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TIC

Saturday, January 19th, 2013

This is Chobe.  That’s a phrase that the guides used whenever something really special was happening.  And they used it a lot.  So did we.  It’s been a while since we got back from Africa, but I’m still writing about it because I think about it a lot and it deserves some space here.  The entire trip was amazing, but for sheer volume of wildlife, I don’t think any place has Chobe beat.

We stayed inside the National Park at a mobile camp called “Chobe Under Canvas”.  They actually move it every 5 days, which is incredible because the tents even have toilets, and each night you get a warm bucket shower in your tent.  The food is all prepared fresh onsite, including the most amazing scones served at tea which were cooked in a charcoal oven.  I can’t say enough about the level of service at this place.  It’s “roughing it” like I’ve never experienced before.

But enough about the camp… the real stars of Chobe are the animals.  Chobe lies along the river between Namibia and Bostwana.  Since the Namibian side has farmers who chase off game with guns, the preserve on the Botswana side has a fantastic array of wildlife.  Elephants, hippos, zebras, giraffe, water buffalo, lions, warthogs, turtle, guinea fowl, baboons, crocodile, and more birds than I could write down.  Everywhere.  And finally the elusive leopard.

Staying inside the park has a distinct advantage in that just before sundown all the other tourists are heading quickly out of the park, but we were heading back to camp in the opposite direction. Our guide was intent on finding a leopard that had been spotted (no pun intended) recently.  On every drive we followed her tracks, listened for alarm calls from the birds, and stared into the bush hoping for a sign.  Finally one night on the way back to camp, she was literally right in front of us, lounging on a tree branch over the road.  We were the only jeep in sight, happily snapping away with our cameras as the sun set.  All we could say to each other was “This is Chobe.”

Here she is, posing for us:

Another type of kitty:

Stripes!

Posted in Botswana, Travel | 2 Comments »

The Channel

Wednesday, December 26th, 2012

To reach our next stop in Botswana, we headed out to an airstrip and were picked up by one of many Cessna 4-seaters that ferry passengers back and forth between the remote safari camps.  This one made a few stops enroute dropping off and picking up guests, staff, and supplies as it went along.  Our destination was the Savute Elephant Camp, a very comfortable and posh “camp” just outside the entrance to the national park.  The Savute area is actually in the western part of the larger Chobe National Park, but the differences in landscape make it interesting enough to warrant a separate visit.

The area is dominated by the Savute Channel, which is a strange river that has flowed and stopped intermittently over the last few hundred years.  It flowed from the late 60’s until 1982 when it mysteriously dried up.  Then in 2010 it suddenly starting flowing again.  It’s hard to imagine now what it must have looked like just a few years ago.  The river makes an excellent place to watch elephants as they come to drink and cool off, but it also creates an interesting marsh where there are unbelievable amounts of water birds too.

The camp itself itself is privately run and very luxurious. Our “tent” had glass doors, electric lights, and even air conditioning during the day.  The game drives were similar to our previous experience in that they were held twice a day and interspersed with a lot of good food.  The only difference was that we had to be out of the park by about 7pm each night because it is part of the national park system.

The big (literally) attraction here is the elephants.  There are thousands of them moving around in small family groups, or sometimes solitary males who can be dangerous. We watched a group of about 20 elephants of all sizes approaching the river from the other side of the bank.  They walked slowly in a single file line until the river came into view.  At that moment they all broke into a run and went splashing into the water.  It was amazing to watch these thirsty, tired animals drink and drink and drink.

It’s hard to explain how big the elephants are, and how close they actually get to you.  The safari truck gives you a sense of protection and power, until one walks toward it and you realizes that it is bigger, staring right at you, and doing what they call a “mock charge” (flapping ears and stomping feet).  No matter how many elephants we saw, I couldn’t get enough.  If the guide hadn’t pulled us away, I would have stayed and watched them for hours.

It’s good that the guides do push you on however, because there are a lot of other incredible sights.  Savute also gave us our first view of male lions.  Although they are powerful and intimidating, we saw them most often sleeping, flopped under a tree avoiding the heat of the day.  We spotted one on a morning drive and then again in the afternoon.  The only movement he had made in 6 hours was to follow the shade about 10 feet from one side of the tree to the other.  It’s good be the king.

The elephant bar:

A rare “awake” moment:

The birds don’t get as much attention as the big game, but some like this stork are just as beautiful:

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The Delta

Friday, December 7th, 2012

The Okavango River in Botswana flows into an inland delta where it eventually ends, not in an ocean or lake like most rivers.  The marshy area it creates is home to a huge variety of wildlife and was our first destination on safari.

There are two main types of safari camps:  National Parks and Reserves, and private concessions.  Private concessions are areas where a private company manages the land, and also has rights to offer photographic or sometimes hunting safaris.    At most National Parks, there are very strict rules about where the safari vehicles can go (they must stay on the “road” which are really just dirt tracks) and they must be out of the park by sunset, so there are no nighttime drives.  However, in a private concession, there is a lot more flexibility.  The guides can drive offroad to get a better view of the animals, they can drive after dark, and they can also offer other activities like walks and boat rides.  There usually far fewer guests at a private concession resort, so they can do these things without having much impact on the land.

Our first camp was a private concession call the Nxabega Okavango Camp and it had just 9 tents in an area about 17,000 acres.  While there was not quite the volume of wildlife we saw at the other parks, there were still interesting animals to be seen every day, especially birds.  On our first night here we really didn’t know what to expect.  After a 2 hours drive from the airstrip (complete with flat tire, as well as a stop for lunch) we had already seen impalas, kudus, and and fish eagle.  With high hopes to see more big game in the morning in we went to bed.  It gets very dark quickly since there is no external lights from any towns, so we drifted off to sleep pretty quickly to the sound of cicadas.

We were awakened a few hours later by noises that I couldn’t identify.  There was a loud stamping sound of something large moving slowly through the brush.  It was a accompanied by the the sound of grass and leaving being torn up and eaten.  Finally there was a flapping noise that sounded like canvas being snapped.  It all added up to the first of many night time visitors, an elephant right next to our tent.  (We later realized that the flapping noise was his huge ears.)  Later in the trip we learned that this happens often, as well as the fact that most animals only perceive the tent as a whole object, not you individually inside it. However, the first night we had no idea that the elephant was not about to go smashing through our tent and we laid wide awake in scared silence waiting for him to move away so that we could breath again.

The next morning over breakfast, everyone – guests, waitresses, and guides – all went through the ritual of discussing what they heard the night before.  For some it was hippos or antelopes, but it never seemed to get any less exciting, day after day. It also meant that some days we were a little more tired than others.  On another night when we were visited by a mother and baby, it was all worth the missed zzzz’s.

The other great things about this camp is that it offers other ways to see animals besides just on a game drive.  There was a ride in a mokoro, or dugout canoe, as well as a sunset ride on a power boat through the swamping area that is home to thousands of birds.  Finally, this was also the only place we stayed where you could go on a guided walk with a ranger (with rifle) and see some of the plants, animal tracks, and massive termite mounds up close.

The service and food was excellent, so it was with mixed feelings that we left to head to the next camp.  Here are few of our favorite pictures from the Okavango Delta.

Flying in over the delta:

One of the thousands of impalas who will end up as food for a larger animal.

A male hyena – they were a lot bigger than I expected.

Can you spot the 100 pound leopard?

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Into the Wild

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

Since I finally got caught up on our summer activities, it’s time for us to go on vacation again so I have something new to blog about.  We’ve been talking about going to Africa on safari for years and finally decided it was time to it.  It’s also much easier to get there from Europe than from the US too.  The really weird part is that we flew for 10+ hours and it was still the same timezone when we got off the plane.  No jet lag!

Our trip to Africa had 3 parts.  We spent the first 8 days in 3 different “camps”  in Botswana.  The camps can be anything from luxurious permanent structures that can only really can be called a “tent” because the walls are canvas to actual mobile camps that are moved every few days.  However, they all have a few things in common which I thought I would use this first post to describe.

First off, let’s just say that even though you are in a tent, this is not roughing it.  One of them even had air conditioning!  However, another was much more basic with a warm water bucket shower offered once a day.  More about all that later.  The thing that they all had in common was the food.  The quality, taste, and presentation of the dinners was excellent, and would have been worthy of a mention even if we weren’t in the middle of game reserve, 100s of miles from any town.

Which brings me to my next point…  The reason that the game viewing at these camps is so great, is also what makes them so difficult to get to.  They are far away from major population centers and nature remains mostly undisturbed by people.  In order to get to the camps we took small 4-6 seat planes, landing on tiny dirt landing strips that you don’t really notice until you’ve almost hit the ground.  The views of the river delta and the plains distracted me from any nerves though.  Flying over a group of elephants was incredible.

Finally, I’d like to describe a typical day at the camps so that the next few blogs can concentrate on what we actually saw and did there.   They are all slightly different, but most follow this pattern:  The guides wake you up at 5:30 – very strange to be up so early when you’re on vacation.  They serve you a light snack for breakfast – coffee, muffin or yogurt – before heading out on the morning game drive around 6:30.  The drives usually last about 4 hours, depending on what animals you find.  The drives are done in specially modified safari trucks that can carry from 6-12 people.   All of the ones we took had 6 or less which was great because guides can spend a lot more time talking to you personally and making sure that you’ve gotten a good view and photo of the animals.  The trails through the reserves are pretty rugged and although they call the bumpy rides an “African Massage”, it’s a lot more tiring than you expect.

Around 10:30 – 11 your arrive back at the camp and are served brunch.  In most cases, this was no light snack, but instead a full hot lunch with salads and deserts.  After brunch there is free time to relax, take a swim if there is a pool, read, write in your journal, or what most people do… sleep.  It’s very hot in the afternoons and there’s a good reason that the animals just find shade and relax until later in the day.  Around 3 :30 they serve tea, which also includes snacks, sandwiches, and pastries.  (Notice a pattern here?  There’s always food!).  Around 4, you all head back out for the evening game drive which may last until 7 or 8, and sometimes includes sundowner drinks.  Eric and I discovered that we really like gin and tonic – the classic safari cocktail.  I can’t believe I never drank them before.  After the game drive it’s back to camp for a shower, dinner, and then to bed.  One thing to note about the camps is that they are not fenced in, so any animals can (and do) walk through whenever they feel like it.  During the day it’s not really a problem and guests are free to walk from their tents to the dining area.  However, at night they require that you have an escort, so after dinner you are put in your tent for rest of the evening.

I think that’s enough description for now.  Next up:  our first game drive and a nighttime visitor.

Our first tent at the Nxabega Okavango Camp:

The safari “jeep”:

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