Botswana! We have often thought to go but never got around to it. As a neighbouring country we’ve learned that it’s safe, a democracy of two million people, free health and education systems and an excellent conservation programme as well as a well regulated tourism industry that benefits all. The idea was a three day trip to Shinde as it’s one of those destinations that you have to try. Angelka had googled a travel agent and a couple of chats later, she and Walter Kohrs of Safari Online are best of pals and he has cajoled us, with his expertise and experience, to consider a three centre break over a week!!
A flight of just over 2 hours from Cape Town, takes you to Maun, an international but, provincial, airport to the east of the country.
We needed a negative PCR test to fly and enter the country. Upon arrival you must have an antigen test before customs let you in! Because of the road infrastructure we have four light aircraft transfers to our three lodge stays.
We are flying to our first stop of Savute, it means unpredictable and refers to the rains and how the lands will be covered by flood waters. There is the Chobe river, on which you can take safari cruises and the Okavango Delta which refers to the flood plains. From the air, the land looks like a giant floral print. The peninsular islands are surrounded by a shore line of trees, the dry river beds are scorched sand. The flight takes fifty minutes, we share it with a new employee heading for her first day of work, since graduating!
With in minutes of arriving we see giraffes, wildebeest and a giant Marsh Eagle who had a wingspan that looked bigger than our plane’s! It’s mid afternoon and they’ve hatched a plan that we join the afternoon game drive and check in later. We share the jeep with a couple from Pittsburgh, who had had their trip of a lifetime cancelled last year and put it in this year, having both had two jabs earlier in the year. They are extensively travelled and have lots of tales of scuba diving trips they’ve taken around the globe. Our guide is Obed and we get to enjoy three hours safari as the sun goes down, having placed our sundowner order in advance, it’s the little things! We get to see mating lions as well as a host of other wildlife and birds. Obed is an excellent guide, he has 13 years experience and his knowledge of the ecosystem is as intriguing as the many things he tells us about the animals and birds.
When we get to the lodge, we were two of eight staying in a 15 lodge resort. It is situated around a water hole, regulated by a bore hole. There are 14 elephants having a drink, a whole family, bull, mums, brothers and sisters. From huge bull to a month old dumbo! You have dinner watching the comings and going by floodlight.
There’s a rythmn to a safari holiday; wake up, breakfast, drive, brunch, afternoon tea, game drive, dinner. It seems you can’t go four hours without food!
Safaris are all about fresh air, darkness and silence. You are pretty much horizontal as you get to bed, neither of us can remember our head hitting the pillow!
Having slept well, the 6.00am alarm call, Obed in person, isn’t too much of an affront! Layers are the order of the day, I’ve gone for four while AD has 5! When you get in the jeep that give you a blanket and... a hot water bottle, heaven!
There’s a renewed sense of security in that you have to be walked to, and from your room. In the previous week a member of the management team at a lodge in Moremi had been attacked, and killed, by a leopard when he’d gone back to his room to collect his forgotten mask!
A morning game drive is different to afternoon. You are looking for overnight tracks, listening more to the sounds and the birds are great indicators. Their chatter is complaining, or alarmed, when a predator is on the move. If they are in the trees, look down, if they are on the ground, look up.
It was in this manner we came across a female leopard not seen for a while. She had killed an owl and was surrounded by feathers, they pluck the birds before eating. She was magnificent to observe. What we hadn’t seen was an owl chick up the tree next to her. To see her scale the tree to pick it up, it was quite large, before descending was extraordinary.
Obed’s commentary, using his 13 years of experience, was a great soundtrack with lovely anecdotes. We came across a secretary bird, it looked like a female peacock in shape and size. Why so, a secretary bird? It has a coxcomb that looks like a pen behind the ear and feeds exclusively on snakes. It uses its talons to kill the snake in an action that looks like typing on an old typewriter!
The afternoon game drive was fascinating, lots of facts to intrigue. A flowering plant, the Cat Claw that has a chemical defence system which secretes tanins when its being chewed, it can also transmit this spore to downwind bushes like arcacia trees. This means grazers, like giraffes only eat for a short while and graze upwind to avoid the bitter tannin. There’s a tree called the Mophale, it’s 10-12 metres tall. Elephants demolish them, leaving stubs around two metres high that look like they’ve been struck by lightening. However, this destruction has two benefits, what would be forest is now open, making it easier to see predators but also, it grows back as a shrub, then a bush, then a small tree. This means that leaves beyond grazers like zebra and giraffes now become available, everybody benefits. There’s a bird called Ox Pecker which takes a ride on giraffe, antelopes and the like. It’s not unusual to see three, or four, attached to the neck of a giraffe. They are feeding on ticks while relieving giraffes of itches!
The game drive has been a roll call of fascinating facts. We then stumble across large lion footprints and start to follow them. They are fresh and seem to be nearby. We followed them for over 5 Kms to round a corner to discover a lioness with her three Cubs, of up to a year in age, resting on the sandy road. Even Obed said he was pleased with himself! They were resting and seemed as disinterested in us as we were fascinated by them. What an end to the drive.
Dinner is served with a singing and dancing introduction. There’s such joy in their service, it’s so charming. There are only four guests so we did our best to be a generous audience.
We are depart at 10.20 am on our final morning in Savute, time for another game drive looking, unsuccessfully, for the renouned Marsh lion pride. Even so, no shortage of animals and birds, just nothing significant. We are to pull up for a cup of tea, except there’s a birthday breakfast for me! A plate decries my 60th, Walter, the travel agent endears himself by making me five years younger!
Having wanted to visit Savute because we’d bought a wildlife photographer’s book about the area, it has not disappointed. It’s quintessential safari. We were sad to wave goodbye to such an excellent guide in Obed, he’d brought the area to life while indulging our many silly questions about the animals we saw.