Safari in Botswana... encounter with wild animals

Another dream I had since I was a little girl... a reality now, a fantastic experience and loads of emotions...

As for Morocco, I went on an organized tour knowing I would be with 11 other people and hoping that they all would be easy going and fun to be with. No worries bro, it's been choice! We were from all over the world, Andy and Ilona from Germany, Brad and Alanna from Oz and Ireland, Vero and Claire from France but living in Germany and Switzerland, Gretchen from the USA, Joy and Jerry from Holland and Tchekoslovaquia but living in Oz, Cathy and Graham from Scotland and England. Awesome people, very laid back, no whinging, lots of laugh and we all got on well. We had 3 guides with us, Sam, Lazarus and Press and Israel to help with driving, loading and unloading.

The journey was of 14 days, an itinerary in the wild across Botswana, starting from Job'urg, South Africa and ending at the Victoria falls, Zambia. 14 days sleeping in tents, staying usually 1 or 2 nights at the same camp, some time with real showers, some time with bucket showers...

Back to the roots, camp fires at nights, up before the sunset, 5 to 6am to do our first game safari before it's too hot, back for lunch, rest until 4 or 5pm for the last game drive, return after the sunset and in bed around 9pm... a very biological rythm, kind of tough at the start after the long trip from Europe, but it felt pretty natural after a few days and no need to put the alarm clock on, naturally awaken everyday at 5:30am... some people would think: weird holidays hey bro?

So here I am in Jo'burg, exhausted from the trip as I could not get any sleep in the plane. A few hours of rest only at the hotel as I had signed up for a trip in the afternoon to go to Soweto, a famous suburb where Mandela, Desmond Tutu and other SA leaders were from. Interesting trip: we saw how black people had been set up outside the city by white people, hence the name apartheid, with no right to own nor their house or the land, and with a certain number of persons allowed to live in the house only... All brought there to work in the mines and factories.

We visited the very worthwhile Hector Pieterson museum retracing the uprising of 1976when students rebelled against the use of english at school and were assaulted by the police which led to the death of a student to begin with, then to the exile and death of many other kids.
Of course Soweto has changed a lot since the end of apartheid and houses now look much better than they used to as people now own them and have done some work on them. Streets have been improved and it is a real city with a huge hospital.

Driving around, we turned up in a traditional wedding... our guide told us it was ok and no worries to go and see the bride, so we all got off the car, made our way through the big tent set up outside for the party and gave our congratulations to the bride and groom. The guests all smiled at us, showing no surprise but a real interest, even taking pics while we were busy taking pics of the bride... a funny 'wedding crashers experience' which seems to be common there, you can even have lunch with them. There were a lot of people wearing a traditional costume and the food looked yummy... too bad we did not stay as I was starving and would have loved to try the local dishes!!!

Lucky I went on this tour as I realized I had forgotten my memory card... I rushed to Soweto's mall and got myself a 4Go one which allowed me to take more than 1,000 pics! Imagine once in the wild with no camera... I would not be publishing this post...

Ready for the adventure? Go! The 1st day was mainly a pretty long drive from Jo'burg to our first animal encounter, Kama Rhino Sanctuary. We all got on board this beautiful red truck allowing us to have a good sight seeing during the trip. Left around 7am, we got there around 4pm, set up the tents and went for our first game drive. We first got stuck in the sand, having to push the truck to break free,

then we saw our first animals: giraffes and zebras. I could not help but screaming out load when I saw my girst giraffe, such a beautiful, elegant and sweet animal:

We could not stay long as we had to spot the rhinos... they were quite impressive and we got lucky as we saw them pretty close, just before the sunset:

Another long drive on the 2nd day to reach Maun, our base camp to buy food and drinks, change money before starting the real stuff. Here again, no much time to chill out, a quick dive and swim in the swimming pool and off for a scenic plane trip above the Okavango Delta where we were heading to the following days. It was cool to board on this small aircraft, only 5 passengers, have an overview of the delta and spot animals: a few elephants, giraffes, zebras here and there, a big herd of buffalos. Not as many as I expected though as I had pictured what you see on documentaries... but a nice experience, I loved it when the pilot turned hard out on one side, the sensation felt wicked!

Day 3, starting the real stuff then, off to the Okavango Delta reserve. The drive was pretty amazing in our new open truck, skidding on the soft sand, crossing rivers, it felt like living the Camel Trophy!

We discovered beautiful and pretty dry landscapes,

met smiling kids when crossing local villages:

We saw heaps of termite constructions, sometime as high as trees,

Then we saw our first antilopes, the very common 'impalas' who are very easy to differentiate from others as they have a black M like the one of Mc donalds on their ass...

We finally arrived at the end of our truck trip where local people were waiting to take us to our wild camp in the bush on Mokoros, the local boats, with all our stuff, camping gear and food.

It was unbelievably hot that day at 12:00pm and we had not been prepared to such a heat... it was a beautiful boat ride, and our first encounter with our friends the hippos... making so funny sounds!

Local people helped us set up the camp, a real wild one with a bucket shower and toilet...

We went for our first walk at the end of our afternoon with our new guide Louis, to meet the animals on their territory... it was simply amazing...
Our first elephant had not heard us nor smelled us (as they have a very poor sight) so our guide made a loud sound to inform him of our presence and he altered his route at the very last moment... Ouf!!! It was so close it was very impressive and kind of scary but it did not seem to be bothered by us!

Then, I lived a moment I will never forget in my life: my first giraffe... simply breathtaking. I felt the tears coming in my eyes while watching and admiring her elegance, softness and lovely head... and finished crying, too moved and happy to be able to contain my emotions... that's what happens when you live your dreams. It was like when I was in Tahiti, very very strong inside!

This first experience was magical. We also saw buffalos, very rare to be seen like this and baboons. We came back with the sunset and enjoyed a yummy local meal with some maiz puree and beef stew prepared by the ladies.

After a night rocked by the sounds of the hippos, we got up for our morning walk, at 5:30am (and not one hour earlier as the 2 past days because our guide was awaking us earlier when himself was up!!!). Once again, Louis did a pretty good job and enabled us to see lots of animals. The festival began with my beloved giraffes...

then elephants, a steenbok, the smallest antilope, only 50cm and 12kg, making awesome high jumps,

until we reach a fantastic spot, elephants on one side, giraffes and zebras on the other one and us in the middle, enjoying the sight.

Zebras are often found with giraffes, taking advantage of their height to be alerted when danger is around:

We also saw impalas, and Tssessebe, another specy of antilope, more brown with white stripes

After chilling out in the afternoong, we went for a boat ride in Mokoros to watch the hippos again and enjoyed a real fantastic sunset! I tried to pole the canoe but although my group mates told me I was doing well, I think I was better at zigzags than going straight, except when I almost reversed straight to where the hippos were!

In the evening, the local people offered us a fantastic show, in addition of another delicious meal: typical danses and songs performed by both men and women all together. One of them made us all laugh, imitating frogs mating... very realistic and fun!


On day 5, we had a last walk in the morning, spotting elephants, steenboks, tessessebe and kudus. I had an interesting chat with Louis about hunting. He told me some quotas were fixed each year in certain areas for each type of animal. People need to pay a certain sum, and are allowed a week to catch it, which can be extended if paying extra money to get more time. Local people gather for hunting impalas for example (around 20 euros).

We left this beautiful Tata Island after a cool Mokoro ride, not too hot that time, and richer of a nice flower necklace made by Kevin, our Mokoro poler. We made our way to the exit of the Reserve and saw loads of giraffes and zebras driving back to Maun, where the swimming pool, shower and restaurant were waiting for us!

Another long drive, Day 6 to reach Moremi Reserve, and almost bumped into an elephant very close to the dust road who crossed just in front of our truck... pretty amazing again...

There were lots of animals to be seen: giraffes, zebras, kudus... We saw many young Impalas fighting testing their horns, an elephant chasing an Impala which was on his way.

We also saw our first wharhogs, this funny looking wild pig and our first leopard for at last 5s before it went hiding in a bush, impossible to spot...

Day 7 was remarkable: we saw our first wildebeest, pretty weird animals, mix of a horse and buffalos,

loads of baboons with babies under their tommies and playing in the trees,


and even a wild cat spotted by Press from the other side of the lake thinking it was a leopard... pretty amazing eyes this man!
We also saw lots of birds like the African Spoonbill, eagles, hippos, zebras...

After an afternoon rest, more elephants, zebras

and the amazing Lilac Breasted Roller, this colourful bird whose flight is breathtaking when it spreads its wings!

Day 7, we headed towards Savuti where we had been promised a lion by the guides... We crossed a village, then admired the beautiful bird called Openbilled Stork, with an amazing red, yellow and black bill, saw hippos, more zebras and arrived for lunch to set up the camp.

I spent the afternoon listing all the animals and birds I had seen with the necessary help of our Bird specialist, the lovely Mr Graham

Off we went for the afternoon game drive... a remarkable one... tracking the lion, we first saw a herd of elephants at the water hole with lovely babies, and surprising adults showing off a genital organ of a size big enough to be scary...:-)))

No this is not a 5th leg what you see below...

Then thanks to the information given by another groupe, we went after a leopard which had been seen killing an impala in the morning. We found the cadaver but no leopard around. We waited a few minutes and Sam spotted it... we were all stoked to see this fantastic felin animal whose fur is unmistakable... and with a baby!!! Mummy did not seem to be bothered by our presence and you could hear the bones of the poor impala cracking when mum was eating it while baby was watching... an amazing sight, rare to be seen! Again we have been lucky on that one! I could not take a neat picture, too impressed and excited but it still looks ok...

Day 8 was supposed to be the day of the lion... we had put the white wine bottle in the cooler the night before to celebrate, anticipating a little bit... for 2 days, we had been spotting tracks so just hoped today would be The day!

It all began with another leopard... which walked straigh towards us and around the truck... what an animal! It grunted to mark his territory and that was quite impressive... 'I am the boss he said'... cool man, no worries, we all agree on that!

Then we went to see some nice drawing said to be made by Bushmen some 2000 years ago. Nice look outs from the top of this hill:

Then, THE BIG MOMENT: OUR LION!!! Our restless guides finally took us right on it! It was having a nap in the shade in the middle of the dust road... RESPECT

It lifted his head, saw us, bunch of stupid white tourists mouth wide opened, and thought we were not good enough for having his interest drawn!!!

We were frenetically taking pics when, maybe bothered by our noise, he finally stood up. OUPS... our guide asked us to sit down, order we did not discuss... when this animal looks at you with his golden eyes, you just swallow your saliva and settle down quickly I can tell you!!! Amazing, you know why it is called the lion of the jungle. Full display of pride, power and self confidence... it was MAGICAL...

It finally decided to sit down again, having shown who the master was...

and he even snobbed us...

What d'ya reckon? Beautiful isn't it???!!!

We saw a few elephants on the way back to the camp to finish this amazing game drive, with warthogs trying to also get some water, being pushed away by the big animals... funny to see these small animals fighting between each other alongside the elephants.

No doubt we had our white wine for lunch... to celebrate the lion and our big 5 mission acomplished! Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant

The afternoon game was relaxed. More giraffes... and Sophie always happy to see them...

Baobabs...

And another amazing sunset...

Day 9, Tuesday the 15th was a very tough one. Reaching hotter spots also meant it was colder in the morning... at 6:00am, we had to wear gloves, jackets, hats and still we were bloody freezing in the open truck! After the cold, the wind struck us, then the very bumpy road...
Stop your whinging Soph... we still had a beautiful sunrise and nice sceneries and driving along the river on our way to Chobe Reserve, was pretty amazing with thousands of zebras and animals everywhere...

The camp site was a nightmare... after the sand flies, the bees came along and I guess I was pretty unlucky as they chased me, surely attracted by the scent of oils in my short. I had to hide in my own tent until one managed to get in, then I got out of my tent screaming and ended with Ilona in hers, until I decide to get rid of my short... they finally gave up and went away... God I hate them, more than spiders or snakes, their bzzz drives me nuts! And these were pretty agressive, they stung 4 of us while we were doing nothing to them! Anyway, we had a good laugh with Ilona and Andy filming us and taking the piss!

Fortunately, the evening game compensed for this horrific day... we saw an unlikely show. Four waterbucks (another kind of antilope) chasing a... Leopard!!!

We first could not believe our eyes, they were running towards it... then we could not understand the reaction of the leopard who ran away... it kept on like this at least for 10mn, the leopard trying to go and drink water at the river and the adventurous waterbucks chasing it, until the leopard gave up and left further on... so funny... continuing our game drive, Press spotted a baby Leopard, surely told to wait for mummy there, and a few meters further, another one, a female this time, on a tree, also waiting for Mummy... One had surely disobeyed as they should stay together further to the info given by Sam. My battery had ran off so I could not take pics...grrr...

We had our last diner concoted by Lazarus... sniff... he has been an amazing cook, offering us yummy diners always ready when we came back to the camps after our evening games and it felt like the end of the trip already, last diner, last camp fire, last camp in the wild...

We had our last game drive on day 10... a fantastic one... we saw again loads of baboons, zebras, pelicans...

And heaps of Common bea eater, another beautiful colorful bird...

and the Blue waxhill...

Crocodiles, buffalos,

elephants... quite tired by the heat and having a nap...

and lions... two brothers according to Sam as they could never be together if not, in the shade, waiting for the heat to decrease. They were laid down and just sad when we parked the truck just nearby... beautiful, stunning... a lovely sight full of strength and power...

and more elephants...I know, so many pics they are so lovely...

In the afternoon, we had a boat cruise on the Chobe River and saw kids and local jumping and playing in the water...

when you know there are crocodiles around...

... babies...

and adults...

... scary bro!

Plenty of birds again, baboons, buffalos, hippos...

And the icing on the cake was the crossing of the river of the elephants, a real magical moment...

Nice family, isn't it???

Loads of elephants and only the sound of the water in our ears... the sight of their big bodies swimming, their trumps emerging from the waters as snorkels...


just before the sunset...

with elephants in the background...

On the morning of day 11, we crossed the border formed by the Zambezi River between Botswana and Zambia. It was pretty epic... on the ferry could only fit 2 or 3 trucks at a time... which explained the long queue of trucks on both sides...

In the afternoon, after setting up the camp and enjoying a nice lunch at the restaurant of the campsite, we went to the Victoria falls... pretty stunning sight...
I could not stop taking pictures...

Baboons were once again around... not so pretty though... but interesting I guess...

On day 11, Claire, Gretchen and myself decided to do some volunteering to help build a school. We left in the morning, drove to a very poor suburb of Livingstone and arrived at the new school being built by the association African Impact.
As soon as we got there, kids showed up, with big grins on their face, many barefoot, only a few with a school uniform, and all with the wish to have their picture taken...

Kids went with us to fill up buckets for the water we would need to do the plastering.

This is the wall which was waiting for us...

We filled up a very crappy wheel barrow with sand, then pushed it to reach the inside of the school, miraculously not flipping it over, the lid only being held to the wheels with bits of wire...

We mixed the sand with the cement and water, as our master said.. easier to say than to do... mixing was the hardest part though, bent with the shovel... that's when you realize how small things are useful and so crually needed in this kind of country...

Then we began plastering and had some laugh, the plaster not sticking so easily to the wall and causing some swearing among us...

The work slowly progressed...

and our master finished by smoothing the wall, revealing the places where more would be needed.

Meanwhile, some inquisitive kids came inside to watch us and of course begged us to have their picture taken...

A few hours later, we were done with the wall.. and had everybody come along to take pictures of the co workers and the school kids and teachers.

It really was a wicked experience even if at the end of the morning I really felt frustrated... so much to do, so little done! A drop of water in the ocean... but better this than doing nothing you will say!

This is true and I was glad the campsite gave us the opportunity to see the other side of Africa, the real one. Not the one of the safaris, of tourism for white people with money. The hard reality where people have to walk kilometers to fetch water, have mud under their feet in their house, eat one meal a day, have no shoes to walk outside or money to buy school uniforms... but have a fantastic smile on their face.

A beautiful lesson of life which left us full of something you can't buy with money... we received way more than we gave, and decided to contribute more.

Back to the campsite, we talked to all other members of the group and described what we had done, how the association worked and told them our wish to make a donation to buy a new wheel barrow. All of them gave something, money, clothes, medicines, drinkable water, soap, toothpaste and other needed basic stuff. We were happy to see that all were receptive and to hand these donations for the kids who really needed it. African Impact has many young volunteers doing from 2 weeks to 3 months or more, helping in different areas such as education, sports, medical care, and projects like this one. If you wish to have a look at it, www.africanimpact.com/interact

A beautiful day ended on a scenic cruise on the Zambezi River, a very 'touristic' trip to watch the sunset while having drinks and diner on board...

Bye bye everybody! Some of us stayed for another safari, a couple of days in Capetown...

Others came back home.. but not alone...

My giraffe and I took the plane and successfully came back to Barcelona... both tired and worn out as Sophie the Giraffe broke a horn during the trip... I saw one of her mates on the plane too and have some suspicions there...

Every night when I switch off the light, I look at her and smile, happy to have her remember me that beautiful dream I have lived...