Botswana Trip Report April 2022
Our niece with her fiancée, needed a trip to Botswana to start their love affair with Africa and its wildlife. We chose the same route we did in September 2021with our nephew (her cousin) and his wife. Their leave was short so they were flying into Maun to collect their hired landcruiser from Chobe 4x4. Leaving a week earlier we decided to go via Nxai Pan to Maun as April can be very rewarding with huge herds of Zebra and Springbok grazing on the pans.
We made Maun our starting point for meeting them and from there went to Khwai Safari grounds – Savuti and Chobe.
Nxai Pan
Leaving Nata Lodge we arrived early afternoon at Nxai. The road in had one area of soft sand but nothing too serious. The animals were all out to greet us and the pan was looking fabulous after the rains. Reception was surrounded by water and mud and the roads were quite rutted, careful aim was required not to fall into them. We had mating lions and large herds of Giraffe, Zebra and Springbok. The massive Nxai pan bull elephants were around the waterholes, while the breeding herds vanished as we approached. “Lilibet”, the camp jackal was very familiar and on our last morning stole our baked bread wrapped in a dish cloth which was placed on the front seat of the vehicle. The trip to Baines Baobabs revealed flocks of Pelicans on the pans and the baobabs were in full leaf. A cold beer under the shade, looking out over the pan, was just perfect.
The overnight stop at Maun (Island Safari Lodge camp ground) saw us meeting the “kids” off the plane, picking up their vehicle and stocking up on supplies. Dinner at Okavango Brewery with friends was slightly spoilt by very loud slightly inappropriate music and song from a visiting Zimbabwean. However, their beer is highly recommended!
Khawi Safari Grounds
This is a well run campground with beautiful shady sites along the Mbudi river which flows into the Khwai .There are donkey boiler showers and toilets tastefully hidden in the bush away from the campsite. Beware elephant on the way. Campsites are out of each other’s sight.
The trip to Khawi came with its own challenges due to the vast amount of rainfall that had recently fallen. The road was interesting with massive dips that had obviously trapped many a traveller when full of water! They were now predominantly dry but horribly rutted! We were limited to the amount of game driving along the river as the water was very high. Unfortunately there were not a lot of birds or game.
Mokoro trips are run from the camp grounds at P350 per person and are well worth it. Costa is a very good camp superintendant and river guide. Generally he sticks to channels too shallow for hippo although elephant river blocks are quite common and thrilling.
We decided to cross the Mbudi river to drive around the old Khwai area which was beautiful as we had the entire area to ourselves. The river crossing was fairly deep and we knocked a couple out their mokoro as they insisted on being too close to watch and were caught by the bow wave of the car! Elephants came down to drink and walk through the camp.
Savuti
Unfortunately we had to opt for only a short portion of the marsh road (our preferred route) to Savuti before having to divert onto the sand ridge due to the very heavy rains, but the sand was no problem.
Lions were abundant and it was great to see a healthy population again. We camped in No 6 which is on the outer perimeter of the camp which affords some peace and quiet. We did a trip out to 14 sister’s baobabs which were in full leaf and looked amazing. Game was scare but the scenery good and the drives down the dry channel bed were very rewarding.
(My first trip to Savuti was in 1992 from Kasane, in a Land Rover V8. The only road was the very deep sand track through the forest reserve where one ploughed along at 15 to 20 kph in 3rd gear low range. The trip took 6 to 7 hours; there was no tar from the Ngoma gate turn off.)
Chobe
The best route out of Savuti is along the airstrip road to the gate and then left along the Linyanti cutline, a right turn takes one towards Kachikau. The trip these days takes about 4 hours and is far more relaxed than before.
We traversed the park from Ngoma gate down to Si dudu gate taking the whole day. We camped at Chobe Safari lodge and Queen was kind enough to give us the river front sites. The sites may be on the small side but the ablutions are spotless and the food on the hotel deck is always good.
Due to the high water levels river roads were closed and we decided to do more boat trips with our long time friend and guide, Spokes who runs his own mobile safari business out of Kasane (Classified Safaris). Two afternoons and one morning on the river gave us the chance to put our new mirrorless Canon cameras and lenses to the test. The new technology is truly brilliant; I do not miss the heavy 500mm F4 lens. We had good sightings of lions and birds and general game. We observed one unfortunate group of tourist submerged in the river as their driver miscalculated the depth of the water. They were taken off by boat to avoid crocodiles on the way to the river bank! The last night was celebrated with a hotel dinner on the deck before we parted ways, the kids to trade in their vehicle for an airplane ticket, and us to hit the long road to Drifters near Maun.
Dinaka Lodge -Central Kalahari
We were very fortunate that our long time friend in Maun had been given some free bed nights and when she offered them to us and mentioned Dinaka, we knew we had to go as they have the most incredible underground hide.
We set off to spend the night at Drifters and then drove along the cutline to Dinaka. After 3 weeks of camping to be ushered into an air-conditioned suite was wonderful! Staff had been advised that all we wanted to do was spend our 2 days at the hide. They obliged and gave us Tuso, an excellent guide. We were undisturbed in the hide for both days, fortunately it was somehow not on other visitors radar.
The first afternoon delivered the most unbelievable leopard sighting we have ever seen. We were talking quietly when Tuso mouthed “Leopard”; turning around there was a male leopard not 5 meters from us coming down to drink. It must be noted that the front of the hide is at ground level and fully open, about 600mm high. He drank for about 15 minutes, pausing frequently to look in the direction of the sound of our cameras. Once his thirst was slaked, curiosity overcame caution and he came to investigate us. He stopped about a meter away and stared for a while before sauntering off, and we took our first breaths in minutes! We will never forget looking into his eyes- what an experience to be able to photograph animals and birds at eye level and so close, it was truly very special. Tuso had been absolutely brilliant in reading us and the leopard and allowing the encounter to follow it course without intervention.
On a more humorous note the first night’s dinner comprising Americans, Spaniards, us and 2 Russians, a suspected oligarch and his very large bodyguard, was very interesting (the Russian war in Ukraine had just started). The Russians were the last to arrive to the table and the only two spaces left were next to us. They ate in absolute silence with eyes glued to their Smartphone’s. Tthe bodyguard’s table etiquette was off as the soup was drunk straight out of the bowl, while the boss man gave the lamb shanks a miss, he more than made up for his abstinence by eating four with his bare hands.
As they were leaving the Russian turned back, while pointedly ignoring the rest of the table he established our identity as South African, and then struck up a conversation with us regarding the old South Africa. Some very interesting questions were asked and observations made. He was most obviously a supporter of both PW Botha and Putin! The Americans were dismayed to hear they would be following him to the next camp on their tour!
After another wonderful, but less exciting, morning in the hide we were escorted to the gate (most visitors fly in) and continued home.
Some Interesting Notes
Our nephew has gone out and bought himself a fully kitted out Fortuner after our September trip.
Our niece and her fiancée, as well as her brother (camped with us some years ago) have asked us to organise a September trip to Hwange and Chobe!!
So hopefully there will be 8 of us next year!
THE BUG HAS BITTEN - OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED!
