Daily activities written on the board, !!!
The lucky girls!!
Suzanne and myself at the artworks on the ZQ
Suzanne standing on the balcony of her room, basically on the river!
Can't remember what we saw, but it must have been something amazing!!!
At the dinner tableWe had the GREAT privelege to visit Zambezi Queen in July. It was an unforgettable experience which I'm sure we will treasure for a very very long time.
I'm now referring to Marianne, Suzanne and myself, Anneke Stroebel.
I'll attach photos but you can be sure that no photo will ever be able to capture the true vibe and feeling of that specific moment.
Our morning started at about 04:00, getting up and ready to leave for the airport. Our flight was quite eventful from CPT to JNB on 1Time as there was one guy getting quite agressive , but the airline personnel sorted that out very quickly!! From JNB to Kasane we were onboard Air Botswana. Now I have to be honest , it being a smaller aircraft , with propellers , the flight was still fine except for a little turbulence when landing.
At Kasane airport we were greeted by our transfer from Kalahari Tours and taken to the immigration office in Kasane. When the paperwork was done, we were transferred by boat to the Zambezi Queen.
On this transfer, not even five minutes after leaving "land" we already saw elephants...lots of elephants! It was just amazing. As we came nearer to the ZQ (Zambezi Queen), we could hear singing, it was the staff singing and welcoming us.
Now the staff we can rant and rave about for a very long time. They were all very special and the service was just about perfect! The ZQ is just beautiful! You can go to the link provided, the rooms are stunning. I'm not going to add photos of the boat or rooms since the photos on the website look exactly like the photos we took!
We had two activities per day. Mostly we went on the game viewing by water, which was just great. We also had a game drive through Chobe National Park. Other events included Tiger fishing...which we did, and also a tour through a cultural village. Whatever your needs , the staff on the ZQ makes it happen.
Game viewing from the boats to me was just a little more special than on land. You get a lot closer to the animals since they are not for one second intimidated by the boats. Gilbert was our guide on all 'water' game drives and he was amazingly patient, getting the boat to the perfect angle to take a photo, or to see the crocodile almost too close for comfort!! :-)
None of the animals are affected by the many boats on the river from the different lodges/resorts doing game drives. They don't fear people, since in the park the numbers of animals aren't controlled. This could prove to get a big problem as we saw a lot of dead trees in the park, the job of the elephants. They do plant new trees however, but I'm not sure if it's at the same rate as they die.. What was also interesting is that we saw what seemed to be hundreds of hippo's grazing during daytime. This is not usually their habit, since they do grazing at night time. But our guide told me that since there are so many animals competing for food, the hippo's started grazing at any time, night or day. Poaching still proves to be a big problem outside of the park though.
I've attached a few photo's of the animals, and birds - definitely bird-lovers paradise! Next time, I'll definitely make sure I have some binoculars.
Back to ZQ, we had all meals on the boat. They were all fabulous. Felix , the chef, was quite a colourful character and he definitely makes sure that you have a very great experience with every meal. For one lunch we were treated with a Boma lunch on land. It was so quiet and relaxing, a very lazy afternoon!
As we crossed the 'border' between Botswana and Namibia it was necessary to go to the different immigration offices a few times. Thankfully the ZQ staff sorts out most paperwork so it really was not a problem, rather an experience!!
All in all, these few days was fantastic. When leaving the boat for the last time you can't help but feel sad , wishing you could stay longer, much longer. Hoping that all people can experience everything we did.
I'm now referring to Marianne, Suzanne and myself, Anneke Stroebel.
I'll attach photos but you can be sure that no photo will ever be able to capture the true vibe and feeling of that specific moment.
Our morning started at about 04:00, getting up and ready to leave for the airport. Our flight was quite eventful from CPT to JNB on 1Time as there was one guy getting quite agressive , but the airline personnel sorted that out very quickly!! From JNB to Kasane we were onboard Air Botswana. Now I have to be honest , it being a smaller aircraft , with propellers , the flight was still fine except for a little turbulence when landing.
At Kasane airport we were greeted by our transfer from Kalahari Tours and taken to the immigration office in Kasane. When the paperwork was done, we were transferred by boat to the Zambezi Queen.
On this transfer, not even five minutes after leaving "land" we already saw elephants...lots of elephants! It was just amazing. As we came nearer to the ZQ (Zambezi Queen), we could hear singing, it was the staff singing and welcoming us.
Now the staff we can rant and rave about for a very long time. They were all very special and the service was just about perfect! The ZQ is just beautiful! You can go to the link provided, the rooms are stunning. I'm not going to add photos of the boat or rooms since the photos on the website look exactly like the photos we took!
We had two activities per day. Mostly we went on the game viewing by water, which was just great. We also had a game drive through Chobe National Park. Other events included Tiger fishing...which we did, and also a tour through a cultural village. Whatever your needs , the staff on the ZQ makes it happen.
Game viewing from the boats to me was just a little more special than on land. You get a lot closer to the animals since they are not for one second intimidated by the boats. Gilbert was our guide on all 'water' game drives and he was amazingly patient, getting the boat to the perfect angle to take a photo, or to see the crocodile almost too close for comfort!! :-)
None of the animals are affected by the many boats on the river from the different lodges/resorts doing game drives. They don't fear people, since in the park the numbers of animals aren't controlled. This could prove to get a big problem as we saw a lot of dead trees in the park, the job of the elephants. They do plant new trees however, but I'm not sure if it's at the same rate as they die.. What was also interesting is that we saw what seemed to be hundreds of hippo's grazing during daytime. This is not usually their habit, since they do grazing at night time. But our guide told me that since there are so many animals competing for food, the hippo's started grazing at any time, night or day. Poaching still proves to be a big problem outside of the park though.
I've attached a few photo's of the animals, and birds - definitely bird-lovers paradise! Next time, I'll definitely make sure I have some binoculars.
Back to ZQ, we had all meals on the boat. They were all fabulous. Felix , the chef, was quite a colourful character and he definitely makes sure that you have a very great experience with every meal. For one lunch we were treated with a Boma lunch on land. It was so quiet and relaxing, a very lazy afternoon!
As we crossed the 'border' between Botswana and Namibia it was necessary to go to the different immigration offices a few times. Thankfully the ZQ staff sorts out most paperwork so it really was not a problem, rather an experience!!
All in all, these few days was fantastic. When leaving the boat for the last time you can't help but feel sad , wishing you could stay longer, much longer. Hoping that all people can experience everything we did.
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