We departed Victoria Falls for the drive to the Botswana border where we would cross over and drive to the Chobe River Lodge. After walking across a giant sponge soaked with an unknown volatile substance to kill the bacteria on the soles of our shoes supposedly to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease into Botswana we walked across the border and reboarded our truck for a several hour drive to the Chobe River which separates Botswana and the Caprivi strip of Namibia.

The contrast between Zimbabwe and Botswana is not a subtle one. Where Zimbabweans wait in long lines for the basics of life like bread and petrol, Botswanians, hide from the midday sun while studying their cell phones bouncing text messages back and forth waiting for something to happen. Botswana's economy is a simple one: diamonds, tourism and cattle (in that order) and the country's benevolent leadership has provided many benefits for the average citizen. It is what Zimbabwe was 20 years ago, a model African nation.

We changed some US dollars into Botswana Pula, which means rain, an appropriate name for currency here as most of this country is covered by the Kalahari desert. One Pula is further divided into their "cents" known as "Thebe" which means raindrop. We thought that was very cool and a great reflection of how precious water truly is here in this mostly desert country, roughly a bit smaller than the state of Texas.

We camped next to the Chobe river and after being warned not to pitch our tents too close to the river as recently the crocs had dragged a tent into the river in the middle of the night. The surpised occupant succeeded in getting out before he became a midnight snack. We arose around 4:30 am for a game drive in the nearby Chobe Game Park where we saw lions, zebra, buffalo, elephants and a guy from India with really hairy ears. In the afternoon we swam in the crocodile free pool and flirted with the vervet monkeys who played near our campsite. The sunset from here was incredible! Blood red against a slightly cloudy sky in the West as elephants swam through the river to the opposite side sometimes disappearing under the water with only their trunks breaking the surface like a submarine periscope. The following afternoon we boarded a boat and visited several hippos resting peacefully in the river with only their eyes and foreheads above water. A casual yawn revealed the massive size of their heads. They reminded us of enormous pigs.

The following day our diesel chariot purred its way across the long straight highways of Northern Botswana slowing as a caution for the occassional herd of elephants and other game close to the highway. Night driving in Botswana and most Southern African countries has been prohibited recently due to a collision of a truck carrying petrol colliding with an elephant. Every few hundred kilometers we see the abandoned burned-out wreckage of such such accidents left as sober reminders to big rig drivers.

We arrived in Maun, Botswana and set up camp for the night before heading into the Okavango River Delta for the most physically and mentally challenging portion of our overland trip. The next morning we are transported in a smaller truck to the River Delta where we board small dugout canoes carved by hand from a tree trunk. Lisa and I were introduced to our delta guide who didn't speak a word of English. He was as old as dirt and had long since lost the better part of his strength to propel us through the narrow swamped grass lined channels. We climbed into the "mokoro" as this type of boat is called and it sank in the water until the water line was about an inch or two from the top of the boat edge. For the next two hours in the sweltering heat we floated along, stopping no less than eight times to bail out water we had taken on, either over the edge or through unseen cracks under the reed mats upon which we were sitting. The ride was very serene as the only sound was the poler dropping then end of his stick into the water and the soft sound of the mokoro slipping through the water as he propelled us forward. Two hours later we arrived at our camp site in the Delta. For the next two days we would call this home. We didn't dare move too much for fear of overheating. Lisa broke down and went for a swim in the delta, braving the risk of the schistosomiasis parasites which bore into your skin to lay their eggs and make their way to you digestive system making you quite ill.

Awake before sunrise, too hot midday to move around much and too many aggressive large ants to lie down and attempt a nap, the period of time between 11:00 AM and 3:00 was hell. I chose to prop my overheated carcass against a tree in the precious shade and read several paragraphs of my book before wiping the ants off my body. We had the rare opportunity to take a walking safari along the shores of the delta. After a safety briefing more scary than any haunted house I'd ever visited on Halloween we wandered around on foot before sunrise and again after 4:00 PM. Hippos, Giraffes, Elephants, Baboon, Zebra, Kudu, Oryx, Gazelle, Impala....You name it, we saw it. At night and early in the morning we could hear the lions roaring. Being on foot gives you a whole new perspective of the danger and risk assumed in animal watching. Sipping water frequently, we quickly consumed our personal supply of 7 liters and were pleased with ourselves for being prepared with a water filter. Note to self: After boiling the water, make sure you flush out new water filter before using. We turned our drinking water black with carbon from the filter because we had not yet used it. Ahhh, another point of wisdom and we were slowly becoming seasoned world travelers. The water tasted really bad but we had to drink it to maintain our hydration. We were so happy when we loaded up in the makoros for our trip out of the delta.

Within a few days we began to sense some of the tension between the packs who had been traveling for four and six weeks prior to our arrival. The heat was taking its toll. Back in the "civilization" of Maun, we descended upon the camp site bar after three days of "Delta Detox". A cold beer never tasted so good. This bar had devised an ingenious way of growing bar tabs from several US dollars to 40 or 50 us dollars. On one wall they listed the seven deadly sins, Lust, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath and Pride. The challenge was to drink seven shots of an unknown various mix of liquors followed by 4 shots of "diesel" (actually 80 proof Stroh whiskey and tequila) and then repeat the process over again with seven shots and not only do you get drunk but you get your name put up on the wall. A bit of peer pressure gripped us as our young drinking friends began pounding the shots. Later that night, after wrestling with the camp dog and climbing the pole in the middle of the bar, Lisa and the rest of the packs had properly built a brilliant hangover for the long eight hour drive to the Namibian border the next day. Between belching like a sailor and cursing like a truck driver our shamless princess from New Zealand managed to offend everyone in some way shape or form. She was a real class act.