Emma @ 9.5 months. We headed off to Botswana 6 hours later than the estimated departure time. With Vaughn still finishing off at Praxis and already working at his new company it meant that he was on call when all the wheels fell off at Praxis on the Wednesday night before we left. He only arrived home at about 1 am so we decided a later departure time was great – especially as we had not packed anything yet!

We headed off to Tshipise hot springs on the Thursday and were relieved to find that we practically had the whole place to ourselves. Those of you who have been there, I am sure, have vivid memories of what a madhouse it is during peak season – not an inch of grass to spare! M had a really great time swimming in the hot springs and crawling around from pool to pool as fast as her little legs could carry her.

The next morning we headed off to Messina for a last Nandos breakfast before heading off to the land of no Cell phones (the new true test of remoteness). We arrived at the border and phaffed around a little waiting for the rest of the party to arrive. We were then found by our gameguard/driver and ushered across the border – this was followed by unpacking our overloaded golf (that is babies for you) and repacking in the 4×4 game Land Cruiser. Still the rest had not arrived, so after a length bout of Emma ‘driving’ the car and gobbing on the steering wheel we decided to take a walk across the border. No bridges in Africa – we walked across the Limpopo river and took in all the flood damage from last year. It still amazes me everytime I see a tree the size of a 4/5 storey building lying on a bank like a match or a tree high up in the branches of another tree. We then caught a tractor back to the South African after contemplating the presence of crocodiles in the Limpopo while standing ‘on the road’ in the free flowing water and looking around.

Finally the other arrived when we had nearly given up hope of their appearance and were planning alternate plans for a holiday. A quick unpack and it was off to the Botswana border control. What a surly man sorted us out!!!! He was rude and a true border official – demanding that each person holds their own passport as the pile of 8 passports was obviously too daunting for him. This of course brought out my difficult side making me give Emma her passport to hold while passing out the rest of the passports. Boy was he sorry, by the time Emma finally relinquished her passport she had gobbed on it from one end to the other and there was not a single dry patch in sight. That will teach him! Then it was off to the camp with M throwing her hat overboard once during the trip.

We had not really thought of what to expect and so were completely bowled over when we arrived at the camp. Beautiful thatched main house with chairs on the veranda. A long table set for 8 with paraffin lamps and artistically folded serviettes. Wow – safari/lodge holiday. The camp has a main house with a kitchen, lounge, toilet and large veranda with a dining table and chairs to enjoy the view. There is a large main fire that gets made every night. There are also for ‘houses’ which consist of a room with an open cupboard and a bathroom. As we have an M we got the house with a bath and shower. Hell were we impressed – large wooden windows everywhere facing the bush and the bath also had a view of the bush so M got to watch the squirrels play while she bathed – live entertainment!

A quick settle in and bath (lots of mosquito stuff) and then it was off for a sundowner game drive, M did well and fell asleep while having her milk sundowners (not to be left out!). We also got in a bush walk (M in her backpack) and lots of other drives. M was a really good baby and spent the drives bouncing up and down while hanging onto the armrests and trying to stand, not a peep was heard though she was rather vocal when spotting the elephants crossing the road as well as airing her views on the long 2 hours spent looking for lions. She did however save her niggles for camp and was sure to keep the peace at bay by having a good thing or two to complain about. Everyone coped remarkably well! Some were even brave enough to play with her for short periods of time before collapsing in crumpled heaps – all the outdoor air. The two maids were also delighted with her and spent time playing with her and laughing at her as she unpacked her nest cups and banged them around or chewed her plastic odds and sodds.

All too quickly it came to an end. As our farewell present we discovered a recently shed snake skin on our ‘house’ floor on our last morning. Vaughn stood on it and got a very lively wake up second. After much studying it was ascertained that the skin was a cobra skin – problem being that we had not left any un-netted windows or doors open as we were trying to keep one mosquito free place for M. This meant that the owner had to have been in the house with us. Flora, the camp housekeeper, arrived at our house with a trusty tin of insect killer! Insect Killer? Apparently this stuns the snake as she then proceeded to spray the thatch and take our whole room apart looking for the culprit. Thank goodness nothing was found but she did say that she found a cobra in our room the day that we arrived. It had been all curled up under the chair cushion obviously recuperation from it moulting in the roof beams. The wind on our last night had obviously blown the skin down and hence we found it in the middle of our floor that morning.

I tried to convince Vaughn that the border would be flooded and that we would have to stay another day but all to no avail. Then the rain really did arrive! We drove to the border in the rain and were sopped when we finally arrived. The sand/mud roads were pretty hectic and we saw one or two places were cars had been stuck but we got back safe and sound. We made it across the border and before long were on our way back home with our daughter and her NEW TOOTH!!!!!