Charlie's Golf Tours Blog

4 countries, 3 Cessna flights over deserts and deltas, the big 5 on Safari – we knew it was going to be a huge trip and it certainly lived up to our expectations! We started off in Namibia, a desert country, famous for its Skeleton Coast diamonds. Windhoek, the capital, provided our first golf course before driving through the desert to Sossusvlei, our first tented camp just outside the Dunes National Park. The first of many early starts saw us witnessing the sunrise over more sand dunes than you can imagine, with the shadows accentuating their perfect forms that are being constantly reshaped by the winds. Walking up a peak and coming down the side of a dune was exhilarating and yes, sand got everywhere. Next we flew low over the Skeleton Coast up to Swakopmund where we played Rossmund, one of just five registered golf courses in the desert. Seeing the course from the air was memorable – sand everywhere apart from 18 strips of green! Onward up to Etosha, and our first game drives of the tour. We were privileged to see a large family herd of 40+ elephants coming to a waterhole to drink, wash and play. Next, we moved on to Botswana and the Okavango Delta, albeit a day late due to technical problems on an Air Namibia flight. We landed in our 4 seater Cessnas at an airstrip in the middle of nowhere to be met by an old Botswana army truck that transported us to our camp for the night. Out on the lake for our sunset cruise, one of our boats was hit by a hippopotamus, much to the occupants delight… I think! We also experienced a Mokoro trip, a dug out canoe punted by people who had first walked 2.5 hours from their village for the work. Sobering. Another low altitude flight took us to Chobe where a sunset cruise gave us the opportunity to see much wildlife, including swimming elephants, crocodiles and lots of Hippos, much to Marian’s delight. Here we played our third round of golf, sharing the course with Springbok, Warthogs and Impalas. Next day we moved across the border into Zimbabwe and to Victoria Falls. Nothing prepares you for the sight of the Falls from the air, as the helicopter circles high above the raging waters. Elephant Hills at Victoria Falls was our next course to play and the resident wildlife seemed almost normal by now. You were allowed to clean and place your ball if it had sunk into the dried Hippo footprints, thankfully! Another flight and coach journey from Jo’burg took us to the last stop of the trip, Sun City, a larger than life resort hosting four hotels, a casino and two Gary Player designed golf courses. These were the best courses of the trip, both in design and condition – most of us lost a fair amount of balls at Lost City and a few on the Gary Player course, but the two rounds were a great way of wrapping up a fantastic tour with a great bunch of people. Thanks to everyone on the tour for making it so enjoyable. Congratulations to Pam Oliver and Shaun McCann who won the Ladies & Men’s tournaments – once again the tournament was very tight and count-backs had to take place to establish the winners. Dates for next year’s tour have been fixed and pricing will be available soon. The tour is limited to just 16, so if you would like to experience these Southern African countries with us, register your interest soon to ensure your place for the 2017 tour.

Did you know?

African Safari & Golf Experience Report