Journal of This Southern Africa Adventure
Botswana Safari
Botswana borders South Africa on South Africa's northeast border. It is a large country comprised of several diverse parks including the Kalahari, Chobe, and the Okavango Delta. It is a land of about 1 million inhabitants, and unfortunately boasts the highest percentage of AIDS in the world.
Our northern Botswana safari consisted of a 7-day tour of the Okavango Delta (Moremi National Park) and the Savute area of the Chobe National Park. Upon starting the trip the only thing that I was worried about was the air flight from Jo'berg to Maun, Botswana. We had no idea what type of plane Air Botswana was going to serve up.
| However, the old 727 was more than adequate. It was the only flight that I had ever been on however, where I was sitting just a few feet behind the pilot and allowed to see his every move. |
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(I did not realize it at the time but there was going to be several more of these experiences before we left Africa but more on that later). As we flew into Maun, the pilot informed us that a movie was being filmed at the airport. The movie crew wanted to get a scene of passengers boarding the plane at Maun, however to save money they would film us leaving the plane as long as we left the plane walking backwards. It was explained that the movie crew would reverse the footage during editing. I should point out that the day was April 1, the first day of our adventure.
We were picked up at the airport by our guide for the week, Mike Hill who worked for Panduka Safaris. Mike quickly warned us that the wet season was lasting longer that usual and that we probably would not see much wild game. The best game viewing anyplace is in dry seasons when the game has to travel to a limited number of waterholes. We knew this fact before our trip but had little choice. Our assignment was over and we wanted to see more of Africa before leaving.
| We stayed the first night at the Panduka Safaris' Sitatunga Camp outside of Maun. We slept on cots in portable tents that we would be bringing on the safari. |
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We met the cook and camp helper as we arrived in camp and found out that the three of them would be taking care of the two of us for the whole week. This had its pluses and minuses as we were to find out later.
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That afternoon we visited the camp's crocodile farm. On the way, we were joined by a large friendly dog (a Rhodesian Ridgeback) and a caracal (similar if not the same as the North American lynx). |
| The camp guides had given the name Zelda to the 6 week old, 30 pound, playful kitten. The camp had adopted the cat, however, it was still young. |
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The guides at the camp had not yet decided what to do with Zelda once she became full grown. Surely the cat would devour the camp's domestic cats and probably start attacking the dogs when it got older.
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Knowing that it was probably bad for us to play with this wild animal did not stop us from doing just that. She was just to cute to resist. |
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Early in the morning we waited for our three hired hands to pack up the single old International truck before leaving for the Delta. |
This was one of the annoying parts of being on a very small safari. A larger safari would have several vehicles and the guests would not have to wait for the camp to be taken down and set up all of the time. The guests would be transported separately from the camp equipment, drive leisurely to the next destination where the camp would be completely set up. Then again, three people waiting on two isn't so bad ...
We drove through Maun on the way to the Delta. Maun is the start for many safari trips into northern Botswana.
| It is a growing village with Botswana-styled thatched roofed roundavels, several strip malls, two fast food joints, several ATM machines, a new sports complex, and donkeys everywhere. |
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The trip to the Okavengo Delta would consist of 20 km of paved road, 20 km of gravel road, and 20 km of sandy roads before reaching the gate.
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The sandy roads on the way to the gate were in fairly good condition. About five km before the gate we saw a large breading herd of elephants. We did not stay long as the crew was anxious to get to and set up camp. |
The next two nights we stayed at a camp site on the edge of a hippo pool in the Xaxanaka area. The camp sites in the Botswana parks are open to the animals, in other words, there are no fences around the camp.
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The hippo were very loud during the day and even louder at night when they came out of the water and began munching 30 meters from our tent. All night they would snort at each other, I believe, telling each other where they were and that they were OK. They were close! |
We also heard lion on each of the nights and saw lion tracks, the next morning, just twenty meters from our camp.
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Travelling in the park, and for the rest of the Botswana trip was very rough, that is, the roads consisted of sand, clay, puddles of water which were deep (down to a meter) and frequent (every 30 meters or so) , and pole bridges. |
It was rough but this was a real safari not like South Africa's Kruger Park, where half the roads are paved and very crowded. We saw, on average, only a dozen or so other vehicles on each day of the trip. It was remote and rough. This contrasted a bit with the fact that were were being pampered on a camping trip. Each meal, including lunch, consisted of at least 5-6 dishes.
Most of the land that we saw in northern Botswana is very flat and heavily forested. The forests are interspersed with fields and marshes. This differs greatly from what I had previously been led to believe. Many have claimed that Botswana has been devastated by its overabundance of elephants. The Chobe Park is said to have between 50,000 and 120,000 elephants. It is not uncommon to see herds consisting of hundreds of elephants in Chobe. However, what we saw was very large undamaged forests of Mopani, one of the elephants favorite food.
Although we did not see much game in the Xaxanaka Lagoons area, we did see giraffe, zebra, jackal, hyena, hippo (of course), impala, and lots of birds of prey. We also took a short boat trip on the waterways of the Delta. When we first went to South Africa 19 months before, we heard about an incident where a young American boy was abducted from his tent in the Delta by a pack of hyena. In order to combat the threat of future attacks, the game warden went on a hyena killing spree. They destroyed 20 hyena before they were done. We were there! There was also an incident involved a similar abduction by crocodile. In this incident, the victim held onto a dock as he was being pulled into the water. He was able to hang on even when the crocodile did its vicious rolling, until his friend could come to his rescue. We were there!
| The next two nights we stayed at the Kwai River area and crossed the famous bridge. No no, not that bridge (although we were to come within an hour of the Kwai River Bridge in Thailand just a few weeks later). |
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Again, at night, we heard lions, and even a brief hyena/lion fight. Hippo were numerous in this area and young hippo were seen playing in the water. |
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We also saw lechwe (pronounced ledge-way), waterbuck, kudu, giraffe, hippo, crocodile, and elephant,
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and lots of large birds such as secretary birds and white neck cranes. |
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At one point we stopped to watch two tawny eagles who were unusually close to the road. As we began to drive away, we noticed why they were there. A dead guinea fowl lay on the road. The eagles were waiting to snatch it up. We decided to wait and see it we could get a picture of an eagle snatching the rather large bird. We waited nearly an hour but I believe the eagle were a bit wary of our presence. The next day the guinea fowl was gone. Perhaps the eagles finally retrieved the fowl or perhaps a jackal came by and stole it. |
We then traveled north to the Savute area of the Chobe National Park. The drive took about 5-6 hours and was, again, very rough. The International truck broke down once due to water in the carburetor and it took about an hour to fix it. All of the Panduka guides, I am told, are very adept mechanics, and need to be in order to survive in the bush.
Savute is another beautiful place and is noted for its bull elephants. We saw several going into the park, and then had an uncommon sighting of a breeding herd of elephants.
| A few minutes later we saw several bull elephants, one of which came within 3 meters of the truck. Bill told us just to relax. As the sun was setting behind us we got some good pictures of our shadows on the side of the elephant. We were close. |
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The next day we traveled through the Savute marsh seeing wildebeest, lots of jackals, elephants, and lots of zebra. It was the end of a zebra migration and they were quite numerous. The most impressive sighting, however, were the swarming birds, called red-billed queleas. They swarm like bees, first congregating by the thousands in a very small area. When the leader is ready, it flies up, followed by thousands of birds. The waves of birds produces a great effect!
A flock of white birds was also beautiful.
A short while later we met Lloyd Wilmot, a bush-crazy chap who knew Bill. Lloyd had run a camp in Savute for 20 years or so and had only recently sold it. However, as part of the deal he was able to keep a home within the park. He was vacationing in Savute with his family. Lloyd told us where two packs of lions were. They may or may not have been part of the same pride but they were only a few hundred meters apart. At the end of the trip we read an article about Lloyd in the well-respected Africa Wildlife and Game Magazine. Lloyd is well known in the area. He set up one of the first lodges in Savuti and is known for his crazy antics like swimming in a pool with hippos and crocs just meters away.
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Lloyd and his family drive past a group of lions |
Later that day we visited the lions again and came across Lloyd in his open air truck with his young children and several friends.
| Lloyd was enticing a dozen lions to come closer to his vehicle by rustling his hat in the tall grass. The curious cats came within a few meters of his vehicle. They then jumped back as someone in the vehicle took a picture. A short while later the lions strolled off into the marsh looking for a midnight snack. |
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On the way back to camp we spotted a leopard walking across the road. In camp we were to find out that an elephant visited the camp but had strolled away without incident. This is a common occurrence in Savute.
Our trip culminated with a plane trip out of Savute on a small 12 passenger, single prop plane run by Mack Air. It really felt like Africa waiting for the plane on Savute's dirt airstrip. The plane was an hour late, but just on time, that is, by Africa-time.
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In the meantime, Lloyd arrived, took off in his small plane and predictably buzzed us as he proceeded south to Maun. Bill told us that Lloyd was a good pilot but had survived about 6 plane crashes. |
We stopped to pick up additional passengers at the Kwai River Lodge before proceeding back to Maun. From Maun, we traveled to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, on a twelve passenger twin prop Air Namibia plane. The plane was slightly delayed because the pilot was not getting clearance to taxi to the runway. He later discovered that the reason was that he had failed to close his window. On the flight, the pilot kept check a wire that was plugged into an instrument on his side. I am not sure if he was nervous that my knee was just an inch from the plug and constantly threatening to hit it. Hmm.... the adventure continues!
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