Our flight from Johannesburg went without incident and we arrived in Maun, on the south eastern edge of the inland delta in central Botswana, mid afternoon, overnighted there and were picked up at 9.00am by our guide and a cook to take us into Moremi Game Reserve for the next 6 nights. Botswana is the same size as Texas with only 2 million people and 300,000 elephant among other game. We drove 4 hours from Maun, northeasterly, with Diana and I sitting in open air at the back of our Toyota Landcruiser safari vehicle.
We were a little anxious setting up camp in the amongst trees in the open where we seemed to be on the menu for any hungry predator...lion, leopard, hyena...etc or if we happened to be in the way of an elephant...then we would just get stomped on! Our guide, Joseph, top man, had no rifle but assured us that he was reasonably sure that we would be unharmed. How reasonable that was we were being left to find out. Once we had pitched tents, got the fire going and had a cuppa we headed out on our first safari drive. Within minutes we were seeing impala, zebra, wart hogs, and all manner of antelope. The country seems to be all sand and pretty much flat. Quite a lot of trees and tonnes of grass....but the elephant eats 250kgs of that per day.
"The first night in a tent under the African skies was amazing. First there was the unmistaken crashing and breaking of branches as the elephant dined, quite a constant bellowing of hippo in the river, male lions roaring to each other from different directions and then the birds calling as the sun started to rise. Rob is a very sound sleeper and without his 'aids' I was not sure how much he was hearing. At 6am a little bird whistled and whistled higher and higher until he could go no higher - pretty much like an alarm ring tone of a mobile phone! It made me laugh and then a voice from the other stretcher "It's like sleeping in a zoo"!!!!"
We stayed at 3rd Bridge Camp for three days, getting up at 6.30am for a 5-6 hour drive before heading back to camp for lunch, a quick nap (for one of us), then out again at 3.30pm for another 3 hours looking for game. We never ventured from our Toyota but we could drive very close to animals without them seeming to care at all of our presence. We saw numerous species.....I think Diana gave up counting after 20. It was great to always return to see the smiling face of our cook Tjitjo who could cook up amazing meals over the camp fire. Beef is extremely cheap in Botswana - $25 for a whole eye fillet over 30cms long!
We couldn't get much stretching of the legs. On the first day we jokingly suggested that we go for a walk and Joseph worriedly said NO! We had to assure him that there was no way we were going anywhere without him more than an arms length away. After 3 days we broke camp, packed up and headed 4 hours northeast to Khwai River camp.....more of the same except the animals seemed to be braver and this was matched by our increasing timidness. Trying to get to sleep while you can clearly hear lions roaring or hyena sniffing, sniffing....through the canvas! From marks in the sand in the morning it would appear that at some stage the nose of the hyena was about 6 inches from my nose separated by a microscopically thin piece of canvas that was struggling to keep a gnat out! But we slept on...tuckered out after a lot of driving and looking for animals. Our guide Joseph worked tirelessly trying to find every animal he could with the prize being lion and possibly a leopard and if extremely fortunate...a cheetah. We were lucky but not extremely fortunate.
After 6 days with our guide and cook it was sad to wave goodbye from our little 4 seater aeroplane as we flew south to "The Enclave" on the edge of the Okavango Delta. Here we have waiters, cooks, house maids, guides and whatever else we wish for. Unbelievably they have an open bar where you can help yourself freely to all brands of beer, wine and spirits. If only I had the same staying power as I did 40 years ago! and in saying that it reminds me that 38 years ago today Diana and I were married on a chilly Canterbury day in a small church at Fernside......time flies when you're enjoying yourself!..........and each other.
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