Ogos 2022

Safari in Southern Africa

We're going on a photo-safari with friends! Overseas Adventure Travel will take us to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe to visit national parks and meet the locals. Baca lagi

Ikuti Ringkasan Kalendar Kongsi

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Permulaan perjalanan
4 Ogos 2022
Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Kongsi
Hari 2
Jumaat, 5 Ogos 2022
☀️ 70 °F
Altitud: 5,853 kaki
Afrika Selatan Hillbrow -26.189093, 28.04285826°11’21” S 28°2’34” E
Around Johannesburg
5 Ogos 2022, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F
We’re finally starting our Southern African journey (after two overnight flights) with our good friends, Nance and Sande, and their friend, Dottie. Upon arrival in Johannesburg mid-morning, we had enough energy to check out a small anthropology/archaeology museum at the Wit University.

For our second day in Johannesburg, we arranged a day tour around Johannesburg to learn about the legacy of Nelson Mandela. A lot was packed into this day.

A tour of Constitutional Hill showed us the site of the prison where both Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were incarcerated (at different times) for human rights activism. The prison has mostly been dismantled now, leaving a few remains as reminders of the atrocities visited upon the prisoners—beginning long before, but becoming especially dire under the apartheid regime, from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. Once South Africa became a democracy, the Constitutional Court was built on the site—a beautiful building with lots of symbolism built into it. Notably, the concept of justice “under the trees,” meaning full transparency of the legal process (e.g., the carpet resembles the dappled shade of trees overhead).

Another highlight was a visit to the Apartheid Museum. They had an extensive chronology of Nelson Mandela’s life and a special exhibition on Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who recently died in December 2021.

We also drove by the stadium built for the 2010 soccer World Cup. Again, symbolism abounds— its design is inspired by the African pot, or 'calabash', with terracotta cladding representing fire underneath the pot and a roofline that resembles the bubbling foam on top of a stew.Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Kongsi
Hari 3
Sabtu, 6 Ogos 2022
☀️ 86 °F
Altitud: 1,644 kaki
Afrika Selatan Karonqwe Reserve -24.195726, 30.56773924°11’45” S 30°34’4” E
Karongwe Private Game Reserve
6 Ogos 2022, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
We’ve begun our Overseas Adventure Travel pre-trip and arrived at our first safari location! We are now traveling with three others from Washington state.

The Chisomo Safari Camp in the Karongwe Private Game Reserve is a beautiful collection of tented cabins with very luxurious amenities. Full baths in each tent and beautiful lounges and dining spaces. The staff are so warm and friendly, too.

The lodge manager offers a little insight into local customs each day, and today she previewed some of the dinner preparations—impala stew cooked for several hours over a wood fire in a traditional cast iron pot. She also explained some precautions—(a) don’t go out at night without the night watchman because there are several nasty hyenas in the camp; (b) don’t leave food in your tent cabin because the baboons will get in and wreak havoc during the day while we’re out!

We’ll be here for 3 nights, and every day we’ll have two 3-hour game drives—early morning and late afternoon. For our arrival day, we went out until dark, riding in a comfortable jeep with our guide, Sondy, and tracker, Ludwik.

Dottie loves giraffes and no sooner had she mentioned to Sondy that she hoped to see one, than one came along to order! It was a pregnant female. This game reserve is known for sightings of the Big Five (elephants, leopards, lions, rhinoceros and Cape Buffalo). At one point, Sondy heard leopards calling to each other, so we set off to find them. We only got a brief glimpse of one, and we were all so surprised that no one got a good photo!

But then there were more and more animals—a herd of elephants (with some young ones), several types antelopes (nyala, kudu and impala), and lions mating, up close and personal!

What a great first day for all of us!Baca lagi
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The pictures and videos of the animal are fabulous! [CM]
8/08/22Balas
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Kongsi
Hari 4
Ahad, 7 Ogos 2022
☀️ 86 °F
Altitud: 1,640 kaki
Afrika Selatan Karonqwe Reserve -24.196335, 30.56896624°11’47” S 30°34’8” E
Zebras & Cheetahs; Elephants at Dinner
7 Ogos 2022, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
At Chisomo camp here in Karowange preserve, the day begins with a wake-up call at 5:30am to make a 6am getaway to find animals on the reserve. There’s only time for a quick coffee or tea and to say ‘hi’ to some of the other (non-OAT) travelers staying before we go. So far we’ve met an extended family group from Cape Town, an interpreter for a group of Italians and a solo traveler from Zurich.

Our OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) group has decided to rotate through the tiered jeep seating, so this morning we sit at the back with the highest vantage point. Ludwick, as our tracker, sits on a kind of jump seat out over the front of the jeep.

It was mostly dark when we left the lodge, but very soon the sky glowed a vivid orange. First up, a group of male Burchell’s Zebras, also called Plains Zebras. Their stripe pattern includes a shadowy stripe between the black stripes on their rump. Followed by: three cheetah brothers sunning on a rock, giraffes, rhinoceros, birds (owls, ibis, vultures and more) — and warthogs in our camp. And there are countless impala, along with the occasional nyala and kudu—different types of antelope. We encountered the cheetahs later in the day after a good feed, because they were quite docile and were licking each other after the meal. They have a cute meowing voice, quite like a pet cat—check out our video.

After lunch, we had a talk by a conservation and enforcement ranger. Precious is 26 years old and studied conservation in college. Her main job is to protect the animals at Karowange private preserve from poachers. She trains dogs to track humans and when she catches a poacher she will turn them over to government law enforcement. Sadly, there is a lot of corruption and she may catch that poacher again the next week due to lax enforcement. She knows full well that she is as much a target as the animals she is protecting—she is standing in the way of a lucrative, well-organized (think mafia) business. We were quite taken aback when she said she is ready to lay down her life to protect the wildlife here.

We were very happy with our first full day on safari, having had two game drives, and then came dinner time. A herd of elephants broke through the electric fence around the camp and wandered around the camp, right past our cabin. We were already in the open-air dining tent, but watched them all through dinner as they crashed around in the trees to feed on tree branches and leaves.Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Kongsi
Hari 5
Isnin, 8 Ogos 2022
☀️ 88 °F
Altitud: 1,644 kaki
Afrika Selatan Karonqwe Reserve -24.1957, 30.567724°11’45” S 30°34’4” E
Elephants and Hippos; Bushwalk
8 Ogos 2022, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
Another day here at Karongwe private reserve.

Today we found our fifth of the Big Five, the African buffalo aka Cape Buffalo. The four others are lions, leopard (saw just one), rhinos and elephants. That’s in addition to the many other species we’ve seen here on the reserve.

Between the early morning drive and the late afternoon drive, we did a bush walk. Our guides showed us tracks and talked about the uses of plants and even dung. Elephant dung has several uses. It contains a lot of twigs and grass in it because ellies (South African nickname) have such poor digestion. African people will burn it and inhale the smoke to cure a headache. For a stomachache, they will soak it in water and drink the ‘tea.’

Another thing about elephants is that they are smart enough to know that when they want to eat the leaves of certain trees, they need to break the trunk before the tree can send tannins into its leaves as a defense mechanism. We also watched an elephant break off small tree branches and strip the bark off to get at the inner cambium layer which contains water and nutrients.

One of today’s highlights was not even connected to our ‘formal’ program of game drives. We walked out on our own to a large pond on the reserve where hippos, birds and other species were known to hang out. For nearly an hour we watched a group of hippos sunbathing on the sandy shore and not moving a muscle—not great entertainment. But we got to see a crocodile, many turtles, some birds and an African Fish eagle. And there was one elephant nearby, playing around in the water and mud. Suddenly, the hippos all got up and hustled into the water — the rest of the elephant herd had come to occupy the beach. It was great entertainment and we’re glad we didn’t give up!Baca lagi
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Your trip seems awesome between the museums, animals, and friends! Thanks for allowing me to follow it. [Rachael]
10/08/22Balas
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Kongsi
Hari 6
Selasa, 9 Ogos 2022
☀️ 79 °F
Altitud: 1,657 kaki
Afrika Selatan Maruleng -24.18603, 30.53937824°11’10” S 30°32’22” E
Farewell Karongwe; Monkey Tales
9 Ogos 2022, Afrika Selatan ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
(We have a short window of wi-if and are catching up on some of our stories.)

For our last day at camp, we got in one more early morning game drive. We hoped to find another leopard, but it didn’t want to be found. Still, we had several good animal and bird sightings: giraffes, waterbuck, a small antelope called the Common Duiker, owls, hornbill and more. Heading back to camp for breakfast-time, we had an elephant roadblock. It gave us an excellent opportunity to observe their tree-grazing behavior—stripping off the bark of small branches to get to the softer, moist layer beneath (it is the dry season after all).

After breakfast, we had time for a quick visit to the hippo pond. They were sunbathing again, but no ellies driving them away this time. A very large crocodile made his way across the pond, and a smaller bird was dive-bombing the eagle, who was probably too close to its nest. Along the way, we found lots of Vervet monkeys hanging around the camp.

Soon it was time to fly back to Johannesburg in preparation for our departure for Zimbabwe tomorrow. Along the drive to the airport, baboons were hanging out eating oranges left behind from the recently harvested groves that lined the road.

A story from yesterday: while we were out on our afternoon game drive, the troop of baboons living near the camp ripped the canvas of six of the 24 tents — including ours. They got inside, opened the mini-fridge, which was behind a cabinet door, but since we didn’t have anything in it they left. But first they investigated our Yahtzee game box. It needed a lot of taping to put back together, but all the pieces were there, and no dice were lost.Baca lagi
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That’s funny. It reminds me Darryl of your cribbage board and the bear. [Lora]
14/08/22Balas
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 8
Khamis, 11 Ogos 2022
☀️ 86 °F
Altitud: 3,035 kaki
Zimbabwe Hwange District -18.570547, 26.38268318°34’14” S 26°22’58” E
Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
11 Ogos 2022, Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
Yesterday was a big travel day, flying from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, then going by bus and jeep to Hwange National Park. Seven other OAT travelers joined our group of eight—two friends of the Washingtonians, one friend of Dottie and Nance and Sande, and a couple from Philadelphia and a couple from San Diego. Our group of eight on the pre-trip had been so cohesive, but the newcomers are fitting in well, whew!

As we drove for 2 hours, our OAT trip leader, Tinashe (Nash) oriented us to the country (about the size of California), and its politics (rampant corruption) and to the park and its wildlife (park is about the size of Belgium and is the largest national park in Zimbabwe; known as the elephant capital of the country).

We are staying at Kashawange Safari Camp in Hwange National Park, another tented camp. Each tent has its own bathroom and we have a view to the east over a river valley (mostly dry now). There really are only two seasons—wet (summer) and dry (winter). The rains will begin in November here.

It is a bit warmer here, now that we are farther north, although still chilly for the morning game drives. Our last camp gave us blankets and hot water bottles for our laps in the morning. The large animals are much more elusive here, compared to the game reserve in South Africa. Our guide for the drives has been Victor, and he is great about teaching us about the plants and birds. For example:

• With the crocodile bark tree, you can make a tea from the roots to cure snake bite; if you chew the leaves and put them on a wound it helps the blood to clot; and its good for making roof beams and cooking utensils.

• Dried wild basil, which smells like eucalyptus or menthol, has been found to be a COVID treatment (inhaling steam from an infusion)

• White-browed sparrow weaver birds build basket-like nests on the lee side of trees, out of the wind. They build several decoy nests to confuse their predators. The male builds the nest and the female inspects it. If she doesn’t like it, she tears it up!

• Names for groups of animals: Rank of impala, Sounder of warthogs, Dazzle of zebra; Business of mongoose; Parade of elephantsBaca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Kongsi
Hari 9
Jumaat, 12 Ogos 2022
☀️ 86 °F
Altitud: 2,300 kaki
Zimbabwe Hwange District -18.357468, 26.59979618°21’27” S 26°35’59” E
Life in a Hwange Village
12 Ogos 2022, Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
Part of the OAT experience is to learn about the people in the places we are visiting. We set off on the 45-minute jeep ride from our camp, then the hour-long bus ride to a ‘shopping center’ (series of very small buildings) to pick up some groceries for the family homestead we would be visiting. This is one homestead of many that make up the 2,000-person Dick village.

The head family has hosted OAT groups before and seems to welcome visitors. The matriarch, Francesca, showed us around the camp—the living quarters, the goat pen (baby goats!), chicken coop, and how they build their houses. We helped them fix some traditional foods—polenta (sadsa); a spinach and other vegetable dish with peanut butter; and Mopane worms (caterpillars), which are washed, dried in the sun and then sautéed with onions and other vegetables. They were a little chewy, but quite tasty.

Most of the family members were away at a meeting (we didn’t find out what), and the children were over at another homestead. But Francesca and her husband Phillip invited about 8 other neighbors (all women, of varying ages) to welcome us and help with the demonstrations. After our meal, we were able to ask them questions about their life, and the women asked us questions. They wanted to know about marriage arrangements (does the man pay a dowry, etc.). Also, why do American women only have two kids—don’t their husbands love them? It was great to have a two-way exchange of information and didn’t feel awkward or voyeristic. They seemed proud to share their lifestyle with us.

Before leaving, we brought over all the staple foods we’d bought (OAT paid), and the women sang and danced.

On the jeep drive later, we saw more elephants (there are 45,000 in the National park), and our guide, Albert, stopped for interesting demonstrations—many based on his childhood activities, and augmented by his studies to be a licensed guide. For example: the spear grass can be pulled apart to make darts. So when the boys would be out with the grazing cows and goats, the loser of the dart game would be the one who had to go fetch the herd when they got too far away. A fascinating phenomenon of the spear grass is that by moistening the seed end of a strand of it in your mouth, it will curl and spiral like it has a little motor in it. This is how the seed is planted into the ground when the rains start.

We’ll catch you up at the next wi-fi opportunity!Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 10
Sabtu, 13 Ogos 2022
☀️ 84 °F
Altitud: 3,599 kaki
Zambia Mumbwa District -14.607583, 26.17332114°36’27” S 26°10’24” E
Zimbabwean Coal Miner; Onward to Zambia
13 Ogos 2022, Zambia ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
Before we left Zimbabwe, we met with a coal miner who told us some sobering stories about the exploitation of the local workers. For a number of years, the workers weren’t receiving cash salaries—just housing and food parcels that weren’t enough for a large family. Now that Chinese investors have taken over the mines, meager salaries have returned, but safety and living conditions are no better. The miners do not have the financial means to access adequate food, medical care, and education (which is not free) for their families. The miners fear reprisal or loss of employment if they try to fight for better wages. With unemployment in the country in excess of 80%, they can’t just find other work; plus they’d have to find and pay for new housing.

The Zimbabwean government does nothing to help—with such rampant corruption, the ministers and regulators are in lockstep with the new Chinese mine owners and benefiting financially. These talks are what OAT calls “controversial topics,’ meant to take visitors out of their comfort zone and teach us about things the government (or the world) may not want to talk about.

On a more upbeat note, we got a quick drive-by visit to one of the primary schools the OAT foundation is supporting. A portion of our trip fees, along with private donations, provides books, computer and technical equipment, some teacher salaries and one free meal a day for needy students. On a less upbeat note, OAT has had to find a workaround to deal with the corrupt Zimbabwean government. For a while, the government was pocketing the donations of school funds. Now donations of school supplies go through Rotary International.

Two 8-seater planes took our group to Kafue National Park in Zambia. Already, we could see that the land was a bit less dry. Our new camp, Lufupa River Camp, is located on the Kafue River. All of our tent cabins and the open-air dining room face the river. We can see hippos and the occasional croc in the river, and vervet monkeys live in the trees. We had a nice, musical greeting from all of the staff (see video).Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 11
Ahad, 14 Ogos 2022 9:47 PG
⛅ 73 °F
Altitud: 3,570 kaki
Zambia Lufupa -14.610117, 26.19497514°36’36” S 26°11’42” E
Leopards and Warthogs
14 Ogos 2022, Zambia ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F
Well, if the last park was all about elephants, this one (for us) will be all about leopards. It can be very rare to find leopards in the national park. The previous OAT group visiting Kafue didn’t see any for their three-day visit — so we know we are lucky.

The grasslands were covered in mist as the sunrise glowed on the horizon for our morning game drive. The Puku, another type of antelope, were out grazing. We suspected a predator may be nearby since they were all looking one direction, and not at us. Sure enough, as we drove around some more, we found a leopard tracking a lone puku. But we were told that since the puku had its eyes on the leopard the whole time, the leopard was unlikely to attack. The puku can usually outrun a leopard, and are only caught if surprised. We were able to follow the leopard for awhile, going off-road in our jeep. That was exciting!

More driving took us past several different kinds of birds, more puku and impalas, and several interesting trees. The Ilala palm was originally planted by the Portuguese to guide them along a route to water, but now the palms are scattered all over. The fruit can be used to make wine, and the inner leaves are like cabbage (hearts of palm?). We saw a Giant Kingfisher catch a fish.

We had just rounded a large termite mound when we heard squealing and saw a warthog running in circles at the base of a tree, clearly agitated. Up in the tree was a different leopard that had just caught it’s morning meal—a baby warthog. The mom walked away and the leopard stayed in the tree staring at us, all the while with the dead warthog in its jaws. Eventually it must have wanted to eat in peace, so it climbed down and walked into the bushes with its prey. The circle of life in action.

Back at camp, we went on a little walk around camp, and were taught about more of the native plants and their medicinal and culinary uses.

The evening game drive was relatively uneventful, except for nearly being charged by an elephant! Apparently, the mom didn’t like us getting close to her baby. We were sitting in our jeep on the road, but mom seemed to be getting agitated—swinging her trunk around. Then suddenly, she flared out her ears, took some running steps toward us and trumpeted loudly. We cleared out in a hurry!

Every evening at sundown, we have a little happy hour called a Sundowner. Tonight we stopped near the river and watched saddle-billed stork and hippos in the water as the sun glowed orange on the horizon.Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 12
Isnin, 15 Ogos 2022
☀️ 88 °F
Altitud: 3,566 kaki
Zambia Lufupa -14.617405, 26.19113814°37’3” S 26°11’28” E
A Day on the Rivers
15 Ogos 2022, Zambia ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
Today was a dust-free, bounce-free day spent in shaded pontoon boats on the Kafue and Lufupa Rivers. Rafts of hippos were semi-submerged in the water, keeping their skin moist from the sun. If they ducked under the water completely, they’d come up spraying water like a whale. We were told that hippos don’t swim, they walk along the river bottom, sometimes munching on water plants—but they like land grasses better.

Nile crocodiles lined the banks, and we were introduced to many native birds, including three varieties of kingfisher. The African fish eagle is the national bird of Zambia. Everyone knows its call because it is always played before the national news. The news is broadcast in the seven most dominant of the 72 different languages in Zambia (one for each tribe). English is the official language, making 73 languages in Zambia.

In the middle of the day, between our river safaris, we had free time to play dice Catan in the lounge by the river. Later, Helen, the camp manager, gave a presentation on some of the traditions of Zambia, and showed us how they make peanut butter—which is used in everything from their morning porridge to their dinner vegetables (delicious!).

With the cooler temperatures on our sunset cruise, some of the hippos had moved up to the banks and the crocs were a bit more active. Back in camp, our dinner featured fresh-caught tilapia, thanks to a couple of our fellow travelers and our guides.Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 13
Selasa, 16 Ogos 2022
☀️ 90 °F
Altitud: 3,054 kaki
Botswana Chobe -17.939062, 24.70478817°56’21” S 24°42’17” E
Onward to Botswana
16 Ogos 2022, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F
After breakfast and fond farewells to all the Kafue Camp staff, a short jeep ride took us to the grass airstrip of “Lufupa International Airport,” as they call it.

From there, we boarded a bus to take us to our next camp at Chobe National Park in Botswana. While still in Zambia, we stopped at a market for locals, to see the vast array of items on sale, including: bars of soap (you break off what you want from a long waxy-looking green bar), fresh vegetables, dried fish, spices, junky plastic Chinese items, and loads of used clothing. They’d rather have used clothes from the U.S. than the new items they get from China, because they are more durable. We talked to a vegetable seller about the small white eggplant she was selling and to a miscellany seller who asked us about our current and past president. Everyone speaks English here, along with their local dialect.

Further along the way to camp, still in Zambia, we stopped at Mosi-oa-tunya National Park to see some white rhinos. Poaching is such a problem for white rhinos that in this small park, each rhino is assigned two rangers to guard them, each in 12-hour shifts to monitor and protect them.

Crossing the border, we were at the junction of four countries—Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Baobab Safari Camp, our home for the next three nights, is located along the river that divides northern Botswana from Namibia. In a couple of months this river will dry up and it will be tough times for the animals (food and water-wise). In six months, it may be flooded and the animals will have plenty of food and water and will not cluster around the river like they do now.

The afternoon game drive featured baboons with babies on their backs, giraffes browsing in the trees and a sunset happy hour at the river.Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 14
Rabu, 17 Ogos 2022
☀️ 88 °F
Altitud: 3,143 kaki
Botswana Chobe -17.931217, 24.715717°55’52” S 24°42’57” E
Botswana Marshland Animals and Birds
17 Ogos 2022, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
After breakfast, we set off with our guide, Ban, into Chobe National Park. We were going to meander along the river to see what we could see, but Ban heard on the radio that there were some lions out, which is pretty rare. So we zoomed along the bumpy, sandy road to the sighting. Two young males and three females were lounging in the shade in a protected brushy area, away from prying eyes (they thought!). Ban thought they may have had an early morning meal, as their bellies looked full and they were quite content to sleep or quietly watch us as we quietly watched them.

After that, the other animals didn’t want to feel left out—with zebras, waterbucks, giraffes, elephants and baboons making an appearance. We saw a sable antelope for the first time, grazing among impala and zebras, until it decided they were infringing on its territory and chased them away. We also found a number of birds while out today, including a vibrant turquoise bird called a Greater blue-eared glossy starling, yellow-billed storks and a tawny eagle. We ended the day with some giraffes feeding at the water’s edge, splaying their legs to reach the ground, and a pride of lions thinking about hunting some Cape Buffalo.

Earlier in the afternoon, a couple of village women came over to our camp to show us how they do basket weaving. It was interesting to hear how they dye the palm strands nowadays. Blue comes from carbon paper they get from the shops that use it for receipts; pink come from Kool-Ade; brown comes from rusty cans and bark. The women are part of a crafts collective, consisting of 11 women and 2 men. A simple plate-type basket takes 4-8 hours to make. Some larger baskets might take a month to finish.

Each safari camp we’ve been to has its own guides, and they have all been so amazing—full of details about plants, animals and birds, as well as tidbits of knowledge from their time growing up in the village. The camps have all been run by a company called Wilderness Safaris, which sounds like a very responsible company. They hire most of their staff from the nearby community/villages, and during the COVID tourism shutdown, they supported not only their employees, but whole villages with food supplies. They also require guides to take refresher courses each year for three weeks to keep their knowledge up-to-date. Wilderness Safaris sends out auditors to ensure the camps are recycling waste properly and running the camps in a sustainable fashion.Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 15
Khamis, 18 Ogos 2022
⛅ 90 °F
Altitud: 3,061 kaki
Botswana Kabulabula -17.83437, 24.99434717°50’4” S 24°59’40” E
All-day Safari: Chobe National Park
18 Ogos 2022, Botswana ⋅ ⛅ 90 °F
On most days, we would set out for a morning game drive around 7am until around 11am, then take an afternoon/evening drive beginning around 3:30 or 4pm. But because Chobe is so big, and because we have to be out of the park by 6:30pm, we maximized our allowable time today, going out for 8-9 hours straight (with stops for morning tea and lunch).

Today we spent a lot more time near the river’s edge, watching storks (yellow-billed, Maribou and open-beaked), herons, great numbers of white pelicans, and so many more of the animals we’ve seen before, but never get tired of seeing. We got to observe more of how the elephant herd protects its young, circling around them as they walk, and making sure they are nearby adults at all times.

Our lunchtime picnic was somewhat disturbed by mischievous vervet monkeys who stole from people’s plates if they weren’t watching carefully.

We are fascinated by Baobab trees, which are unique looking and have an edible fruit. Some 500 years ago, before elephants were as prolific as they are now, large baobabs were everywhere. But now, the juvenile trees are munched down before they can grow to full-size.

In the late afternoon, Ban (guide) gave a talk on Botswana’s policy around poachers. In the 1990s, Botswana’s rhino population had dwindled to 19 animals due to poaching of the animals for their horn. As we’ve mentioned before, poaching is a hugely organized (and well-armed) business.

At that time, the 19 were sent to a sanctuary to breed, and in 2001 Botswana game wardens introduced 34 rhinos into the wild and monitored them with chips in their horns. But before long, they began losing rhinos and wardens. So in 2013, the government introduced a policy of shoot-to-kill; poachers get one warning and if they don’t surrender, they are shot. The rhino population increased to over 500 in the wild. In 2018, the new president suspended the policy due to conflicts with neighboring countries. Botswana has lost 92 rhinos since then. It’s a dilemma—should they protect the animals (and their tourism industry), or pay more attention to human rights?Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Tambah ke senarai baldiKeluarkan dari senarai baldi
Kongsi
Hari 16
Jumaat, 19 Ogos 2022
☀️ 75 °F
Altitud: 3,100 kaki
Botswana Namakha Island -19.519112, 23.62860519°31’9” S 23°37’43” E
Okavango Delta, Botswana
19 Ogos 2022, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
We’ve flown about an hour south of Chobe National Park to Santawani Camp. The camp features a shallow watering hole within easy view of the camp main area. All kinds of creatures wander down here to drink.

After the warm greetings we’ve come to expect from Wilderness Safaris’ staff, and the tasty and healthy lunch, we went out on our first game drive. We are at the far edge of the Okavango Delta, which at this time of year is extremely dry. The upside is that mosquitoes are nearly non-existent (helped by cooler temperatures here—especially at night, brr!). Because we’re not in a national park, we can also drive anywhere. There is so much brush land, I don’t think we’re being too destructive—certainly not more than the elephants. Our guide, Gully, drives the Land Rover over small fallen logs, mows down sage brush, or whatever it takes to get to the wildlife. He’d gotten word on the radio about a female lion and some juvenile offspring (around 6 years old), so off we went. They were mostly resting, but it was still thrilling to see lions after not seeing them since our first days at the private reserve.

Soon, we heard that our guide in the other jeep had found a mother lion with three baby cubs in the open. This is very unusual, since the mothers usually hide their babies in a den or deep brush to protect them from predators or a non-parent male. Non-parent males will kill babies to be able to establish their own pride of offspring. The little cubs were around 2 months old, a bit unsteady on their feet, and as playful as kittens—dried elephant dung, or mom’s tail, or a stick makes a great toy.

After that, we went in search of papa lion. The guides felt that the mom didn’t hide the babies because papa was somewhere nearby. Soon we found him sitting near the hollowed out carcass of an elephant that had been killed a couple of days ago, possibly by him or another male in the pride. Vultures were circling, but they wouldn’t come near while the lion was there.

A herd of elephants was hovering nearby, wanting to get to their fallen comrade. Elephants hold a type of memorial for their dead, where they gather around and stand completely still for a few minutes — even the babies don’t move an ear or make a twitch. They will do this even if they come upon an elephant skeleton that has been scattered by hyenas. They will push the bones together and hold their moment of silence.

Another beautiful African sunset finished off the drive. During the night and part of the morning, the sound of a lion was disturbingly close to our tent cabin! But we learned later that the lion was just establishing its territory, and was not in hunting mode.Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 17
Sabtu, 20 Ogos 2022
☀️ 79 °F
Altitud: 3,100 kaki
Botswana Namakha Island -19.517403, 23.65008719°31’3” S 23°39’0” E
Lions, a Leopard & One Unlucky Impala
20 Ogos 2022, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
In the morning, we set off with Gully to continue tracking the male lion and to see if it had found its buddy or its brother in the pride. We found the one male pretty easily, but the other one was nowhere to be found. He is an impressive beast, with a full mane. You can hear his call in the video as he’s trying to find his pal—same as what we heard overnight.

While out in the bush, we saw a black-backed jackal, elephants, giraffes, warthogs, birds and a couple of‘slender mongoose.’ We also ran across the lionesses and their juveniles—no sightings of the mom with the cute cubs.

The other jeep’s guide, Fahna, spotted drag marks and leopard tracks. He followed the tracks to a spot where where the leopard had stashed a freshly killed impala in a tree and was pacing below. By the time we got there, the leopard was eating away on its dinner in the tree.

At our sundown happy hour, Darryl spotted a lion slowly making its way toward us. We all gathered near the two jeeps and soon it turned and walked away, whew!Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 18
Ahad, 21 Ogos 2022
☀️ 81 °F
Altitud: 3,107 kaki
Botswana Ngamiland East -19.531253, 23.55248819°31’53” S 23°33’9” E
Safari by Boat and Jeep
21 Ogos 2022, Botswana ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F
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!Baca lagi
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Safari in Southern Africa Diane and Darryl
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Hari 19
Isnin, 22 Ogos 2022
⛅ 84 °F
Altitud: 2,671 kaki
Zambia Victoria Falls Bridge -17.928883, 25.8576317°55’44” S 25°51’27” E
Cascades, A Bridge Walk & Bargaining
22 Ogos 2022, Zambia ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F
Two days ago we flew from Botswana to Zimbabwe to stay in the tourist town of Victoria Falls. Soon after arrival, we walked along the 16 viewpoints of the falls. At one mile wide, it is the widest of the big three waterfalls (Niagara and Iguazu are the other two). It is nearing the driest time of the year, but the flows were still impressive.

That evening, we were hosted in small groups by several families for dinner. We, Nance, Sande and Dottie really enjoyed our visit with this very modern family, not at all like the village visit we had earlier in the trip. The mother used to be a teacher, but as the Zimbabwean government changed, it eventually became impossible for her to make a living teaching to contribute to their family income. Now she buys or finds items to sell in a market. She calls it hustling. Her husband is a whitewater rafting guide and was away in South Africa. We met her two daughters—15-year old Tyra and 25-year old Kimberly, and her 28-year old son, Troy, his fiancé, Praise, and their one-year old son, Sia. Kim is a software developer, Troy is a waiter, Praise does event planning, and Tyra is a junior in high school and got a little help with her Chemistry homework from Sande and Darryl.

The next day, we took a tour of the historic Victoria Falls bridge across the Zambezi River, which divides Zimbabwe and Zambia (formerly Northern and Southern Rhodesia). The tour started with a presentation by an actor portraying the bridge designer and chief construction engineer, Georges Imbault, a 22-year old Frenchman at the time he was hired on in 1903. He set the stage for us to understand what a feat of engineering this structure really is. It was fabricated at a steel factory in England, then shipped to Mozambique, and then transported by rail to Victoria Falls and put back together. The bridge was constructed simultaneously on each side of the river. At the end of a hot day, as the two sides were ready to be joined in the middle, it was found that they overlapped by about 1¼ inches and could not be riveted in place. Bad news! However, in the morning, it was found that the bridge had contracted in the cool of the night to exactly 1¼ inches, and the two sections were quickly connected.

Soon it was time for our “inspection” of the bridge. Once suited up in harnesses with cable carabiners, we walked across the catwalk on the underside of the bridge, staying clipped into the cables all the while, and getting to see all of the details “Georges” pointed out. After reaching the Zambian side, we climbed up to the roadbed of the bridge and walked back into Zimbabwe (no passports required). A good tour!

After lunch at the lush grounds of our hotel, we went in search of some handicrafts to bring home. After so little business for the past two years, the merchants are pushing their wares perhaps more aggressively than usual. It was a bit stressful, but we managed to find a few things we liked.

Soon it was time for our sunset cruise on the mighty Zambezi River. The hippos were gathered in large groups, getting ready to head ashore to graze for the evening. But first they had to show us who’s boss by opening their mouths WIDE!

Starting tomorrow, we head to the UK for a few days to break up the long trip home. It’s been fun sharing our African adventure with you, thanks for following along!Baca lagi
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Tamat perjalanan
28 Ogos 2022