Safari

Here’s the reason we came to Botswana…

The poles that get in the way some times are supporting the sun roof on our Toyota.  The voices you hear are our guide and one of the other guests.

Saturday, March 28

Last night about this time a driver in a black Audi picked us up from dinner and drove us back to our hotel.  Tonight when we finished dinner, we were accompanied back to our room by a guide with a flashlight.  Lions and hippopotamuses (hippopotami?) wander through this camp at night and the staff don’t want any of the guests to encounter the animals.  The only reason the elephants don’t come is because there are strands of electric wire strung about 6 feet off  the ground – high enough to keep out the elephants, but that’s all.

We’ve done it again.  In the space of a few short hours we have moved from one reality to a drastically different reality.  It hardly seems possible that these two worlds could co-exist just a few hundred kilometers apart.

We flew this morning from Johannesburg, South Africa to Maun, Botswana.  There we transferred to a small (10-seat) airplane and were flown into the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta.  Within 2 hours of landing we were in a specially-built Toyota, bumping through the Delta looking for game.  And we were not disappointed.  We saw several varieties of exotic birds, Cape buffalo, hippo, and impala.  But the highlight of the safari was coming across a pride of 10 lions, all females or juveniles.  They apparently had had a good meal within the last  few hours because they hardly stirred for the 30 or 40 minutes that we stayed parked about 25 feet from them.  At dusk we parked at a small lagoon that was home to 6 or 8 hippos and had a beer while we watched and listened to the hippos.  (They’re loud!)

The hippos walking through camp were making noise as we got ready for dinner.  If they keep this up, I don’t know how Ralph is going to get any sleep.  (I have ear plugs to block out Ralph’s snoring.  I’m almost certain they will block out the hippos’ trumpets as well.)

Sunday-Tuesday, March 29-31

The safari routine is pretty nice.  Wake-up call (literally someone calls “good morning” at the tent door) is at 5:30 and at 6 a member of the staff arrives to accompany us the 50 yards or so to the open-air dining room for coffee and a light breakfast.  (It’s still dark.)   At 6:30 we jump in the Toyota Land Cruiser and start bumping our way out into the Moremi Game Reserve.  With any luck, we see game (see the following photos) and by 10:30 a.m. we’re back at camp.  Time to freshen up for brunch at 11.  After brunch there’s a long siesta time in the heat of the day and the evening game drive is at 4.  Hopefully we see more game.  On the way back to camp we stop for “sundowners” – a beer or other drink served by our game guide at sunset from a makeshift bar set up in the back of the Toyota.  Regulations in the Reserve require that we be back in camp by 7, by which time it is dark again.  Dinner is at 8; the food is excellent and the wine and bar are included in our daily rate.  There is a fire ring outside the dining room and after dinner people sit around and chat and have a nightcap.  By that time it’s 9:30 or 10 and everyone’s eyelids are drooping.  5:30 comes pretty early….

Day 2 and 3 sightings

The pictures speak for themselves.  We were very, very lucky to see so much in such a short time.  The leopard sighting was especially rare.

What I find difficult to describe is the feeling I got seeing an elephant herd moving slowly, gliding almost, across the middle distance.  Or coming round a bend in the road to be suddenly confronted with a giraffe, with its awkward gait, grazing the treetops.  It was like being in the move “Jurassic Park” in the scene where the visitors first see the dinosaurs.  It’s a feeling of awe and wonder and gratitude.  That’s the best I can do.  (One more reminder that you can double-click the photos to see larger versions.)

Tuesday, March 31

We’re off to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, for a one-day visit – time enough to get the laundry done and soak in the atmosphere in the most ‘African’ of the cities we will visit.  (There are essentially no tourists in Gaborone.)  Then back to Johannesburg for a quick stopover on our way to our next safari, Kwa Mbili camp in the Thornybush Game Reserve in South Africa.