We arrived in Maun a day early for the safari. So I signed me and Lucas up for a 3 hour basket weaving class. I was so happy! The instructor, Mma Kushonya, has won the national basket competition every year since 1996. Some of her baskets have been shown as far as England. She is an amazing woman who will teach local women (and men) to weave baskets and jewelry and even sell the items in her shop so that they may make some sort of a livelihood. During the session, we learned the names of several different weave patterns. I chose the ribs of the giraffe and Lucas did the shield. Good baskets take weeks to finish, so needless to say our baskets were small and sloppy. Because we stay in Botswana, Mma Kushonya gave us enough reeds so that we would be able to continue working on our baskets after we left.
That night, we met up with our tour guide Lucky and the rest of the group. Our group included three other Peace Corps volunteers, Ric, Pheobe, and Talya. Also included were two friends of another PCV, Tori, who were visiting from the US, Kris and Jessica. Tori’s family will be visiting in August to do a similar safari so she declined to join us. But we were happy to have Kris and Jess! Lucky checked us into the Island Safari Lodge, which is located right on the river. We sat down for an amazing dinner (complete with dinner wine) to discuss what our safari days would look like. He explained that he enjoys tenting safaris far more than lodging safaris because tourists are reluctant to rise early for the game drives; they want to lounge around, drink their tea and eat breakfast before going anywhere. By that time, all of the animals have retired until the evening. His plans had all our hearts racing with excitement. Little did we know that our itinerary would be changing quite a bit.
The next day, we got to sleep in a bit and headed into Moremi National Park. It was freezing in the back of our open safari vehicle. Thankfully Lucky offered blankets for us to wrap up in. Our first safari animal was a beautiful giraffe standing perfectly in the middle of the road. I’ve found that giraffes will walk away a little, turn, and pose for limitless amount of photos. We learned that male giraffes are the only ones with balls on top of their heads. Females just have caps. The darker the animal, the older it is. And a baby giraffe will fall 2 meters when being born; they are some very tall animals! A herd of elephants crossed the road behind us. The baby elephants are always in the middle of the herd so that they are always protected. We learned elephants flap their ears to stay cool; the veins in the ears are enormous. We caught site of several groups of impala known as McDonald’s antelope because the markings on their butts that make an M. There are always two groups in a herd. The first group is made up of all females and one mating male. He is the “winner” and will lose up to 30% his body weight mating with all the females (OMG!). The second group of impala is known as “the losers.” It is made up of all males, waiting for their chance to challenge the dominant male and claim the females (you will learn that, in nature, it is always about the females). We spotted several males with a missing antler from a previous attempt. But they will never give up.
After settling into camp, we returned to the vehicle for an evening game drive and caught sight of our first zebra herd. Jess calls them “disco donkeys,” which is a very accurate description. They are beautiful animals. We asked Lucky how a black and white stripped animal could possibly blend into the safari. He explained that they will run in a group which will make it difficult for a predator to focus on just one zebra.
We arrived back to camp to an amazing meal of fish, rice, and vegetables. Our cook, Amantle has an amazing talent for cooking in the bush. Our tents were about 2 meters high and included cots and mattresses so we didn’t have to sleep on the ground. We settled into bed and anticipated hearing lion roars all night.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hear any lions. But we had some hyena visitors during the night. The hyenas must have spooked the monkeys sitting in the trees in our camp. We woke up to monkey poop slung all over our camp! During our game drive, we spotted a hippopotamus in a water hole not quite deep enough for him. Hippos will be in the water most of the day to stay cool and only emerge at night. They don’t know how to swim so only stay in water where they can touch although they can stay underwater for up to 7 minutes. More elephants and giraffes. We ended the morning by taking a mokoro ride on the river (mokoros are traditional dugout canoes typically made from wood, but ours were made from fiberglass to last longer and are more environmentally friendly). From our view it was hard to see any wildlife. But we did see several species of bird (Lucas was happy). Much to my horror, there were several species of large spiders. Beautiful, but terrifying. I just about tipped our mokoro when our guide pushed the mokoro closer than I was comfortable. He made it up to me by making me a necklace from a water lily. Not exactly leave-no-trace policy. But it was beautiful nonetheless.
After lunch and a shower, Lucky informed us there were sightings of lions by Third Bridge. So we piled into the safari vehicle to try and catch site of them. Moremi is more likely to have lions and gets less frequent the farther north we go. We drove through a group of trees known as a nursery. Adult elephants will eat off the tops of trees so that they grow short and fat. This way the baby elephants are able to reach the leaves. We followed a black-backed jackal for a bit. No sightings of lions but we did spot a serval, a medium size, spotted cat with long legs and large ears. That night we had an amazing, traditional Setswana meal. We taught the guides how to roast marshmallows over the fire; they loved it!
We left camp early and headed to Kwaii Game Reserve. On the way we saw Kudu, hippos, and big birds. The Okavango Delta is currently flooded due to abundant rains in Angola. With several flooded roads, we had to take alternate paths. Once we got to camp, we helped set up tents and took some down time. The landscape was very different than our previous camp. Because of the abundant numbers of elephants escaping from Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the trees are being over-harvested. Elephants eat 300 kg of food a day. In fact, during the colder months, elephants sleep less than 4 hours a night because they have to eat constantly.
Kwaii is the only park that allows for night drives. So we piled into the safari vehicle once again (with cocktails) and headed out to hopefully see some lions (there were lion tracks in our camp). We saw elephants fighting in the water. They will attack with their tusks or swing their trunk to show dominance. You can identify the sex of elephants by the shape of their heads: females have a flat head while males have a more dome-shaped head. The only elephant in Botswana is the African elephant, which gets its name because its ears are shaped like the continent of Africa. At about 25 years old (onset of adolescence), male elephants will be kicked out of the herd. This will make for a very angry, sexually frustrated bull. You can tell an angry bull because of their foul smell. That smell is the semen being released, as Lucky says “like Victoria Falls.” But an angry bull is nothing compared to the more dangerous menstruating female. Apparently PMS runs among species.
Once the sun went down, we broke out the flood light. We spotted a hippo outside of the water with a baby. We must have overstayed our welcome; she instructed her baby to go back into the water and set about charging our vehicle. I wasn’t too concerned until Lucky started backing up the vehicle and instructed us to not scream. That night we had a starter of chicken livers and a delicious entrée of pork chops. My pork chop had the bullet still in it!
The next day we got up decently early and headed out for a morning game drive. We found some hippos playing the water. Lucky spotted lion tracks and we followed them all the way to a pride of lions!!! There were three lionesses and one dominant male. They seemed to be relaxing but every so often one would get up and move a little closer to a herd of water buffalo. The buffalo were huddled together in a large group; they will travel that way because the males are much faster and they don’t want to leave behind the females and babies when they are being stalked. Being in an open vehicle can be very intimidating when lions are maneuvering around you. We were very blessed to get both the view and the time. Unfortunately lions have more patience than us for the kill, and we left the pride to visit the wild dogs’ den. Lucky miss-judged the depth of a flooded road and pretty soon we were waist-deep in a flooded vehicle. Most of the important things were rescued from water. Lucky went to try and flag down a vehicle to help. I jumped in and started hauling items back to the beach (thankfully no hippos or crocs were around). Eventually everyone in the vehicle got down to their underwear (less me and Kris) and waded to the beach. At first it was quite an adventure, but four hours later, it was just annoying. We found out the vehicle was totaled and had our camp guides July and Amantle come and pick us up. We piled into the back of the truck, wet and sunburned, and bounced the 13 kilometers back to camp.
Poor Lucky drove all night to Maun to pick up another vehicle. We had to stay an extra night in Kwaii and wouldn’t be able to stay in Savuti. While Lucky was on his adventure, another safari company offered to take us on a game drive before they’re group arrived. Our guide Spokes was great. He picked us up early in the morning and took us to see the wild dogs, complete with a littler of pups. They act exactly like puppies; playing, biting, and barking. From there we headed to tea and stumbled onto a cheetah. It is rare to see a cheetah that late in the day. We were very lucky. Spokes made an announcement over the CB radio of where we spotted the cheetah. I think all the safari companies were on a wild goose chase looking for him. We may have been the only vehicle to see him.
After lunch and an afternoon nap, we headed back out for an evening/night drive. We saw a breathtaking sunset. We spooked a bull elephant that jumped in front of our vehicle and challenged us for a few minutes. Spokes was cool as a cucumber. Meanwhile a large number of us were sweating. Finally the elephant left. Spokes explained that in those situations, we just stand our ground. If we had backed up, it would have charged us. When the trunk gets pulled behind the front legs, then you know trouble is coming. Spokes said he once had an elephant lift his vehicle up and down with the tusks about three times. On our way back to camp, a leopard crossed in front of our vehicle. His belly was very full, he must have just eaten. Apparently the flooded vehicle was a blessing in disguise!
The next day was a long one. We left before the sun came up and had to drive two days worth through Savuti and into Chobe National Park. We scared a few elephants crossing the road and got trumpeted at. It’s an amazing sound; like a really loud car horn. Savuti has lots of sand and dead trees, again from the over-populated elephants. But there are quite a few more animals. We drove past the Savuti Channel which is running for the first time in 28 years! We got to camp just before sunset, our last night in the bush.
The next morning two of our group moved ahead of us to visit Victoria Falls which was not included in our Safari. The rest of us headed out for a morning game drive. We saw lots of herds moving from the river; elephant, water buffalo, and baboon. I got to take pictures of the Botswana national bird, the lilac-breasted roller. It’s called a roller because it will roll while flying. Gorgeous bird! After lunch we broke camp and headed to Kasane. On the way we got to watch the elephants playing in the mud. They fling mud on themselves to cool off. As I said, baby elephants are always in the middle of herds for protection. He got wailed with flying mud; it was hilarious. We saw more kudu, hippos, warthogs, and even another leopard. Leopards are extremely rare, we were very blessed. They are amazingly beautiful animals.
Once we got to Kasane, we checked into the Water Lily Lodge, showered, and headed back out for a sunset boat cruise. On the boat, the animals will let us get much closer than if we were in a vehicle. We got great shots of enormous crocodiles. The big mama was between 60 and 70 years old. The sunset was gorgeous, once again. That night we had dinner on the river and reflected on how AMAZING our trip was!
That night, we met up with our tour guide Lucky and the rest of the group. Our group included three other Peace Corps volunteers, Ric, Pheobe, and Talya. Also included were two friends of another PCV, Tori, who were visiting from the US, Kris and Jessica. Tori’s family will be visiting in August to do a similar safari so she declined to join us. But we were happy to have Kris and Jess! Lucky checked us into the Island Safari Lodge, which is located right on the river. We sat down for an amazing dinner (complete with dinner wine) to discuss what our safari days would look like. He explained that he enjoys tenting safaris far more than lodging safaris because tourists are reluctant to rise early for the game drives; they want to lounge around, drink their tea and eat breakfast before going anywhere. By that time, all of the animals have retired until the evening. His plans had all our hearts racing with excitement. Little did we know that our itinerary would be changing quite a bit.
The next day, we got to sleep in a bit and headed into Moremi National Park. It was freezing in the back of our open safari vehicle. Thankfully Lucky offered blankets for us to wrap up in. Our first safari animal was a beautiful giraffe standing perfectly in the middle of the road. I’ve found that giraffes will walk away a little, turn, and pose for limitless amount of photos. We learned that male giraffes are the only ones with balls on top of their heads. Females just have caps. The darker the animal, the older it is. And a baby giraffe will fall 2 meters when being born; they are some very tall animals! A herd of elephants crossed the road behind us. The baby elephants are always in the middle of the herd so that they are always protected. We learned elephants flap their ears to stay cool; the veins in the ears are enormous. We caught site of several groups of impala known as McDonald’s antelope because the markings on their butts that make an M. There are always two groups in a herd. The first group is made up of all females and one mating male. He is the “winner” and will lose up to 30% his body weight mating with all the females (OMG!). The second group of impala is known as “the losers.” It is made up of all males, waiting for their chance to challenge the dominant male and claim the females (you will learn that, in nature, it is always about the females). We spotted several males with a missing antler from a previous attempt. But they will never give up.
After settling into camp, we returned to the vehicle for an evening game drive and caught sight of our first zebra herd. Jess calls them “disco donkeys,” which is a very accurate description. They are beautiful animals. We asked Lucky how a black and white stripped animal could possibly blend into the safari. He explained that they will run in a group which will make it difficult for a predator to focus on just one zebra.
We arrived back to camp to an amazing meal of fish, rice, and vegetables. Our cook, Amantle has an amazing talent for cooking in the bush. Our tents were about 2 meters high and included cots and mattresses so we didn’t have to sleep on the ground. We settled into bed and anticipated hearing lion roars all night.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hear any lions. But we had some hyena visitors during the night. The hyenas must have spooked the monkeys sitting in the trees in our camp. We woke up to monkey poop slung all over our camp! During our game drive, we spotted a hippopotamus in a water hole not quite deep enough for him. Hippos will be in the water most of the day to stay cool and only emerge at night. They don’t know how to swim so only stay in water where they can touch although they can stay underwater for up to 7 minutes. More elephants and giraffes. We ended the morning by taking a mokoro ride on the river (mokoros are traditional dugout canoes typically made from wood, but ours were made from fiberglass to last longer and are more environmentally friendly). From our view it was hard to see any wildlife. But we did see several species of bird (Lucas was happy). Much to my horror, there were several species of large spiders. Beautiful, but terrifying. I just about tipped our mokoro when our guide pushed the mokoro closer than I was comfortable. He made it up to me by making me a necklace from a water lily. Not exactly leave-no-trace policy. But it was beautiful nonetheless.
After lunch and a shower, Lucky informed us there were sightings of lions by Third Bridge. So we piled into the safari vehicle to try and catch site of them. Moremi is more likely to have lions and gets less frequent the farther north we go. We drove through a group of trees known as a nursery. Adult elephants will eat off the tops of trees so that they grow short and fat. This way the baby elephants are able to reach the leaves. We followed a black-backed jackal for a bit. No sightings of lions but we did spot a serval, a medium size, spotted cat with long legs and large ears. That night we had an amazing, traditional Setswana meal. We taught the guides how to roast marshmallows over the fire; they loved it!
We left camp early and headed to Kwaii Game Reserve. On the way we saw Kudu, hippos, and big birds. The Okavango Delta is currently flooded due to abundant rains in Angola. With several flooded roads, we had to take alternate paths. Once we got to camp, we helped set up tents and took some down time. The landscape was very different than our previous camp. Because of the abundant numbers of elephants escaping from Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the trees are being over-harvested. Elephants eat 300 kg of food a day. In fact, during the colder months, elephants sleep less than 4 hours a night because they have to eat constantly.
Kwaii is the only park that allows for night drives. So we piled into the safari vehicle once again (with cocktails) and headed out to hopefully see some lions (there were lion tracks in our camp). We saw elephants fighting in the water. They will attack with their tusks or swing their trunk to show dominance. You can identify the sex of elephants by the shape of their heads: females have a flat head while males have a more dome-shaped head. The only elephant in Botswana is the African elephant, which gets its name because its ears are shaped like the continent of Africa. At about 25 years old (onset of adolescence), male elephants will be kicked out of the herd. This will make for a very angry, sexually frustrated bull. You can tell an angry bull because of their foul smell. That smell is the semen being released, as Lucky says “like Victoria Falls.” But an angry bull is nothing compared to the more dangerous menstruating female. Apparently PMS runs among species.
Once the sun went down, we broke out the flood light. We spotted a hippo outside of the water with a baby. We must have overstayed our welcome; she instructed her baby to go back into the water and set about charging our vehicle. I wasn’t too concerned until Lucky started backing up the vehicle and instructed us to not scream. That night we had a starter of chicken livers and a delicious entrée of pork chops. My pork chop had the bullet still in it!
The next day we got up decently early and headed out for a morning game drive. We found some hippos playing the water. Lucky spotted lion tracks and we followed them all the way to a pride of lions!!! There were three lionesses and one dominant male. They seemed to be relaxing but every so often one would get up and move a little closer to a herd of water buffalo. The buffalo were huddled together in a large group; they will travel that way because the males are much faster and they don’t want to leave behind the females and babies when they are being stalked. Being in an open vehicle can be very intimidating when lions are maneuvering around you. We were very blessed to get both the view and the time. Unfortunately lions have more patience than us for the kill, and we left the pride to visit the wild dogs’ den. Lucky miss-judged the depth of a flooded road and pretty soon we were waist-deep in a flooded vehicle. Most of the important things were rescued from water. Lucky went to try and flag down a vehicle to help. I jumped in and started hauling items back to the beach (thankfully no hippos or crocs were around). Eventually everyone in the vehicle got down to their underwear (less me and Kris) and waded to the beach. At first it was quite an adventure, but four hours later, it was just annoying. We found out the vehicle was totaled and had our camp guides July and Amantle come and pick us up. We piled into the back of the truck, wet and sunburned, and bounced the 13 kilometers back to camp.
Poor Lucky drove all night to Maun to pick up another vehicle. We had to stay an extra night in Kwaii and wouldn’t be able to stay in Savuti. While Lucky was on his adventure, another safari company offered to take us on a game drive before they’re group arrived. Our guide Spokes was great. He picked us up early in the morning and took us to see the wild dogs, complete with a littler of pups. They act exactly like puppies; playing, biting, and barking. From there we headed to tea and stumbled onto a cheetah. It is rare to see a cheetah that late in the day. We were very lucky. Spokes made an announcement over the CB radio of where we spotted the cheetah. I think all the safari companies were on a wild goose chase looking for him. We may have been the only vehicle to see him.
After lunch and an afternoon nap, we headed back out for an evening/night drive. We saw a breathtaking sunset. We spooked a bull elephant that jumped in front of our vehicle and challenged us for a few minutes. Spokes was cool as a cucumber. Meanwhile a large number of us were sweating. Finally the elephant left. Spokes explained that in those situations, we just stand our ground. If we had backed up, it would have charged us. When the trunk gets pulled behind the front legs, then you know trouble is coming. Spokes said he once had an elephant lift his vehicle up and down with the tusks about three times. On our way back to camp, a leopard crossed in front of our vehicle. His belly was very full, he must have just eaten. Apparently the flooded vehicle was a blessing in disguise!
The next day was a long one. We left before the sun came up and had to drive two days worth through Savuti and into Chobe National Park. We scared a few elephants crossing the road and got trumpeted at. It’s an amazing sound; like a really loud car horn. Savuti has lots of sand and dead trees, again from the over-populated elephants. But there are quite a few more animals. We drove past the Savuti Channel which is running for the first time in 28 years! We got to camp just before sunset, our last night in the bush.
The next morning two of our group moved ahead of us to visit Victoria Falls which was not included in our Safari. The rest of us headed out for a morning game drive. We saw lots of herds moving from the river; elephant, water buffalo, and baboon. I got to take pictures of the Botswana national bird, the lilac-breasted roller. It’s called a roller because it will roll while flying. Gorgeous bird! After lunch we broke camp and headed to Kasane. On the way we got to watch the elephants playing in the mud. They fling mud on themselves to cool off. As I said, baby elephants are always in the middle of herds for protection. He got wailed with flying mud; it was hilarious. We saw more kudu, hippos, warthogs, and even another leopard. Leopards are extremely rare, we were very blessed. They are amazingly beautiful animals.
Once we got to Kasane, we checked into the Water Lily Lodge, showered, and headed back out for a sunset boat cruise. On the boat, the animals will let us get much closer than if we were in a vehicle. We got great shots of enormous crocodiles. The big mama was between 60 and 70 years old. The sunset was gorgeous, once again. That night we had dinner on the river and reflected on how AMAZING our trip was!
I LOVE that picture of the leopard. Did Lucas or Katie take that picture? I want Katie to frame it for me like she did the Kawala (sp?) she got a picture of in Australia. GREAT photos!
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