Enclave Safari

Our little plane was a four seater very similar to the plane I learned to fly 30 years ago and although I sat in the copilot seat I didn't wish to inform Mark that I could take over if he wanted a break. Upside down in the sand below we would surely be tucker for the lion.

Safari at the Enclave is different to our first 6 days. Here, we start in a dugout canoe, freeboard is about 2 inches and is ok as long

as we don't encounter a hippo on our path. We did last night and our guide turned us around and we abandoned that safari and went for a tour in another part of the delta. We have been 3 times across the delta through reeds and a bit of hippo poo, across a river to a small island where we land the makoro (dugout) and then walk....a walking safari. The first two were of little event. An elephant at 400 metres, 3 giraffe at 800 metres and numerous impala don't really get the blood pumping now....spoilt we know. 

Yesterday we were away as usual just on sunrise, into the makoro, through the reeds, watch out for hippo, quickly across the river and onto dry land again...takes about 10 minutes....the water only 40cms deep except for the river which is 3-4 metres deep and flowing quite well. With resident hippo and crocodile....always exciting.

Once on land we are off walking......for about 3 hours, cool to start but by 9.00am we are stripped down to shirts. We see plenty of small game including little fellows like this ugly warthog.

This morning a herd of impala were snorting...a sort of sneezing noise and the baboon were sounding an alarm. Reps, our local tracker/guide pointed to big pussy cat prints an excitedly said "....lion..six..". We increased our speed, jogging at times...Diana thinking we were heading away from the pride and was shocked to see a lioness about 60 metres in front of us. A quick discussion ensued regarding health and safety and hazard identification and off we went again. We saw two lionesses, Reps saw the others including two males and our wee hearts were beating as fast as a cicada chirps.   It seemed strange to be tracking such a large cat on foot in their domain with nary a tree within 100 metres. I think that if the lion had turned Usain Bolts 100 metre record would have been broken! We are 8 hours later and still buzzing about that. Tomorrow is our last morning safari.......not sure we will better this morning.

Into Africa .. ..

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.

8th June......

    It was an early start this morning for the next phase of our journey. The traffic in Johannesburg has been pretty horrendous on some of the drives we've had so we allowed plenty of time to get to the airport. There was hardly any cars today so we had a long wait!         

 Our flight to Maun in the North of Botswana went without a hitch despite a 15 minute stopover in the capitol which had to include immigration and picking up our bags!! I suppose the fact there is only one arrival and departure around that time helped. We were met at the airport by our Safari personnel. We have one night in a quiet lodging by the river that is slowly increasing in size every day due to the tropical rains of Angola.....a long way North. They are worried their will not be as much this year. The town of Maun is small and a very spread out affair. No walking here the lady said so that stymied any thought of stretching the legs a bit. The taxi came and despite an interesting complete cut across a corner in the dark got us the 7 km for 50Pula (about $5)  to a Sports Bar for a pizza, 2 beers and dessert for $26. Now we are well rested, awaking to all sorts of interesting sounds......lots of birds and a donkey. We are waiting in anticipation for our Guide to arrive and take us on a 6 day camping safari. A few more photos then I am sure.