Getting There

It's time to leave South Africa. (Hey, we just got here!) We're headed to Botswana, but to get there, we must fly to Victoria Falls airport in Zimbabwe, then we will drive.

We were picked up by a South African woman who took us to the airport. While waiting for the ticketing agent to check us in, the woman who brought us asked about where we came from. When I mentioned California, she asked which time of year she should visit the Golden State. We said anytime after March, and not after October. I asked where she had traveled in the past. The answer was nowhere.

One could look at this conversation and decide that she was making nice B.S. But people do want to come to America. Our guide for the tour talked about how difficult it is to get a visa. Seems strange. We Americans can travel most of the world with relative ease.

On final approach to Zimbabwe, we could see the "smoke" of Victoria Falls. The smoke is water mist being blown up by air flow. I'm sure we'll be hearing much more about this near the end of the tour.

The Victoria Falls airport is where we first met Mandla, who will be our guide for 15 days. A good guide is worth his or her weight in gold. They can make or break your tour. Mandla greeted us with a handshake that turned into a casual hug. Through the rest of the day, his enthusiasm oozed out. The man seems to love his job. He's been doing it for 20 years.

Where the Chobe and Zambezi rivers intersect is referred to as the four corners, where Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia intersect. We had our visas stamped as we left Zimbabwe, then we walked through no man's land and were required to tread through a disinfectant before we could officially enter Botswana. The reason being that beef is one of the three major products here, and foot in mouth disease is something they'd like to avoid.

We ended our day at our lodge over-looking a flood plain of the Chobe river. It's the end of the wet season, and our first glance made the river look like a lake. Most of the water has come from Angola.

A few elephants were spotted, and I was lucky enough to find our first giraffe.

Finally, the "getting there" travel is over. Now the adventure can begin.