misteroverland

Botswana conjures up images of the Lion King, basically the whole country is a wild life park. From the moment we left the border crossing seeing large game on the side of the road is a regular occurrence. 
We have been to Chobe waterfront (don’t think the v&a in Cape Town), then we headed to Savuti, Khwai and Moremi. We are just about to leave Maun after a re-supply for the next week in the bush. 
Chobe waterfront was absolutely cheek and jowl with elephants, on several occasions we found ourselves suck in the middle of them unable to move. Thankfully they were also fairly relaxed as there is plenty of water and food. We had a beautiful campsite on the banks of the river and edge of the park and had plenty of night time visitors who slowly chewed through the foliage opening up the views of the river pretty well. On a whole the area was teaming with game as the rains haven’t yet arrived so they are concentrated around the river. We were lucky to also see a few leopards and lion though the bird life and other sightings would have still left us with lovely memories. 
We had been recommended an area called Savuti as recently ( in the last 5 years) the channel/river had started flowing again having been dry for decades though the area does have a history of stop/start for the water flow. Anyway the road in there was very sandy and hard going at times though the only mishap was a couple broken beers due to the rock and roll of MrO. The nights were filled with lions roaring and elephants trumpeting in an effort to secure place at the remaining waterholes which were largely drying patches of mud. Sadly game during the day was scarce making the drive in about the most excitement we had as the channel was dry again and as Botswana has no fences the game can migrate freely in search of water and they had, I can’t blame them as the temperatures were really soaring. 
From here we had been told about a little place called Khwai, it is in the Moremi (Okavango) area and therefore had all the same game as the park with the major benefit of being on the banks of the river, increasing our chances of game spotting. Camping is wild here (fees still payable to the local community) but there was nothing in terms of facilities. We found a beautiful campsite on the banks of the river and as there are no fences you need to be on the look out night and day. We were treated to some of the most wonderful sightings while just going about our business. Kevin spotted a leopard which had been sitting underneath a bush – who knows for how long. The elephants were a constant stream to and from the river on both banks and often crossing. The hippos spent most evenings laughing to themselves while marking their territory by swishing their tail while defecating! We also had the chance to watch a couple lions mating, this was a real treat as a couple of lovely chaps who had seen us rushing for the leopard sighting the night before drove us up to the spot saving us the hassle of folding the roof tent away. 
Khwai certainly captured our hearts and its a place we would love to visit again. 

We did go into the Okavango, how can you not when you are this close, and had a lovely few days including a trip in a mokoro onto the lagoon. While this isn’t really a big game trip it’s about the birds, frogs and smaller animals though we did come across a pod of hippos. We had been warned about the opportunist baboons at the campsite where we were staying who have been known to take food out of people’s hands. On arrival Kevin nipped to the loo and while I was sat in the front sorting things out I heard someone climb into the back. Quickly I realised it wasn’t Kevin, the baboon was ousted by banging on the side panelling of the Landy. The next day clearly they were ready for revenge, and as the tea was brewing a huge male came in and stole the tea bag container, while Kevin was legging it after him another came in to steal the loose leaf earl grey tea. Now for those of you that know Kevin well enough losing his earl grey would have been a disaster. Thankfully I was close enough to the table to stop the second theft and shortly later Kevin returned huffing and puffing with box of tea bags. I can honestly say had it been something else the baboon might have won!
Our journey on from here, Maun, will take us to the salt pans and then into the Central Kalahari before we turn North again. I am really looking forward to this next week as growing up I think I read the book ‘Cry of the Kalahari’ about 20 times. 
As always we hope everyone is well. 
Love S&K

Images upload not working tonight – Internet in Africa is definitely on Africa time! 😦