Botswana 2001

AF-01 - Africa 2001 - SOUTH AFRICA, MOZAMBIQUE, ZIMBABWE, ZAMBIA, BOTSWANA, NAMIBIA, LESOTHO Date of travel: Oct 3 - Nov 7, 2001 ITINERARY: On Oct 3, 2001 early in the morning I leave Vista in a Hertz car for Los Angeles airport. There I board a plane for 5-hr flight to New York and from NY to Johannesburg taking 14.5 hrs. The landing in Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA is in mid-afternoon on Oct 4. By a minibus (van) to a railway station with our “Shongololo Train.” I get a cabin in it. I am taking its “Southern Cross” leg of the trip from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls. The following day there is a minibus trip to the “Voortreckers Monument” and Pretoria, one of South Africa 3 capitals. Among other places we see is the “Union Building” (the seat of government) and the “Kruger House.” In the afternoon we visit “Soweto” a black suburb of Johannesburg. In the evening of Oct 6. we reached the MOZAMBIQUE border. Next 2 days we explore its capital Maputo with train station by Eiffel, city hall, cathedral and the “Iron House.” In the evening of Oct 8. we are back to SOUTH AFRICA. The following two days we spent in the “Kruger Park” seeing many animals. On Oct 11 we do the Panorama Route in the northern part of South Africa with Mac-Mac Falls and Pilgrim’s Rest which used to be a gold mining town. The following day we have a similar trip from Louis Trichardt. In the evening on Oct 12 our train crosses to ZIMBABWE. Following days we explore this country. The fist day the “Great Zimbabwe,” the second day Bulawayo and the Cecil Rhodes grave in “View of the World.” On Oct 15 we go to “Lake Kariba” and take a boat ride on it. The day after there is sightseeing of “Hwange National Park.” On Oct 17 our train comes to “Victoria Falls.” Still this morning we go from our train on foot across a bridge to ZAMBIA. We see the “Victoria Falls” from the Zambia side. Then our minibuses take us to a Zambian town Livingston. We see a market and a museum there. On Oct 18 we take our minibuses from Victoria Falls to BOTSWANA. There we visit the “Chobe National Park.” The most memorable are the many elephants we see. We take a boat ride on the Chobe River. Then we return to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. On Oct 19 in the morning we go to “Victoria Falls” on the Zimbabwe side, my second visit here (the first was in 1983). After lunch I am taken to the local airport for my flight in a small plane to Windhoek in Namibia. The plane lands in Windhoek, NAMIBIA after 7 PM. A taxi takes me to my hotel. From here I take the “Dune Express” another “Shongololo Train” to Cape Town. On Oct 20, there is a sightseeing of Windhoek, the pretty capital of Namibia. One fact that before WWI Namibia (that time South West Africa) belonged to Germany is that the streets are called “Strasse.” In the afternoon the minibuses take us to town Otjiwarongo in the northern part of Namibia. Here is our train. While the train stays in place its passengers make a day trips to “Etosha National Park” and the following day to “Waterberg Nature Reserve.” Then the train starts moving south. Morning on Oct 23 we take a van trip to area around the mountain Spitzkoppe. In the afternoon we are in the town Swakopmund with the main street called “Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse.” Then south to 34 km distant Walvis Bay. Near it there are high sand dunes. By evening we are back to Swakopmund and our train. Next day I take a trip north to “Cape Cross,” which is a southern edge of the “Skeleton Coast.” In the afternoon, back to Swakopmund where I explore the town by myself. On Oct 25 we leave the train to see the countryside and spend a night in a tent camp. We reach the train again in the evening of the second day after it moved to Mariental. Next day we drive to Kalahari Desert. A Bushman shows us their live in the desert. Then to the Hardap Dam built for irrigation. By night we are back on our train. Over night the train moves to Keetmanshoop. Today a minibus tour takes us to a POW camp from WWI for German soldiers, later a now closed diamond mine and to a port town Luderitz. The following day we visit the “Fish River Canyon,” the second biggest canyon in the world. Late at night our train crosses the border to SOUTH AFRICA. On Oct 30 we awake in Upington. This is a wine growing region. We visit “Augrabies Falls Nat. Park.” There are many wild animals there and we see beautiful waterfalls on the Orange River. Later a visit of “Spitskop Nature Reserve.” Then the train goes the whole night and in the morning we are in Hutchinson. By vans to town Graaff-Reinet. There we travel through Great Karoo which is a semidesert. Our train is waiting for us in Beaufort West. On Nov 1, I take a tour through Klein Karoo (a green country) to “Cango Caves” and town Oudtshoorn. We visit the caves and individually see Oudtshoorn. In the evening back on our train. The following day our trip starts at Paarl where we visit the “Afrikaans Leguage Monument” a symbol of the Afrikaan language. Next stop is in a winery to do some tasting. It is followed by wine towns Stellenbosh and Franschhoek. In Franschhoek we see the Huguenot Memorial. Our train is also there. On Nov 3 we are in the Cape Town. We spend two days here. We take the cable car to the top of the “Table Mountain,” then the “Castle of Good Hope” in the city. At noon we are in “Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Shopping Center.” In the afternoon “South African Museum” and the “Company Gardens.” The second day a trip to “Cape Point” and “Cape of Good Hope.” In the afternoon we see the famous “Kirstenbosch Gardens.” That ends my “Shongololo Train” trip. On Nov 5, after the last night on the train, I fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg and from there to Maseru, Kingdom of LESOTHO. By a van to my hotel. The next day a car with a driver takes me through the capital, Maseru, then outside the town a visit to Thaba-Bosiu Mountain with graves of the royal family. It could be said Lesotho begun here in 19th century. In a town Macitsieng I see the compound of the king and in Morija I visit a small museum. After 4 PM the car takes me to the airport. From Maseru I fly back to Johannesburg. There I change the plane for one going overnight to Atlanta, USA, where in the morning on Nov 7. The last plane takes me from Atlanta to Los Angeles. There I rent a car. In midafternoon I am at home in Vista. Travel office: Wild African Ventures and Shongololo Train. Who took part: On Shongololo Train were Dutch, Germans and Brits. In Lesotho alone.