I got my 4X4, my camping gear, groceries, and I picked up Mom. Now it’s time to hit the road, so we headed north toward the town of Otjiwarongo, where we’ll be spending the next two nights. First we have to take a detour through the small Okonjima Game Reserve. Pretty much as soon as we enter the gate, we see two white rhinos. Moms first time in Africa, first safari, and she bags a pair of rhinos on the…
From Maun I said goodbye to Botswana and made my way to the next country on my list, Namibia. I was supposed to have an hour and a half connection in Johannesburg, but my flight from Maun left thirty minutes late, and my flight from Johannesburg got changed to thirty minutes earlier, so an hour and a half turned into a thirty minute frantic sprint through the Johannesburg airport. I sprinted, cut in line at immigration, sprinted, cut in line…
The drive from the Mababe camp in Chobe National Park to the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okovango Delta was long and, as all drives in this region, bumpy and sandy. I didn’t mind so much, though, because even though we weren’t in a national park or any kind of game reserve for most of it, it still felt like we were. There were still animals to see the whole way there. I also got introduced to a new antelope…
After my visit to Victoria Falls, I spent one more night in Kasane before starting an epic fifteen day tent camping safari through northern Botswana. Strap in and get comfortable because this post is pretty epic too. My journey started with a cruise up the Chobe River, just west of Kasane. The Chobe River marks the border between Botswana and Namibia in these parts and right in the middle is Sedudu Island. Apparently, Botswana and Namibia had to fight over…
As promised, I boarded a plane in Gaborone and winged my way all the way to the most northeastern tip of Botswana, Kasane, where I’ll be gearing up for the next leg of my journey. Kasane is mostly a base for safaris, where warthogs and baboons roam the streets and it’s not safe to walk around after dark for fear of lions, hyenas, and elephants. Out in the bush, warthogs are always hard to photograph because they’re pretty shy and…
I had about a five hour drive from Mashatu northwest to my next stop, the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. I checked into my little chalet and rested up for the next days activities. The Khama Rhino Sanctuary was started in the 1990’s in an attempt to save the near extinct rhino population. It’s been a pretty good success too. They currently have around 35 white rhinos (I’ve heard different numbers from different sources) and 4 black rhinos, all guarded by round…
Welcome to Botswana! Holy crap time flies! It seems like I barely had time to catch my breath after the last trip and suddenly, I’m on another adventure. I’ll start off by saying that Botswana was not easy to get to, at least not from the USA. My trip started in Salt Lake City with a flight to Newark, and then a Holy Crap Adventures first, an airport change. From Newark I took a shuttle for a very circuitous tour…
I intentionally tried to end this trip to Italy with one of it’s bigger and more significant cities and Florence turned out to be perfect for just that. Along with the size and significance came an awful lot of people. This last several days has been a chaotic mix of pedestrian traffic jams, waiting in lines to see sights that a month ago I could just walk right into, and having to buy advance tickets for things wondering if I…
For not being that far away, it took three trains and most of the day to get to my next stop, La Spezia, the jumping off point for a couple of days of hiking in Cinque Terre. But first, a first. Something happened to me that’s never happened to me on any of my trips before. I filled up the memory card on my camera. Holy crap I’ve taken a lot of pictures on this trip! I got a new…
Almost right in the middle of northern Italy, before heading into the mountains, is Verona, my next stop. Verona was arguably made famous by a certain Shakespeare play, more on that in a bit, but Verona also has a pretty long history that’s not fictitious. My hotel is situated such that I stroll into town right by the historic main gate, Porta Nuova, and then through the Portini della BrĂ where you’re almost immediately confronted with Verona’s main attraction, the…