Katima Mulilo, Namibia

T he Admiral and I are sitting on the deck of the Protea Hotel at Katima Mulilo watching the hippos on the Zambesi River as the sun goes down. We have had a long but exciting day visiting the Victoria Falls. We were told that doing this trip on your own from Namibia is ill-advised. Having done it today, I would agree.
Our day started at 0600H and we were picked at the hotel by our driver and off we went to the Botswana border. This guy knew all the trick of getting to the front of the considerable lines and we drove rapidly through the Chobe National Park in Botswana.
We saw many elephant and giraffe but did not stop until we got to the border with Zimbabwe. There were crowds of people trying to enter. Our guy managed to get us ahead of the line and we had to pay $55 USD each to get a single entry visa to Zim. Had we been on our own they would have tacked on a fee for insurance, road tax and an environmental fee and temporary import duty on the rental vehicle.
After that there was another check point where a police officer attempted to shakedown our guide, who basically laughed at him and just drove on. I'm not sure how I would have handled the situation had I been on my own. We have heard rumors that these police have been known to go so far as to break a tail light and then fine you for having a dangerous vehicle. Only hearsay, however.
Once inside Zimbabwe, it was a short drive to the falls. We went to helicopter facility and took an amazing 25 minute ride over the falls and the Chobe National forest in a Bell jet ranger.
We walked around the falls for about 90 minutes, also a great experience and photos will follow and then a nice lunch at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge.
By 1500H it was time to reverse the procedure and go back to Katima Mulilo in Namibia.
So this was an incredible experience but I think that a day trip would have been impossible for us to do by ourselves. The guided trip was expensive, as was the helicopter ride but well worth it.
Zimbabwe is an extremely expensive and corrupt place especially around the falls which seems to be a cash cow for them.
Lots of photos in the pipeline.


We left Capetown on December 20 th. and tried out Uber for the first time to take us to the airport early on a Saturday morning. Overall, this was a great experience a despite a surcharge was much cheaper than a regular cab.
The flight to Windhoek was on a turbo prop and a bit bumpy.
Once in Windhoek, we got a Toyota Corolla rental and went north to Outja and stayed the night there a small hotel and left for the Gondwana Etosha Lodge. We spent the afternoon wandering about, had an excellent dinner and booked a Safari drive the following morning.
The Lodge is situated about 10 Km. south of the park and the guide took us for a four hour drive and we got our first glimpse of the local flora and fauna. We saw lions, kudu, springbok, wildebeast, giraffe, zebras, ostrich and other strange birds.
A relaxing afternoon, followed by another massive dinner and we decided that there wasn't much point in the guided drive so we did our own drive the next morning at sun-up.
Internet is very poor so I'll try to continue tomorrow.
The local kids aren't downloading utube videos just at this second so I'll continue.
Our self drive tour was just as successful as the guided one and we went though the Okaukuejo resort and watering hole and went west toward Sonderkop. We saw all the usual zebras and giraffe, springbok etc. and were lucky enough to come across three lions, one male and two females who had just killed a wildebeast and were chowing down on the kill, not 20 feet from the road. The Admiral got some spectacular photos and we drove on to the watering hole at Ozonjutji way in the west. There, we were rewarded by herds of just about every animal coming by to drink. We also saw out first elephant, a huge lone male wandering about in the bush.
It seems unnecessary to go on the guided drives, if you are lucky you can see the same sights from your air conditioned car and you can go where and when you please. The roads are all unpaved but easily drive-able with a 2 wheel drive vehicle and I've heard it said the best 4 wheel drive is a rented 2 wheel drive.
After 3 days at the Gondwana Etosha Lodge we went back into the park and drove east to Halimi on Christmas Eve. On the road we saw our first Rhino just standing in the road! The accommodations were a bit less fancy but quite adequate and they put a huge Barbecue (Braai) that evening. The Halimi watering hole is very accessible to the resort and is lighted and to watch a herd of 20 plus elephants wander down to drink and bathe at night was quite magical. Lots of rhino and birds there too. We have heard that there are often lots of unruly crowds there but that was not our experience. Almost everyone was quiet and respectful.
We continued east to the next village Namutoni, the site of an old German fort. On the way we saw 2 rhino at another watering hole very close to the road and they stayed next to us for about half an hour before wandering off into the bush.
Namutoni is worth a visit but we did not see much wild life at its watering-hole, mostly zebras and springbok.
Next day, we continued east to Rundu to the Gondwana Hakusembe Lodge, situated on the Cubango    river on the border with Angola. We had a very restful night and an excellent dinner before going a further 500Kms. east to Katima Mulilo through the Caprivi region.
We are staying at the Protea hotel which is a bit of a dump but about the best there is in this fairly desperate town. which brings us back to the report at the top.
Today, we are going back to the Hakusembe lodge and then on the the Waterberg Plateau for New Years Eve and then Sossuvlei
Dozens of photos to follow, I promise when the internet improves. May need to wait until we get back to Capetown and there are already 1500 images and videos to sort through.