wedding (a previous post). We then drove to Maun, Botswana which was another 6-7 hours. Our main purpose for going to Maun was to encourage the existing Baptist Church that is there. We had a great time visiting with those folks and joining them for prayer meeting, youth meeting, and church on Sunday. You can be in prayer for the current pastor Lovemore as he leads this church.

After being a week in Maun, we drove halfway (about 7 hours) to our next destination. The scene was so beautiful on our drive, right at the top of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (desert).

When we arrived at our destination for the night, the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, we arrived just at dusk. We had heard it was “rustic”, well next time I hear that term I think we will continue looking for another place to stay. As we walked in to our chalet (2 pics below) we literally had to wade through the mosquitos in our room, so we sprayed for mosquitos and left for dinner. When we came back and found all the dead mosquitos, spiders, and other yucky bugs on our beds/floor we finally settled in for the night. We had mice visit us at 2am and a scorpion waiting between our beds when we got up. So when you leave a place singing “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger” you may want  to reconsider going back .

We then drove another 5 hours to visit with some friends in South Africa. There was a lake nearby so Brent was able to take the kids on a canoe ride.

While we were in Maun, we took a day and drove into Moremi which is part of the Okavango Delta. It was only about 93 kilometer (57 miles) away to the entrance so when we plugged it in to our GPS as you can see below it said 6 hours and 10 minutes til we would arrive. This gives you a little idea of how the roads were but it only took us about 2 hours to get into the gate. I have never driven on so much sand before and had to dodge the elephants and giraffe going in.

Above: This is an elephant head, no one shot it, the game rangers found it after it had died.

Below: Impala jumping the road in front of us.

Above: It’s so rare to see a leopard in the daytime but we were fortunate enough

Below: Mommy and baby elephant. There are so many roaming around here enjoying the water.

Above: We saw so many hornbills in the park…this is the bird from lion king (I think his name was Zazu)

Below: Male Lion walking up on a herd of Wildebeast

Above: 2 femle lions just hanging out in the shade beside the road. They were so cute and have so many mannerisms of a house cat.

To end our self-drive through the park, we had a flat tire or puncture as they call it here. Brent changed it while the kids and I looked for any wild animals coming our way.

It was a fun time away and such an adventure but we are so happy to finally be home again!