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After one of the longest
winters for some decades at home in Highland Scotland, our trip
back to Botswana could not come soon enough. The prolonged
winter snow, stretching back to mid-December had only just begun
to release its icy grip, and as our Friday-afternoon Easyjet
flight from Inverness flew south over The Cairngorms I vowed
that if there were any snow left to greet me on our return leg I
would take the first flight back to Africa. (Little did I know
that two weeks hence, my tongue-in-cheek promise would be tested
more than ever.) But - enough of that for now. The snow became
just a memory as quickly as the clouds obsucred it from view.
For this trip to Botswana we were accompanied by two of our
friends, Mark and Ros,and my wife Nancy and I wondered if this
first taste of Africa |
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would ignite a spark, as it
had done with us some eight years earlier, that would send them
back for more. Once Africa has you within her grasp, it's hard
to pull away. Just over an hour later we were touching down at
Gatwick to face the trudge across to Heathrow. Although National
Express provide an excellent service between the two airports,
it always seems so incredibly long! No - in fact it IS
incredibly long - four hours between landing and booking into
our hotel! We booked into the excellent Premier Travel Inn
for our overnight stay - a precautionary stop-over to minimise
the effects of any unseen delays, with the unpredictable winter
weather of Highland Scotland uppermost in our minds when we
booked our flights twelve months earlier. After an
excellent meal in the hotel restaurant, |
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it was early to bed before our journey was to start in
earnest the following day. After a good night's rest we took the
hotel Hoppa service to Terminal 1 - a "full English" at the
excellent Italian restaurant, then it was just a case of killing
time until two o'clock when we booked ourselves in at the South
African Airways desk to finally get rid of our baggage. We
booked it straight through Johannesburg for the onward flight to
Maun, keeping our fingers crossed that the bags (unlike last
time) would make it through without interference. The next few
hours, punctuated by the odd coffee soon passed, and it was time
to board our South African Airways Airbus A340 -
a replacement for the fleet's ageing 747's, and very comfortable
it is too, with ample legroom for a six-footer, which makes a |
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big difference on such a long flight. Another nice little touch
on the A340 - a tail-mounted camera that gives the passenger a
high-level view of the aircraft taxiing out, taking its turn in
the long queue of departing aircraft - and then the take-off
itself. We took off on time - a comfortable flight, and around
11 hours and 5,634 miles later we were touching down at
Johannesburg. Local time was 6.45 am, so it was across to the
nearest coffee-bar for a caffeine-fix to see us through the rest
of the morning. Mark and Ros, like us, though we wouldn't
describe ourselves as "birders," do take a keen interest, and
Mark was soon into the groove seeking to identify the birds
flying around the terminal building - indeed spotting one which
he thought was a mynah - and later confirmed. So far so good. |
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Another much needed coffee,
and an opportunity to stretch legs, and it wasn't too long
before we were boarding our ATR22 aircraft of Botswana Airways
for the two hour hop to Maun. We were soon clearing the vast sprawl of
Johannesburg, and under sunny, partly cloudy skies reached the bushy terrain
of Botswana. Ros, sitting just
behind us,was glued to the window, I feel sure she had soon
shaken off the early-morning fatigue of the flight, given the
expectancy of what was unfolding beneath. The heat of the
day hit us as we descended the steps from the aircraft into the
glare of the mid-day African sun at Maun. We completed the formalities
of immigration without too much delay, and much to our relief,
picked up our baggage - still secure. We made our way through
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lounge to be met,
not by our guide as expected, but by Mike, one of the bosses of our safari
company, "Wilderness Dawning." He explained that our guide,
Solomon, was on a first-aid course and would join us later that
afternoon. We were whisked away to the Sedia Hotel on the edge
of Maun for our overnight stay. (Mike however SHOULD have taken
us first to the currency exchange. His failure caused one or two
problems in that many of us were forced to use dollars at the
hotel (at a punitive rate of exchange) and subsequently at the
houseboat.) Maybe it was just me - but I had the feeling that
Mike thought this task as being nothing more than an
inconvenience. However, we were soon deposited at the hotel,
where an ice-cold drink of fruit juice was waiting, and the very
friendly staff at The Sedia ushered us to our rooms. All of the
rooms were air-conditioned, which was most welcome, and gave us
the opportunity to relax for a while and freshen up after the
long journey. Time then to adjourn to the bar of the hotel for
further refreshment - a couple of drinks and a light meal of
"cheeseburger and chips" - but not as we know it. Burgers of
fresh Botswana beef eclipse anything you're likely to get in UK.
Some of us had already met at the airport, though only briefly,
so we all had the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with our
fellow-travellers. There were only eight names we had to
remember: As on previous trips, there were one or two
"foreigners" amongst us - Bruce was from Miami Beach, though he
had been resident in Switzerland for some years with his
Swiss-born wife Mirella. This left Jenny and Derek, Jan and Bob,
and Judith and Bernard, who, in his mid 80's was by far our
senior traveller. We finally met our trip leader Solomon, or
"Solly" as he became known - 32 years old, an experienced
guide in this his home country. He gave us our first briefing,
and, with an early start the following morning - with
breakfast at 6.30, we all had an early night, in readiness for a
fairly long drive of 300 miles to our houseboat on the
Okavango River, where we would be staying for the following
three nights. There was a great deal of eager anticipation.
NEXT DAY - CLICK
HERE |
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