We flew from Johannesburg to Kasane, Botswana on the 14 of July and made our way for a two night stay at Chobe Marina Lodge, a four star lodge located along the banks of the Chobe River.
On the evening of our arrival the lodge featured their open air buffet bbq. There was a a good selection of food with some exotic wildebeest, fire roasted pork, sausage, chicken etc. but to be honest the food was not very exciting and the meat was tough and so-so but the ambiance was excellent.
On the morning of the 15th we were picked up by a Bushlore rep (our truck rental company) and driven half way to the Zambian border (exaggerating) to pick up our Toyota Hilux Bush Camper which we will use for the next 21 days of exploring and camping.
Once we got our shit together with the “New Version” of the truck we had 5 years previous I immediately turned the wrong way in their compound, looked forward looking for the exit, didn’t see the giant drainage gully in front of me (everyone else did!) crashed down into the pit, everyone screamed, drove out and felt very embarrassed.
Just checking the 4 wheel drive I sheepishly told the reps who came running out wondering what the hell was going on with this old man they just rented a truck to crashing around their compound. It was fun. TFB.
The lodge is very close to the border of Chobe NP so with cool drinks in the cooler and some small appies supplied by our captain NT, we hopped on board our private little pontoon boat at 3:00 pm on our second day at the lodge and headed upstream on the Chobe River into the park to explore the shore line and very large island that separates Botswana from Zambia.
There has been drought through the region for some time now so the landscape has changed for the elephants but we did still have some great elephant sightings and close up water crossings along with crocs sunning on the shoreline, Cape Buffalo hanging out on the island and Hippo being their noisy selves with the Waterbuck, Impala, African Open Bills, etc. etc. It was a great three hour tour.
Five years ago (July 15, 2019) we flew to Africa and almost to the day today, July 10th we’ll be heading back again.
This time our Daughter Kristina (46) and Granddaughter Lucy (16) will be joining us for the first month of a mixed bag of adventures planned for Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
We’ll have a Toyota HiLux 4×4 double cab fully equipped bush Camper (plus an extra tent for me G) for three weeks of driving, lodging and camping through Zambia and Zimbabwe.
We’ll pickup and drop off our truck in Kasane, Botswana where we’ll also experience some great adventures on the Chobe River and Chobe National Park.
In between we’ll do some great wild unfenced camping in Kafue NP in Zambia and two incredible exclusive camp-site experiences in Mana Pools NP in Zimbabwe.
We’ll then pit stop for two nights in the town of Kariba on the shores of Lake Kariba where we’ll do some fishing for the elusive Tiger Fish.
We’ll follow that with one more Chobe River experience and then end it all with 3 nights of off the grid lounging and game driving at the amazing Umlani Bush Camp in the central Greater Krueger NP region. (Note: We stayed there in 2017).
On August 10th, the ladies will head home to Vancouver and Joyce and I will spend the next two weeks driving through Malawi visiting a couple of National Parks and then meeting up with our friends in Chitimba.
Our final two weeks will be spent kicking back at a couple of nice beach resorts in Mauritius before heading home in early September.
Melaque, San Paricio and Villa Obrigon are the neighbourhoods that make up what people call Melaque.
Melaque is about 200 km south of Puerto Vallarta and it still maintains a very quaint and not too touristy quality about it. There are no name brand restaurants and ATV’s, golf carts, horses, motorcycles, bicycles and of course some cars are the main mode of transportation.
The beach is long and wide with beautiful white sand but the shore is mostly steep and unfortunately not very swimmer friendly. You can swim but wave timing is of the essence when entering the water however the western end of the beach is much calmer but the sand isn’t quite as nice due to the proximity of the El Pedregal River that flows into the bay.
Where we were staying, the crashing waves that are created by the steep shoreline literally sounded like bombs going off to the point that our windows occasionally rattled and it went on 24 hours a day however we did get used to it. What was hard to get used to was the dogs barking all night long.
Packs of stray dogs would bark and bark and bark in some sort of competition to see who could bark the most and loudest. It was incessant and then just as they had barked themselves to death or sleep, the fucking roosters would start. I guess they were waiting for their turn. And it wasn’t at sunrise. No. It would be 3:00 or 4:00 am! I don’t know but maybe roosters can’t tell the difference between the moon and the sun. I thought they only did their cocadoodle dooing when the sun came up. So much for what we learned in school.
There is small expat community and a lot of older and greying snowbirds who call this place home for 4-6 months a year and the music scene reflects this to an almost comical level but I sincerely mean this in a good way.
I don’t know how many times we heard the song “Tennessee Whisky” and so many other oldies but goodies, played by old hippies and their guitars and others with their karaoke boxes singing the latest tunes, from 1968. They played at local venues, tip can front and centre and were usually the warm up acts for the more established local and area bands that would start early in the evening.
We spent a total of about 9 weeks in Melaque with a short 10 day jaunt to Puerto Vallarta in between.
Our first destination was La Paloma Oceanfront Retreat located in San Patricio. We spent our first four weeks and last week there after returning from PV. It has 14 very nice units of varying sizes, a great pool, excellent continental breakfast included and all located right on the beach. A great place and we will definitely stay there again.
La Paloma was right beside a very popular bar for the 65+ year old crowd and this is where we had no choice but to listen to, over and over again, the greatest hits from the sixties with a little seventies thrown in. It is named “The Albatross” and they served good food, cold beer and reasonably priced tequila and the place would be packed by 4:30 with the a sea of grey haired retirees dancing and having the time of their lives. It was funny but great at the same time and we hope we will have the same zest for life when we hit the golden 70’s, which unfortunately isn’t too far away!
Our second stop for three weeks was Sueno del Sol in Villa Obregon. A beautiful newly renovated/built hotel.
This place was a little more expensive but the rooms on offer were very nice and we were able to snag a large one bedroom with fully equipped kitchen on the ground floor. We could walk out of our unit right beside the pool, and steps from the outdoor mini kitchenette and barbecue. The pool was fantastic and again, we were right on the beach. The owner, Gord Erickson is a Canadian from British Columbia and he turned an old rundown abandoned hotel into a really beautiful place.
Both locations were excellent however La Paloma was a shorter walk to the main townsite but only by about 10 minutes.
The food everywhere was very good and affordable and served by locally owned small restaurants.
Malaque is a great place, semi-undeveloped, and a great original town in Mexico.
Between July 15th and November 15th 2019 we travelled through northern South Africa, eastern Botswana, much of Zambia, north western Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Ethiopia. We self drove through all but Ethiopia.
On mainland Africa we drove 7,848 kms and in Madagascar 2,448 Kms for a total of 10,296 kms of self driving.
In Ethiopia we had drivers and covered a distance of 3,589 kms for a total Africa road distance of 13,885 kms.
We flew 14 segments for a total of approximately 38,416 km.
Vancouver to Johannesburg via Toronto/Addis Ababa – 14,851 km
Johannesburg to Antananarivo – 2,140 km
Ile Sainte Marie to Antananarivo – 500 km
Antananarivo to Nose Be return – 1,640 km
Antananarivo to Addis Ababa – 3,230 km
Addis Ababa to Lalibela – 339 km
Lalibela to Axum – 240 km
Mekele to Addis Ababa – 506 km
Addis Ababa to Vancouver via Dublin/Toronto – 14,970 km
Total distance traveled by land and air – 52,301 km
We debated continuing on with our plan that was in place at the early ending of our last world adventure.
This would have taken us to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia including Borneo as well as Papua and Australia. We had some grand plans for all of these places however Africa and the adventure it offers for self driving, camping and immersing yourself in the culture, food and wildlife won out so;
Departing July 15, 2019 Joyce and I are hoping to equal or top the amazing 4 month experience we had in Africa in 2017.
Starting from Johannesburg we’ll spend 6 weeks self driving and camping with a Toyota Hilux 4×4 Bushcamper covering most of the national parks of Zimbabwe and Zambia.
We’ll drop our vehicle back in Joberg and then fly to Madagascar where we have a Nissan double cab 4×4 reserved for 5 weeks. We’ll be mostly staying at lodges and small hotels but will have camping supplies just in case. We’ll self drive through the North East, Central and South West of the country and then fly to the far north west of the country to spend some down time on the beaches of a couple of small islands (noseys).
From Madagascar (Antananarivo) we’ll fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we’ll experience about 2 weeks of the amazing cultures and geography that this country has to offer. This will be a private tour that we’ve arranged through the great help of Verity Bester, a friend and travel consultant we know in South Africa who has helped us tirelessly in our planning of our previous and now next adventure.
Next stop is West Central Africa. We’ll fly from Addis Ababa to Libreville, Gabon where we are currently working on a plan to see this country that is called the last “Eden” on earth. We’re hoping to explore both Gabon and Cameroon over a period of 3-4 weeks.
Please stay tuned and if anybody who reads this has suggestions, ideas etc. please comment.
We’ve now been home for 8 months since our last adventure.
During this time we said farewell to Joyce’s sister Marilyn who passed away peacefully from cancer July 23rd, 2018.
She will be forever loved and we will miss her terribly. Her name is now on a star in the Milky Way galaxy. We will use Marilyn’s star to guide us into the future.
