20-24 June 2018
New country! A hop over the border from Kasane into the Caprivi strip of Namibia for Richard to get some fishing done. The drive from Kasane to the Ngoma border takes one through the beginning of Chobe Game Reserve – tar road, but one needs to be aware of animals. The Ngoma border post on both the Botswana and Namibian sides were hassle free – passports stamped, Carnet signed and stamped, no vehicle check.
In Namibia one has to pay a Cross Border Charge to their Road Fund of R295,00. One can pay in Rand, cash.
We were early for check in at Mubala Camp and Lodge, so we headed first to Katima Mulilo to buy Namibian SIM cards (MTC is the network we were recommended) and checked out the Pick n Pay for shopping next week before heading onto Zambia. The road to Mubala Lodge, off the main drag through Caprivi, is being redone – the latter part has already been tarred, so by next year it will be an easy drive to this part of the world.
Mubala is located on the banks of one of the “canals” of the mighty Zambezi. The lodge itself is accessible from the river, so guests arrive at the campsite reception and get taken to the 5 star lodge.
We are camping – beautiful grassed campsite – we have Campsite One of the 10 Private Campsites, which is on the river bank, and has its own little ablution block with shower, loo, basin, washing up basins.
Really nice. Klippie was set up with not too much drama – we used rubber mats under her feet this time, as despite the grass, it is still river sand underneath. We have 4 nights – bliss to relax in one place. Lekker braai next to the river watching the sunset.
Day 2 started with Richard heading off with guide, Zuma, for a morning’s fishing while I chilled, watched birds and read. After lunch, we headed out for an afternoon of birding on the river, which included the most stunning sunset over the Zambezi River.
41 bird species I recorded. The highlight was seeing African Skimmers – resting on a sandbank and gliding low over the water – beautiful birds.
Much of this scenery reminded me of our trip to the flooded forests of the Amazon, Emma Williams and Siobhan Thompson – missing my fellow Amazonian Goddesses! We had a drink at the camp bar, and ribs from their menu for supper.
Day 3 we went fishing with Zuma…mission of the day – Susi to catch a Tiger! And success….I do believe my fish was a little bigger than Richard’s today :). And I kissed it before releasing it back into the mighty Zambezi.
A beautiful morning on the river, with me fishing and birding at the same time. Apart from a couple of casts into the trees on the bank, which, if I had been with the serious fishing boys would have meant downing beers as punishment at 8am, my casting got quite reasonable – even Zuma approved of some of my casts.
Our stay ended with a fabulous bird sighting – Schalow’s Turaco – sorry, no pic – Zuma came running across the campsite to tell me the birds were in the tree near reception – he knew I wanted to see them – great tick for me – Knysna Turaco on steroids. What an incredibly beautiful bird. The pictures in the bird books do not do it any justice at all.
We loved our stay at Mubala, our batteries were recharged and off we headed to meet up with the Zambian clan…