1

You do not seem to grasp the remoteness of the place you will be visiting. Although the lodge is close to the town of Kasane, you will find the store, here will only stock the bare necessities, and no luxury items, such as soy milk. You did not indicate from which side of the Vic falls you will be coming. Finding anything like soy milk in Zimbabwe at the moment will be quite an achievement. On the Zambian side I would also be surprised if you manage to find luxury goods.
I would suggest you discuss your food preferences with the lodge, if you don't want to be eating what they will be preparing.

2

Matter of fact Chobe Safari Lodge is on the edge of Kasane and there is a grocery store, I think called Choppies, within walking distance from the lodge. Fresh vegetables is scares but available sometimes. Soya milk, better changes catching a goat for milk! Contact the lodge and ask them for assistance, after all, Chobe Safari Lodge is a well-established lodge. Not many choices in the form of restaurants for vegetarians available in Kasane or rest of Botswana.

3

I would expect your vegetarian options at other restaurants in the area will be comparable to Chobe Safari Lodge. However, as a vegetarian I stayed there last year and found their buffets (both for breakfast and dinner) plentiful, even once the meat choices were excluded. You will not walk away hungry, so to me that's value for money, notwithstanding the fact that you're paying the same as the meateaters. Meat in Africa is very cheap compared to the prices we pay in "western" countries, so the cost differenece to produce a vegetarian vs meat dish would not be nearly as significant as it is back home.

Choppies supermarket is nearby, and whilst the variety of food stocked there is much better than in Vic Falls, I would still go in with the expectation that they will not stock specialty items such as soy milk. The do lunch at Choppies, but this is geared toward the local diet, which consists of sadza, meat stew, and vegetable sides. If you wander into town there is a bakery that does a more varied local take away lunch, they usually have at least two vege dishes which teamed with sadza make for a tasty meal.

If you get the chance to self cater, you should check out Fry's vegetarian products, they'll definitely be available in Kasane.

As a general comment from a vegetarian who has spent a lot of time in Africa (and I say this with no intention of offending your beliefs), I would suggest you go in with low expectations - that way you may in fact be pleasantly surprised by the food choices available to you. This may require a bit more flexibility on your part, specifically the vegans -i.e. if there is no soy milk, then skip the cereal for a few days and take advantage of all the fresh fruits and salads that I know will be on offer at Chobe.

4

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments. Just looking to see what we might find there; I did note that it may be a long shot, after all!

I've been to Chobe before, but it's been 20 years. Also was on an overland truck trip for 4 months as a vegan did did fine, actually loved all the veggie stews that our awesome cook came up with!

I'm used to making do and accepting the limitations - but not compromising my beliefs - but in this case it would probably be helpful to pack a couple of extras (like powdered soy milk) to give us extra options. :-)

5

Having been there several times from the US and fixed most of our own meals from what we found locally we think you will do just fine. There was even an upscale Woolworth's in Kasane when we were last there June 2011 with lots of world food choices. The two big supermarkets have lots of veggies and cereals, and ala cart hot food cases.

Check The Old House Restaurant menu for veggie items. It has an outdoor deck near the river.
http://www.oldhousekasane.com/

See also The Coffee Buzz facebook page, think you will be pleasantly surprised at their vegetarian options
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coffee-Buzz/153686388030519

6

That's encouraging, thank you!