PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

The Start of a Big Journey — 3 Countries in 7 Days

Week 128 of the photographic documentary of my daily life

I might be repeating myself, but this time for real. What a week it has been. I was just telling David we were on day 6 of our trip, and he was surprised, “What, already?”

Yes. It’s about that thing and how time flies when you’re having fun. And we certainly had lots of it in the past week.

While we did swirl off our original plan of driving from Namibia to Zambia, we entered instead two other countries, of which one of them none of us had been to before.

So yes, adventures, wilderness and lots of wildlife we had this week. But let me start the photo essay. I might not have stuck to the one photo per day rule, but it was really difficult this time.

Starting off with Thursday. Our last day before the departure. It’s not like we had to leave on Friday, but we felt like we had to put a day down, so we, first of all, had a deadline on when to get everything done and secondly to have a date to get excited about.

The first half of the day, we still drove through town, went to mechanics, switched oil and fuel filters and did a big grocery run. But then we had to get stuff into the car. The time was ticking.

It was Friday the 13th when we hit the road. On time and as planned at 7 am, we were rolling out of Swakopmund. The last look back onto the Atlantic Ocean, and hopefully, within less than a month, we’ll see the Indian Ocean ahead of us.

We sacrificed the first day of the trip to cover some distance. Leaving the Namib desert behind, we slowly but surely drove into greener country until we arrived in the very North.

The Okavango is the natural border between Angola and Namibia and was our destination for the day. Setting up camp right on the river, we were more than happy with our choice.

I captured this one dragonfly in camp as a representation of the swarms of dragonflies we drove through on our way in.

The sunset was spectacular. And so was the beginning of the night. Stars in the sky and hippos on the water right in front of us. This is wild camping in Namibia.

After a chilled breakfast next to the river, we packed up camp and drove further east. Now entering the Caprivi region, we were in a part of Namibia that is nestled between Botswana and Angola.

I had read about a national park just South of Kongola where one could wild camp. For a small fee of 6 US$, we paid our entrance to the park and that was our entry to this hidden wilderness.

Herds of elephants and hippos in the water right next to us.

I’ve been on many safaris before, but I’ve never camped somewhere in the wild where all these animals roam freely with no fence between my bed and them.

As the evening set in, the place awoke and got lively. Animals were walking around us from all sides. Birds were singing their wonderful melodies in the trees as the sun was setting.

As soon as the last sunlight was gone, David hushed us into the rooftop tent, which provided us at least a little protection.

Pushing my lens out of the tent cover, I snapped a picture of the nightsky as the stars were reflecting on the water and a shooting star flew past. What a sparkling sight.

The next morning we woke up as some rustling sound was to be heard just next to us. As I lifted my head, I could see antelopes peacefully grazing right to our car.

They were mostly silent and only moved when some baboons in the trees began to make some noise.

I was lying in bed as the impala antelopes were hopping by. What a way to go on Safari. I didn’t even have to move.

After breakfast in paradise or the wildest wilderness, whatever you call it, we packed up and headed toward the border.

Crossing into Botswana was the plan, and except for some meat and vegetables we had in the freezer, nothing would stop us. Yes, we do travel with a fridge and a freezer. And yes, we kind of knew we couldn’t take it across, but David threw some charming words around the lady checking out the vehicle and she just waved us through.

30 minutes later, we arrived at Mvandi View, a lovely campsite at the Chobe River. After two nights of wild camping in Namibia, we enjoyed now some luxury. Like having a drink at the bar.

Relaxing in the water while overlooking the floodplain of the Chobe River, where zebras were grazing in the distance.

We set up our camp, including the gazebo, as we were planning to stay two nights. Lots of fairy lights were placed to shine light and decorations on our mobile home.

The next day I did exactly that. Nothing.

Sleeping in. Hanging in the hammock. Lying in the pool and relaxing under the gazebo while the rain was pouring down. I had planned on doing some online work, but the internet was more absent than available, and it was a serious struggle, so I just left it.

After a full day of not moving, we packed up camp again and headed on. Exploring Chobe National Park was the plan, and we certainly didn’t get disappointed even though it was the wet season and everything else, but easy to spot wildlife in the thick and lush green bushes.

I’m only going to share one picture, the one predator we saw. A beautiful male lion. The rest of the animals I am going to display in a separate article.

While we had planned to stay that night in Botswana still, we spontaneously switched plans at lunchtime and decided to cross the border into Zimbabwe.

Now.

There we go. That afternoon, we arrived at Vic Falls, the town in Zimbabwe located next to the majestic Victoria Falls.

The following morning, I woke up and received breakfast in bed. Yes, this luxury you can have when camping as well.

And after some decision making we had to do at this stage, we left camp and walked toward the border. Yes, these majestic waterfalls are on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.

There is a bridge leading across the water from one country to the other. Without a passport, we got a bridge pass that allowed us to walk in No Man’s Land between the two countries and visit the bridge.

We’re still going to get closer to the falls, which stretch across a distance of 1,700 meters. Yes, the Zambezi River rushes down in the gorge across a length of 5,600 feet.

But this was our first glimpse of the falls. And it was certainly impressive.

Since I have been asked about it in the last few days, here is a map with the route we’ve taken and the places we stopped at and stayed overnight.

This is the breakdown of how far we’ve come so far.

This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett started this photography challenge in 2020 and many have participated ever since.

Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian / Shell / Ivy / Lisa / Lynne

And these are the previous weekly photo essays:

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