11.Tsodilo Hills, Botswana - 29 August to 31 August, 2009

After a great night at Roy's Camp, on Saturday 29 August we headed due west across an area still known as Bushmanland and part of the wider Kalahari. We camped at a lodge near the very small settlement of Tsumkwe where we met a German couple in a customised truck who had travelled from Germany through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, so we found them very interesting, and they also gave us some travel tips.

Next day we crossed into Botswana at Dobe and drove across to Nokaneng and then north up the Okavango Delta western panhandle until we turned on to the Tsodilo Hills road.

The Tsodilo Hills rise spectacularly out of the sandy flat landscape and consist of two main hills called Male Hill and Female Hill. There are also two much smaller hills - Child Hill and Grandchild Hill. It is a World Heritage Site as it has many well preserved rock paintings. We immediately organised a guided walk around the Female Hill along the Rhino Trail, so named for the 'Two Rhinos' painting. It was a far more challenging two hour walk than we had anticipated, with quite high climbs and a rapid rocky descent. It was quite late when we finished so we decided to camp, even though the facilities at the Main Camp were disappointingly bad. So we went a little further away and camped at Makoba Woods campsite, a real bush camp that we had to ourselves.

We found Tsodilo Hills quite an eerie place, very spiritual- it is locally called 'Mountain of the Gods' - and it did feel quietly mystical. During the night we heard a noise which at first sounded like a vehicle approaching, but it was the leaves rustling in the distance and the gust of wind eventually swept over our camp. Other lighter gusts followed during the night. Not one of our most 'sleep-easy' nights, but we found it an interesting experience. Absolutely beautiful the next morning as the sun rose between Male and Female Hill.