Day 16: Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg to Kasane (Chobe), Friday, Sept 12

Day 16: Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg to Kasane (Chobe), Friday, Sept 12

QOTD:

Somebody tell me what's the word?

Tell me brother, have you heard

From Johannesburg?

What’s the word: Johannesburg!

Somebody tell me what's the word?

Tell me brother, have you heard

From Johannesburg?

What’s the word: Johannesburg!

Weather: In Port Elizabeth it’s the middle of the night, who knows what the weather is; our layover is in Johannesburg (what’s the word?) and it is pleasant when we deplane. It’s is hot in Chobe, mid 90s and humid

Dept of Warnings: We’ve started taking our anti-malaria pills so there is a risk of temporary insanity. Could run to semi-permanent in THB’s case.

Kasane airport (that's it in its entirety)

Leave very early from Port Elizabeth, transferring in Jo’burg to Kasane. On the way in to the Kasane airport, maybe 15 minutes out, the pilot announces that we should be fine on the landing as long as they’ve cleared the runway of a plane. On landing, we see a small 4 seater off to the side on the grass with a guy standing outside the plane (that’s good news, right?).

Huge high ceiling, we're on the top floor

Another new country for THB, who has (amazingly….) not been counting. And, another coming tomorrow. And another the day after.

We’re staying at the Chobe Bush Lodge B&B, though originally we were staying at the Chobe Safari Lodge. Turns out the Safari has an extension, the Bush, across the street, open for all of one week. THB is not sure how we got booked into a place open only a week...D thought it had opened in January! It is lovely and, unlike the Hotel B in Lima appears to have most of the construction completed (though not the landscaping). THB can vouch for the pool: it’s done and working just fine!

There’s a bit of mix-up and nobody to greet us at the airport. Another party of four is also waiting. A very nice guy (he’s there to meet a large party departing later) makes a call to the Safari and they will make arrangements to pick us up. Turns out, the guy that shows up takes the other party of four, they are also staying at the Safari/Bush. Another 20 minutes and he’s back to take us to the Bush, only 5 minutes from the airport.

Generator gets used and that is one huge lingam, er, termite hill

We get our activities scheduled for the next two days, and then unpack and settle in. The room is gorgeous with the highest ceiling THB has ever seen, it must be 35 feet to the peak of the thatched roof. DB notices some pretty large ploppen outside, so we made do some viewing from our second floor balcony.

Good local brewski

Drinks on the deck at Safari, to be followed by buffet dinner at Bush. On the way out of Safari, the generator comes on…

See the monitor lizard?

And by the time we get to Bush all the power is off there. Dinner by kerosene lamp, we really feel like we’re in the bush.

By the time we sit down and contemplate eating by lamplight the power returns! Impala (yes, THB ate impala, it was actually quite good), chicken, a slice of favorful and a bit tough beef, some form of “white  meal,” potatoes, carrots and green beans, carrot cake, a bit of bread pudding, and a very nice SA sauvignon blanc; dinner included, drinks and tip about $35 for the four of us. THB is pretty sure with the large meals and lack of extensive exercise (using the camera doesn’t really count as exercise unless you play a lot of video games) he is gaining a few pounds.

Book Review: The Reef, a Passionate History of the Great Barrier Reef, Iain McCalman. THB must have badly misread the review, this book is not about the reef, it is a series of trite rehashings of castaways and overblown stories of explorers (and not of the reef, about the explorers). THB tried skipping, even that didn’t work, he didn’t get past the 1800s and that was 2/3s of the way along. NOT recommended