Flying Adventure: Victoria Falls – Day 8 (FVFA – FBKE – FBGweta):
It is time to proceed and route southwards back towards South Africa.
But we still have one last tour highlight ahead of us, the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in central Botswana. Our destination for today is Gweta, which is a small settlement just north of the largest pan, the Nwetwe pan.
The previous day and overnight the temperatures dropped markedly and the winds picked up to velocities of 15 and 20 knots from the east. This cold front has replaced the hazy airmass with cool, clear and stable air. Absolutely fantastic flying conditions with near perfect visibility beyond the horizon. It is needless to say, that we are all excited.
Victoria Falls to Kasane
After breakfast at Ilala Lodge we arrange a transfer to the airport and are soon on our way. Customs and immigration are quickly and easily cleared as there are no commercial flights departing yet.
And because there were no commercial flights scheduled for the next few hours, the air traffic controller must have decided to take a little nap. At least, there is complete silence on the frequency as we ask for our taxi clearance.
After a walk back to the pilot briefing room and a phone call, the frequency gets answered. We are good to go.
After take off we climb out over the falls for a few more sightseeing turns.
We then route in a westerly direction along the Chobe river to Kasane in Botswana, which is a short flight of about 20 minutes.
Kasane is a very well organised airport and doesn’t have a lot of traffic flying in and out. Clearing immigration and customs and filing our flight plans is thus a smooth and fairly quick process.
From Kasane to Gweta on the Makgadikgadi Pans
We soon take off again, and route over Botswana’s north eastern concession areas down south to Gweta, which lies just north of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. It’s an impressive flight over wide, open and untouched land.
It is this wide open land in Africa, its remoteness and wilderness, that gives you that very special feeling of freedom, and which makes flying adventures out here such a rewarding and unique experience.
He must admit, he is not only passionate about this, but also somewhat addicted to it. And his passengers have certainly gotten the taste of it too by now and they are loving it.
By midday we arrive overhead the Gweta airstrip and descent for our approach and landing.
Despite him repeatedly asking his passengers for a reminder, we forgot to contact our lodge and inform them about our estimated time of arrival before we departed in Kasane. We now have to pay the price for this omission and have to wait a while until our pick up arrives.
But luckily, there is mobile network coverage in Gweta, which allows us to contact them from here. It is not a seldom event, that you land in a remote bush strip without any network coverage. He has mentioned this issue in another blog post already. If this was one of those places, it would have been a very long walk to get a cold beer.
At the Makgadikgadi Pans
After we have tied down and secured the aircraft and a short wait, a ranger arrives to pick us up. It’s a short 20 minutes drive to Planet Baobab, where we check in for the night.
Planet Baobab has an interesting setup nested into the natural surroundings, with a massive swimming pool and a nice bar, which tells stories going far back in time.
Baobab trees are often called ‘Tree of Life’ in Africa. A tree can grow as high as 25 to 30 meters and have a circumference of up to 30 to 40 meters. They often form an ecosystem on their own, providing nutrients and shelter to many species from tiny insects to such as huge as the African elephant.
The African dungbeetles seed many of them when rolling dung over the ground picking up the seeds and then burying them in the soil. When they germinate, it is the start of a very long life. A tree can live well over 1000 years and some carbon dating tests indicate they may live up to 3000 years. It is a very resistent species, which can survive the arid surroundings and long periods of drought. The massive trunk is made up of spongy fiber and can hold several thousands of liters of water.
When eventually they do die, they rot invisibly from the inside and eventually collapse all of a sudden into a heap of fiber. One of the reasons why the bushmen call them magic trees.
Changing plans a little
This is our last scheduled stop and tomorrow we would be heading back to Pretoria according to our plan. As we reflect on this, two fairly serious concerns arise:
- It is a long way back to Pretoria, and whichever route we take, requires two technical stops on route for clearing the border out of Botswana and into South Africa. This would mean we would have to leave unusually early and waste no time on route to safely make it back before sunset.
- Nobody is really in the mood to go home yet. That’s enough said for that second grave concern.
He ponders over some options and after a few phone calls we conclude to stop tomorrow at The Ranch Resort. The Ranch is situated at the outskirts of Polokwane and has its own landing strip. So that’s a very convenient stop and easy departure the following morning. This addresses both concerns effectively and everyone feels better. That’s what a holiday is all about.