We have been planning a trip to Botswana for a long time. We decided that while we are up there at Kasane, we may as well go through the nearby Caprivi and come home to South Africa through Namibia and also do Etosha and Kaokoland on the way. In the end, it took us much longer to get through Namibia than the original trip we planned, but we were very happy that we did this life-changing Namibian desert and wildlife tour as well!

This Botswana tour later became just the first part of a sixty day trip through Botswana and Namibia. The tour started in Botswana and proceeded to Namibia through the Caprivi strip. Tourism in both countries are becoming important to the governments as a source of foreign currency.These trips later proved to be fantastic African experiences and we can recommend the route we have taken. Click above to drill deeper into our trip reports.

We undertook this Kruger Park trip with friends visiting us from the Netherlands. The Kruger National Park, which was established in 1898, covers an area of nearly 2 million hectares and offers a wildlife experience that is of the best in Africa. This we combined with the majesty of the Blyde River Canyon, the third largest canyon in the world, and the historical villages of Mpumalanga - all just to give our guests a small taste of our spectacular country.

In stead of heeding the advice of an advisor, we decided to go on a trip to the famous "Drakensberge" of South Africa without checking the weather forecasts first. The weather on this trip was not good, but luckily the camps have nice, warm chalets that can be utilised during blizzards when bad weather catches up with you. The highlights of the tour was Injisuthi and Royal Natal. We also included an enjoyable Free State farm stay which added another dimension to the trip.

Our aim with this trip was to see the flowers of Namaqualand. To this we then added a visit to the Richtersveld and the Kgalagadi while we were in the vicinity. In the end, we saw some of the best flower sights in the Richtersveld, with everywhere flowers but in the deep Kalahari, where it was very dry. This was a fantastic trip that we will forever remember. Should we live long enough, we will definitely go there again. See my full trip report on Northern Cape.

We trekked on a tour of the Parks managed by the Eastern Cape Provincial Government. We found some jewels among them and some others that may well be on their way to becoming jewels. The natural settings of all these parks are absolutely wonderful and we feel that these parks deserve a closer look by nature lovers, both from overseas and locals when they do their trip planning and reservations.

When the going gets tough in the city and you need to go to the bush, remember Ivory Route has four camps in big five country where you can go to recharge your batteries in rustic bush luxury, where you can go on game walks and drives while the friendly staff will clean up camp while awaiting your return. While the pattern remains the same in all four of these camps, each has its own character and breathes a different atmosphere. If you tried one, you will be back.

This holiday was our first camping holiday. The wide open spaces, the thin populations of the countryside, the evening braais, the wild animals, the birds and the stars that appear to hang from invisible little strings from heaven, caught us unawares and turned us into bush campers. The southern part of Namibia was the perfect place to start this way of life for us. If you are a wildlife and nature tourist, it will work for you as well.