Chris Brooks Newsletter 030
Different sort of update this time around. We are still in Africa, not a lot of reading, and zero movie / TV watching, zero music and podcast listening, and zero game playing. Unless you count "trying to not get eaten while walking to the ablution station" as a game.
I'll share an overview of our trip so far, broken down by major locations and transitions.
1. South Africa - Mukaleke in Pafuri
After flying to Johannesburg SA from Newark, we overnighted near the airport then took a small charter to the very north end of Kruger National Park to stay in Baobob Hill House. There we did a bush walk through Lanner Gorge and had some of the best guiding we've experienced throughout this trip. Andile helped us find and identify many birds.
So many fun mammal and reptile sightings as well, though our only real predators found so far were crocodiles and hyenas. The big cats would have to wait.
2. South Africa - Ivory Wilderness
We returned via charter flight back towards the south part of Kruger, this time for a visit to Ivory Wilderness lodge. This was more of a traditional lodge experience, co-mingling with other guests, and very different terrain from Pafuri. There we saw our first lion kill, a lot more hyena action, and our first leopards.
3. Botswana - Wild Camping in NG-32
From Ivory Wilderness we returned to Johannesburg for another overnight in the same hotel. Then it was on to Maun, Botswana, to begin our wild camping adventure with Kalahari Breeze Safaris, starting in the NG-32 concession.
This is where we fell in love with warthogs, saw our first wild dog pack, and started to get a true feel for wild camping in the Botswana wilderness. We also had many "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride"-like game drives with our guide Master, often in search of the mating leopard couple.
4. Botswana - Wild Camping in Moremi
After a brief turnaround in Maun and a night of almost-glamping near town, we switched to a new guide and camp crew for wild camping in the Moremi Game Reserve.
We saw our first cheetah in the wild! We also spent about a day encountering and tracking three lionesses and their 8 cubs during and after a Cape buffalo kill. One of the big highlights of the trip so far.
Both Master and our Moremi Guide Tshidi helped us find a lot more birds. We also spent a lot of time wandering and observing elephants. They are graceful, deeply rooted in family, curious and bold, and scary as #$%^.
5. Botswana - Camp Okavango
Our last hosted stay was our most luxurious, the fantasy island resort of Camp Okavango. Instead of dry, bone-breaking long rambles in Land Cruisers we were on cool, flat waters exploring the Okavango Delta. So many birds, a great bush walk, and amazing service and comfort at the lodge.
6. Botswana Self Driving - the first four days
After flying back to Maun from Camp Okavango, we said goodbye to Tenya and hello to Kelin. We met up with our Bushlore team to take delivery of two 4x4 Land Cruisers that would be our home for the next 2 weeks. We did an overnight near Maun to check out the gear and make sure we were ready for the wilderness.
We started by driving east into the desert pans (dry lakes and pools), some would say not the best time of year to do that (we are at the end of dry season) but we saw so much amazing activity. Lions! Meerkats! Endless dry salt pans!
7. Botswana Self Driving - the next four days
We left Nata for a long drive up to the northeast border of Botswana, taking a brief diversion on the Hunter's Road (Zimbabwe border) before starting our next four nights of camping along the majestic Chobe River.
There was so much to see in this region: lions, elephants, birds, new-to-us antelopes, and amazing river valley scenery.
That's it for now. I'm writing this as I sit in a hot, dry, and windy camp at the north end of Moremi Game Reserve for our last segment of self driving. We are monitoring our fuel situation - the last fueling station until we return to Maun was about 200km back, and we have to make what we have now (less than a half tank each, plus three 5 gallon jerrycans each) last until the end. The going is slow: our drive yesterday from Linyati to Khwai Safari Ground was only 120km but took us 8 hours to drive. Deep sand, deep ruts, several transitions to 4x4 low.
Loving every minute of it!