“This is Africa”, I said to myself as we hurtled down the road past dust and donkeys and goats, the warm air blasting through every open window of the beaten up Toyota taxi. The first of our road trips - a chance to take it all in.

And after our first night at the relatively luxurious Audi Camp, literally boiling in our own sweat in our two man tent, we were ready to dive deeper and deeper into the African wonderland. I was more than ready to get lost in big beautiful Botswana.

Awakened by the calling cockerels and braying mules, fuelled by strong coffee and a bowl of cereal, we were all packed up and in our open sided safari truck by 8am and bombing along the road out of Maun town.

Before long Tarmac became dirt track, our pace slowed, and the truck powered its way through thick sandy troughs and pools of flood water. Gradually the undergrowth got thicker and the trees greener and when we passed through the buffalo fence it felt like we were entering Jurassic Park as we eagerly anticipated our first proper wildlife sighting.

It didn’t take long: before we reached the poling station we had stopped for egrets, a secretary bird, a fish eagle and a giraffe! WOW. We click-click-clicked with our cameras unaware that these sightings were only the first of many many more. But the first are definitely the sweetest and the most magical.

At the poling station, the mokoros (canoes carved out of tree trunks) were parked up at the water’s edge, ready to carry us on the next leg of our journey into the Okavango Delta, the largest inland river delta in the world.

Our poler, Miram, beckoned us to take a seat in her mokoro where she had fashioned back rests from our bags, covered by our sleeping mattresses. Miriam looked at least fifty, and we were mightily impressed, if not somewhat embarrassed to be chauffeured along on this African gondola by a woman who we felt should have been resting while we young ones did all the hard work.

Poling was clearly something she was used to, as she deftly navigated the calm, clear channels of water, perfectly balanced barefoot at the back of the vessel. Meanwhile, Dom and I were marvelling at the stunning surroundings – the expanse of perfect blue sky above the walls of reeds, opening to pools covered in lily pads - but we were not completely relaxed. It would take us a couple of canoe trips before we were no longer worried about falling in, dropping our cameras or being attacked by hippos – we had yet to lose the inhibitions of civilisation.

We were an hour on the water before we arrived at our camp on one of the islands in the Delta in a clearing in the shade of a huge sausage tree. The team of polers had kindly set up the tents for us, so we chose our homes for the next two nights and helped Peter, our guide, prepare lunch.

Time for a swim, and a wash - in the river. I can’t think of any better way to cool off in the sweltering midday sun.

It turned out that we weren’t the only ones with this idea. I heard a few sharp intakes of breath and turned around to see that a giant bull elephant had silently made its way down to the water not 50 feet from us, to drink and splash. It was a heart stopping moment. The laughter and chatter ceased and we all gawped in awe at this magnificent creature. There is something about being half naked in your swimming gear in such close proximity to a wild animal that makes you realise with startling clarity the vulnerability of humans in what is most definitely an animal’s domain. And seeing our tiny bodies against this giant really brought home the scale of these beasts. It felt unreal, like we were on a film set for King Kong or Godzilla, but it was very real and so thrilling.

We watched him for about 20 minutes before we had to make our way past him and back to camp. Luckily we had been chaperoned to the river by Oti, a local guide, and in silent single file we walked slowly behind the creature, in an effort to avoid startling it and risking it charging us. We did it. PHEW!

That would have been easily enough excitement for our first day in the Delta, but the day was only half done and the adventure was only just beginning!

Labels: travel

Over the next few weeks I'll be blogging about our safari trip in Botswana and Zambia. It was a pretty mind-blowing trip, so it might take me some time to process. Watch this space!

Labels: travel

When I was a little girl, I used to turn the heavy pages of the old ledger that were laden with my dad's stamp collection and pore over the mini pieces of art that hung there on small squares of double-sided sticky tape.

Dad worked in a post room for a big engineering firm and as letters and parcels came in from all over the world he would tear off the corners of the discarded envelopes to bring new stamps home to add to his collection.

As a child of ten I couldn't really comprehend where all these different places were, but every so often a name or a picture would capture my imagination. My favourite stamps were from Botswana whose beautiful illustrations of wild animals jumped out from the page and film reels of savannahs teaming with exotic creatures would flicker in my minds eye. The name Botswana sounded magical in itself. It sounded like a place I would never go. Little did I know.

We are soon heading off on a wild camping safari through Botswana and Zambia. We will camp on an island in the Okavango Delta and then travel through the game reserves of Moremi, Savuti and Chobe, ending up at Livingstone to see the mighty Victoria Falls. Wild camping means no fences, no toilets or showers and just a two man tent between us and the great outdoors. Bring it on!

Labels: travel

My mum and dad came to stay with us over the August bank holiday weekend and we took them to see Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre. Great show!

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter ran a recipe competition and this was the winner. I thought I'd put it to the test.

Can a lumpy, runny batter really turn itself into a pastry case, an egg custard filling and a coconut topping?

In my case - no. It just ends up as a kind of eggy coconut slice. More than edible though.

Here is the recipe in case you want to give it a go...

4 ozs “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”
8 ozs caster sugar
8ozs desiccated coconut
4 eggs
4 ozs plain flour
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
½ pint full fat milk

1. Put the oven on to 180°C
2. Lightly grease 10 inch pie or flan dish
3. Cream butter with sugar
4. Add coconut and eggs to butter and sugar
5. Sieve flour with nutmeg
6. Add vanilla essence to flour and nutmeg
7. Fold in coconut mixture
8. Gradually whisk in milk
9. Pour into prepared dish and bake for one hour.
10. When cooked a knife inserted into the centre will come out clean.

The mixture will have formed a pastry shell, an egg custard filling and a coconut topping. Or will it?

Labels: cooking

We popped in to Beaulieu (a village in the New Forest) before driving back to the big smoke. The Beaulieu Camera Group was holding a photographic competition so we had a look and registered our votes, then we had a wander around The Learning Garden - an allotment style garden where people can learn how to grow their own. It was abundant with fruit, vegetables and herbs - putting my meagre back garden crops to shame. I tried to cosy up to the gardener to see if he would tell me his secrets - but his lips were sealed.

Labels: seeing_doing, travel

Two glorious weekends in a row were spent camping in the New Forest this summer. The first week I forgot my camera, but here are some pics from the second week.

Both times we stayed on a fantastic campsite called Long Meadow, between Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst. It is a temporary site that is put back to pasture after the season ends for minimum impact on the environment. The portacabin shower and toilet facilities were excellent. As an added bonus a herd of about 150 deer hang out in the field next to the site and regularly come into the site itself when everyone is asleep to munch on the grass. We saw them one night when we left the tent where we had been chatting to go to the toilet before bed - they were right in amongst everyone, and later they kept us awake with their mumching and breathing right outside!

From the site you can walk directly into the forest and it is so beautiful - an enchanted place, full of interesting flora and fauna - a world away from work. I came back each time feeling truly relaxed.

The second week we made a fire by collecting wood from the forest. I was always camp cook.

Labels: seeing_doing, travel