Steve Haas Travel

Tag: Botswana

  • Day 11, Jun 2 – Okavango Delta Pt 2: Lions & Leopards (well, one anyway…)

    Day 11, Jun 2 – Okavango Delta Pt 2: Lions & Leopards (well, one anyway…)

    This entry is for Friday, June 2. It’s Sunday, June 4, 6:40pm as I type, and we’re in Cape Town for the next 3 nights. More on that when I get caught up! Back to our original programming….

    By now you know the routine: first breakfast at 6am, then out on a safari drive by 6:30.

    It was always inspiring to watch the colors of the sunrise from the main lodge as we prepared to leave.

    Can’t seem to get enough of these sunrises and sunsets.

    There were many things about our guides that were impressive, but to me the most impressive thing was how, driving along a dirt road, they could spot tracks and identify the animal. Pretty sure these were lion – Jacob circled it for me so I could see what he was looking at, which helped a little. That they could tell the difference between lion or leopard was wild enough.

    This time, Rasta actually got out of the vehicle at a fork in the road and studied the tracks to see which way the lion went.

    We came across a watering hole with hippos and an elephant. This one was in much better condition than the mud hole we saw the day before.

    Soon after, we came across the lion they’d been tracking. He’s the very dark image just left of center with his back to us but facing the zebras. We were wondering why those zebras weren’t running, and the thought was it was because it was just one lion, and that’s usually not enough to bring one down.

    And a bit after that, the 2nd lion appeared, and the zebras skedaddled. Both males, the one on the left older by several years. Rasta referred to them as brothers. Could be from the same mother or just a bond, but he said either way those relationships are for life.

    The older one was always in the lead.

    We followed them all the way across a wide field. They would walk, sit, walk, sit.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This one gives you a pretty good idea of how close we were at times since you can see the Land Cruiser in it.

    They were going into the thicket and us silly tourists thought that would be it.

    Nope, Rasta just drove that Land Cruiser right on through, very bumpily, just mowing down thick grass and bushes. Even Gail was impressed. His primary goal was to keep track of them until the other vehicle of our party could catch up, which they eventually did deep in the thicket. They were able to get glimpses of the lions, but it was really hard to keep track of them in all this brush and soon after we decided we were done and left them in peace. This encounter lasted 27 minutes.

    We found another hippo pool in the distance from a nice place to stop for our mid-morning coffee and snacks.

    For the morning breaks, they usually didn’t bring out the tables they did for sundowners; there was a tray-like thing they could just flip down on the front of the Land Cruiser.

    That break was at about 9:20 and we didn’t see much after that. We got back around 10:45, I took a shower and changed for brunch, and was working on my blog by about Noon. A group of local women had come to give a lesson in basket-weaving, or so we thought, but it was more of a demonstration. Ash started there but it wasn’t what he thought it would be so gave up and came to visit with me, which ended up with this photo.

    This is the communal charging station I mentioned in the prior post.

    The time between lunch and teatime at 3:30 was always free. I came back to the cabin around 1:30; Ash was napping or taking a shower, so I did a little more work on the blog, then he came out and joined me.

    When we left on the 4pm drive, we were supposed to be doing a “bush walk” – a walking safari through the bush where there was a focus on birds, identifying tracks and poop and other things you can’t do on a drive. That was given up when word was out about a leopard sighting. Another guide and tourist had come across one the day before and got some beautiful shots; we were all a little bit jealous! So now very grateful that maybe we’d have our chance. Of course, after our Painted Dog experience, what we were really hoping for is she’d go after one of the impalas that were close by. But alas, it was just a lot of walking around. Still, gorgeous animal. And the guides knew her – had given birth at the camp about a year ago.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    You can see the edge of the vehicle at the bottom of the video, which again shows how close we are. When first spotted her she was sitting at the bottom of this hill. I couldn’t see her from the vehicle, had to use Gail’s binoculars. How these guides see what they see is unbelievable. Gail calls them “bush eyes.” Then they all decided to get closer and it didn’t scare her away.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Rasta had repositioned us by this point, about 8 minutes after the prior video. The leopard started walking right towards us! We were actually a bit scared – OK I was – having visions of an attack – but then turned around…

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    To watch her walk Right By us.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    She walked over to a new mound, and we followed her there.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    There were two jackals to our right, one of whom was yelping loudly. You hear one of those yelps at the very beginning of this clip. He was pretty annoying! It was like he was trying to warn the impalas. But jackals get the leftovers so if there is a kill, and he’s trying to warn, it’s not the best move.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    She moves again and we follow again. Two things I wanted you to see in this clip: how many dang safari vehicles are following this cat and she doesn’t care one bit. And, as I pan to the far right, a sense of the vastness of the land.

    Sharpening her claws on the tree.

    Sitting pretty.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Cleaning herself. This is when Rasta was telling us “We knew her.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    More sitting pretty, licking her paws at the end, then…

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    …quickly gets up and walk away…into the sunset you might say. It’s a gorgeous shot.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    And continued walking. We followed her until she reached the grass and disappeared. This entire encounter lasted 52 minutes, nearly twice the lions and the painted dogs. She sat around and did not much for long periods of time!

    With that, we went into our final sundowner of the trip. Ash and I took a couple of selfies. One with the sun above, and one with the moon below.

    One final group photo, including our guides: Rasta, Jacob, and Amos. It wouldn’t happen without them.

    One last sunset.

    All of the food and drinks are inclusive, so it’s a bit of a shame we don’t drink alcohol. So, over the 3 days we tried every non-alcoholic thing they had, which was quite a bit. We ended with a lovely combination of passion fruit and cranberry.

    And that, my friends, is the end of our safari. Takes “wild ride” to a whole new level, eh? We loved Every Minute of it and are planning on returning in 2025. Want to come?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Day 10, Jun 1 – Okavango Delta, Part 1 – includes a stunning kill in the wild; skip if blood makes you queasy

    Day 10, Jun 1 – Okavango Delta, Part 1 – includes a stunning kill in the wild; skip if blood makes you queasy

    This entry is posted on Sunday, June 4, around 6am Botswana time.

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    It’s Friday, June 2, 2023, 12:10pm as I type, and I am again sitting on the deck at Moremi Crossing. Ash is attending a basket weaving session held by the local women. (Although he didn’t last very long – it was more of a show and tell than instruction, and they didn’t speak English so difficult to follow.) I just finished up Wednesday’s blog so time to start on the next entry. I think I’ve given up on the idea of one big entry, but I have discovered iMovie, thanks to Jim here on this trip with us, and may do some things with photos that I haven’t done before for folks that aren’t into all this detail. It’s been fun traveling with a bunch of travelers and talking about travel! I’m the travel youngster of the group: Maire introduced to an app that will track the countries you’ve visited, and I’m at a mere 23 countries. Even Dylan, the 25-year-old, may have been to more countries than me! Maire is at 103.

    The procedure here is you get a wake-up yell at 5:30am to which they ask you to respond that you heard it, and then will come back at 6am to escort you to breakfast. Because we were at the end, it was more like 5:50/5:55; they’d start with us, Gail and Dylan and pick up everyone else on the way back to the main lodge.

    Another beautiful sunrise.

    When was the last time you saw the sun rise up over a urinal?

    There was a buffet continental breakfast at 6am; I had porridge every time. Then at 6:30am we load into the Land Cruisers (although we somehow always refer to them as Jeep, probably a generic reference because of their open-ness) and go for the morning safari ride.

    For the record, there are LOTS of zebra here, and a fair number of giraffes, so this will be it, just like the elephants.

    Can’t have enough sunrise/sunset photos…

    Oh yea, I forgot about this: so, one more giraffe photo, this lovely mother and baby next to each other.

    I think I’ve mentioned before that all of the field guides talk to each other over radio throughout the drive. They go off in different directions intentionally to cover more ground and let each other know what they’re seeing. In this case, we got called to help another group who had gotten stuck in a ditch. It was impressive that we pulled them out with just a simple piece of obviously very strong nylon.

    Shortly after this, our guide got a call: wild dogs have been seen, 15-30 minutes away from where we are, but only if we go FAST. We all agreed. And boy did we. A long, fast, ridiculously bumpy ride. Remember – no paved roads in the Okavango.

    I didn’t realize until we got there that they meant Painted Dogs. Remember the story from the conservatory a few posts back? Only 7000 left and here were 8 of them. Not just hanging around, but on a hunt. We were about to follow Africa’s most successful predator on a hunt. Excited much? In this photo we’d just come up behind them as they were still on the go.

    Note: there are more video clips here than I’ve ever included in a blog entry. If you’re interested in this story, I highly recommend you watch every one of them. Some are really short, some as long as 23 seconds. But it will give you a very real sense of what we experienced.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Around the bend from the prior photo, they stopped. Stared, all of them in the same direction. What were they seeing in the distance?

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Impala. They were seeing impala. If you play the video, you’ll see the pan to the right and how far away they were. Which is to say not very far. And we got to watch it all.

    They just sat to wait for the right moment.

    Rasta, our lead guide and driver, pulled our vehicle around to the other side. The guides were always repositioning the vehicles so we could see better. It’s bizarre to me how the animals didn’t seem to notice much or care. We got a spectacular view of their full faces. Watching.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Our field guide, Rasta, pointing out who the alpha is: 2nd one, 2nd row.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Still just waiting. I zoomed back so you could see how close we were. Pretty dang close. (That’s Ash’s cheek on the left!)

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Something is starting to happen. All this movement must mean something, right? Ok, maybe not.

    Soon after this they literally walked around our vehicle from behind. Rasta said they were using us as cover.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I picked them up again on the other side, and you see the other vehicle in our party reposition to get closer. And again, we wait. This is life on a safari!

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Still intently watching the impala but poised to run.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    There was bedlam suddenly with the impalas, we think initiated by the warthogs who started running around like crazy. They may have sensed or seen the dogs approach, but the impala were clearly still clueless.

    Now what happened next, I sadly didn’t get on video. None of us did somehow, but several said they saw it. It may have happened during this last clip when I panned back to the dogs. But during the bedlam, one of the impalas collided with another who fell, and then a warthog trampled the fallen one. So, it was already down, injured, by the time the dogs started to move in. And may have been why the dogs started to move when they did. A simple, opportunistic kill.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The dogs really start to move in, and the impala are initially frozen. You can tell they see them, but oddly don’t know what to do. Then, bedlam again and you can hear the running clearly. Notice there isn’t a warthog in sight. They fled long ago. (In reality, just 30-60 seconds or so but everything was happening very quickly yet somehow in slow motion at the same time.) The clicking you hear is Dylan’s camera.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Impala still running, the dogs run behind that hill (probably a termite mound!) and that’s likely where the fallen Impala is.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We moved in but weren’t as quick as the dogs. Everything that happened next was super quick. It was difficult to capture in the moving vehicle.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    That poor impala may still be alive at this point but only for seconds more if so. NOTE: the next few videos are pretty graphic.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    And now that impala is definitely dead. You can hear the clicking of Dylan’s camera and me being a bit squeamish. I never do well at the sight of blood. Can’t even watch my own being taken.

    A still of the feed for those of you who skipped the video!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I was already imagining the WARNING I’d need to give when I post this. Do they show this on Animal Planet? I’m glad the Land Cruiser is in the clip so you can see how close we are. Those dogs don’t care about us At All. And seeing something like this is pretty rare. Note that even Rasta, the field guide and driver, has his camera out. Gail said that in something like 50 safaris she’s been on, she’s only seen 6-7 kills, and this is the 2nd one of painted dogs.

    They moved over to our left and kept devouring. Notice there aren’t as many. The number of dogs get lower as each get their fill.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    As each were done, they made their way to some shade to rest and start cleaning each other. They’re so happy! Just two left now who can’t get enough.

    Most everyone is resting and mostly clean.

    We said goodbye as we watched them move on down the trail.

    The time lapse between the first and last photo was 25 minutes.

    Wow. My heart is pumping fast just seeing it all again. A fascinating display of nature and we all felt privileged – if not a little sick – to witness it. That we’d had the visit at the conservatory, and it never occurred to any of us that we’d even see a painted dog much less watch them hunt, made it all that more special.

    We came across a mud pool of hippos. There’s little water here, which everyone is waiting on, especially the hippos.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    You can see how little any of them are moving. There’s a discussion happening about they could leave and look for water but it’s complicated.

    The lodge from the field as we were heading back for brunch.

    Ash went and got some coffee. I went to the room to shower and change clothes before brunch. I also picked up our chargers. There are no outlets in the cabins, we can only use a communal charging area at the main lodge.

    Dylan and I were leaving at the same time and encountered this elephant on our path before we made it very far. We just did as instructed: stop, don’t make any noise, wait. So, we waited. And eventually he turned into the woods and back into the field we where could later see him as we had brunch.

    I couldn’t resist. Urinal view during the day.

    After the meal, Ash took a nap and showered, I worked on the blog at the lodge then we sat on the deck of our cabin for a while and just chilled. We went down for teatime at 3:30 and then the group went to visit the village before our traditional safari drive.

    On our way to the village, about a 45-minute drive, we came across wildebeest. We’ve seen them in the distance, but this is the closest we’ve gotten. Rasta says they’re not very bright: they’ll be running from a lion and then stop and look back because they forgot why they were running.

    This village is where some people from the Bayeye (3 syllables – bye-ee-ee) tribe live, farmers who came down from the north somewhere. It’s a village recognized as such as the Botswana government which means eventually a school and clinic will be built, although all of that is in progress. The lodges have helped build a community hall, which I believe is where we gathered this afternoon so the villagers could sell us stuff. This cutie greeted us as we pulled up to do some local shopping.

    Ash bought a little basket and coaster for our Airbnb unit in Sacramento from this woman.

    Gail encouraged us to participate in the music and dancing. Ash, of course, didn’t hesitate.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ash playing the drums.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The dancing begins.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Cute child getting in on the fun.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    These kids are more entertained by Ash. Even Amos the guide is filming him!

     

     

     

     

     

     

    A group effort, now including Amos, Rasta, and Ash.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ash loved playing with this baby.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The woman in the blue dress on the left end is the mother of the baby Ash is playing with. Note she’s pregnant again, as were many of the women.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ash, the baby, and Kit dancing. I wish I’d gotten more of this.

    Above and below: some shots of the village on the way out. Ash and I discussed after how happy they all seem – again, how happy everyone we’ve encountered seems. There’s no electricity or running water here.  Even among the workers. Rasta has grown up in the delta and has never left it and is an amazing, graceful, knowledgeable human being. This is the only life they know. And there’s no sense of wanting something different, just a sense of contentment. Given a choice, they would stay, at least the ones we came across.

     

    Another pretty sunset at sundowners.

    As the night before, we had dinner and Ash and I were the first ones to ask to be taken back to our rooms, and everyone followed. We were in bed by 9:15pm.

     

  • Day 9, May 31 – Chobe National Park to the Okavango Delta

    Day 9, May 31 – Chobe National Park to the Okavango Delta

    Posting this entry for Wednesday on Saturday, June 3, around 6:30pm from Maun, Botswana.

    It’s Thursday, June 1, 2023, 1:15pm as I type, sitting on the deck at Moremi Crossing in the Okavango Delta of Botswana while Ash is napping, pinching myself, completely amazed that this is my life. I just got through culling through almost 200 photos and videos from yesterday and this morning to figure how to do this blog at least partially daily without Wi-Fi. My original thought was to be very selective and just post all three days here as one entry. But it’s clear after not even 24 hours here that that won’t work. I’ve got the 200 down to about 80, but there’s still this evening and all day tomorrow to go.

    In the end, what I did was write it out in Word, indicate the file number of the image where I wanted it, then copied it all and uploaded once I got online again.

    Gail, our tour leader, several times referred to the Okavango as the most “wild” place she’s ever been. And I would hear her use “wild” as an adjective. But no, she meant it as a noun: there are no fences, the animals can go wherever they want, including up to and into your own cabin. You keep your door locked but give staff the key when you go out on safari drives so they can do things for you. Here, keys are to keep animals out – monkeys and baboons know how to work doors – not other people.

    Wednesday, we were up about 5:30am, I got the blog up for Tuesday – so all caught up to that point – just before we went over for breakfast shortly after 7am. We walked around a bit and discovered an outdoor chess game that we played a little. Ash beat me badly of course. Never was very good at chess and he’s a great strategist.

    Above and below: We packed and our group went to the Kasane International Airport – international because it hosts flights into and out of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and Johannesburg, South Africa. We left out of the domestic side since we were staying in Botswana.

    We all got into a 12-seater plane – just enough for the 11 of us.

    From the air you could see the airport and the Chobe River behind it.

    Ash and I were in the first row with Dylan, just behind the pilots.

    Ash can’t resist a selfie, and Sheryl, Jim and Gail joined in while Maire slept.

    This map reflects where we’ve been: Vic Falls and Hwange, Chobe not shown but essentially to the left of Vic Falls, and Maun where we will fly out of on Saturday. In between is the Okavango Delta.

    Specifically, we are in Moremi Game Reserve which is a huge portion of the southern end of the Delta.  The circle roughly indicates where the lodge is where we stayed.

    Dead center is the airstrip we landed on after an hour’s flight.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ash took a video of landing.

    We transferred to 3 much smaller planes that only sat 4 people, so we went 3/4/4.

    Ash and I went with Gail on the first plane. There wasn’t a co-pilot on this flight, so the pilot let Ash sit up front.

    We landed on an even smaller airstrip about 15 minutes later and waited for the other two planes. We joked about the screen shelter on the left being the business class lounge, but it was a useful protectant from the dust that sprayed around as planes landed and took off.

    Both of these airstrips were dirt, and a worker had animal duty – we watched him chase warthogs off the runway! This last one is the shortest in the Delta; pretty much every camp has their own. There aren’t any real roads here.

    The entrance to our lodge, Moremi Crossing: MX.

    We were greeted by locals in song again. Video below.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Once again, the accommodations are terrific. Here’s the buffet line for all of our meals.

    Beautifully set table.

    Just to let go of something, I’m not going to include food photos for these 3 days unless something really astounding is served. Suffice it to say it’s all great quality stuff; we decided (at the end) better than Chobe but not as good as Sable. We did not go hungry for sure: continental breakfast before the first safari drive at 6am, snacks and coffee at a stop in the bush mid-morning, a full brunch upon return around 11am; teatime at 3:30pm, sundowners with snacks at 5:45pm; dinner around 8pm.

    Our view from the lodge. One of them anyway. You can see pretty much 270 degrees the way it curves. Elephants and warthogs shown; usually buffalo out there, too.

    The gang at our first meal here, around 2pm when we first arrived. The host standing up on the left is Nature. Seriously – that’s the name his mother gave him.

    From there we were walked to our cabins, where we found our bags were already taken. There are only 17 cabins, roughly equal number on each side of the main lodge. We are almost at the end on the left side, cabin 16, between Dylan and Gail.

    One of the instructions we received on our initial briefing is that we are not allowed to walk to/from our rooms at night without a staff escort. That’s how wild it is – they want someone experienced with the animals around to navigate – or not – should you encounter something.

    This is our front porch, where we enjoyed time doing not much at all.

    Bedroom. While technically it’s a tent – it’s made of canvas and has lots of flaps, zippers and Velcro – this is beyond glamping even in my opinion. Proper doors, hardwood floors, actual furniture. The only inconvenience was no heat – and it’s COLD at night – and no electrical outlets. But a little light and a hard-wired fan.

    Sink area.

    Toilet. With sort of a door and everything! (Our last one had no door…)

    Outdoor shower. As long as you used it during the day it was GREAT. Superhot and great water pressure. But it got me out of my travel habit of showering just before bed because it was too dang cold once the sun went down.

    The view of the plains from our deck.

    We had time enough to orient ourselves and head back for teatime – although we weren’t hungry – and our first safari drive on the delta.

    The water hasn’t made it to the Delta yet which is a big disappointment. It comes down from Angola, through the Caprivi strip of Namibia and finally into Botswana. But we are at the most southern point of it. It’s normally here this time of year, but with all kinds of things syphoning water off the river as it comes downstream, like for farming, it’s getting here late. They’re thinking by July. But upside is, the animals are more concentrated because there’s so little water. I can say this now, but in the next day’s post there will be the WILDEST experience we had on the whole trip, and it wouldn’t have happened if the water had been in.

    We’ve seen lots of warthogs on this trip, but this was our first closeup. They are usually running away from us. Let me say here that we’ve learned a lot. The guides – except for that one at Chobe that one morning – all share an incredible amount of information about what we’re seeing. That said, remembering it is something else! All I remember about these guys is they are very family-oriented, somewhat visible in this photo.

    We’ve seen thousands of termite mounds on this trip. They’re all over. But in the Delta they play a special role. It literally wouldn’t exist without them. And they were sometimes different – as seen here – where there were trees growing out of them. And yes, the termite mounds were likely there first. You can read more about it here if you’re interested.

    There are palm trees everywhere, first time we’ve seen them on this trip.

    We came across a den of hyenas. Forget what you learned in The Lion King; Disney got it all wrong. The “laughing” thing is a myth. These guys are also very family oriented, and we were delighted with the 2 pups. This pup was curious about us. There was another adult around the corner of the brush.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Brothers playing tug of war with a stick!

    Yes, there are elephants here, too. This is probably one of the last photos you’ll see of one unless something special happens. We’re all like “we’re good with elephants now!”

    What we hadn’t seen was elephant bones, as seen in this photo. We’ve actually seen this quite a bit here.

    Another beautiful sunset at sundowners.

    The camp had a lovely fire for us when we got back.

    We had dinner and Ash and I were the first to say we were ready to go back to our cabin, around 9pm. With the exception of 1 couple, everyone was on our side of the camp – and decided to join us so the escort just had to make one trip. So we broke up the party early 3 nights in a row! No one seemed to mind. They were long, action-packed days.

     

  • Day 8, May 30 – Chobe National Park, part 2

    Day 8, May 30 – Chobe National Park, part 2

    We were asked to meet at the lodge entrance at 5:45am for a 6am safari ride. It was dark when we left; we drove around for quite a while without seeing much. And, we all agreed that this particular guide wasn’t as good as the guides we had at Sable, or the guys on the boat. It’s amazing the difference that makes. He responded to questions, but there wasn’t a lot of things he offered on his own. Maybe it was because there wasn’t much wildlife out.

    We had our first close encounter with a hippo – the first time we’ve seen one out of the water. The above shot was taken without a zoom; he was maybe 15 feet away.

    Zoomed in you can see him much better.

    I wished I’d moved fast enough to video this, but at least I got a couple of shots of him opening his mouth, above, and lifting his open mouth up to the sky, below.

     

    This is how we usually encounter hippos – just barely seeing their heads above water. There are 12-15 in this group. We learned they can’t actually swim, they just walk along the bottom but can hold their breath for like 7 minutes.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Guineafowls. We saw tons of them this morning. Their movements reminded us of the opening theme of The Partridge Family!

    We caught the sunrise of the Chobe River at 6:47am.

    Some of the river has a decent beach which we drove on.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We stopped and watched the shenanigans of these guys for a little while.

    We stopped for a coffee and potty break around 7:30am. Gail had warned us that this park would be much more crowded and this proved it. I think the most vehicles we saw out at once was 5 at the most – and two of them ours. Here are 8 lined up and I believe 2 more that arrived after I took this.

    The view of the river behind me from where I took the shot of the vehicles.

    This was the closest we’ve seen a warthog. We’d only seen 2 or 3 maybe before this the whole trip, and usually running away from us.

    We came across a giraffe in the road on our way back.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I do love the way they move.

    There was another sort of behind us to our right.

    Don’t ask me the name of this bird, I just like the pale pretty shades of pink and green. Or is that blue?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Mongoose! Mongeese? No, a group of them is a pack.

    We were supposed to get back to the lodge by 9am but it was after 9:30 when we returned. Everyone was hungry! They had a very nice buffet. Mine above: scrambled eggs, fried hash brown patties, mushrooms and beans, pork sausage and bacon. Ash’s below is similar except he got an omelet and smokes salmon.

    They also had a waffle bar. We shared one with fresh whipped cream and honey.

    After breakfast, I went back to the room and worked on the blog from the balcony. I’d also waited in the lobby for one of the lodge workers to come back with some change – he’d gone into town for us to exchange $20’s for 1s and 5s – everyone here likes dollars, too, and you find yourself tipping a lot.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Ash and Dylan did a border crossing excursion into Namibia. These village women welcomed them with song and dance once they were across the border.

    Ash with a 2000-year-old baobab tree. They have been suddenly dying across the continent the last few years, scientists believe due to cliimate change.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    It’s a poor village of about 200 people. This video shows a bit of how the richest guy there lives.

    They did a little shopping and came back about 1pm. Ash and I walked into the town of Kasane, just 1-2 km in. There wasn’t much to see so we came back for a small lunch.

    This is where we’ve been having breakfast and dinner. Our group has a reserved table for all 11 of us behind that gray station right behind Ash’s head. For lunch we shared a sesame chicken salad which was fresh, light, tasty. We’ve discovered something new we will have to try at home: roasted capers. I’m not a huge caper fan – generally not a fan of pickled much of anything – but these roasted ones are Amazing.

    At 3pm we went over to the spa where I got a massage from Virginia, above, who used her hands and this wood instrument she’s holding. While the piece of wood was solid, using it on the body after applying oil or lotion made it feel like a rolling pin. It was pretty cool and allowed her to go deep in some concentrated places without it hurting the way other deep tissue massages I’ve had do. Ash got a manicure, but the woman was not very good, and had forgotten her glasses so couldn’t see well. It wasn’t an optimal experience for him :(

    We went back to the room and hung out, me working on the blog and Ash playing a game on his phone – something I’d discovered while he was in Paris that he has since developed his own addiction for :) We went out at 7pm for dinner again, another good buffet. Above is mine: a vegetable medley of baby corn, Brussel sprouts and a squash; mashed sweet potatoes, and a butternut squash casserole. The shredded meat was beef but it had a gamey taste to it I didn’t care for, which surprised me. I later got some roasted beef and beets that were very good.

    For dessert: a bit of lemon cheesecake, chocolate, and a sort of toffee bar. I completely forgot to take photos of Ash’s food. Every guy for himself, I guess.

    We got back to the room, I finished another day of the blog – the post before this one – and we were in bed by 9:30am. We woke up around 5:30am. It’s now just after 7am and we will head down to breakfast as soon as I post this. We leave for the Okavango Delta about 10:30am on small 6-seater planes. It’s Wednesday morning now. We will be completely disconnected once we leave until we get to Maun sometime on Saturday. I’m rethinking how to do the blog and will likely just get very selective and post one entry for all 3 days we are in the Delta. We heard yesterday that the water hasn’t come down yet from Angola so it’s going to be a land experience instead. Will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

    Thanks for coming along so far! Probably the earliest I’ll have another post up is sometime on Sunday our time. We will see you when we see you!

    PS: since we missed sunset last night, I’m using a photo from the prior entry as the featured photo….just because….

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Day 7, May 29 – Chobe National Park, Botswana

    Day 7, May 29 – Chobe National Park, Botswana

    This entry is for Monday, May 29. Happy belated Memorial Day to USA readers! We got up about 5am, packed, and made our way to base camp for coffee around 6am. Breakfast was at 6:45am and we were on the road by 7:30.

    We finally saw some sables on our way out, which was fitting since they are the namesake of the lodge we stayed at.

    We made a stop at Painted Dog Conservatory, something we’d missed on the way in because our tour leader forgot they closed on the last weekend of every month for fumigation!

    In general we are impressed with conservation efforts we’ve encountered everywhere we’ve been. This story was pretty stark: at one point there were 500,000 painted dogs – see puppies in photo above – and hunters were actually paid to kill them. Between that going too far and other things, such as habitats being destroyed by civilization moving in, there are now just about 7000. They are “Africa’s most successful super predator,” hunting very skillfully in packs. On average, their hunts yield a kill 70% of the time. Kudu – a deer type animal which I will have for dinner later in the day! – is their primary meal.

    We got a little tour of this museum and a 15-minute story about them and were encouraged to do some shopping after to contribute to the cause. There was jewelry and other art made from trap wire that painted dogs have been released from. Many of them have GPS collars on them so watchers can tell if they get accidentally trapped in something meant for impala, etc., and go and rescue them.

    The efforts these folks are going to was quite impressive, so we didn’t mind buying this little dog made from trap wire that’s been beaded. $15.

    We made a stop at the now infamous Chicken Inn (and pizza, and ice cream) for a potty break, and for some of us to get shakes. How cute is this? They wrote “enjoy” on my shake with chocolate syrup. Have I mentioned that literally everything we’ve encountered here so far – in 3 different African countries – is entirely in English? And every person we’ve interacted has spoken English? Apparently, that’s pretty common in eastern and southern Africa. The impact of the British empire runs deep and wide.

    We had some hoops to jump through at the Zimbabwe/Botswana border but got through pretty painlessly. We made it to the Chobe Safari Lodge by about 1:30pm.

    Looking back at the entrance. That’s Gail on the left talking to one of the lodge staff. The entrances here are open – no doors required – just like a resort we stayed at in Costa Rica.

    We gathered for our first briefing about the complex. It’s actually 2 hotels next door to each other but all the same company and everything connected so for simplicity purposes I’m just referring to it as all the same thing.

    The dining room where we had lunch in a bit at that table on the very far left by those canoes on the wall. The common spaces here are huge. We were given our keys and checked into our rooms after they took our lunch orders.

    Another dump! Seriously, we couldn’t be happier with the accommodations on this trip. And a place to write! It’s where I’m sitting as I type.

    A nice chair where Ash is sitting now, just like in this photo…

    Earlier while writing the prior post I was sitting on the balcony with this as my view.

    The bathroom has a tub AND a shower.

    I had a beef burger for lunch that came with a nice side salad which I’d already eaten before I thought to take a photo. Ash had similar but with chicken. They were Huge. We mostly ate the meat and not the bread. The fries were good.

    We were to meet at the jetty which is at the other hotel at 2:45pm. This was the view along the way. We sat just to the left of this today for lunch.

    There were LOTS of people waiting to get on boats. We’d been led to believe our group would have one to ourselves and I started to doubt that.

    Oh ye of little faith. This was my view at the start of the ride, unobstructed of the beautiful Chobe River, which is the border between Botswana and Namibia. After not too long there were others from our group sitting up there so I was glad I got this shot at the start.

    There was a rooftop deck that allowed us to get this great shot.

    The crew and field guides were again super knowledgeable, we were very pleased with all of the information they shared on the 3-hour cruise. This was our first briefing and after that it all depended on what wildlife we came across.

    We’d seen lots of elephants at this point but never in the water. This mother and baby were swimming across the river to get to the fresh grass. Botswana is mostly desert – the Kalahari in these parts – so they have to come here for grass.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Getting to the other side to eat! You can hear our field guide talking.

    As always, I don’t remember the name, but this bird was beautiful. And a good size. He sat there for quite a while with his wings spread, waiting for them to dry because otherwise his body is too heavy to fly.

    Crocodile!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The point of this was a 270 degree look around from where I was sitting to try to capture the grandeur of the scenery. Doesn’t quite do it but you’ll get the gist.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    A small bird with beautiful shimmery blue coloring that was very hard to capture because it was so quick. We must’ve watched it fly and land 6 times. I managed to catch one of them.

    An egret hitching a ride on an elephant. A littler later he shooed it away by squirting water on it with his trunk. The guide told us that this charcoal gray is the elephants natural color, you pretty much only see it in the water. Once they get out, they roll around in mud and dirt which they use to protect their sensitive skin from the sun and from parasites.

    We were right at 4 corners, where 4 countries meet: Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Namibia.

    We saw LOTS of birds on this river cruise.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    There are two crocodiles in this clip: one on the left in the water, one on the right on the shore. But the stars of this movie are the birds in the background.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    These baby elephants are the cutest.

    Finally – a reasonable hippo sighting. They spend a LOT of time in the water with just their eyes out so it’s difficult to get a good shot of them. There are at least 5 of them in this photo.

    I’m not sunburnt really – that’s just the lighting from the sun shining directly on me. Ash and I kept looking at each other on this 3-hour ride going “can you believe this?” The breeze was so cool, the scenery and wildlife gorgeous, the guides, crew and other tourists all super friendly. It was a tremendously relaxing afternoon, and we enjoyed every minute of it.

    You’ve seen buffalo before, but not at the river! You can easily see the crowns on these males in this photo.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Yes, there are buffalo and elephants in this video. But what I was really capturing was the beauty of the scenery. Pay attention to the reflection of the land in the water.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    There are 7 elephants in this video, 2 of them babies. The baby on the right is having a hard time figuring out how to drink from the river, or something. The other baby you can’t really see but is underneath the large elephant on the far left.

    These elephants did not care At All that 5 boats (including us) had pulled up to watch them.

    The weather was similar to the prior 2 days – nice and warm in the sun at 81, a lovely cool in the shade, especially with a breeze, and a brisk 50-55 in the morning.

    I must’ve taken 50 photos of the sunset but decided on just these two above and below for final entry.

    Several entries ago I mentioned purchases we had arranged on that first night the tour group gathered in Victoria Falls. They were delivered to us today. Above is a runner we had made two-sided – rows of African art (masks and bodies dancing in costume) on one side, and butterflies against a wild checkerboard pattern on the other. Will look great on our dining room table!

    As at the other two places, the mosquito netting was down when we came back in the evening. We went back out again at 7pm for dinner.

    There’s a pretty extravagant buffet. This doesn’t look like much but was 3 delicious salads – avocado, beef, and beet.

    Ash got a shrimp stir-fry.

    I had grilled kudu – think deer but tasted like beef. Was very tender and delicious. Also, some chicken, vegetables, grilled sweet potato and cabbage. All wonderful.

    A wonderful cheese board which thrilled Ash.

    I had 3 little desserts: a white cake, a custard of some kind, and a bread pudding that was my favorite of this trio.

    And that was our day. I finally managed to get Saturday’s blog up just before we went to bed around 9pm. And this entry will be going up just about 9pm on Tuesday. With another day posted about 4 hours ago, all that’s left is today’s (Tuesday’s) entry and I’ll be caught up. Before I fall behind again. There won’t be any Wi-Fi in the Okavango Delta where we will be for 3 nights.

     

  • Africa: Botswana & Zimbabwe Safari – Pre-Departure

    Africa: Botswana & Zimbabwe Safari – Pre-Departure

    2023 marks my 11th year of travel blogging, with 25 trips that have made it to the blog (not counting the miscellaneous ones under the “Life in Northern California” category). As I enter my 2nd decade of travel writing, it seems fitting to hit a new continent: Africa.

    The last big trip we did – and by big I mean at least 2 weeks – was in France last year about the same time: last week of May, first week of June. This one will be 3 weeks, which I haven’t done since 2014. We leave on May 21 and return on June 9. Many of you know that Ash has been in Paris for the last 4 weeks. He’s had four different friends join him on that trip at different times and looks like they all had a great time. Some people think it’s weird that he goes without me but it works on a number of levels. As long as I have a “job”, I just won’t get to travel as much as he wants to and I have no reason to get in the way of him going. Although he’s sweet about asking first, in case it’s someplace I don’t want him to go without me. For the most part there aren’t any because those trips are scouting trips for him so he’ll have a better idea of what we can do when we go together.

    Him going without me also helps manage the differences between his extreme extroversion and my extreme introversion. We hadn’t been apart for a significant period of time since he’d gone to Paris last year 3 weeks ahead of me joining him. When he left this year on May 16, I admit I Couldn’t Wait for him – and #zeusthetinylab – to be gone. I described that first week alone to some friends as “healing.” (Sshhh – don’t tell Ash I said that!) But by the beginning of week 4 I was like “Ok, 5 weeks is a Really Long Time to be apart.” So I can say I actually miss him, which is unusual for me but there you have it. So it makes this upcoming adventure that much more exciting.

    Ash is always asking me if I’m excited about some upcoming trip, and I never am until it’s about a week away. Well that day is today. I’ve had a completely unstructured day today which is very unusual, and have gotten a lot done, including doing some prep for this trip putting the backyard in order. I noticed this morning when I was watering that it wasn’t very inviting to our Airbnb guests so after a 5 mile walk I cleaned it up quite a bit. And now I’m enjoying it myself, sitting out here writing this entry.

    Next Saturday evening I take a redeye flight to Newark where I will meet up with Ash. He leaves Paris tomorrow and will spend the week in Washington, DC, where he will leave Zeus with friends for our trip to Africa. I have a 12-hour layover in Newark so we’ve arranged to have lunch with our friends Jonathan & DeWayne in NYC, who you’ve met on each of our last trips there. We have 3pm tickets to see Kimberly Akimbo and afterwards we head back to the Newark airport to catch our direct flight to Johannesburg, South Africa.

    We will be there for 4 nights and then fly to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, where we pick up the 10-day Botswana & Zimbabwe Safari led by National Geographic.

    This is the map of the adventure from the official itinerary page. While “African Safari” was somewhere on my bucket list, I can’t say it’s what I would’ve done next if it wasn’t for Ash. It was high on his list, specifically going to the Okavango Delta which is “home to some of the world’s most endangered species of large mammal, such as the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dog and lion” according to UNESCO. Climate change is causing the delta to shrink so Ash wants to make sure we see it before it disappears. No time like the present.

    Above is the map I drew in Google just to give you a broader sense of where we will be. We end in Maun, and from there go to Cape Town on the southern tip of the continent. We will stay there about 5 days and the head home.

    This trip hits a number of “firsts” for me:

    1. First time in Africa
    2. First time south of the equator (it will be Fall-heading-into-Winter there)
    3. First time I’ve been required to get “emergency medical, evacuation, and repatriation insurance” (at $200,000 per person no less)
    4. First time I’ll be on this kind of guided tour, where lodging and most meals are covered
    5. First time I’ve been required to significantly limit the weight of luggage (15kg or 33lbs)
    6. First time that Wi-Fi isn’t guaranteed – National Geographic has been very noncommittal about that (and other things); so if I’m not able to blog every day – which would be another First! – that’s likely why (as opposed to being eaten by a rhino…)
    7. First time I had to talk with healthcare professionals about yellow fever and malaria risks (thankfully low in this part of the continent)

    Some of this will be a first for Ash, as well. He has been to Johannesburg and Cape Town, but the rest will be new.

    We are very excited and of course look forward to you joining us on what will be perhaps the most amazing adventure yet.