Botswana and Victoria Falls

At the beginning of the year, I mentioned I was keen to do a once-in-a-lifetime blow-the-budget trip as I had a big birthday coming up.

And that’s how in the middle of July, I found myself celebrating my 40th birthday wild camping in Botswana’s Chobe National Park (below).

Home to some 2.3 million people and roughly the size of France, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated nations on Earth.

As a former British colony (it was granted independence in 1964), English is the official language, with Setswana also widely spoken.

The country boasts one of the strongest economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (its main forms of income are diamonds, tourism and beef), and it’s considered the oldest democracy and least corrupt country in Africa.

Botswana’s also home to an array of wildlife, boasting some 600 species of bird and more than 100 species of mammal.

The north of the country has one of the world’s largest populations of wild dog (below), while Chobe National Park is home to more elephants (some 35,000) than anywhere else in the world.

Earlier this summer, I spent two weeks travelling around this magnificent country, via Namibia and Zimbabwe, getting to know its fabulous wildlife.

My adventure began in the tourist-friendly town of Maun, before heading north to the Okavango Delta (above), a sprawling inland waterway that’s home to more than 1,000 different plants, almost 500 types of bird, as well as hippos, crocodiles, snakes and more.

While there, I spent a day exploring the Tsodilo Hills (above), a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s adorned with rock paintings by the San and Bantu peoples that are thousands of years old.

I then travelled up to Namibia, driving across the Caprivi Strip to Zimbabwe, where I spent the day touring the mighty Victoria Falls (below).

The spectacular 1.7km-wide waterfall along the Zambezi River lies on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Heading back down to Botswana, I spent three nights wild camping in Chobe National Park, two nights along the banks of the Chobe River (above) and one night in remote Savuti (below).

From there, I travelled on to the Moremi Game Reserve (below), where I spent four nights wild camping in the Khwai River and Xakanaxa areas, before making my way back to Maun.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll take you on a tour of the many places I visited in Botswana and Victoria Falls, so keep an eye out for my Botswanan adventures.

Be warned, there will be lots and lots of cute animal pics…