Travel diary

After hiking on mount Mulanje, it was time to see some animals again. We had heard nice stories about Liwonde National park, which made it to our to-see list. 

From Lilongwe, our plan was to go south. We had heard of some lovely B&Bs and activities to do in Southern Malawi, including a multi-day hike. After having spent most of our time in cars and other vehicles, we were long overdue for some activity. 

We were very sad to leave South Luangwa and Msandile in particular. We enjoyed our time there and we loved the nature. Slightly tired of some long days in the bush, we were ready for the last part of our trip, starting with the last new country we could add to our list!

For quite some time we knew what our highlight of Zambia would be: South Luangwa! It is one of the most well-known parks in Zambia, renowned for its leopards. Due to the Luangwa River flowing through the park, the park also boasts a wide variety of birdlife. When we were in Botswana, with all the expensive game drives in Moremi, Khwai, and Chobe, we decided to skip them all, saying: 'We'll do the game drives in South Luangwa'. After leaving Rusco farm, we traveled for four days to arrive at South Luangwa. This all increased our expectations to massive heights. But even those were exceeded. 

Our highlight in Zambia was planned to take place in the East. From Rusco Farm, it would take us about 19 hours to get there. We decided to turn this into 3 trips: about 7 hours to Lusaka, 7 hours to Petauke and another 5 to: SOUTH LUANGWA.

After our ride through the bush, it was time to say goodbye not only to Botswana, but also to Livingstone (our new second home), to Russel and his family, to Rob and Claire and to some our favourite pets in Africa, whom we would probably not see anytime soon after this.

The last day of our trip through the Botswana bush would be the longest. From the Khwai area, through the Savuti area of Chobe. We were in for swamps, gravel and a lot of sand. This was the part we were the most anxious about.

The next morning we quickly broke up our camp and went for a short but nice gamedrive through Moremi. Tracks4Africa guided us through the park and it was remarkably accurate. There were no spectacular sightings, but the park is beautiful and we enjoyed driving around with Gigi. After the gamedrive we had a quick breakfast and went on our way to the next stop, Khwai Hippo Pools Campsite.

After having booked the stops for our final adventure in Botswana, we did some groceries. We had to buy food and drinks for about 3 days, as we were heading into the bush. Calling it an early night and we were ready for the final days in Botswana! 

After planet Baobab it was time for one of the highlights of our trip, or at least of our time in Botswana. We hadn't booked way ahead, but upon inquiring we found that there was still availability. We hadn't pre-booked anything, and everyone told us that we were very brave (or foolish?) not to do so. Although the activity was still available, we still had to find a place to sleep. Apparently, they also sell out easily and quickly. 

From the moment we got back to Gigi in Livingstone, there was an annoying feeling we couldn't shake off. 

Although rainy season should already be at its end, we had seen rain every day, including the last day at Elephant Sands. The last storm did have a silver lining. During our chat with the Dutch family, they mentioned a campsite with a very interesting trip, one that we would definitely love.