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Loading ...After a short 2-hour mini bus ride from the border on very nice new roads we made it to the charming Rwandan capitol of Kigali, set among the hills of Rwanda. I found the countryside and landscape of Rwanda to be as beautiful as southern Uganda and among the nicest landscapes in all the countries I have visited in Africa. After a local showed us the way we found rooms in a guest house, down a steep hill from the city center. Kigali is very modern and clean by African standards, a testament to the massive influx of International aid and assistance that has flowed into Rwanda the past 14 years since the horrible atrocities of the Rwandan genocide. While people still stared at us and street touts tried to sell us trinkets and phone cards the level of hassle was extremely lessened from the rest of Africa (and not even on the same scale as Egypt and Tanzania).
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Third World Travel at above-First-World Prices
[Note that the politically correct term is Developing World and Third World terminology is obsolete Cold War rhetoric]
Africa is much more expensive than I expected, even after researching prices and speaking with others who had been here before. Part of this expense is due to the flaccid weakness of the US Dollar (thanks, George W.) and the large dependence that most Southern and Eastern African countries place on the historically solid US currency; many locals and businesses prefer dollars over their own currencies which may have astronomical inflation rates. Zimbabwe is the current red-headed economic stepchild with recent inflation measured at over 1,000,000 % (your $10,000 cash bundle from last year is worth $1 this year, plus the notes themselves have expiration dates that prevent them from holding any value beyond 3 months). In addition to a devalued dollar, many African opportunists play a fun game I liked to call Screw-The-Tourist where they set their prices in US Dollars, which are nearly impossible to get in Africa (when possible one incurs a hefty 8-15% exchange rate gouging), they adjust those dollar prices based on how far the dollar devalues relative their home currency, and then when you move to pay in the local currency they bump the exchange rate an additional 10-20% in their favor; it’s all just one big, fun, shell-game of getting fleeced at every end.
Loading ... (0 Ratings) Loading ...After leaving the Okavango Delta we spent a night in Gweta before heading North to Kasane, along the Chobe River that divides Botswana from the Namibia pan-handle. Arriving in early afternoon we quickly boarded a 4×4 safari truck (a bit larger than those in Kruger) for an early afternoon game drive in Chobe National Park, Botswana’s premier game park. The game drive was supposed to have been 3 hours but had to be cut short to 2 due to the evening cruise that had already been booked along the river. Most of the game drive was fairly uneventful with rare sightings of only the most common animals except for a 30 minute excursion where the driver drove slowly and non-aggressively along the sandy bank of the river literally into a herd of 35 or so Elephants of varying age and gender. I did not know what to make of this because on the one hand it occurred to me that this might not be the best thing for the animals, but on the other it provided us with epic views of the herd, many elephants that were within 6-10 feet of both sides of the truck (one bull elephant stared us down but did not make a mock charge thankfully).Of all the Elephant viewing in Kruger and Etosha this was the closest vantage point to the most animals and we delighted in being privy to the seemingly natural behaviors of the herd. The Elephants wandered along the banks drinking while the juveniles and babies stayed close to their mothers and the elder elephants kept their bodies between the truck and the young. After the Elephant excursions we drove around for 30 more minutes or so and saw surprisingly little (again the luck of the draw I guess) except for one massive Hippo sunning himself on a far bank (normally they do not leave the water until the night.
(0 Ratings) Loading ...After Etosha we drove to the Namibian capitol of Windhoek, in the central-Eastern part of Namibia where we had another night in a bed and where we had a farewell party for 9 of our tribe who were departing (3 new members arriving). After Windhoek we said goodbye to the wonderful country of Namibia as we crossed the border into Botswana.
One of the main highlights retold by other Southern Africa Overland veterans was the trip in the Okavango Delta of Northwestern Botswana, so this is something all of us who were remaining were looking forward. The Okavango River originates in Angola, flows across the pan-handle of Namibia and into the nearly perfectly flat plains of Botswana, where it breaks up in a 16,000 square Km maze of marshes, lagoons, channels and islands, which are in turn surrounded by the barren Kalahari Desert. The plains is so flat that the water takes 90 days to move maybe 150 miles from one end of the Delta to the other.
(0 Ratings) Loading ...We continued on North from the Himba region to Etosha National Park, Namibia’s renown game park. I found Etosha to be different than Kruger with very flat terrain, more trees, much shorter grass and with a much less visible variety of animals (I guess the latter difference is more the luck of the draw than any scientific conclusion). The experience was also different because we made the game drive in our massive truck, rather than in the smaller 12-seater vehicles at Kruger. Even so, most of the wildlife we saw was quite far off than at Kruger and less apt to stray close to the road (the road was much more open and visible at a distance due to the flat terrain and short grass so perhaps that made all the difference).
(0 Ratings) Loading ...I have been planning on taking a trip to Africa for the past 2 years now and while normally I choose to avoid organized tours that tend to be overpriced and filled with couples and senior citizens I discovered that many of the game parks in Africa require guides and due to the slow pace and rough nature of African travel that there are dozens of Overland trips that are frequented by youngish adventure backpackers like myself. After doing a fair amount of research I came to realize that the cheapest overland tour is not necessarily the best and from my research and first hand feedback on Lonely Planet’s Thorntree Forum I was leaning towards Nomad Africa for its reasonable (average) price along with their strong reputation for well up-kept vehicles, experienced guides and strong customer satisfaction. After arriving at this conclusion I was pleased to learn my friend Pam had actually taken the Cape Town to Victoria Falls tour with Nomad and she had nothing but high praise for the experience so I knew I was on the right track.
Normally I do not pre-book high cost items like tours since often they are cheaper on-site and the added flexibility can come in handy if I need to change or alter my plans. In this case I was concerned the tour might be fully booked in advance so I pre-booked, which did in fact prove both un-necessary and more costly ($1550 vs. $1100) so I would recommend others to hold off until they hit Cape Town unless they wish to do a tour during high season (June - August). Another thing I debated back and forth with myself was whether to do the camping vs. the much more expensive Accommodated trip of virtually the same route and on which date to book to get the most diversity from the group. After much back and forth with the helpful Nomad sales staff I requested detailed information about the Nationality, Gender, Couple Status and Age of the currently booked clients on 3 different tour dates and for both the Camping and Accommodated options (which were in effect separate trips). I settled on the camping tour since it offered the greatest diversity and the Average age was younger and more adventurous. As it turned out that was an excellent call because the Camping trip boasted an average age of 29 or so and 10 Nationalities for 24 people while the Accommodated Trip on the same date had a late 40s average age with 2 or 3 Nationalities and only 7 individuals (mostly couples) which I am assuming would have been significantly less enjoyable from an adventure and social standpoint for me.
My Overland Trip Itinerary was as follows:
World Adventurer and amateur archeologist Mike Lopez (currently abroad on an extended sabbatical through Africa).
[July 30] After 4 months in Africa, Mike is taking a much needed rest in Thailand and SE Asia.
After a short 2-hour mini bus ride from the border on very nice new roads we made it to the charming Rwandan capitol of Kigali, set among the hills of Rwanda. I found the countryside and landscape of Rwanda to be as beautiful as southern Uganda and among the nicest landscapes in all the countries I have visited in Africa. After a local showed us the way we found rooms in a guest house, down a steep hill from the city center. Kigali is very modern and clean by African standards, a testament to the massive influx of International aid and assistance that has flowed into Rwanda the past 14 years since the horrible atrocities of the Rwandan genocide. While people still stared at us and street touts tried to sell us trinkets and phone cards the level of hassle was extremely lessened from the rest of Africa (and not even on the same scale as Egypt and Tanzania). 
After leaving the Okavango Delta we spent a night in Gweta before heading North to Kasane, along the Chobe River that divides Botswana from the Namibia pan-handle. Arriving in early afternoon we quickly boarded a 4×4 safari truck (a bit larger than those in Kruger) for an early afternoon game drive in Chobe National Park, Botswana’s premier game park. The game drive was supposed to have been 3 hours but had to be cut short to 2 due to the evening cruise that had already been booked along the river. Most of the game drive was fairly uneventful with rare sightings of only the most common animals except for a 30 minute excursion where the driver drove slowly and non-aggressively along the sandy bank of the river literally into a herd of 35 or so Elephants of varying age and gender. I did not know what to make of this because on the one hand it occurred to me that this might not be the best thing for the animals, but on the other it provided us with epic views of the herd, many elephants that were within 6-10 feet of both sides of the truck (one bull elephant stared us down but did not make a mock charge thankfully).Of all the Elephant viewing in Kruger and Etosha this was the closest vantage point to the most animals and we delighted in being privy to the seemingly natural behaviors of the herd. 
The Elephants wandered along the banks drinking while the juveniles and babies stayed close to their mothers and the elder elephants kept their bodies between the truck and the young. After the Elephant excursions we drove around for 30 more minutes or so and saw surprisingly little (again the luck of the draw I guess) except for one massive Hippo sunning himself on a far bank (normally they do not leave the water until the night.
After Etosha we drove to the Namibian capitol of Windhoek, in the central-Eastern part of Namibia where we had another night in a bed and where we had a farewell party for 9 of our tribe who were departing (3 new members arriving). After Windhoek we said goodbye to the wonderful country of Namibia as we crossed the border into Botswana. 
I have been planning on taking a trip to Africa for the past 2 years now and while normally I choose to avoid organized tours that tend to be overpriced and filled with couples and senior citizens I discovered that many of the game parks in Africa require guides and due to the slow pace and rough nature of African travel that there are dozens of Overland trips that are frequented by youngish adventure backpackers like myself. After doing a fair amount of research I came to realize that the cheapest overland tour is not necessarily the best and from my research and first hand feedback on Lonely Planet’s Thorntree Forum I was leaning towards