"Elephants, two o'clock!" I called out. Tim said "Are you sure? Oh yeah...there they are." Then he simultaneously rolled the aircraft sharply to the right and yelled over his shoulder "Elephants!!", while indicating the right side of the airplane. Our passengers crowded the right side windows while we swept over the pair of giant animals at a mere 500ft and 160 knots. The bull flapped his ears and whirled to face us as the cow fled into the bush and then we were gone.
On Monday afternoon Tim had asked if I would like to accompany him on a charter in the morning. I am not yet formally licensed here so it was to be a trip more for my own orientation than for me to serve as a meaningful crewmember but being anxious to see how things really work here I naturally accepted. The trip in our King Air was chartered by an oil and gas company that had recently leased some huge tracts of land from the government for exploration and wanted to get a feel for the immense size of their holdings. We met at the airport at 5:30am and waited for the clients who finally showed up around 6:45am. Then we flew a normal leg from Gaborone to Maun where we landed for fuel. Upon taking off from Maun we leveled at 500 ft above the ground and flew northeast towards Kasane, then when we reached the boundary of Chobe National Park we turned and flew towards the massive salt flats of Nie Pans. After reaching the salt flats we wheeled again to the northeast and flew directly to the Zimbabwean border where we turned and flew southwest along the border. When we reach the small village of Nata we flew an additional 45km to a remote station where the gas company was doing exploratory drilling and did a few low level turns around their small drill rig and crew. Then we climbed out to a more reasonable cruise altitude and flew to Francistown for fuel and then on to Gaborone.
All in all we flew for just over 6 hours, a full half of which was a mere 500ft above the ground. It was an incredible experience for someone new to the country and I got a feel for the massive uninhabited spaces that exist in here. We flew for hundreds of miles over mmopane forest and savanna seeing nothing but elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, and zebra. The only sign of human habitation at all was the occasional two rut dirt trail through the bush and boundary fences at the edges of the national parks. For three hours of low level flying we did not see a single human being on the ground. 
This flight was my third since my instructional flights last Thursday. On Sunday I rode along in FMS's Cessna 207 as it was flown to South Africa for maintenance. We flew into Krueger, South Africa where we cleared customs and then to White River, a small private strip. There we dropped off our 207 and picked up a loaner aircraft for use while ours was being worked on.
The runway at White River was 1500ft long and one way due to a significant slope. It was perfect for the 207 and real fun to fly in and out of, even if I wasn't at the controls. It was a delightful flight over some simply magnificent terrain if not a little on the longish side being nearly 7 hours there and back.
On Monday, I took my checkride with the chief pilot in our King Air. I thought it went pretty well given that I had a grand total of 2 hours in the airplane prior to the ride. However, I did learn the hard way that the C90 does not have the surplus power that the 1900 had. There can be absolutely no delay in retracting gear and flaps single engine the in C90...or it simply won't maintain altitude. At any rate, I passed the checkride and as of an hour ago all of my paperwork has been submitted for my Botswanan licenses. Hopefully, by the end of the week or early next week I'll be fully licensed and flying actual revenue flights! I'll post pictures of my flight to South Africa later today. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for the flight in the King Air. :-(
This flight was my third since my instructional flights last Thursday. On Sunday I rode along in FMS's Cessna 207 as it was flown to South Africa for maintenance. We flew into Krueger, South Africa where we cleared customs and then to White River, a small private strip. There we dropped off our 207 and picked up a loaner aircraft for use while ours was being worked on.
The runway at White River was 1500ft long and one way due to a significant slope. It was perfect for the 207 and real fun to fly in and out of, even if I wasn't at the controls. It was a delightful flight over some simply magnificent terrain if not a little on the longish side being nearly 7 hours there and back.
On Monday, I took my checkride with the chief pilot in our King Air. I thought it went pretty well given that I had a grand total of 2 hours in the airplane prior to the ride. However, I did learn the hard way that the C90 does not have the surplus power that the 1900 had. There can be absolutely no delay in retracting gear and flaps single engine the in C90...or it simply won't maintain altitude. At any rate, I passed the checkride and as of an hour ago all of my paperwork has been submitted for my Botswanan licenses. Hopefully, by the end of the week or early next week I'll be fully licensed and flying actual revenue flights! I'll post pictures of my flight to South Africa later today. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for the flight in the King Air. :-(
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