Stephanie and Shandle just returned form a very wet Botswana and had the following to share.. When we started the Botswana Wild Parks tour in Johannesburg, everyone was well aware of the fact that this time of the year is the rainy season and the weather we simply cannot control. However Mother Nature was kind to us in that she would stop the downpours before activities and start them again when we were finished and had shelter. No bushwalk, game drive or boat cruise was done while it was raining but the effects of the huge amounts of water were evident.

The water in the Okavango delta reached a nice high level after the drought and we would have to change directions on our bushwalks every now and then due to the ground being wet or covered with water. It was even more of a spectacle once we reached the Moremi area where luckily our local guide Ngande cruised us skilfully through some very deep waters covering the roads. Moremi Game Reserve was even closed as the roads were so badly affected and one was at a high risk of getting stuck properly. So we focussed on game driving in the Khwai Concession and Mbababe area instead which provided us with some fantastic sightings of elephants next to the main road, lions, lots of hippos, the elusive and nocturnal African Wild Cat during the day and three honey badgers to keep the list short. The bush this time of the year is incredibly lush and dense and spotting game can become a bit of a challenge but even more so were the roads we had to take, especially after it rained. However we didn’t get stuck, saw lions even in the high grass and were spared from rain while driving.
The drive to Nata gave us even more of an idea just how much rain the country received. Pula, pula, pula ... rain, rain, rain until the tar road was closed just 20 km before Nata as the water there was overflowing and coming up to our knees!

Thankfully the red elephant driven by Shandle wasn’t fazed by this and made its way slowly but surely through the lake, leaving the smaller cars behind. Never ever has Shandle who is with Sunway for 13 years seen this much water alongside the roads in Botswana. Now what is happening with the road turning to a mudlane is that the local towtruck service is charging P250 per vehicle to carry you across on a flatbed truck ..

Force Majeure is what it is and because of it we had to go to a different lodge in Nata as our accommodation was completely flooded.
Often in Africa you will find that there is either too much or not enough rain and it always affects the crops. But as a local said to me in Nata “I rather have famine due to too much water than due to drought because at least my cattle can feed on the grass and are now happy.”