Hi all, to go from Maun to Kasane/Kazungula border post do we have to go east to Nata then north to Kasane or there is any other and shorter road?

I have read on HUBB that is possible to drive motorbikes on the Chobe transit road (tarred) from Ngoma to Kasane, but how to reach Ngoma?

Is it possible to drive the direct road from Maun? It seems to cross Chobe NP also from Kudumane (Mababe) to Kachekabwe (Kachikau), but is it open to motorbikes?
Dangers?
Are these hard road to drive?

Thanks a lot!

Mirco

It's possible to go Maun-Bagani-Kasane (via Chobe) with a motorbike. I haven't tried the eastern route via Nata but the eastern route is nice.

If you have time to spend a few days in the delta I know a great place! Two years ago we tracked lions by foot...

Thank you AliBaba! I'm very interested in that place, as I would stop in the Moremi/Chobe area 2 or 3 days. Is that place a campsite/lodge or an observation point?

But... tracked lions by foot??? It sounds a little dangerous: in the Etosha Park (Namibia) when we saw 2 lions the driver asked us to close all the window of the van.

About the northern road you suggest, it's longer than the eastern road, whilst I asked as I was looking for a shorter way to reach Kasane to gain time to spend in the park.

Thanks again,

Mirco

It is a campsite and a lodge.
I’m pretty sure the name is Makwena Lodge. It is situated outside Etsha 6 and if you go there you have to arrange it in advance so they can meet you in Etsha 6. It is smart to bring food and water - you can get :-)

The last kms are not easy because there are a lot of sandy tracks going in all directions. If you don’t feel comfortable driving the bike you can leave the bike at their place in Etsha 6.
The last bit you have to take a speedboat (!!) so there is no room for the bike anyway.

Well, that was not the originally plan but…
They arrange trips with mocoros (small boats) and you can go for walks on some of the islands.
If you want to see animals you have to go in a small group, one or two persons and a guide.

The water is very shallow so the animals can walk from one island to the next. A big group (50+) of antelopes passed us when we were in the mocoro – maybe 20 meters away. Amazing to see the animals run across the water; force, elegance and speed.

We spend a few hours on a big island and walked around, there where mainly birds, monkeys and a few elephants.
The guide was a young local boy and we talked a lot of animals in the mokoro and he told us he knew a place where we might see lions. So we went around the island once, and then once more with the mokoro without seeing a single animal (which is a good sign if you look for lions).
We then started to walk on the island and after a while we spotted tracks, fresh tracks! After a while we lost them and started to walk back to the boat. We then saw the lion’s footprint covered one of our footprints but the footprints disappeared once again.

There was quite much vegetation and my girlfriend got a thorn in her foot so we had to stop.
It was totally quiet and suddenly we heard something; a female lion came towards us on the path, only five meters from us. The lion looked at us and we looked at the lion. It seemed as it was for a long time, but probably it was only a split second.
Because everything happened so fast and either we or the lion expected this the lion got scared and ran into the bushes, we were also scared but not able to move..

Later the same day we spotted a male lion from the mokoro but we were not able to find it on land, we had to return before it got dark.

The other groups had only seen birds; they had probably made a lot of noise and scared away the animals. Still they where very pleased with the day, they where mostly birdwatchers anyway…

But after what the guide told us it was not an ordinary thing to spot lions and most people tried to avoid them.
If you don’t know the sound the cheetahs are making at night you will know the next morning… The place is stunning!



I don’t know the eastern road but from what I have heard the eastern side of the delta is expensive and not so wild.
You can go from the camp to Chobe in a day, we went to Gaborone in a day and that was hard (with a car).

I think you have to be a part of a group in Chobe. They will probably not let you in by bike. Yes you can cross the park but the guards have radio contact and if you use long time you will have some problems when you exit. I told them I had a puncture….
When I was in Chobe (another trip) I didn’t see anything of the park except the area around the main road, but it looked nice

AliBaba, thank you very much! Your suggestions are very useful, but about the walking safari... mmmhhh, I'm not so sure I will do it!
Thank you again!