Safari by Boat and Jeep

This is our last day in Botswana and final safari day before we head to Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe. A river boating excursion was part of our morning safari today. On the drive over, we saw our first hyenas, drinking at the water hole near our camp. Our guides said they were staying in the area to feed on the elephant carcass (along with the vultures).

We drove farther into the (somewhat) wetter area of the delta, to a tributary where we would board dugout canoes called mokoro. They once were carved from wood, but the Botswana government became concerned about deforestation, so now they are all fiberglass. The locals use them for fishing, with a line or nets. They also use them to take tourists around, two at a time, with one man poling.

We started poling downstream until a spotter saw a hippo in the river, coming our way. A lone hippo is likely a male who has been forced out of the group by the dominant male. That means they’ve probably lost a fight and are hurt and angry. Hippos are extremely dangerous to humans in the water. Our trip leader, Nash, lost a good friend that way while leading a canoeing trip together. I expect our local makoro guides had similar stories, because they made a quick turnaround, heading for shallow water, and the spotter even got out onto the riverbank and dragged his boat for awhile. Once we got farther away, it was safe to continue with our brief river safari.

There wasn’t a lot happening on the river, although a couple of large male kudus came down to drink, and Egyptian geese were paddling around. It was very peaceful, and our guide was interesting.

Back in the jeep after the river, we found a pride of lions guarding a different elephant carcass. Every now and then, one of the males would run toward a vulture who was interested in the elephant. We think the lions were saying that they weren’t finished with their meal, just resting.

During the rest of our morning drive, we found two kinds of antelope we hadn’t seen before—the lechwe, one the most aquatic antelopes; and the tsessebe, a large, speedy antelope.

The afternoon drive yielded nothing as exciting as a leopard or lion, but we were happy to find more Lilac-breasted rollers, zebras, jackals and an ostrich!Read more