Advice for South Africa-Namibia-Botswana

[Guillermo Luijk]

In not much more than 2 weeks I will be flying Madrid-Johannesburg with two friends for a 3 weeks journey around Namibia and Bostwana (probably will reach Victoria Falls in Zimbawe for just one day).

I would appreciate very much advice of ANY kind: photo equipment, safety advices, devices to carry with us, recommended locations around Namibia and Botswana (we have planned all days but can be subject to some changes. We will visit the Namib desert, Skeleton Coast, Etosha National Park, Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park and Okavango Delta), luggage recommendations,...

We will drive our own rented 4x4 and we have already made reservations for all lodges and campings we will need. It's mainly a photographic journey.
I wonder if it is strongly recommended that we take a GPS with us with the cartography of Namibia and Botswana or not. We have been told roads are in quite good condition (many of them even concrete) and looking at them from Google Earth seem quite OK, but one never knows and we would like to avoid bad experiences getting lost or whatever.

Thank you very much.

PS: BTW I have to spend one day in Johannesburg prior to taking a flight to Windohek (Namibia). I was told the city is uninteresting and specially dangerous, so I booked accomodation at the airport. Is there somewhere interesting AND SAFE to visit in the surrounding area of Johannesburg airport? Pretoria perhaps?
We will spend there one Sunday.

[mahleu]

Which side will you be going to vic falls from? I strongly suggest the Zim side as the views are a lot better although to enter Zim you will be charged quite a large foreigner tax. If you can stay overnight, the spray from the falls creates 'Moonbows' if there is a full moon. On the Zambian side you can actually walk about half way across the river between small islands and very shallow parts of river. On the Zambian side I would park in the Zambezi sun parking for security, on the Zim side there is guarded parking very close to the falls.

Johannessburg has a reputation for being dangerous, this is in part true, but like any city there are good and bad parts. Pretoria is only 30 mins away and is a lot prettier. It's where all the foreign embassies are and there are a lot of jacaranda trees which are nice when the flower.

[Guillermo Luijk]

Thank you mahleu. Anyone else? some more advice???

[mahleu]

If you're not sick of animals by this time, Kruger Park is 4 hours away from Joburg and is huge (I live about 30 mins from the park). It's well worth a visit, there are also lots of private game reserves around.

[Antarctic Mat]

Thank you mahleu. Anyone else? some more advice???
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=143101\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hello GLuijk

You will have a great time, I ran overland expeditions in Africa for 3 years, most of my help would be in finding beautiful little places to go that not many know about but as you already have all your accommodation booked then it's of little help. Highlights for you will no doubt be Namibia, stunning country, especially the coastal areas. Obviously get in to Sossusvlei for the big dunes, Etosha is one of the best national parks I have ever seen. There are 3 main camp sites in Etosha, the best 2 are Namutoni and Okaukuejo, both have fload-lit waterholes and are incredible for the sheer amount of game there to see and photograph. Botswana is amazing too, most go into the Okavango from Maun which is ok but by far the best place is a little spot called Sepupa (this is all from memory so spellings of all these places may be wrong!) It's an incredibly beautiful place  right on the river and you can get picked up from the camp site and straight into the Delta and the Mokoro trips, wellworth spending a few days out there. Also from the same camp site you can drive for a couple of hours into the desert and there is a copje which has loads of very old paintings on it, hardly anyone goes there as it's quite hard to find but well worth it. If you want some really good adventure you can drive all the way through Chobe National Park from top to bottom, soft sand a lot of the way and it takes a few days but amazing camping out in the park. Most of the normal roads you take through all the countries you are visiting are very good, I went everywhere just armed with a Micheline map and ask lots of people about local sites. Not much use asking locals for directions as they will just point without really knowing what you want!
As far as photography goes, Africa has an amazing ability to shock and amaze you at every single turn, just look around you, incredible sunsets, beautiful landscapes and loads of wild animals, you'll love it!
Have fun.
Mat.

[Guillermo Luijk]

Thank you Mat. Pity we already got all the reservations since I am absolutely fond of that kind of suggestions to visit not so common places. Even if I miss other more typical places.

Regards.

[Guillermo Luijk]

hi, just back from our journey, wanted to share with you the first shots I have developed. A fantastics place, really worth to visit and spend a time in the bush.






[span style=\'font-size:7pt;line-height:100%\']Fishing eagle[/span]



[span style=\'font-size:7pt;line-height:100%\']Namibian kid[/span]



[span style=\'font-size:7pt;line-height:100%\']Kalao[/span]



[span style=\'font-size:7pt;line-height:100%\']Dead Vlei[/span]



[span style=\'font-size:7pt;line-height:100%\']Cheetah on the move[/span]