We awake to an unending view of the Kalahari. Our single room cabin with a thatched roof and mosquito netting hung over the quaint twin beds is perched on an escarpment with a southern view of this vast plain.

Breakfast is announced by the beat of African drums. At 10am we all load into an extended Land Rover with 5 rows of seats and head back to Chobe National Park for a 7-hour tour. We meander through the low forest and as we get closer and closer to the Okavango River the wildlife sighting include Waterbuck, and Impala. Finally we breakout to the river and a wide green flood plain greets us to the north. In the distant elephants and Cape buffalo can be seen grazing and wallowing in the riverbank. We are in Africa! After a quick riverside buffet prepared by the lodge we are aboard a large flat bottom skiff with a sun canopy skimming toward the elephants. The skipper cuts the power and we drift within yards of these large gray beasts. They mostly ignore us, but keep a watchful eye as we drift in closer. They suck up gallons of water in their trunk either spray it on their heads or pump into their back. K2 is using our newly acquired Canon 100-400mm zoom lens and as the elephants spray water she jerks back in alarm, though we are not that close.

We continue down the river and on the north shore and Zimbabwe side of the river we drift within yard of grazing cape buffalos, one of the most dangerous hoofed animals. Unpredictable and capable of amazing speeds on land we are safe to view and photograph these beasts from the safety of the boat. Continuing up the river we come across crocodiles, water monitor lizard, fish eagles and the shyest of the large aquatic mammals, the hippopotamus. Usually, one only views the eyes and ears of these introverted beasts, but in Chobe they have been protected so long that they will leave the water and trot around when humans are present. But mostly we see the eyes and ears of these wallowing creatures. They submerge into the cloudy water and surface with a snort of their nose and wiggle of their ears. After several hours on the water we return to the waiting extended Land Rover and continue down the bank of the river by land.  We see figurative views of giraffes and an assortment of the 14 species of twisted horn, split hove four-legged animals: impala, kudu, waterbuck and the like. Arriving back at the lodge at dusk we have drinks until dinner is ready.

At the north side of the Kalahari the Okavango River flows into the landscape and never escapes. It forms an enormous everglade where the river slowly disappears into the sands of the Kalahari. This is where we take our next adventure. But together we must pass through the Caprivi Strip. It’s a panhandle of Namibia that separates Angola from Botswana. Just a few years ago during the Angolan war it was necessary traverse this narrow strip of land with a military escort. Such is not the case now – though there still are military checkpoints on both ends. It also requires us to leave Botswana and enter Namibia, then reenter Botswana at the end. It is an anticlimactic drive with picnic spots every 10km and thatch villages along the entire strip. Though we do get and extra page of passport stamps from the boarder crossings.

Shortly after crossing back into Botswana we drive up to the edge of the Okavango River where a ferry should be if it was working. It currently broken so 50 meters of water and 90km dusty dirt road separate us from our destination. But it’s not broken long. In half an hour its back running and takes the first set of 3 vehicles onboard. It’s a small ferry powered by two 75-hp outboard engines mounted on a pivoting mount on either side of the flat bottom craft. The ferry ride is about 15 minutes and takes down river about 2km and deposits us on the east bank of the Okavango River. We still have 90km of rough dirt road to cover and we arrive just before dark.

On the edge of the everglade is where the Okavangan Poler’s Trust resides. We will take 4 mokoro into the winding glades and spend the night. The traditional mokoro are carved from whole sausage trees, but in the interest of the environment ours are locally made from fiberglass. The look much like canoes, but are flat bottomed and are pushed, or poled through the shallow narrow paths of water. They carry two people, some equiment and the poler. Each mokoro is skillfully guided through the maze of reeds by a local poler – our poler’s name is Shoulder. He is tall and broad across his chest. With every push we accelerate through the water as if by motor. For two hours, Shoulder and his associates wind us through reeds, grass, lily pads and water till we arrive at a small island where we will camp for the night. After lunch and an afternoon nap in sultry air we board our mokoro and head back into the everglades. Thirty minutes later ahead in the water we hear snorting and several sets of small ears and protruding eyes are bobbing in the water. The shy hippopotamus are only 30 feet from our frail mokoro. They watch us warily and we watch them as well. Gradually they edge closer to us and the alarmed polers move us back a bit. The sun is hot upon us, and with no breeze to cool we need little excuse to continue and in an hour we are back to our camp. Dinner is an unceremonious affair of cans (tins for you English speakers) of Chakalaka – a spicy vegetable curry universally available down here. Twilight brings mosquitoes and forces us into our tent at 8:30, which is just as well as we have a 5AM wakeup call for morning wildlife hike.

Dawn comes and after a very quick byte and tea we are skimming our way over the water. The water lilies are just opening up as the sun creeps over the edge of the horizon. After a winding hour we are on land hiking across a peninsula of land that juts in to the boggy everglades. Our guide stops every now and then and points out an animal track or scat and quizzes us on what it might be. We are not very good and identifying the track or scat but the lion and elephant tracks are unmistakable. Several hours into this trek we come across a small herd of Cape buffalo. Unfortunately they are between our mokoro and us. The guides are divided on how we should pass around the buffalo, and to make matters worse a bull buffalo is separated from the herd and acting a bit queer. The Cape buffalo have poor eyesight, but excellent smell and as we move to our right, they spook and come around behind us. Luckily we are now upwind of them and they smell us and move back to where they were. The lone bull has joined the herd and the guides decide that we should double back and pass on their right. Having scented us, they are wary and back away as we cross back over. It’s tense as we move and the concern of the guides is palpable. This is Africa! It feels like a Hemingway novel – it is a Hemmingway novel: “The Green Hills of Africa” or “White Hunter, Black Heart”. This is the Africa of Hemmingway. After 4 hours of trekking we are scooting our way back to camp. After a quick lunch, a nap, and breaking camp we are reloaded and making our way back to our drop off point.

We were transported to the drop off point the day before by a large Russian troop carrier and we expected the same for the ride back. However, instead of the troop truck came a Toyota pickup truck. The poler’s started loading our gear in the bed and on the roof of the truck. After that came us – 9 of us piled into the bed – it was a game of African twister. If that was not enough – the 5 polers piled in as well. In all there were 4 people in the cab and 12 in the bed for the 30-minute ride back to the trust headquarters.

Continuing clockwise around Kalahari we head for the start of three days of off-highway driving and two nights of rough camping. The excuse for this jaunt is Drotsky Cave, the lone feature on this 300-km loop to the west. I should mention at this point that the Land Rover that Nick and Lee are driving does not have a working 2^nd gear. Also on the morning of the first night of rough camp on the Drotsky loop drive; they notice that it is 2 liters low on engine oil, and that the power steering pump is very low as well. The problems with this vehicle are mounting and there is some concern where it will finally stop working. For the first half the road is a wide dirt track that roller coasters over the gentle hills of sand. Our first night of camp is one of the best that we have had. We find a grassy area under the shade of Acacia trees. The only slightly disturbing part of this spot is the dried elephant dung. If they came to dinner, what would we feed them? But I guess they would sit anywhere they wanted. You know you’re in Africa when you camp with elephant dung.  It’s also one of earliest camps we have had, and the K2 and Vivian prepare Greek salad, marinated steak and bell peppers for the grill. A great quantity of red wine is consumed and hangovers in the morning are reported throughout the camp.

Drotsky’s Cave was formed in limestone by underground water movement. But the days of this water must have been eons ago because it sits on prominent hill, high above the surrounding landscape. It has two entrances and our plan is to traverse the 1km of cave from one entrance to the other. We take lights, cameras, video cameras and scramble into the collapsed sinkhole entrance. Cool air hits us as we descent farther into the inky darkness. Bats flutter past and the smell of guano builds. It’s an old stream passage about 20 feet across and 10 feet high with a few old dry stalagmites and stalactites. Farther into cave we come across some larger dome rooms, where the ceiling is covered with bats and the floor of the cave is mountain of guano. The smell of ammonia is very strong. After a small squeezing passage we come a deep pit that stops us. Its 10 meters down and 10 meters back up, and unfortunately not everyone is skilled enough to make the climbs without a rope. Reluctantly we return through the cave and find fresh air and sunlight patiently waiting for us.

Another rough camp, but more subdued then the prior brings us another day closer to Namibia and close of the first part of our adventure. We race across the featureless western savannah of the Kalahari on a hard surface two-lane road. At the road edge is short Achaia trees and red dirt. The only visual relief is the arrow straight road that stretches out to the visible horizon. It’s monotonous driving and it’s hot. The brand new Land Rover air-conditioning barely keeps the interior below 100f. Toward evening we reach Gobibas, in Namibia, we are still 200kkm from Windhoek. Out intended hotel is downtown and we are looking forward to showers, a soft bed, and somebody else’s cooking. As we turn the corner for the hotel we notice that a whole block of buildings has no roof. Fire damage is everywhere and when find the entrance to the hotel a black vacant doorway greets us. It is time for plan “B”. Plan “B” turns out to be a lodge about 2km from town and turns out to be a delightful find.

It’s only 200 km from Windhoek, so the Fields and us decide to visits a local wildlife sanctuary. It means backtracking 100km but the draw of this place are the cats: lion, leopards and cheetas. We arrive just in time for the 10am feeding. We load on to bench seat built on the bed of a rusty and aging white Toyota HiLux pickup truck. A wagon with buckets of raw animal parts probably donkey is hitched back. The flies swarm around it. Our rusty pickup truck, and dead animal parts and fly entourage head out to see the cats. The first stop is the leopards. Muscular and sleek they pace back and forth on the other side of an 8-foot tall-electrified wire fence. The guides take a chunk of dark red meat from the buckets and separate the leopards for feeding. They fling the meat over the fence and in the blink of eye, the cats are upon it, and drag it away and up into a tree to eat.

Next are the cheetahs, but instead of throwing meat over the fence, they open the gate and we drive into the pen. 14 cheetahs surround the meat wagon, and chase it a high speed as we tear down the dirt path that leads from the gate. After a pursuit of a minute we come to a stop and the guides take bits of meat and fling it past the waiting cheetahs. They meow in a high shrill domestic cat like sound that eerie coming from this tall leggy animal. The long legs, slim body and a small head that look way too small for it body. It’s obvious that they are tuned for fast running. Lions are the next stop and we are greeted with a bone-rattling roar. They are massive animals – all muscle. They pace back and forth until the meat is hurled over the tall electric wire fence. There is no doubt in our mind that the king of the jungle is the lion.

Windhoek is not getting closer and after a lunch at the refuge we head to Windhoek and rejoin the rest of the group. The drive into Windhoek is a visual relief as the endless savanna gives way to dry hills then mini-mountains. Windhoek is sited amongst this hilly and cool mountain area. It’s the capital of Namibia and the tallest building is the 12 story Kalahari Sands, our hotel and home for the next two days. This also where we start travel with the “organized and professional” group called Impala Adventures. The end of the Botswana tour comes to an end the Namibia adventure is about to start.