Back in 2015 we made our first trip to Africa and visited Kenya, focusing on the Maasai Mara. Although the Mara is amazing and you can never go wrong there, we wanted to see some different geography. We again set out with the talented wildlife photographer Daryl Balfour for a safari highlighting Botswana with a short jump to Zimbabwe for Victoria Falls at the end of the trip.
In April 2018 we set off for Botswana. We met up with Daryl, and Christo and Charmaine Schmidt in Johannesburg. We met Christo and Charmaine on our Kenya trip and were excited to travel with them again as they are lovely people and also amazing photographers. From Jo’burg we flew up to the small town of Maun, Botswana. At Maun, we said goodbye to the big planes and said hello to the tiny charter planes we would be using for the next 2 weeks. We divided up cause the planes really are that small and James and headed out in our 4-seater Cessna for the Nxai Pan National Park.
Time to admit a Travel Fear - People often ask, “but aren’t you afraid of….” Followed by some place, people, or thing they haven’t experienced. The truth is I don’t have many travel related fears. With the exception of active war zones, there isn’t a place I’m afraid to visit. I’m great in water. Love going fast on land. I may even be missing some survival level fear of certain fish and animals. I just want to touch them all. Flying isn’t a fear, but I don’t like it because of how uncomfortable it is and how miserable lots of folks, travelers and air professionals alike, seem to be. But getting in that little Cessna, oh boy did my heart start to race. I was terrified and wasn’t sure I was going to make that trip unscathed or at least not embarrassing myself by puking and or crying. Now the saving grace of the little plane is that it flies so low that you get distracted by the landscape and the animals that you can see out your little window. And the landscape is beautiful enough that I would forget the fear. So, by flight five, our last Cessna ride of the trip, my heart was beating normally.
Back to the Nxai Pan Camp. A pan is dry topographic depression, here a long dry fossilized lake bed. The Nxai pan is a large salt pan in the mid-north east Botswana. This camp is the only permanent camp in Nxai pan and includes 9 thatched visitor rooms (rooms with king beds, sitting area and a bathroom with an indoor and outdoor shower, plus a large deck) and a main open lodge for dinning and relaxing. The thatch reminds me of white adobe and it really helps regulate the temperate of the building. The rooms all face east over the open grasslands of the pan. There is a watering hole out in front of the camp and when we arrived, there were elephants and zebras at the water. Ohhhhhhh my, so excited to be back in Africa!
You know how some places have a smell (often not a pleasant one), well I was amazed that everywhere we went in Nxai Pan smells like wild sage. Though our next camp would have a bit of the sage scent, I will forever link the smell of wild sage with my time at Nxai Pan.
While at Nxai Pan we drove to the south end of the park to visit the famous Baines' Baobabs. This group of thousand year old trees is famous for being painted by Thomas Baines in 1862. Baines, a self-taught naturalist, artist and cartographer, had originally been a member of David Livingstone’s expedition up the Zambezi. The trees themselves have changed very little in the last 150 years, with only a few branches changed. However, it was disappointing to see that a few people have carved their initials in the trees. Travel shows you the best of people and unfortunately the worst. We enjoyed a picnic lunch under those huge trees.
After our stay at Nxai Pan Camp, our next little plane took us further south into the heart of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to Tau Camp, which sits up on the edge of an ancient dune overlooking the Tau Pan (Tau which means lion in Setswana). The Central Kalahari was made famous by the book Cry of the Kalahari by Mark & Delia Owens back in the early 80s. Despite the book, this area is one of the least explored areas of the Kalahari. Tau Camp is the first semi-permanent camp to be built in the central Kalahari.
Tau Camp also has 9 thatched rooms with the main lodge area built around a large fire pit. Who needs a fire in Africa? Well, safari days start early and end late, and at those outer ends of the day, it is quite chilly. Our daily schedule was pretty much the same at all the camps. Guides would wake you up with a soft knock on the door at 5:30. We’d all meet up at the fire pit for light breakfast (fruit, muffins and porridge cooked over the fire). Then by 6:30 we would be off in the jeep while it was still dark. This way we could find an interesting site or sighting and be ready for the golden hour of light after sunrise. We’d stay out on the morning drive until 11:30 when we would head back to camp for brunch/lunch. During the main heat of the day, we stay in camp where folks, nap, work on photos, read or take a dip in the pool. At 3:30, we’d gather together for “tea” with drinks and finger foods. Then at 4:00, it was back to the jeeps for the afternoon drive. After golden hour, we’d stop for sundowners, more drinks and snacks. (Do you sense a theme….you will not go hungry on these safaris.) Then about 7:30, we’d make our way back to camp. After time for freshening up, we’d gather for dinner and then stories and drinks by the fire. After a bit of amazing star gazing, you head back to your tent to fall asleep to the sounds of reed frogs, hippos, lions on the hunt, etc.
After our visit to the Kalahari, we made a complete change of environment, and hopped on our little plane to fly north over the watery wonderland of the Okavango Delta, one of the greatest wetlands in the world. We stayed at the small Little Kwara Camp, which is situated on the northern edge of the permanent waters of the Delta and the Moremi Game Reserve. By our visit in April the annual flood water was just starting to filter into the surrounding floodplains, so lots of birds and thirsty animals were making there way in. There is a larger Kwara camp, but Little Kware is it’s own camp with just 5 tents. Being so small, we really felt part of nature at this camp. Elephants would walk by the fire pit and we even had baboons come up into the dining area. These local baboons are familiar with people and the camp ladies would chase them off with whatever they were carrying at the moment.
Little Kware is on an island in the delta, so here we had our first chance to head out on the water. We took a sunset boat cruise. Because it was sunset, the midges were out and we were told to bring a scarf. They weren’t as bad as I was expecting but I was glad to have a buff so I didn’t eat or breath any of the. Out on the water, we had beautiful bird sightings of pied kingfishers, and different bee-eaters species. We also, saw a couple of crocodiles, hippos and a water monitor.
Little Kware brought our most exciting sighting of our trip. We found a pack of eight Painted African Wild Dogs with a very pregnant alpha female. There are only about 6000 wild dogs left in the world, so we were lucky to see them in the wild. We followed the pack off and on for two days. One thing that people don’t tell you is how bad the dogs smell. It’s like nothing I have ever smelled before. However, it does make tracking the pack easier. We got to see the pack playing in a small watering hole, just like domesticated dogs, they loved to chase one another and splash around in the water.
From Little Kwara, we headed north-east, to Botswana’s border with the thin Caprivi Strip of Namibia to the Kwando Private Game Reserve. Here we stayed at the Lagoon Camp. Each camp was wonderful, but this was my favorite. Lagoon Camp is named for the tranquil lagoon in a backwater of the Kwando River it overlooks. The Kwando river continues downstream to become the Chobe, which later joins the Zambezi. This camp has 8 “tents”, although they are more semi-permanent in that they also have adobe walls and wood ceilings. Each tent had a private deck overlooking the river, living area, and bathroom with a bathtub with a river view. During our afternoon downtimes, I enjoyed watching the hippos from our deck. If I knew camping included these kinds of accommodations, I would have been become a camper years ago.
One fun but challenging feature of Lagoon camp is that there are a few marula trees in the camp. Marula fruit is a favorite of elephants and baboons. With the trees fruiting, we had a daily visitor to camp, Pedro, the teenage bull elephant. In most camps, once dusk falls, you are not allowed to walk around the camp unescorted. Your guide comes by to pick you up for dinner and walks you to the main common areas. At lagoon, we were in the tents 7,8 and 9, the last 3 tents, furthest from the main camp. The marula tree was between tent 2 and 3. So, our path was blocked during most days, so Spencer would have to drive the truck to the end of the camp to pick us up for meals/tea time. One afternoon we were given the all clear to walk over for afternoon tea. We had just past the marula tree when we heard a trumpet behind us. Seems Pedro had also decided it was time for his afternoon snack. It is amazing that this huge animal moves so silently, that we didn’t even know he was there until he wanted us to know. So, we knew and turned to face him while walking slowly towards the main camp. Let him know we saw him and weren’t interested in getting between him and his marula.
At Lagoon Camp, we had another chance to spend time on the water. With all the Fiona love in Cincinnati, seeing a small baby hippo was a treat. Of course, it was even more fun because her dad and another large male had a battle in front of us. Dad was the victor and we got to watch his triumphant machine gun pooh flinging to firmly establish his territory. Stop reading and google hippo pooh flinging….entertaining stuff.
Though we left the group after Lagoon Camp for our Victoria Falls adventure, Daryl made these arrangements for us as well. We stayed at The Elephant Camp, which is on a ridge between the Masuwe River and the Zambezi gorges. We could see the smoke rising from falls from the private deck of our luxury tent. I talked about the kind of tent “camping” we do, but this was by far the fanciest tent we’ve stayed in. It was even air-conditioned and had a private plunge pool on the deck. Explain to me how in hot Africa a small cool in the sun could be so cold???
This small camp has several really neat programs. They offer personal tours of Victoria Falls. Because the camp started with an elephant preserve, they offer a “Meet The Elephants” program where you get to touch and feed a few of the elephants they have in their conservation program. The elephants you interact with are not able to be released into the wild, so they serve as ambassadors. The other elephants they get are raised/healed/whatever they need so that can be released. Getting up close with these magnificent creatures was such a treat. Elephant have a lot more hair than I was expecting. In addition to the elephant program, the camp also houses the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust and through them you get to meet Sylvester the cheetah. Sylvester’s mother and siblings were killed by a poacher when he was just days old. A park ranger found him and brought him to folks who could help. Unfortunately, he never learned how to be a wild cat so he can’t be released. So he works with the local schools and community groups to help local people understand the resource that the wildlife around them is.
We started our second day with the walking tour of the Victoria Falls. They offer rain coats at the start. James was smart and turned it down saying it was too hot to wear a coat and if he got wet he got wet. It was smart because even inside the rain coat you got soaking wet. It was like being in the shower. At some points, with the mist in the air it looked more like Ireland than Zimbabwe. With it being so wet, often the view of the falls is obscured, so the best way to see the falls especially when the water is high is by helicopter. I’ve always been leery of riding in a helicopter (see my little plane fear above) so in the past, I’ve avoided the helicopter tours. But how can you say no when it is a (most likely) once in a lifetime chance. So up we went. Surprise surprise…..I love flying in a helicopter. Plus it wasn’t over-hyped and the helicopter really is the best was to see these amazing views. The power of the water and the way it has carved the land is awesome. The falls even move as new paths are carved.
We highly recommend Wildphotos Safaris, owned and operated by Daryl & Sharna Balfour, who highly acclaimed African wildlife photographers. Daryl and Sharna are well respected and have great connections. When you travel with them, everything is taken care of and you can just sit back, grab your camera and get great shots.
At every camp, we would see elephant, lion, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest and warthogs. So I didn't track those sightings, but at each camp, I would keep notes on the new, interesting or just plain beautiful birds and animals we would see. Here is the list of our guides and trackers from each camp along with my listed sightings.
Nxai Pan Camp - Guide: Isaac, Tracker: Pickway
Animals: Black-backed Jackals, Male Cheetah, Oryx - maybe my favorite new animal, Springbok
Birds: Kori Bustard - largest flying bird in Africa, Guinea Fowl, Cape Glossy Starling, Ostrich, Pale Changing Goshawk, Marshall Eagle, Abdim Stork, Lapwing
Tau Pan Camp - Guide: Matt, Tracker: Scupa
Animals: Red Hartebeest, Ground Squirrels, Butterfly garden with Orange Tip, Monarch, Yellow Pansy, Brown-veined White
Birds: Crimson Breasted Shrike, Bateleur, Yellow-billed Hornbill, Yellow Canary, Red-headed Finch, Shaft-tail Whydah, Greater Kestrel
Little Kwara Camp - Guide: Josiah, Tracker: KP
Animals: Red Lechwe, Tsessebe (related to Topi in Mara), Chacma Baboons, Kudu, Vervet Monkey, Male Cheetah named “Special”, Civet Cat (night drive), Bush Baby (night drive), Steenbok (baby about size of rabbit), Slender Mongoose, African Painted Wild Dogs, Painted Reed Frog (beautiful sound)
Birds: Verreaux Eagle-Owl, Red Billed Francolin, Stripped King Fisher, African Fish Eagle, African Hawk Eagle, Go-Away Bird, Southern Ground Hornbill, Wattled Crane, Hammerhead, Little Bee-eater (flies off, returns to branch with bee over and over), Burchell’s Starling
Lagoon Camp - Guide: Spencer, Tracker: Gee
Animals: Hippos, Leopard (mother and juvenile male and female), Monitor Lizard, Reedbuck
Birds: White Egret, Spotted Thicknee, Swainson’s Spur-Fowl, Sacred Ibis, Yellow-billed Stork, Comb Ducks, 3 Banded Plover, Egyptian Goose, Red-billed Teal with ducklings, White-backed and Lappet-faced Vultures, Malibu Stork, Green Pidgeon, Common Sandpiper, Meyer’s Parrot
