Botswana adventure days 1 - 3

The first three days of our Sling Africa Tour 2014 have been incredible... scary weather at the beginning, especially leaving Tedderfield and over the Pilanesberg mountains, followed by storms en route to Maun, Botswana. We made it into Nguma Island in the Okavango Delta ahead of a squall which then got the last three planes in as darkness was setting in. Great bunch of guys (and Sandy) and amazing scenery in the Okavango, so much water, few places to land and now we have reached Kasane at the conjunction of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe where we landed yesterday afternoon.

Our growing collection of decals for the countries visited in our plane - clockwise Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana, although we also briefly flew over Namibia and Zimbabwe and next year should be able to add Madagascar

Llewellyn and Lee at Pilanesberg where we went through Customs and Immigration to leave South Africa for Botswana

James Pitman (left above) Director of The Airplane Factory and manufacturer of our Sling Aircraft with his Sling 4 ZU-TAF in which he and his co-directors flew around the world

Dats me with ZDL at Pilanesberg International Airport ready for our next leg to Maun and Nguma Island lodge, Botswana

5 of the 6 Slings and their crew at Pilanesberg International

Sandy, Marc, Lees and Llewellyn, part of the 12-member group in the tour

Llewellyn (Left) and myself in ZDL

Cloudy weather and storms over the Kalahari routing for Maun - see the sheets of rain up ahead

Do Eagles Dare is the name of the blog, and one poor Eagle, turkey or vulture guy met his match against the wing of ZDL at 4500 ft which unfortunately is now in for another insurance claim - they are hating us.

Arriving at the International Arrivals of Maun, Botswana, to clear customs and passport control

From Maun, we enter the Okavango Delta.. the swamps that cover a huge area up to Guma near the top of the Delta where we have booked our first 2 nights accommodation in the swampland.

We landed in Maun (pronounced mow, like now) at the bottom of the Delta to clear customs and immigration into Botswana then flew 1 hour up north to Guma, not far from the Seronga airfield shown on the map for our 2 night stay

Huge rainstorms dotted the landscape as we picked our way north.. sometimes up to 5 storms could be seen at a time and we got drenched just after landing as a squall hit the airfield.

Tents on stilts kept us out of the water, the crocodiles and hippos

A boat cruise along the waterways - Marc as usual trying to get signal on his cellphone

Sandy's toes make for a great picture as we cruise between the papyrus reeds that line the waterways that link the many tributaries to the main river through the Delta

James from The Airplane Factory, shortly before jumping into the crocodile waters for an quick adventure swim

The Slingers group with Bashi our guide (I took the photo)

Beautiful Fish Eagle we disturbed

Beautiful cloud developments the day after our stormy arrival

James, Lee and Marc

We all ate together at a long table with Willie and Pierre in the foreground

Our first sunrise in the Delta at Nguma Island Lodge 

A comfortable tent, although my toes stretched a bit longer than the bed would allow

After a 2-night stay and unwind from the harrowing cloudy trip in, we get set to leave for our second stayover in Botswana - northwards to Kasane at the conjunction of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Repacking the plane with our meagre  belongings - 35kgs is the recommended maximum luggage weight, although the Sling has proven it can perform well even with heavier loads.

We head north up the Delta to near the Namibia border (white lines are the Caprivi strip of Namibia), then head east/north-east along the border until we get to Kasane, the northern border post of Botswana

The light green area is the swampy river covered in Papyrus reeds, with more solid ground marked by the darker green line going diagonally across the photo

We have left the Delta heading for Kasane and the groundcover has changed to trees

iPad in the cockpit showing our destination Kasane (FBKE) and the conjunction of Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe

The Slings line up for refuelling at Kasane International Airport and our parking spot for the next 2 days

Big construction was under way for a new Airport Terminal Building, which from the promo-pics we saw looked like it would be a stunning new airport when completed.

The best place after a sweaty hot trip was the pool and poolside bar at the Thebe River Safaris lodge we stayed at

St Louis beer - cheers mates!

Sunset over the Chobe River with elephants crossing the road and warthogs nibbling grass and bits alongside the road in the village as we walk home after an Indian meal in the town.