Epic Journey To The Northern Border Of South Africa And Botswana

It was a trip of about 6.500 Km's in 3 1/2 weeks from Cape Town to the northern border of South Africa, the Limpopo River, and back to Cape Town via Botswana . In total about 6.500 Km's of road and off-road, 4 nationlal parks ( 3 in South Africa , 1 in Botswana).

As I didn't look through all the more than 6.000 photos I did take, this is an excerpt for now. I am continuously uploading photos to my website at flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/

But here are a few I have already to share:

in the vicinity of Sabie there are some very beautiful waterfalls . Here the "Bridal Veil" waterfall witch comes down about 70 m ...

a Lilac-Breasted Roller in the Kruger National Park with his supper, a locust with a bit too much of vegetarian side dish ...

Elephants are very social animals. They have - depending on the individuals - very specific and tender greeting procedures. Here they put their trunk into each others mouth ... Kruger National Park, South Africa

Young guns gathering at an waterhole in the very north of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. This one was curious about us watching them from respectful distance. Later he got calm again and engaged with his kind ...

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. As the rainy season was not over yet, the paths turned in patches to muddy ditches, where 4x4 was required.

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. Some other stretches were quite rocky..

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

Downtown Gaborone, capital of Botswana

Unfortunately this is how most of the tarred roads in Botswana. Very much nerve wrecking on long distances

Sundown in the Kalahari, Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

Yellow-Billed Hornbill in the Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

The last two images in particular are exquisite!

Gary from Seattle wrote:

The last two images in particular are exquisite!

Thank you very much!

Jan Krux wrote:

It was a trip of about 6.500 Km's in 3 1/2 weeks from Cape Town to the northern border of South Africa, the Limpopo River, and back to Cape Town via Botswana . In total about 6.500 Km's of road and off-road, 4 nationlal parks ( 3 in South Africa , 1 in Botswana).

As I didn't look through all the more than 6.000 photos I did take, this is an excerpt for now. I am continuously uploading photos to my website at flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/

But here are a few I have already to share:

in the vicinity of Sabie there are some very beautiful waterfalls . Here the "Bridal Veil" waterfall witch comes down about 70 m ...

a Lilac-Breasted Roller in the Kruger National Park with his supper, a locust with a bit too much of vegetarian side dish ...

Elephants are very social animals. They have - depending on the individuals - very specific and tender greeting procedures. Here they put their trunk into each others mouth ... Kruger National Park, South Africa

Young guns gathering at an waterhole in the very north of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. This one was curious about us watching them from respectful distance. Later he got calm again and engaged with his kind ...

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. As the rainy season was not over yet, the paths turned in patches to muddy ditches, where 4x4 was required.

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. Some other stretches were quite rocky..

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

Downtown Gaborone, capital of Botswana

Unfortunately this is how most of the tarred roads in Botswana. Very much nerve wrecking on long distances

Sundown in the Kalahari, Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

Yellow-Billed Hornbill in the Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

A few more photos:

Thank you for looking ...

Jan

glassoholic wrote:

Lovely pics Jan! I did a similar trip back in 1976. We slept in the bush and travelled by sextant, often cutting our own track never travelled before through Botswana (couple of international scouts were in our Landrover). We went up NE to the Okavango swamps as well. One night, lions circled our camp fire only about 20-30m away (we did 5 hour each watch duty each every night because of this risk). Another time, I was having a nap in a dry river bed at dusk (instead of collecting firewood), and I awoke to a Hyena tugging at the boot on my foot. We also got arrested, at AK47 gunpoint, suspected of being spies... spent about 4 or 5 tense hours in a cell whilst our Landrover was searched. We also all ended up a tree for a few hours on the Chobe River bank as about 60 elephants and their calves came through for a drink. The Chobe River sunsets were dark blood red every night. Great memories... I shot a few rolls of film and the negs and prints have sadly been lost.

Thanks for looking my friend!

Your trip was quite different to ours now. Yet we overnighted in tent and some places we had to choose a solid roof (small room or chalet) due the rainy season not ended yet.

I will put up a few more photos in a few days ...

Thanks again, Jan

Jan Krux wrote:

It was a trip of about 6.500 Km's in 3 1/2 weeks from Cape Town to the northern border of South Africa, the Limpopo River, and back to Cape Town via Botswana . In total about 6.500 Km's of road and off-road, 4 nationlal parks ( 3 in South Africa , 1 in Botswana).

As I didn't look through all the more than 6.000 photos I did take, this is an excerpt for now. I am continuously uploading photos to my website at flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/

But here are a few I have already to share:

in the vicinity of Sabie there are some very beautiful waterfalls . Here the "Bridal Veil" waterfall witch comes down about 70 m ...

a Lilac-Breasted Roller in the Kruger National Park with his supper, a locust with a bit too much of vegetarian side dish ...

Elephants are very social animals. They have - depending on the individuals - very specific and tender greeting procedures. Here they put their trunk into each others mouth ... Kruger National Park, South Africa

Young guns gathering at an waterhole in the very north of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. This one was curious about us watching them from respectful distance. Later he got calm again and engaged with his kind ...

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. As the rainy season was not over yet, the paths turned in patches to muddy ditches, where 4x4 was required.

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. Some other stretches were quite rocky..

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

Downtown Gaborone, capital of Botswana

Unfortunately this is how most of the tarred roads in Botswana. Very much nerve wrecking on long distances

Sundown in the Kalahari, Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

Yellow-Billed Hornbill in the Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

update :

peter_jp wrote:

Beautiful photos of what was no doubt a memorable trip! I have many fond memories of Mapungubwe and other regions in the north. A tiny correction if you allow me: your Roller in the first set is not a Lilac- breasted, but a European Roller. I look forward to see more images!

Thank you for the reply and for looking at my photos Peter!

Yes I also realized just today that the roller was an "European roller" . I was milead at the beginning by the pale belly which is in my book very much darker, but got into doubts due the tail feathers ... Thank you for confirming the birds ID!

Yes, these parks in the north are really fascinating.

I will upload more photos in a few days ...

cheers,

Jan

Beautiful extraordinary photographs of places I will likely never get to see in person!  Thank you!

Terrific images Jan.

I especially like the elephants - magnificent creatures up close.

i love that sunset image too - a great reminder of the vacation my wife and I took to RSA all those years back in 2017

Was this a personal/private journey or an organised group adventure ?

Peter

JosephScha wrote:

Beautiful extraordinary photographs of places I will likely never get to see in person! Thank you!

Thank you very much for having an look and for your comment I very much appreciate.

I will put up more the next days , so stay tuned

Jan

Messier Object wrote:

Terrific images Jan.

I especially like the elephants - magnificent creatures up close.

i love that sunset image too - a great reminder of the vacation my wife and I took to RSA all those years back in 2017

Was this a personal/private journey or an organised group adventure ?

Peter

Thank you Peter!

I do appreciate you popped in and had fun with my photos.

Stay tuned as I will put up some more photos the next days.

Happy Easter by the way,

Jan

Jan Krux wrote:

Jan Krux wrote:

It was a trip of about 6.500 Km's in 3 1/2 weeks from Cape Town to the northern border of South Africa, the Limpopo River, and back to Cape Town via Botswana . In total about 6.500 Km's of road and off-road, 4 nationlal parks ( 3 in South Africa , 1 in Botswana).

As I didn't look through all the more than 6.000 photos I did take, this is an excerpt for now. I am continuously uploading photos to my website at flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/

But here are a few I have already to share:

in the vicinity of Sabie there are some very beautiful waterfalls . Here the "Bridal Veil" waterfall witch comes down about 70 m ...

a Lilac-Breasted Roller in the Kruger National Park with his supper, a locust with a bit too much of vegetarian side dish ...

Elephants are very social animals. They have - depending on the individuals - very specific and tender greeting procedures. Here they put their trunk into each others mouth ... Kruger National Park, South Africa

Young guns gathering at an waterhole in the very north of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. This one was curious about us watching them from respectful distance. Later he got calm again and engaged with his kind ...

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. As the rainy season was not over yet, the paths turned in patches to muddy ditches, where 4x4 was required.

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. Some other stretches were quite rocky..

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

Downtown Gaborone, capital of Botswana

Unfortunately this is how most of the tarred roads in Botswana. Very much nerve wrecking on long distances

Sundown in the Kalahari, Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

Yellow-Billed Hornbill in the Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

A few more photos:

Thank you for looking ...

Jan

As I had a bit time to work on my photos, here are some more photos ...

Some more will come up in a few days .. so stay tuned

cheers, Jan

More terrific images Jan, I’ve been waiting for these as you promised, and they don’t disappoint .

that’s a nice catch of the hornbill looking into the car mirror. I really like these birds - they remind me of cartoon characters

the landscapes look a lot like interior and northern Australia, but of course we don’t have those magnificent large mammals, just the crocs.

Ai hope to see more

Peter

Messier Object wrote:

More terrific images Jan, I’ve been waiting for these as you promised, and they don’t disappoint .

that’s a nice catch of the hornbill looking into the car mirror. I really like these birds - they remind me of cartoon characters

the landscapes look a lot like interior and northern Australia, but of course we don’t have those magnificent large mammals, just the crocs.

Ai hope to see more

Peter

Thank you Peeter for poppin in and for your comment.

Yes, I did hear from other people already that SA is landscape wise similar to Australia. But the fauna is very different though and it is always fascinating for me this variety.

As promised, more will come, so stay tuned!

regards from Cape Town!

Jan

Jan Krux wrote:

Jan Krux wrote:

Jan Krux wrote:

It was a trip of about 6.500 Km's in 3 1/2 weeks from Cape Town to the northern border of South Africa, the Limpopo River, and back to Cape Town via Botswana . In total about 6.500 Km's of road and off-road, 4 nationlal parks ( 3 in South Africa , 1 in Botswana).

As I didn't look through all the more than 6.000 photos I did take, this is an excerpt for now. I am continuously uploading photos to my website at flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/

But here are a few I have already to share:

in the vicinity of Sabie there are some very beautiful waterfalls . Here the "Bridal Veil" waterfall witch comes down about 70 m ...

a Lilac-Breasted Roller in the Kruger National Park with his supper, a locust with a bit too much of vegetarian side dish ...

Elephants are very social animals. They have - depending on the individuals - very specific and tender greeting procedures. Here they put their trunk into each others mouth ... Kruger National Park, South Africa

Young guns gathering at an waterhole in the very north of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. This one was curious about us watching them from respectful distance. Later he got calm again and engaged with his kind ...

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. As the rainy season was not over yet, the paths turned in patches to muddy ditches, where 4x4 was required.

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. Some other stretches were quite rocky..

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

Downtown Gaborone, capital of Botswana

Unfortunately this is how most of the tarred roads in Botswana. Very much nerve wrecking on long distances

Sundown in the Kalahari, Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

Yellow-Billed Hornbill in the Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

A few more photos:

Thank you for looking ...

Jan

As I had a bit time to work on my photos, here are some more photos ...

Some more will come up in a few days .. so stay tuned

cheers, Jan

A few more photos of my journey up the northern border of South Africa and into Botswana ...

driving on back roads in Limpopo Province , South Africa to reach Mapungubwe National Park further north

Oxyx Antelopes in Central kalahari National Park, Botswana

a Red-Billed Spurfowl in Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

the Limpopo River, border South Africa to Zimbabwe

500 miles to home ...

road block near the border to Zimbabwe

The story will still go on ... so when you liked it, stay tuned ...

Or look at https://www.flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/albums/72177720297701817 where you have all the photos in the right order .

cheers, Jan

Jan Krux wrote:

Jan Krux wrote:

Jan Krux wrote:

Jan Krux wrote:

It was a trip of about 6.500 Km's in 3 1/2 weeks from Cape Town to the northern border of South Africa, the Limpopo River, and back to Cape Town via Botswana . In total about 6.500 Km's of road and off-road, 4 nationlal parks ( 3 in South Africa , 1 in Botswana).

As I didn't look through all the more than 6.000 photos I did take, this is an excerpt for now. I am continuously uploading photos to my website at flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/

But here are a few I have already to share:

in the vicinity of Sabie there are some very beautiful waterfalls . Here the "Bridal Veil" waterfall witch comes down about 70 m ...

a Lilac-Breasted Roller in the Kruger National Park with his supper, a locust with a bit too much of vegetarian side dish ...

Elephants are very social animals. They have - depending on the individuals - very specific and tender greeting procedures. Here they put their trunk into each others mouth ... Kruger National Park, South Africa

Young guns gathering at an waterhole in the very north of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. This one was curious about us watching them from respectful distance. Later he got calm again and engaged with his kind ...

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. As the rainy season was not over yet, the paths turned in patches to muddy ditches, where 4x4 was required.

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

driving down to the Limpopo river, which marks the border to Zimbabwe. Some other stretches were quite rocky..

Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa

Downtown Gaborone, capital of Botswana

Unfortunately this is how most of the tarred roads in Botswana. Very much nerve wrecking on long distances

Sundown in the Kalahari, Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

Yellow-Billed Hornbill in the Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

A few more photos:

Thank you for looking ...

Jan

As I had a bit time to work on my photos, here are some more photos ...

Some more will come up in a few days .. so stay tuned

cheers, Jan

A few more photos of my journey up the northern border of South Africa and into Botswana ...

driving on back roads in Limpopo Province , South Africa to reach Mapungubwe National Park further north

Oxyx Antelopes in Central kalahari National Park, Botswana

a Red-Billed Spurfowl in Central Kalahari National Park, Botswana

the Limpopo River, border South Africa to Zimbabwe

500 miles to home ...

road block near the border to Zimbabwe

The story will still go on ... so when you liked it, stay tuned ...

Or look at https://www.flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/albums/72177720297701817 where you have all the photos in the right order .

cheers, Jan

More photos of this epic journey ...

Sandgrouse male

Sandgrouse female

Ear cleaning

This is just a bit of what I did on the journey.

For a more details and photos please see my folder on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jan-krux/albums/72177720297701817

which is still under " construction" , meaning more images will be added the next few days and weeks.

Thanks everybody who popped in .

Jan