Today was a reminder that you can plan all you like but God can intervene as disrupt those plans. Firstly, H had a bad night (coughing) and was not feeling well when we woke up. The plan was to self-drive Chobe National Park today. H & I decided not to go given how she was feeling. B, S, A & O went and were back around midday. They added some birds (including some lifers for them...

We had decided that this morning could be a morning just spent at Senyati. Watching the sunrise, some birding, seeing what animals would come for a drink (wildebeest & impala). It was a lovely quiet morning just enjoying the environment. A very kindly came to find me this morning because one of the campers had pointed out a Barn Owl to him. Nice one for the trip list. We had an early lunch and set off...

As we didn't have a big drive ahead of us (only 4 hours), we agreed for a later breakfast of 8am. Some people go up for a 6:30am run or walk and some of us agreed for a 7am birding walk rather. It was a pretty chilly morning with temperatures around 6-7 C. We have noticed the birds aren't that active too early until after the sun starts to warm up things so even the 7am...

First day without having to drive anywhere as we are staying two nights at Nata Lodge. Three of us went for a bird walk at 6:45am before breakfast, one worked and two went for a run. The sun hadn't fully risen and it was a bit chilly still and so not too many birds on the walk. Breakfast at 7:30am in the lodge. Nice array of continental and then the option of a full english as...

We were hoping for an event free day today. It was a better day but not entirely event free. Going into this trip, we knew that today would be the longest drive of the whole trip. We agreed to leave at 7am and as H & I were packed and ready at 645am we took the 15 mins for a quick walk and some birding. Then we hit the road at 7am. The navigation software (Waze)...

Today did not develop as planned. Well it seems so far days 1 to 3 have actually not developed as planned. Day 1 flat tyre, day 2 I booked the wrong date for Mokala NP and day 3 unfortunately got worse for trip. It started off fine in that we were packed and ready to head out when the gates opened at 7am this morning. A quick stop at the bird hide (quick because it was...

The blog is entitled "Hazard ahead" because this was the message we heard a lot today from Waze (navigation app) as we followed our route from Calvinia to Mosu Lodge in Mokala National Park. One stretch of the road was just pothole after pothole. Some were not significant but there were some really bad ones that required you to slow down to ensure you could navigate them safely. H & I had done this road in...

Today we left on a 2.5 week road trip from Cape Town, to northern Botswana, across into Namibia and back to Cape Town. We are traveling with 3 other couples. Today though, we left Cape Town at different times. B&S left with us around 9am then A&O left around 11am and R&J left about an hour later. Our first night is at Calvinia in the Karoo. It is about a 4.5 hour drive from Cape Town....