Cape Town → Namibia → Botswana → Victoria Falls
Here are the 49 stories you’ll meet on this journey. The history, culture and nature commentary narrated by the GPS audio guide can be read here in advance.
Cape Town
Sarah Baartman — the Slave Lodge
The building you’re passing now is a museum called the Slave Lodge today, but it was originally the quarters where enslaved people lived. Inside is the story of a woman named Sarah Baartman — a story that’s hard to forget once you’ve heard it. Sarah was a Khoikhoi woman born near the Gamtoos River in the Eastern Cape. While she was working as a servant in Cape Town, an Englishman and a Cape Town merchant approached her in 1810, luring her with the promise that she could make a lot of money in London. So she crossed the Atlantic and was put on display on London’s Piccadilly under the name ‘the Hottentot Venus’. Her body shape, which looked unfamiliar to Europeans of the time, was turned into a spectacle. British abolitionists took her case to court to try to free her, but — very likely under pressure — she told the court she had come of her own free will, and so she was never released. In 1814 she was sold to France, where she was exhibited in a similar way in Paris and even became a subject of study for Georges Cuvier, the most celebrated naturalist of the day. Then in 1815, at only about twenty-five, she died in Paris — and Cuvier dissected her body and preserved her brain and genitals as specimens. Those specimens stayed on display at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris until 1974, almost 160 years after her death. She was finally brought home and buried in 2002, after Nelson Mandela’s government formally asked the French government to return her. And, strikingly, the day of her homecoming ceremony fell on South Africa’s Women’s Day — a coincidence that stays with you once you know it.
Camissa — the hidden river beneath the city
Picture this for a moment as you drive. Right now, beneath this city, a river called ‘Camissa’ is flowing. Cape Town wasn’t built here because of the stunning view of Table Mountain. The real reason was water. Fresh spring water ran down from the mountain, and the Khoikhoi called these streams ‘sweet water’ — Camissa. In 1652, when the Dutch East India Company was looking for a place to build a supply station for ships bound for Asia, it chose this spot precisely because of this water. And amazingly, more than 370 years later, the river hasn’t disappeared. It still flows through underground channels beneath the city — near Heritage Square you can even hear the water if you listen closely to the pavement. There are even walking tours that follow the river through Victorian-era tunnels. Beneath the forest of glittering buildings, the old river that gave birth to this city is still quietly flowing — the more you think about it, the more remarkable it is, isn’t it?
Van Riebeeck’s almond hedge — Kirstenbosch
Deep inside Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden you’ll come across what looks like an ordinary hedge of trees. But this hedge hides a story more than 360 years old. In 1660, Jan van Riebeeck, the first commander of the Cape settlement, planted a dense line of wild almond trees — the bitter kind — along the settlement’s boundary, saying it would stop Khoikhoi raids and cattle theft. It looked like a defensive hedge, but in reality it was the first policy of separation, meant to push the Khoikhoi outside the colony’s land. Remarkably, some of these trees have survived to this day — more than 360 years — and still stand inside Kirstenbosch. They’re preserved as South Africa’s oldest ‘living monument’. When you stroll through this beautiful garden and suddenly come across these old, gnarled trunks, knowing that they mark the very first scene of this country’s history of racial separation may make the view look a little different.
The Castle of Good Hope — a false surrender and the Grey Lady
That star-shaped fortress, the Castle of Good Hope, is the oldest surviving building in South Africa. The Dutch East India Company built it over 13 years, from 1666 to 1679. Beneath the fort there was once a dungeon where prisoners were held, and legend has it that a secret passage led from here to the harbour — perhaps used for smuggling or secret escapes. But the fort’s most famous story is something else: the ghost of the ‘Grey Lady’. Some say she was a woman executed in the dungeon; others say she was the mistress of a 19th-century commander. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t end as an old tale — there are records of night guards reporting sightings of her to this day. Inside this fortress, more than 350 years old, someone may be about to encounter the Grey Lady at this very moment.
The 1901 plague and Ndabeni
When people think of racial segregation in South Africa — apartheid — they usually think of 1948. But attempts to push people out of the city by race began much earlier. In 1901, bubonic plague broke out in Cape Town’s harbour. The real cause, as it later turned out, was rats that arrived on cargo ships — yet the authorities wrongly blamed Black dock workers as the source of infection. Using this as a pretext, they forcibly moved all the Black residents living in town to a new settlement called ‘Ndabeni’, near Maitland. This was the first case of the township segregation policy that would continue for decades. Apartheid officially began in 1948, so this happened a full 47 years earlier. A misunderstanding caused by rats brought this city’s history of racial separation forward by almost half a century.
District Six — demolished, and never rebuilt
That wide empty lot you can see out the window may look like land where construction simply stopped, but this was once Cape Town’s liveliest neighbourhood. It was called District Six — the most diverse place in the city, where Black, Coloured, Indian and Jewish residents all lived side by side. But in 1966 the government declared this land a ‘whites-only area’. Over the next 16 years, until 1982, some 60,000 residents were forcibly removed to the Cape Flats on the city’s outskirts, and every one of their homes and buildings was demolished. Here’s the twist: the forced removals drew such strong international condemnation that even the government didn’t dare announce the white housing it had planned for the empty land. So for decades the land has remained mostly empty. The bare landscape we’re looking at is itself a scar of that violence — and, at the same time, proof that the violence never fully succeeded. Today the District Six Museum keeps the story of that neighbourhood alive.
The convict ship ‘Neptune’ affair
In 1849, the British Empire planned to use the Cape Colony as a penal colony, just as it had done with Australia. So it sent convicts to Table Bay aboard the convict ship ‘Neptune’. But the plan ran into unexpected resistance from the people of Cape Town. Merchants refused as one to supply the ship, and workers blocked the convicts from even coming ashore. For five whole months, the Neptune sat stuck in the harbour, unable to unload. In the end the British government gave in, and the convicts on board were sent on to Australia. Historians regard this as the first mass civil resistance in the city’s history — the Empire’s plan was defeated without a single shot fired, simply by refusing to cooperate.
The Noon Gun on Signal Hill
Every day at noon, a single cannon shot rings out from this hill. It startles people hearing it for the first time, but this cannon isn’t a show for tourists. When it was first installed in 1806, it had just one purpose: to let every ship anchored in the harbour set its navigation clock precisely. Today we have GPS and smartphones, but back then there was nothing of the sort. So for the whole city and every ship in port, the sound of this cannon was the official time. And amazingly, the tradition has continued for more than 200 years without missing a single day. Even now, when noon comes, the cannon will fire from that hill without fail. One of the world’s oldest time-signal traditions is carrying on right before our eyes.
Briefing before you set off
4 survival rules for remote stretchesBriefing before you set off
Before we enter the truly remote stretches, let’s go over a few survival rules you must remember. First, in Namibia’s desert sections, fuel stations can be as much as 400 kilometres apart. So always carry spare fuel in a 20-litre metal jerrycan. Second, many fuel stations in Namibia don’t accept cards. Keep plenty of Namibian dollars in cash. Third, make it a habit to fill up at any station you see once your gauge drops below half. Many people get into trouble by thinking ‘I’ll fill up at the next one’. Finally, Namibia has a veterinary cordon fence between the south and the north that bans raw meat from crossing, and fresh food — especially meat — is completely banned when crossing into Botswana. So before crossing a border, it’s best to eat up or dispose of the meat in your fridge.
Klawer · Vredendal
Klawer — the signal that towns are thinning outPractical info
From Cape Town to Springbok is 560 kilometres — quite a distance to cover in one day, even within South Africa. Halfway, in a town called Klawer, there’s a fuel station open 24 hours. From here on the gaps between towns start to widen, so it’s a good habit to top up as you pass.
Vredendal — the last rest stop before the next townPractical info
A little past Klawer you’ll reach a town called Vredendal. It also has a 24-hour fuel station, plus a small convenience store and a bakery, so it’s a good place for a short break. After this there’s no town to speak of for a while until Springbok, so take care of toilets and snacks here.
Springbok
The miners who came from Cornwall
Take a look at this dry desert area you’re passing through, around Springbok and Okiep. Today it looks like nothing but barren plains, but in the 19th century, when a copper-mining boom hit the area, it was a completely different scene. Skilled miners from Cornwall in England, whose families had mined for generations, came all the way to this desert on the other side of the world, nicknamed ‘Cousin Jacks’. After months at sea, they transplanted the mining techniques they knew straight into this unfamiliar land. And curiously, traces of them remain. Even today, some local family surnames reveal Cornish ancestry. The culture of an English country village was transplanted into the middle of an African desert. Quite a strange and fascinating combination when you think about it, isn’t it?
The vanished springbok migration
The name of this town, Springbok, actually comes from an antelope. Until the 19th century, a spectacle known as ‘trekbokking’ often unfolded in this area: herds of springbok hundreds of thousands strong crossing these plains over several days. The scale was said to be almost unimaginable. But you can’t see such migrations any more. As fences dividing farms went up everywhere and uncontrolled hunting continued, the spectacle vanished completely. All that’s left to us is a town named after the antelope. The tide of life that once filled the land now survives only in a place name.
Namaqualand
Halfmens — the legend of the “half-human” succulent
Have you noticed trees out the window that seem to lean their heads to one side? This plant is the ‘halfmens’ — meaning ‘half-human’ — a succulent found only in this region. According to Nama legend, long ago there were people who fled their northern homeland southwards to escape war and drought. Taking pity on them, the gods turned them into beings that were half human, half plant — and that’s the halfmens. That’s why, they say, this plant always grows with its head — the tip of its stem — tilted to the north, towards the homeland they lost.
The Richtersveld — a nomadic herding culture that continues today
North of Namaqualand lies a region called the Richtersveld, a very special place listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the reason for its listing is a little unusual. It wasn’t for grand scenery — it was because the way of life of the Nama people, who have herded sheep and goats and moved with the seasons in the same way for centuries, was recognised as a living heritage in itself. Portable tortoise-shell-shaped dwellings called ‘|haru oms’ are still in actual use today.
Orange River border
Last chance to fill up before the borderPractical info
Soon you’ll cross the Orange River border between South Africa and Namibia at Vioolsdrif. Right after the border there’s a Shell station that accepts cards and also sells SIM cards. Here’s something important to remember: the next fuel stop is Ai-Ais, a full 118 kilometres further on, and it takes cash only and its supply is unreliable. So it’s safest to fill up as much as you can at this border station before setting off.
Keetmanshoop
Last full tank before the canyonPractical info
This is Keetmanshoop, the last town before you head into Fish River Canyon. There’s a 24-hour fuel station here, and this time you really must fill your tank to the top, no exceptions — there are no fuel stations at all in the canyon area. The supermarket here has good reviews too, so stock up on groceries while you’re at it. By the way, the town is known for its delicious German-style bread rolls, Brötchen.
Ai-Ais
Great hot springs — but don’t count on the fuelPractical info
You’ve arrived at Ai-Ais, the campsite at the southern end of Fish River Canyon famous for its hot springs. The facilities are great — you can soak in the hot springs after a hike — but the fuel station here isn’t reliable. It doesn’t take cards and often runs out of fuel. So ideally you should already arrive here with a full tank from Keetmanshoop.
Fish River Canyon
A canyon carved by the writhing of a giant serpent
The vast canyon spread out before you is Fish River Canyon, said to be the second largest in the world. Geologists explain that it was formed by some 500 million years of tectonic movement and erosion. But the Nama, the original people of this land, tell a completely different story. Long, long ago, a giant serpent called ‘Koutein Kooru’ rampaged across this land, destroying everything in its path. In the end the people joined forces and defeated the serpent — and where it writhed as it died, the earth was torn deeply apart, becoming the canyon we see today. In fact, when you look down on the canyon from above, its winding, twisting shape really does look like the track of a huge snake. 500 million years of science and an ancient legend fit together strangely well over this one canyon.
Lüderitz
A campsite today, a concentration camp a century ago
The spot where you pitch your tent and enjoy camping — this beautiful campsite overlooking the Atlantic — may weigh on your heart once you know what it once was. Between 1905 and 1907, Germany forcibly held thousands of Herero and Nama people here on Shark Island. Exposed to the bitterly cold winds blowing in from the Atlantic, without proper clothing, they suffered forced labour, starvation and disease. The death rate here was horrifyingly high, and historians call it ‘Death Island’, recording it as one of the sites of the first genocide of the 20th century. Most travellers who spend a night here leave having admired only the beautiful sunset, knowing nothing of this history. I hope you’ll remember, even for a moment, that such a heavy history lies beneath this peaceful landscape.
Kolmanskop
Crawling on moonless nights to hunt for diamonds
Just outside Lüderitz you’ll come across a strange town half-buried in sand. Kolmanskop grew up after diamonds were discovered in 1908 and mine workers flooded in. Back then diamonds often lay right on the surface of the desert, and the story goes that prospectors deliberately chose the darkest nights around the new moon to crawl across the sand, picking up by hand the diamonds that glinted in the faint moonlight. At its peak it produced a significant share of the world’s diamonds, but as the deposits shifted south, the town was completely abandoned in 1956. And now, the desert sand is slowly swallowing it up again.
Sossusvlei
People lived even in the harshest desert
The desert outside your window is an extreme environment where it’s hard to find a single drop of water. Yet remarkably, people have lived even here. Tools and traces left by the San — often called Bushmen — are found all across this area. They adapted to this extremely dry desert and survived by storing and carrying water in a unique way: inside ostrich eggshells. On land we find tough even for a trip of a few days, people have lived for thousands of years by completely reshaping their way of life. Isn’t that remarkable?
‘Big Daddy’ and ‘Big Mama’
See that giant dune towering ahead? This dune, called ‘Big Daddy’, doesn’t actually have an official name on any map. It’s a nickname that travellers and guides passing through gave it, and it simply stuck. From the valley floor to the summit it rises more than 325 metres, making it one of the tallest dunes in the world. Climbing to the top through sand that swallows your feet isn’t easy, but once you’re up, a view awaits that rewards all the effort. From the summit you can look down on the whole of Deadvlei right beside it, spread out bright white like another planet.
Deadvlei
Trees that have not decayed in over 900 years
These trees that look burnt black weren’t actually burnt. They’re camel thorn trees that grew here some 600 to 900 years ago, when a river still flowed. When the dunes blocked the river the trees dried out and died, but the area is so dry that not even the fungi or bacteria that break down wood can survive. So even though they died nearly a thousand years ago, even their bark remains intact.
Solitaire
The only fuel station in the middle of the desert — and apple piePractical info
On the road from Sesriem to Spitzkoppe, in the middle of the desert, you’ll come to a tiny settlement called ‘Solitaire’. It has the only fuel station on this stretch, open only from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening. There’s no other fuel on this section, so be sure to fill up here. The place is also quite famous for its apple pie. At this little oasis in the middle of the desert, we recommend filling up the tank and enjoying a slice of apple pie too.
Spitzkoppe
700-million-year-old granite, first conquered 80 years ago
The granite peak towering before you is Spitzkoppe, practically a symbol of Namibia. This giant granite dome formed about 700 million years ago as magma deep underground slowly cooled. Seven hundred million years is hard to grasp — but here’s something even more surprising. For such an ancient mountain, the first person to set foot on its summit did so only in 1946 — a team of Swiss climbers. In other words, of the 700 million years this mountain has existed, it allowed itself to be conquered by humans only in the very last instant. That tells you how steep and smooth these granite cliffs are — for ages, they let no one’s foot reach the top.
Paintings left by the San — Bushman’s Paradise
At the foot of Spitzkoppe is a place called ‘Bushman’s Paradise’. True to its name, ancient rock engravings and paintings left by the San are still clearly visible here. Animals like rhinos and giraffes, as well as hunting scenes, are painted on the rock, and scholars interpret them as more than a simple record of what people saw. In traditional San belief, shamans in a trance state became one with the spirits of animals, and some of these paintings are thought to depict exactly those moments of spiritual experience. A mysterious moment someone experienced in front of this rock thousands of years ago remains right before our eyes.
Swakopmund
The history hidden behind picturesque colonial architecture
The pretty German-style buildings lining this street might make you feel as though you’ve arrived in some small European town. They’re the legacy of Germany developing this place from 1892 as a port town of ‘German South West Africa’. But behind this picturesque scene lies a far from light history. In the same era, between 1904 and 1908, the German army carried out an armed campaign against the Herero and Nama peoples, which historians define as one of the first genocides of the 20th century. Thousands held in concentration camps lost their lives to starvation, forced labour and disease. Swakopmund and Lüderitz were both sites of camps at that time — and Shark Island in Lüderitz is remembered as the most notorious of all. It’s worth remembering that these buildings, so pretty to our eyes today, also carry that heavy era within them.
Twyfelfontein
The lion with five toes — the ‘Lion Man’ engraving
Take a close look at the lion engraved on this rock. Doesn’t something seem a bit odd? Look closely and the lion’s paws are depicted like human footprints. There’s even another foot shape carved over the end of a leg — quite a strange figure. That’s why this engraving is called the ‘Lion Man’. Scholars believe it isn’t simply a picture of a lion. In traditional San rituals, shamans in a trance were believed to merge with the spirits of animals. So this image may depict the very moment a person transforms into a lion. A spiritual moment someone experienced thousands of years ago is still carved into this rock today.
‘Doubtful spring’ — a name born of disappointment
The name ‘Twyfelfontein’ literally means ‘doubtful spring’. Rather an odd name, isn’t it? Here’s the story. A farmer who settled here in the 1940s found that the nearby spring dried up so often that he felt he couldn’t rely on it at all — and, out of disappointment, gave it this name. But neither that farmer nor anyone else for a long time afterwards knew that around this ‘doubtful’ spring were hidden more than 2,500 rock engravings spanning some 6,000 years of history. Isn’t it one of history’s ironies that a name born of disappointment is now the name of a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Petrified Forest
‘Stone trees’ that never grew here
The huge chunks of stone lying near Twyfelfontein are shaped like trees if you look closely. They’re trees that lived about 260 million years ago and turned into fossils — and the interesting thing is that they didn’t originally grow here. Scholars think that long ago a massive flood uprooted trees growing far away and carried them all the way here. Buried quickly under mud and sand, the trees were cut off from oxygen, and over a long time minerals gradually replaced the wood tissue, turning them to stone as we see them now. So every one of these trees in front of us is a stranger that drifted in from far away.
Burnt Mountain
The ‘burnt mountain’ that never burned
The ridge ahead that looks scorched red is called ‘Burnt Mountain’. Funnily enough, this mountain has never actually burned. About 150 million years ago, heat from nearby volcanic activity slowly altered the minerals in the shale that makes up this ridge, turning it the dark reddish colour you see now. But from a distance it really does look as if the whole mountain has been scorched — and especially around sunset, when the light strikes it at a low angle, the ridge looks as though it’s still burning.
Organ Pipes
Why cooling lava came to resemble an instrument
Right next to Burnt Mountain is an unusual formation called the ‘Organ Pipes’. As the name suggests, it really does look like the pipes of a pipe organ standing tightly packed together. About 150 million years ago, lava that rose from underground cooled very slowly and evenly close to the surface. When rock cools evenly and contracts, regular vertical cracks form — and the result is these tightly packed basalt columns. They were once buried deep underground, but over long ages only the softer sedimentary rock around them eroded away, leaving the hard columns exposed on the gorge wall just as you see them now.
Outjo
The last supply town before EtoshaPractical info
You’ve arrived at Outjo, the last town before Etosha National Park. There’s a 24-hour fuel station here, and once again you must fill your tank to the top, no exceptions. Fuel supply at the stations inside Etosha is often unreliable, so it’s safest to go in relying on the fuel you fill up here. And don’t forget to stock up on at least four days’ worth of food here too — proper grocery shopping is hard while you’re staying inside the park.
Etosha
A salt pan made from one woman’s tears
This pure white plain stretching before you, so wide you can’t see its end, is the Etosha Pan. Geologically, it formed as a vast lake of around 100 million years ago slowly dried up. But among the land’s original inhabitants a much sadder story is told. Long ago, a woman’s village was attacked by enemies and burned to the ground, and she lost her entire family. She wept so bitterly that her tears flowed without end and formed a huge pool, which eventually dried out and became the vast white plain we see today. The 100 million years of geology that science describes and the legend of tears born of one woman’s grief tell completely different stories about the same landscape.
Fort Namutoni — traces of war in a safari camp
This old mud-brick fort standing in the middle of a safari camp holds a story that doesn’t quite fit the peaceful scenery. The German colonial authorities first built it in 1899. But in 1904 the Ovambo launched a major attack and completely destroyed it. The building we see now was rebuilt afterwards. There’s a strange contrast in the fact that, right in the middle of a safari camp where people come to watch wildlife, traces of colonial-era armed conflict still stand intact.
Rundu
A boat made from a single log — the mokoro
That long, narrow boat gliding quietly on the river is called a ‘mokoro’. Remarkably, it isn’t made of planks joined together — it’s carved from a single whole tree trunk. The Hambukushu and Kavango peoples who have lived along the Kavango River have built boats this way and travelled the river for hundreds of years. Today there are borders here, but long before those lines were drawn, this river was a natural highway linking the Angolan interior with the Caprivi region. Goods like ivory, salt and grain all travelled up and down the river in these mokoros. And even now, in riverside villages, you can see people carving mokoros from trees in the old way.
Before it became a peaceful supply stop
Rundu, which we’re passing now, and the Caprivi and Kavango regions ahead are today about as peaceful as it gets — supply stops for self-drive travellers. But in the not-so-distant past, they looked completely different. From 1966 to 1989, during Namibia’s war of independence, this was the border area with the highest military tension. Only after Namibia finally won independence in 1990 was the region fully transformed into a hub for peaceful cross-border trade and travel. When you consider that the calm that lets us stop for fuel and shop at the supermarket without a care is less than 40 years old, doesn’t this moment feel a little more special?
Katima Mulilo
“Quench the fire” — the rapids hidden in the town’s name
Do you know what ‘Katima Mulilo’ means? In the local language it means ‘to put out the fire’ — rather an unusual name. Here’s the story behind it. Long ago there were very dangerous rapids on the Zambezi near here. People crossing the river in dugout canoes would keep a small fire burning on board for cooking or light, but the rapids rocked the boats so violently that the fire kept going out. So whenever people passed this spot, ‘the fire’s out!’ became a kind of catchphrase — and it became the name of the town.
Land traded for a North Sea island — the Caprivi Strip
This long, narrow strip of land we’re passing through, called the ‘Caprivi Strip’ or ‘Zambezi Region’, hides a rather absurd diplomatic backstory. In 1890 Germany and Britain signed the ‘Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty’, and the land Germany received in exchange for handing the small North Sea island of Heligoland to Britain was this narrow corridor. Germany’s calculation was this: by sailing boats along the Zambezi through this land, they could link up by water with their East African colony. But there was one problem. They hadn’t checked in advance that Victoria Falls sat squarely in the middle of the river. No boat could possibly get over the falls. In the end, this land never once served its intended purpose, and went down in history as a classic example of colonial-era diplomatic futility.
Kasane
The town where four countries almost meet at one point
On this river we’re floating on, something truly special is possible. In just an hour or so by boat, you can pass by the land of four countries: Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The borders of four nations almost meet at a single point across the Chobe River — and places like this are genuinely rare anywhere in the world. On a safari boat on the river, you’ll have the unique experience of crossing borders several times without even noticing.
The thousand-year-old baobab where Livingstone and Rhodes are said to have rested
See that giant baobab in the distance, with its extraordinary thick trunk? It’s thought to be well over a thousand years old. And there’s an interesting legend about it: that famous 19th-century explorers of this region, such as David Livingstone and Cecil Rhodes, rested and cooled off in the shade of that very tree. When you think of all the people’s stories that tree must have witnessed over a thousand years, doesn’t it feel less like a tree standing there and more like a living history book?
Chobe
An elephant recovery success story
Chobe, established in 1968, was Botswana’s first national park. But it too went through dark times. Uncontrolled poaching once caused a severe crisis in which elephant numbers fell sharply. Thanks to strong protection policies and anti-poaching efforts carried out by the army, however, the elephant population has recovered dramatically. Today it’s considered one of the areas with the highest density of elephants in all of Africa — so many that experts can’t even agree on an exact count. Chobe is often cited as one of the standout success stories in the history of wildlife conservation.
Maun
From small town to safari aviation capital
The name ‘Maun’ means ‘place of short reeds’ in Setswana. It started out as just a small town, founded in 1915 when it was chosen as the new capital of the Batawana people. But there’s a reason it became special. The neighbouring Okavango Delta has many areas that simply can’t be reached by road, and because of this geographical limitation, safaris by light aircraft developed rapidly from the mid-20th century. As a result, Maun is now home to one of Africa’s busiest airports for small aircraft relative to its population. With the roads blocked, the skies opened up instead.
Riley’s Hotel — the adventurers’ gathering place
Where the centre of Maun is now, there used to be a place called ‘Riley’s Hotel’. Founded in the 1940s by a man named Harry Riley, it was actually both a hotel and a workshop. Hunters and explorers heading into the Okavango Delta, as well as the early safari pilots, all gathered here. In those days there weren’t even proper roads, so without refuelling and getting the latest information at this hotel, there was no way to get into the delta. In other words, it was the adventurers’ one and only gateway. Its successor still stands in Maun today.
Moremi
A queen’s decision
The name of this reserve, Moremi, actually comes from a person. In 1963, watching wildlife numbers in the area fall rapidly because of uncontrolled hunting, Queen Moremi, regent of the Batawana, stepped in herself. Leading the people in place of her late husband, Chief Moremi III, she made the decision to declare this land a wildlife reserve. To honour that decision, the reserve was named after her husband, Moremi III. What’s interesting is that while most reserves in Africa at the time were created on the orders of colonial governments, this was a rare case of a local tribal leader making the decision herself. It’s a reserve that began not from outside pressure, but from a people’s own will to protect their land.
Victoria Falls
“The smoke that thunders” — falls Queen Victoria never saw
That mighty roar you hear, and the spray rising from far away — that’s Victoria Falls. But the falls originally had another name. In the local language they’re called ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’, meaning ‘the smoke that thunders’. Given the spray that rises high enough to be seen from kilometres away and the roar that seems to shake the ground, it’s a perfect name. In 1855, when Scottish explorer David Livingstone became the first European to arrive here, he named these beautiful falls after his own monarch — and so the name ‘Victoria Falls’ was born. But here’s a fun fact: Queen Victoria herself, the namesake, never once saw these falls in her life. A world-famous natural wonder named after her, and she never came face to face with it.
The Zambezi river god ‘Nyami Nyami’ (note: outside the main route)A little off the road
A fearsome legend lies beneath the Zambezi. Deep on the riverbed, it’s said, lives a serpent-shaped god, ‘Nyami Nyami’, who guards the river. It’s a belief handed down for generations among the Tonga people of the area, and in the 1950s the legend made headlines again. While the Kariba Dam was being built downstream on the Zambezi, construction was swept away by major floods twice. The Tonga didn’t see this as a mere natural disaster — they believed Nyami Nyami was angry at the humans trying to block the river and had taken revenge. Even today, in souvenir shops along the Zambezi, you’ll often see carved wooden figures of this serpent god.
The ‘Big Tree’ baobab where Livingstone is said to have held a meeting
This giant baobab standing near the falls is known as the ‘Big Tree’. True to its name, its size is overwhelming, and it’s thought to be over a thousand years old. This tree has its own legend too: that David Livingstone, the explorer who first reached the falls, held talks with local chiefs in its shade. Imagine how many meetings and stories this tree has witnessed over a thousand years. Us standing in its shade right now is just one tiny scene in that long story.
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