An African Adventure: Itinerary and Highlights

Sub-saharan Africa was quite a long way down my travel bucket list until recently. But after visiting Iguazu falls last year, I wanted to see Victoria falls, to complete the big 3 (Niagara falls, Iguazu falls and Victoria falls). So I picked a tour with Intrepid Travel which started and ended in Victoria falls and covered Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Going from UK to Victoria falls meant flying via Cape Town, so I spent a couple of days there, and also fitted in a day trip to Zambia from Victoria Falls. Overall, covering 5 countries in two weeks.  

I will do day by day posts as usual, but to start off, here is the trip itinerary and highlights. 

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival in Cape Town and a city sightseeing hop on/hop off bus tour.  See full post here.

Day 2: Day trip to the Cape of Good Hope and Boulders Beach. Visit to Cape Town Diamond Museum. Full post here.

Day 3: Visit Robben Island Museum and Cape Town Two Oceans Aquarium. Full post here.

Day 4: Leave Cape Town and arrive in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Visit Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwe side. Full post here.

Day 5: Day trip to Zambia to visit Livingstone island and the Devil’s pool at Victoria Falls. Full post here.

Day 6: Start on the Intrepid Botswana Highlights Tour. Travel to  Elephant Sands, Nata, Botswana. Full post here.

Day 7: Travel to Maun and scenic flight over the Okavango Delta. Full post here.

Day 8: Travel to Guma Lagoon and Sunset lagoon cruise.

Day 9: Explore the Okavango on a Mokoro (traditional African dug out canoe) and nature walk.

Day 10: Travel to Namibia. Sunset river cruise on the Kavango River (this is the same as the Okavango River, but is called Kavango in Namibia).

Day 11: Travel along the Caprivi strip in Namibia, back into Botswana. Afternoon safari in Chobe National Park.

Day 12: Morning Safari and Sunset Cruise in Chobe National Park.

Day 13: Back to Zimbabwe, and end of trip. Relax at Victoria Safari Lodge and watch vulture feeding.

Highlights

City of Cape Town

I loved visiting Cape Town. It’s a beautiful, modern city with stunning white beaches, majestic mountain ranges, and delightful waterfront dining. I got many raised eyebrows when I mentioned plans to visit Cape Town. This made my positive impressions all the more remarkable. There are indeed high-crime areas that tourists are encouraged to steer clear of. But, from what I could see, this mirrors challenges faced by many major world cities grappling with significant wealth gaps. The main tourist zones felt safe and welcoming and locals were genuinely friendly and eager to help. 

Table Mountain

From the Cape Town waterfront, Table Mountain looks just like it does in photos and stands out against the Cape Town skyline. What I didn’t realize was that it has a totally different view from the back, where the mountain slopes down to to the sandy beaches. When you’re up on the top of the mountain, the views are absolutely stunning, giving you a wide look over Cape Town, the ocean, and the beaches.

Robben Island

Visiting Robben Island and hearing about the history from one of its former political prisoners was not easy. However, it was a highlight.

The Cape of Good Hope

I first heard about the Cape of Good Hope in History lessons at school where I learned about Vasco De Gama and Bartholemew Dias who navigated the Cape to find a sea route to the East. So when I came to Cape town this was a must visit. 

African Penguins

I’d never seen penguins in the wild, so seeing them at Boulders beach was a high point.

Victoria falls

The main reason for this trip, and it did not dissapoint. It’s place in the top 3  waterfalls in the world is well deserved. 

Devil’s Pool

Another thing I thought I’d never do. The Devil’s pool is a small natural pool located on the top of the main part of victoria falls, close to Livingstone Island. I had read about this before and firmly consigned it to the “not my cup of tea” pile.  But I wanted to visit Livingstone island and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a dip in the pool and take a photo was too good to turn down. 

Elephant Sands

This was a showstopper moment on the trip. Elephant Sands Lodge is on the North East of Botswana close to Nata. The waterhole here attracts many elephants in the afternoon and evening.  There were 30 to 40 wild elephants there at night and it was amazing to watch their interactions upclose (not to mention a close encounter – some elephants changed their minds about which route to take when leaving the waterhole, essentially trapping me in the cabin until they passed by, at very close proximity. See all in the video below).

Guma Lagoon

Guma lagoon is in the top corner of the Okavago Delta. We stayed at the Nguma Island Lodge, on the shores of the lagoon for 2 days which was a great opportunity to explore the secrets of the Okavago. Travesing through the hippo channels on a Mokoro was remarkable. The sunset on the lagoon was one of the best I have seen anywhere. 

Animals

I had expected to see animals on this trip, but I wasn’t prepared for how often we’d see them or the variety of settings.  Warthogs and deer at Victoria falls, elephants, zebras, giraffes and many different types of antelope on the side of the road, Hippos in Namibia and colourful birds everywhere.

Chobe national park was the icing on the cake, where we got very close to so many animals including a very lively pride of lions.

I also have a new found appreciation for wildlife photograhers and documentary makers. Observing wild animals for a few short hours in the heat and the dust makes you realise the patience, dedication and the long hours needed to capture the best of the animals and then condense them into a short programme.

We also had the chance to see and learn about the wildlife conservation efforts in the countries we visited and how money from the tourism industry is funneled into these efforts.

Overall, it was an amazing trip, traveling from the sandy beaches of the Cape Peninsula to the heart of Southern Africa. There were long travel days, hot weather (38 degrees Celsius/100 degrees faranehite),  but the amazing sounds and sights were worth it. 

And finally, a small personal highlight – Namibia became the 50th country I have set foot in. 

Stay tuned for day by day posts from next week onwards.