Botswana and Namibia: Countries #84 and #85 on my Countdown to 100 U.N. Countries by the time I turn 70 in 2026. 

(Editor’s Note: The first few days of traveling in Botswana includes going back and forth between Botswana and Namibia so I’m including both of these countries into this one post even though most of our time was spent in Namibia. And, a bit of Cape Town, South Africa to end my time on the African Continent…for now. )

Botswana

Day 29: We actually began the day with a walk through Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe before crossing the border into Botswana for a 2-night stay at the Chobe Safari Lodges. 

Day 30:  A day safari at Chobe National Park and late afternoon Chobe River cruise in Botswana. 

A full day of wildlife from the Chobe National Park, Botswana’s first national park, on a morning game drive atop a 4×4 jeep and a late afternoon boat cruise down the Chobe River. The river flows into the Zambezi River which is the waterfall at the Victoria Falls. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big deal animal lover, but doing these safari drives and seeing these majestic wild animals in the open has been fascinating. 

Let’s visit Botswana’s first and third largest national park, the Chobe National Park.

Namibia

Day 31: Crossing the border into Namibia for a night at the Okavango River. 

It’s an odd but full travel day because we left the Chobe National Park in Botswana to make our way to the Rainbow River Lodge campsite near Bagani in Namibia, to only spend one night here before crossing the border back into Botswana in the morning.

Confused? Understandable. But the Rainbow River Lodge campsite made for a good place to stay that was close to the Botswana border for our next adventure onto the marshlands of the Okavango Delta. 

To a night in Namibia by the Okavango river. 

Botswana

Day 32: A boat across the swamps to Gao Island to explore the Okavango Delta.

We left Botswana yesterday to cross the border into Namibia for the night only to cross the border back into Botswana this morning to head south along the Okavango Panhandle (the narrowest part of the delta) to Seronga.

While my group prepared to spend the night at a bush camp on Goa Island, somewhere in the Okavango Delta with no running water or facilities, I decided to opt out and meet up with them in the morning after a good night’s sleep in a bed. 

Here’s to arriving at the Swamp Stop along the Okavango Delta in Botswana while saying good-bye to my Intrepid tour group for the night.

Day 33: Nature walk and canoe ride to explore the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. 

After a good night’s sleep on a bed in a cabin, I was off to meet up with my group who bush camped at the Goa Island along the Okavango Delta in Botswana. 

I arrived at the bush camp after the tents had been packed up and breakfast was on the table all before taking a nature walk around the island and a Mokoro or small dugout canoe to explore the Okavango Delta. 

Here’s to walking the bush and floating along the Okavango Delta.

Namibia

Day 34: Leaving Botswana for good; Back to Namibia for pretty much the rest of the trip.

There’s a change in the air, it’s gotten a little cooler. Not sure just how long that will last, but I’m definitely loving it. 

We crossed the border back into Namibia returning to Bagani and the Rainbow River Lodge camp for the night.

We arrived early enough at the Rainbow River Lodge to enjoy time at the bar area facing the Okavango River and for me to upgrade to a comfy cabin for the night. 

Here’s to a cooler and relaxing day back in Namibia.

Day 35: Leaving the Okavango River to make our way to the central Namibian town of Grootfontein. 

We left the Okavango River area at the Rainbow River Lodge in Namibia on another one of those long drive days, but at least the weather was cooler and that goes a long way when we’re traveling in a truck with no air conditioning on those seemingly scolding hot days. 

In total, it turned out to be about an eight hour drive with a 2-hour lunch break in the city of Rundu, Namibia at the Omashare Hotel as we continued our drive towards the town of Grootfontein in central Namibia. 

Here’s to a long drive on a cool day and two nights at Roy’s Rest Camp in Grootfontein. 

Day 36: A visit to a living museum to understand the cultural experiences of the San people. 

Today was a cultural experience about understanding the San people, considered the oldest known tribal inhabitants of Southern Africa, with evidence of their presence dating back at least 20,000 years.

The term San is commonly used to refer to a diverse group of hunter-gatherers living in Southern Africa who share historical and linguistic connections. The San were also referred to as Bushmen, but this term has since been abandoned as it is considered derogatory.

The San’s ancestral territories include Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa.

To get this cultural understanding, we visited the Ju/‘hoansi-San Living Museum in Tsumkwe, Namibia, where we were introduced to historically dressed San people. 

Although historically dressed and on a reconstructed hunting village, this living museum group, who also live in the local village, provide both an education and a way for the group to make a living by presenting their traditional culture to the public. 

So, what is a Living Museum? It is not to show the modern life, but to reanimate the original culture in order to prevent the complete loss of the tradition. It also allows the participants to generate an income by sharing these traditional skills and cultures. 

Please note: In the effort to be authentic, the women and men at the living museum are traditionally dressed in natural materials. 

Let’s meet historically dressed San people.

Day 37: On the road again to the Namutoni campsite at the Etosha National Park in Namibia.

We left Roy’s Camp site in Grootfontein at 7:30 this morning and even though we made an hour’s food shopping stop in Tsumeb, we still arrived at our Namuteni campsite, inside the Etosha National Park,  at around noon. 

After lunch, even though it was raining, we had time for an afternoon game drive of Etosha, which means Great White Place. The rain did help to cool things down a bit but that did not last long. 

I so enjoyed my little cabin at Roy’s but for no upgrade for tonight, instead for the next two nights, I’ll be back in my tent at the Namutoni Camp. The temperature, once the sun went down, was just absolutely lovely. The rain also cooled things down which I’m hoping will make for a wonderful night’s sleep.

Here’s to seeing some of the wildlife at Etosha, one of the largest national parks in Africa.

Day 38: A full-day game drive thru Etosha National Park in Namibia. 

The morning was cool but comfortable as we began our full-day game drive from one end of the Etosha National Park in Namibia to the other. 

For our last game drive of the tour, we were treated to a host of wildlife including zebras, wildebeest, oryx, springboks, black-faced Impalas, elephants, kudos and giraffes. The morning started out a little cool but the heat came in strong. 

Along with the wildlife, we also spent time and got to enjoy the Etosha salt pans, a flat area in a desert where salt deposits accumulate due to evaporation of water. The Etosha Pan appears like a mirage because its vast, flat, white salt surface reflects the intense sunlight, creating a shimmering effect that distorts the horizon and makes distant objects seem like they are floating in the air.

We spent our last night at the Okaukuejo Camp on the western end of Etosha National Park. This place felt like a camping country club, a lot fancier than our other campsites. 

Come join me for my last game drive of the tour at Etosha National Park.

Day 39: Bushmen rock art paintings in the Spitzkoppe mountain or the ‘Matterhorn of Namibia’.

I woke to the most gorgeous sunrise at our Okaukuejo Campsite at the western end of the Etosha National Park in Namibia. 

What I didn’t know, was that this sunrise would be just one of several majestic sights for the day because it included our travels to the mountain of Spitzkoppe or the ‘Matterhorn of Namibia’.

The mountain itself is 700 million years old and  6,519 feet or 1987 meters high. Having seen the Matterhorn in Switzerland just last year, the beauty of the Namibian Matterhorn is the stunning Namib desert landscape around it and setting up our campsite within full view of its majesty. 

The Spitzkoppe is known for its stunning beauty and the thousands of ancient Bushmen rock art paintings that are still viewable. We did get to see a very small portion of the unfortunately, faded rock art paintings at the Small Bushman Paradise at the base of a cliff in Spitzkoppe. 

We camped inside the Spitzkoppe and even though we only had a covered western toilet for facilities, it was a wonderful camping experience. 

Join me for the beauty and history of the Spitzkoppe mountain in the Namib desert of Namibia.

Day 40: The Seals of Cape Cross on our way to Swakopmund, Namibia.

All in all, it was a leisurely day with a morning drive to the Cape Cross Seal Reserve on our way to our home base for the next three nights, the German town of Swakopmund.

The Cape Cross offers two highlights: the sanctuary for the world’s largest breeding colony of Cape fur seals at the Cape Cross Seal Reserve and a historical stone cross landmark erected by Diego Cão in 1485, as the first european explorer, set foot on the Namibian coast. 

I’ve seen seals but I’ve never seen or smelled them in mass as I did at the Cape Cross Seal Reserve. It was actually both an amazing and a disgusting experience. Along with the temps dropping as we approached the Atlantic Ocean, the thousands and thousands of olive-colored seals on the shores of Cape Cross were eerie looking along the Atlantic Coast.

Situated at the edge of the Namib Desert, Swakopmund is the fourth largest population center in Namibia with a community of people descended from ethnic German colonists who settled in present-day Namibia. The city, founded in 1892, is known for its 19th century German colonial architecture. 

We’re staying in what they call chalets for the next three nights at the Swakopmund Rest Camp. It’s a single unit, we’re in 164, that accommodates four people, two in each room. There’s a separate bathroom with the usuals, a shower and sink with the toilet in a separate room. There’s a descent sized living room with older, uncomfortable furniture and a decently equipped kitchen with a stove and large refrigerator. The WiFi is available in the reception area but occasionally it works in our chalet. 

However, this is no chalet, but it is very basic accommodations in a pretty basic place that looks more like a military camp. Even though both Julia and I both paid the single supplement, it doesn’t apply to staying at the chalets in Swakopmund. I’m sharing a room with Julia and we’re sharing our chalet with our only married couple on the tour, Chris and Kate. 

Before settling into our chalet, we stopped as a group at Mercha Booking Agency to sign up for activities. Basically we were handed three pages of fun things to do from sky diving to paragliding or quad biking to sandboarding. I chose none of those. 

Instead, I chose the Sandwich Harbor, a 4×4 tour past the Salt Pans and into the Namib-Naukluft Park “where ocean and desert meet,” for tomorrow. And the Township Tour of Swakopmund’s Damara, Herero and Ovamba sectors of the township to experience the local Namibian traditional culture of these tribes, for Saturday. 

Making it to Swakopmund with a stop at the Cape Cross Seal Reserve.

Day 41: The ocean and desert at of Sandwich Harbour in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia.

Although the sun was out and it was a beautiful day, it was also quite chilly for our full day of adventures on our 4×4 ‘Sandwich Harbour Tour,’ past the salt pans and salt productions into the Namib-Naukluft Park where the ocean and desert and its dunes meet. 

Here’s to another one of those stunning, memorable days on  this African journey. 

Day 42: Views of Swakopmund, the Museum and the Mondesa Township Tour. 

It started as a leisurely day for me. I took myself out to a nice breakfast at the Village Cafe walked to the Swakopmund Museum before taking a late afternoon township tour of Mondesa during our last day in Swakopmund. 

Day 43: Leaving Swakopmund; heading to Sesriem and more of the Namib Desert region.

It’s back into the heat and frying sun as we made our way, some seven hours of driving, through the Namib desert region to our desert campsite close to Sesriem Canyon for our early morning activities tomorrow, the dunes of Sossusvlei and the clay pans of Deadvlei both in the Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. 

The national park covers an area of 19,216 square miles or 49,768 square km creating the largest national park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world.  It is a renowned park featuring the splendor of the Namib Desert.

After arriving at our campsite, I was absolutely in no condition to put up a tent in the heat so while the others were doing so, I found the restaurant/hang out area by the pool of our home base for the night, the Sesriem Campsite. I just couldn’t do one thing and thankfully I did not have to because our incredible leader, Laban, put up my tent for me. I’ve been so fortunate during this trip by getting help from the guides and my fellow travelers with the putting up and taking down of my tent. But today, Laban took it upon himself to do so for me and I am just so grateful. Today’s heat really hit me hard. 

As this tour comes to an end, in less than a week, I am just so thankful for the guides, drivers, cooks and my fellow travelers.

Day 44: The Namib desert, Dune 45, Deadvlei and a restful night in the small town of Bethanie. 

We woke up at our Sesriem campsite before the crack of dawn to welcome the sunrise at Dune 45, the star dune in the Sossusvlei area known for its large dunes of the Namib Desert in in the Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. 

After sunrise and our breakfast by Dune 45, we split up as a group taking a 4×4 through the Namib desert to the Deadvlei clay pans known for its dead trees. 

The Namib-Naukluft National Park covers an area of 19,216 square miles (49,768 sq km) creating the largest national park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world.  It is a renowned park featuring the splendor of the Namib Desert.

The Namib desert is a highlight all on its own and is recognized as the oldest desert in the world.  It is characterized by massive sand dunes ranging in different shades of red and orange. 

Let’s get hot and see some gorgeous dunes in the Namib desert.

Day 45: Morning Drama, continued driving in the vast Namib Desert heat to Fish River Canyon.

Woke up leisurely in my comfy and cozy little bedroom/bathroom combo at the Bethanie Guest House in Bethanie, Namibia. 

I actually laid in bed this morning after I woke up getting in some reading, just like I do at home. It was glorious! I miss this and I’m excited to get back to this in a few days, four to be exact when I get home. 

Arrangements are being made for a young man to leave the group. We were supposed to leave Bethanie at 9:00 this morning but because the guide, Laban, was working with the young man to get him situated, we didn’t end up leaving until after 10:30 am. 

So glad we only have a few days left. The drama of this situation, which I will not go into, has permeated the whole group just as much as the heat and dust have. 

So, let’s make our way through the heat to our campsite at the Hobas Camp Fish River, a campground situated near the Fish River Canyon, one of the largest canyons in the world and located within the Ai-Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park in southern Namibia.

Day 46: Growing grapes in the desert and camping by the Orange River in Namibia.

Trying to sleep while the nearby solar generator sounded like a hovering helicopter all night. Then there was another sand storm and even a little rain last night at our Hobas Camp Fish River campsite in Namibia. The floor or ground of my tent has this slight layer of sand. And it was still rather warm at night. But, like I’ve been reminded, when I moan about the heat, I’m told it’s because we’re in the desert. 

I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten more flexible and even a bit stronger on this trip. At first I brought one of the camp fold-up chairs inside my tent to mainly help me get up off the ground, but as I slowly built the strength and flexibility, I’ve been getting up on my own. 

Even though an upgrade was available, I decided not to because I had to clean out my locker so the truck could get washed and cleaned out from all the sand. And the sand was everywhere. Plus, I would have had to take all my stuff up hill and probably make several trips to get to room. So I decided to pitch my tent instead. Julia and Jill helped me and within no time, it was up and I was able to empty out everything from the truck. 

Here’s to our last night in Namibia with one more night of sleeping in my tent.

South Africa

Day 47: Crossing the border into South Africa from Namibia for my last night on the African Continent. 

I feel so relaxed and content. I’m almost at the end of this journey. And what an amazing journey it’s been. But it’s not completely over yet. 

It didn’t take long to get to the border of South Africa from our Felix Unite campsite in Namibia, around 15 minutes or so. 

Exiting Namibia was quick and without issues but getting into South Africa was a bit more time consuming because after our passports were stamped to enter the country, Laban had to collect the passports for a last inspection by the International Police. Evidently, a previous tour member ended up being detained at the border of South Africa because he was wanted in Canada and the U.S. for drug smuggling. 

Thankfully, none of us had any issues at the border crossing into South Africa as we continued on to the town of Klawer to spend our last night of the tour at the Highlanders Campsite & Lodge for a great evening of fun and wine tasting. 

Here’s to raising a glass of South African wine and the coming to the end of an incredible African journey.

Day 48: Ending in Cape Town, South Africa and ready for my evening flight home. 

Got up at 5:00 am, took down my tent (with help from Daniela) and enjoyed the beautiful morning vineyard views, at the Highlanders Campsite & Lodge in Klawer,  during my last morning not just in South Africa, but this incredibly captivating African journey. Taking in the joy of the present moment and yet content it is coming to an end. We left the winery campsite at 7:30 am to make the close to five hour drive to Cape Town, where this African Adventure came to an end.

When we first met Laban, our Intrepid tour leader, in Zanzibar, he asked us all what we hoped to accomplish, see or do. My only response at the time, in Zanzibar, was to make it to Cape Town. I did more than just survive this cross country African adventure, I conquered my fears of putting up and taking down my tent, getting on and off the ground, the mother sun during the most, long,  hot, bumpy drives and any notion of defeat, I conquered that too. 

The thought of actually being able to do this trip to the end seemed daunting. Truth is, the whole trip was daunting. I honestly wasn’t sure I had the physical or emotional energy to get to Cape Town, the end of a 48-day trek through eight East and South African countries. But I did and I’m physically and emotionally stronger and wiser for it. 

I would not have survived the putting up and taking down of my tent without  Laban and Shi’s help along with the help of my travel companions, especially Daniela. Being around people who were helpful and caring everyday added to the beauty of the African landscape. 

Here’s to the end of a memorably captivating once in a lifetime journey with an awesome leader, fund travel mates, stunning landscapes, the African culture and its enduring people. Thank you Africa for exceeding my expectations.