We were up early and ready for our hike up the Male Hill. It was still fresh, but it would soon heat up and it would be best to do the ascend while it was still cool. James was on time and Petra and Paul took him along in their car to lead the way. The winding route through the hills to the parking place below the Male Hill was very attractive and there are magnificent trees along the way. The ascent was rather steep, but the views over the terrain as we climbed higher became better and better. The rough quarzitic rocks were difficult to walk over and we had to be very careful. The view from the top was breath taking. The air was clear and we could make out the vast flat plains of the Okavango Delta. We had also “bagged” a beacon and I could not resist sending a picture to our Slipper Group! We could look back over the crazy route we had taken to get there as well as the surrounding hills. Tsodilo Hills consists of a series of quartzite rocky hills, the highest being the Male Hill (1400m), the lower Female Hill where the majority of the rock paintings are found and the more remote Child Hill. The descent was quick and now James was going to take us on the main rock art trail – The Rhino Trail, which is about 3 km long. Along the way, we stopped to see the “lion” of the Lion Trail. By now it was quite hot and we made sure we were stopping in the shade everywhere. James decided to do the trail in the anti-clockwise direction, which made a lot of sense, because we would be doing the steep descent close to midday and there is also more shade when one does it this way. The trail was quite well set up and there were a number of ladders at the steeper places. We passed the Rhino Panel with its very large depictions of these iconic animals and many paintings of elephant, giraffe, zebra, eland and even a whale and a penguin! There is also the famous Laurens van der Post panel, which the author describes in his book “Lost World of the Kalahari”. By the time we got down and reached the cars, it was blazing hot and it was already past lunch time. We initially wanted to do the Lion and the Hill Top Trail in the afternoon, but we realized that this might be too ambitious, and we decided to call it a day. We said goodbye to James (I took his number and promised to send some pictures – which I did! + 267 73891452) and enjoyed our lunch in the shade at the museum. I went to have a good look in the museum and then we took to the road.

We were now finally on our way to the Okavango! The “new” road was in excellent condition, and we soon reached Nxamasere where we were once again on the notorious tar road. Although quite a few of the “crater” potholes had been filled, there were still some extremely bad sections and often we were forced to drive next to the road. We decided to go and have a look at the Askiesbos campsite just south of Shakawe, which unfortunately was already full. It had an amazing setting and would be worth going to on a future visit. Our only option now was Drotsky’s Cabins next door, which is a fantastic lodge and campsite, but rather expensive. We had camped there before. The owners were not there, but the manager received us warmly. Much had changed and the new lodge cabins were lovely. The campsites are located under magnificent trees and all of them have river frontage. It is certainly one of the best campsites along the western panhandle. We bought wood and a whole wheelbarrow full of wonderful hardwood arrived. We had some panic moments when I could not find my handbag which had a lot of money in it (no passports!), but it was eventually found. We enjoyed the fantastic ablutions and other facilities and had a magic first night along the Okavango.

Geschreven door Leartravels