Namibia and Botswana 2013 vacation

Steve UK

Adventurer
Hi,

We took a 3 week vacation to Namibia and Botswana this summer just gone. We went last year too and such was the draw of Africa, Botswana in particular we had to return this year. This was a self drive trip, just myself and my wife in a Suzuki Jimny rented from Bobo Campers in Windhoek Namibia. All the campsites were booked myself over the internet using information and help from the great people on 4x4community.za forums.

The pictures and short captions I hope will share our vacation with you. I will add one standout memory of the whole trip was listening to the Lions roar not far from camp whilst we were in the tent. That really does get your attention :)

This was the route we did, 21 nights camping on a Suzuki Jimny
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IHAHA campsite, Botswana. Bushnell camera captured this while we were sleeping on the roof of the Jimny.

Next morning we found these prints through our camp. ps Wife's hand on the right, I don't have 1 girls hand :)
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Cheetah at Okanjima cat sanctuary just North of Windhoek, Namibia
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Searching for Leopard unsuccessfully at Okanjima.
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This Leopard was in isolation sadly, but still had a huge area.
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Etosha, Namibia. It was wise to wait for the Elephants to cross
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Etosha, we watched this Lion and his family for over 2 hours.
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This Cub was put in his place for this playful swipe!
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So he went off for a snack
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The Suzuki Jimny was awesome, reliable, unstoppable, frugal and above all FUN...
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The squirrel agreed
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One stretch of the journey was 500km off road with no opportunity to buy fuel, we took 40 litres in the main tank 1 20 litre jerry 2x 10 litre plastic cans
and 1 10 litre MSR Dromedary water carrier full of petrol. This as you see here was used up ASAP. We arrived in Maun, Botswana with 10 litres spare.
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Remember the wildlife is dangerous :)
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Typical campsite, this is at Linyanti, Botswana
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Elephants playing in the road. We have this on the wall at home, one of our favourites
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Bwabwata park in Namibia. Sadly there is still hunting and the Elephants can be very dangerous here..
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Heading back to camp in Savuti, Botswana one evening we took this great picture.
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This is at our camp in the Khwaii community, Botswana
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He came to visit us later as we had a cup of tea. What an experience
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Same campsite in Khwaii community, Lions just 1 km from camp.
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Elephants on the move to a water hole.
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This is Michael, a regular visitor to Nambwa campsite in Namibia
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Steve UK

Adventurer
Close up of a Leopard at Okonjima
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Squirrel raiding our breakfast cereal
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Wildlife checking out the bin
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Bit of fun in the Jimny
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This Jackal stole this piece of Zebra from the Lions in Etosha, Namibia
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Here we made a time lapse of arriving and setting up camp, I found an Impala skull and attached it to the bonnet. Wife not impressed with that idea :)
 
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Silverspiders

New member
Thanks for sharing

A tip to help you sleep easier when you are camping with big cats around - open the bonnet of the car at night, that way lions/leopards etc can't use it as a step to get to the roof top tent.
 

Steve UK

Adventurer
Hello everyone

Thank you for the positive comments, I will add some more interesting pictures soon. Also for fun I time lapsed the whole journey from Kasane to Maun. I have made them into videos they just need organising, looks good :)

Hello Scott, thanks for the comment. This website by the way just gets better and better :)

The Caprivi or as we were told whilst we were there has now been renamed 'The Zambezi Region' is quite a gem, most people just shoot through but this year we spent more time and returned to 2 spots which are now a favourite of mine. Ndhuvu lodge on the pan handle and Nambwa wilderness camp which is just perfect. Very. Hhmmm WILD..

Bwabwata national park is great, we saw just 1 other car all day. I will add pictures of the Caprivi soon.

Steve
 

Steve UK

Adventurer
Thanks for sharing

A tip to help you sleep easier when you are camping with big cats around - open the bonnet of the car at night, that way lions/leopards etc can't use it as a step to get to the roof top tent.

I have heard of this tip, it makes sense also reminds you to check fluids etc. To be honest though we never felt uneasy with the cats about, should we have been?

Steve
 

Steve UK

Adventurer
Hi,

I have made a quick video of the journey from Savuti to Magotho on day 4, about 120km in 7 minutes :) enjoy. If you are quick you will see Elephants, Giraffe and us scavenging wood that has fallen off other vehicles :)

The quality is not what it could be, much to be learnt about youtube :(

The map here shows the Sandridge road, the Marsh road runs to the right and is much nicer but only in the dry season.
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