Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

After a hearty breakfast we went out with Sam on safari. We drove about 45 minutes to the ferry that crosses the Botiti River to the Makgadikgadi National Park. It was a fairly rudimentary ferry and would never pass any sort of safety standards in Australia - more like a floating raft consisting of drums tied together with an outboard.
We cruised the Kalahari scrubland and the banks of the Botiti looking for animals. We saw elephant, steenbok, kudu, giraffe, wildebeest, hippopotamus, jackal, zebra, vultures and numerous other interesting birds.
When we stopped for lunch we were parked on the edge of the river near a herd of elephants who were drinking/playing in it. We were also near a tree that had been used as a post bath scratching tree. We were preparing our lunch at the front of the land cruiser when an elephant popped over the bank, obviously heading to his favourite tree for a bit of a scratch. We were instructed to stand very still, which we did. The elephant stared at us in a curious way. He didn't look aggressive but it was still a tense moment. He eventually moved on up the sand bank. Most of the elephants in the national park are male this year. It is because conditions have been dry and the females and babies don't migrate when it is like that. Because the groups we were encountering were all male we could get quite close to them. They had no reason to be aggressive as it was not mating season and there were no female elephants around.
We arrived back in camp at about 5:30pm after being out since 8am. The evening dinners are lovely here - the table is always set nicely and the food is very nice. The people who work here are extremely hospitable and the Batswanans very friendly in general. There is low crime here in Botswana and as a consequence you feel quite safe.Read more