Day 121: Driving to the Okavango River
Today was a travel day, as we had about 450KM to drive in order to reach the Okavango River and the beginning of the Caprivi Strip. We requested an earlier breakfast seating so that we could hit the road early. While we were waiting for tea and coffee, Igor made friends with Mufasa – the owner’s huge Boerboel (not a Ridgeback after all – he’s a unique South African bullmastiff breed), while Lindsay made friends with the chef’s young son, who gave her a plastic gun to help him with his “military drills”.
Musfasa – the appropriately named Boerboel – a HUGE sweetheart!
The chef’s little boy was looking for a playmate, and Lindsay got recruited into the “Namibian Army”
In our itinerary from Russell, he mentioned a “new” road that goes straight up to the river from Tsumeb, however, even though the road was completed in 2013, Google Maps still does not register that it exists, nor does the Tourism Road Map produced by the Namibian government! We asked our hostess for directions, and she drew the location of the road onto our paper map, and told us follow signs pointing to Katwitwi until we hit the river, then to turn right towards city of Rundu.
The 270KM, “new” tarred road from Tsumeb and Katwitwi – straight easy going with little traffic, unless you count the donkey carts on the side of the road
This is the first day we have seen “traditional” villages, with huts made of wood, clay and straw! They all look so pretty (and some even have solar panels and satellites sticking out of them!). As we get closer to the river, we see fishermen selling smoked fish by the side of the road.
Once we hit the Okavango River, we turn right towards Rundu and the beginning of the Caprivi Strip
Driving on the Caprivi Strip can be dangerous, due to the farm animals that constantly wander into the street! The speed limit is 120KMPH, but we were often going much slower to make sure we had time to brake for cows, goats, and donkeys
We checked into our lodge in the early afternoon, giving us plenty of time to unpack, and check emails before heading out on the river for a sundowner cruise. While the boat could easily accomdate 20 people, we were the only ones booked for the cruise that day, so we had a private excursion! Our guide told us that hippos and crocs are rarely seen in this section of the river, so we didn’t see much wildlife. However, Igor did get an eyefull as we drove past some young women bathing on the Angolan side of the river! Yowza!
A private Sundowner Cruise on the Okavango River
Toasting the sunset with some sparkling wine
While the sun blazes during the day, we’ve found that a lot of African sunsets tend to be very dull red by the time they reach the horizon
Kaisosi River Lodge, along the Namibian bank of the Okavango River