Arrival and 1st Lodge
We arrived in Johannesburg
from the UK at about 6:30 in the morning in time to catch our onward
flight to Maun a few hours later. The first thing that
became apparent was the temperature on arrival (or lack
of it). It was early July and in the UK it was mid summer but although this part of Africa
was within the tropics we were soon reminded it was
their winter. Coats were a necessity whilst waiting for the
transfer bus for our next flight, it was a fresh
winter’s morning and a keen wind blowing off the
mountains in the south. Our experiences in other parts
of Africa has always been hot (some very hot) so this was a
complete surprise. I had done some research to establish
what temperatures could be expected in July but
misjudged it a little.
On arrival in
Maun we eventually transferred to our tented
accommodation the Motsentsela Tree Lodge
where we were to stay for just one night. The
accommodation consisted of permanent tents sited on
raised wooden platforms which were all luxuriously
appointed within. This accommodation was to be our last
taste of luxury until reaching Zambia
in 10 days time, everything would be a little more basic
between these two locations.
That evening we
dined with fellow international travellers which was all
very pleasant and whilst having a night cap in the bar
prior to turning in for the night the manager brought in
a trunk full of hot water bottles which was of great
amusement to everyone. He then assured us that by 4am this hot water
bottle would become our ‘best friend’, he was not wrong
when the temperature dropped to its lowest point in the
night. It was extremely cold but with out little rubber bottles
and many layers of blankets we kept cosy and warm till
the morning light. In the morning I braved the outside shower which
was the warmest place. My wife however was not so brave and with teeth
chattering made do with a ‘lick and a promise’ and then
I’ve never seen her get dressed so quickly, however
although it was cold and chilly to start with it did
start warming up as the sun came over the horizon. We
were assured by the manager of the lodge although it is
the winter time in Botswana the unusually low temperatures we were experiencing were not
normal in this part of the world.
The Safari
We met up with
Sami our guide and the 3 other members of our safari at
noon and set off north east towards the Moremi game
reserve, the tarmac was replaced by sand tracks soon
after leaving Maun and the tarmac never appeared again
until reaching Chobe.
The journey took us all day as our camp site was
in the north east of the Moremi reserve in an area
called Xakanaxa we stopped for lunch on the way soon after reaching the
southern gate of the reserve.
At this point we
got our first puncture which took a little time to
repair on the side of the road. Whilst there, a large
group of Italian campers were making their way out of
the reserve, they appeared tired, dirty and dishevelled. Italians are always the most stylish of
travellers and the state of these Italians was somewhat
of a surprise. Little did we know at this point we would be
looking similar when we exited our safari at Chobe.
We continued the
journey after lunch which seemed to last for ever and a
day.We came across our first real good sighting which was a mother
leopard carrying her cub to safety, we stayed a while
totally fascinated by what we were seeing. Eventually we
had to move on as the light had started fade and we
still had a long way to go, it was dark when we got our
second puncture and the repair was made by torch light
in the dark. This could have been very dangerous as we
could see no more than a few feet into the dark not
knowing what animals were lurking nearby. The repair
took a while as the tyres were rutted in the sand,
however it turn out to be uneventful. The rest of the journey was made with no spare
tyre and I know our guide was very conscious of this
fact but eventually we came across glimmers of light in
the distance which thankfully turned out to be our came
set up for us in advance.
We settled into
our camp accommodation which were 3m dome tents with an
enclosed ensuite at the rear and over dinner around the
camp fire we were lectured on the rules of camping wild
in Africa. That night was
cold yet again and we were treated to hot water bottles in the bed
once more. This was our first night in the
real bush, no fences or barriers and many times I was
woken from sleep not just by the Hyenas in the distance
but also the two male lions calling loudly close by or
the hippo munching in the water on the far side of the
grass behind the camp. However,
I must have slept at some point because I did not hear
the elephant that passed through the camp and deposited
a large mound just outside our tent door. I did not need my keen tracking instincts to tell
me it happened not too long before dawn, as the pile was
still smouldering in the light as the early mornings
sun’s rays peered through the trees.
Breakfast was
taken early and we were soon off on our first safari in
this distant part of the reserve, we spent all morning
out in the wilderness and returned to camp for lunch.
Then it was time for a wash and brush up (morning time
was a bit cold for that), hot ‘bucket’ shower, lunch and a short nap was
the order of the day and then back out into the bush for
more photographs. Each evening a suitable location was chosen for
‘Sun Downers’ and then it was back to camp as it got
dark for the evening meal. Each day’s routine was
similar to this schedule, although slightly different
when moving from one location to another.
We spent three
nights at this location which was by far the most remote
of the whole trip and each of those nights we were
treated to the male lion chorus close by. Some nights
they were extremely loud and must have been very close,
they sounded so near you thought twice about going to
the loo in the ensuite.
One of these
days in Xakanaxawe
travelled south past the ‘3rd Bridge’ and on
to the boat station where we picked up a boat for the
day so we could travel the waters of the Okavango Delta
with lunch on a island somewhere in the delta.
Summary of game in Moremi
During our stay
here the game was quite scarce, we heard the male lions
every night very close to our camp but never saw one in
this area during the day. However, we were fortunate to
see a family of lions in the north of the reserve as we
made our way towards the Kwai concession.We were very lucky to see the mother leopard and
here cub on the evening we arrived on the way to the
camp and a pair of cheetah on the second day but they
were the only predator sightings during bthe four days
in Moremi
Impala appeared
to be the only game in any significant numbers other
game were few and far between, in places Giraffe
appeared from time to time as did lone bull elephants.
Now and again we came across small herds of zebra
usually about a dozen. Overall the quantity of game was
quite disappointing.
Onwards
On the morning
of the fourth day we broke camp and moved north through
the park to the northern gate to our next camp which was
in the Kwai River area just outside the Moremi reserve. On the way we
stopped to view game as it appeared
into view, a few things of interest did materialise but
not in overwhelming numbers, the best sighting was the family of lions we
discovered shortly before we left the reserve. Here we shared
the area with a number of other groups some private self
driven and others part of an organised tour like our
own, therefore we were not on our own like the first
camp further south in the Xakanaxa area.
The day followed
the pattern as detailed previously and each morning we
would wrap up in coats and blankets to protect us from
the cold air blowing through an open safari vehicle, by
mid morning the sun had climbed higher in the sky and it
was now time to strip off each bit of clothing.Then out came high factor sun cream to make sure
our faces and arms did not get burnt in the sun.After lunchtime it was extremely hot, in fact the
tents were too hot and stuffy to have a post lunch nap
in. As the day came to an end when the sun started to disappear over
the horizon the temperature dropped quickly and it was
time to once again put on the coats and blankets.
After lunch on
our 2nd day we had a large bull elephant
visit camp. Luckily he just skirted around the camp eating the
vegetation as he went but it added to the excitement.
The Kwai river
area was the only time we ventured on a night game
drive, it was dark and the only bits of animals we saw
was the reflection of their eyes from the spot light. I
think everyone was glad to get back to camp after this
game drive as the temperature was so cold with the wind
blowing through the open vehicle, even the blankets did
not really help to keep us warm.
Summary of game in Kwai
Here we came
across several families of Elephants and a number of
lone bull Elephants also, as in Moremi there were plenty
of Impala, in addition we did see Red Lechwe, Waterbuck
and Kudu on a number of occasions The most frequently sighted animal was the hippo
which existed in all parts of the Kwai river channel,
they always seem lazy but amusing.
Onwards
We broke camp
early on the third day here to make our way north to the
Savuti Marsh area hoping to see some game on the way but
very little appeared on the journey.
We arrived at the camp which was sighted on the banks of
the dry Savuti channel in the afternoon, the boys were
just putting the finishing touches to the camp and soon
the hot water was ready for us to take a shower.
We set off about 4pm for our first tour of the Savuti
area eventually arriving at one of the water holes for
Sun Downers to watch the elephants quenching their
thirst.