Just wanted to say thank to you both for all of your help with our honeymoon; we just got back yesterday, and both agree that it was the most incredible trip we’ve ever taken.  Cape Town was great (we loved Kensington Place, especially since it was a little quieter and out of the way) and both Botswana and Mozambique were very special.

The game viewing at Chitabe exceeded all expectations, and Craig you were right that Little Vumbura is just wonderful.

Azura, I might add, was simply outstanding; try as we did, we couldn’t think of anything we’d do to change it.

All in all, it was a tremendous honeymoon, so thanks again to you both for going above and beyond.  I should add that everyone in Africa seems to know you guys, so you must be doing something right!

All the best

A few honeymoon photos…

Read about another client’s safari honeymoon experience in the Okavango Delta (Botswana); Johannesburg, South Africa and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Is there such a thing?  Last year, our good friends and traveling companions agree that we did reach that dream – a month long trip thru Namibia and Botswana, all in Wilderness Safaris camps, seven in all. By way of background, the four of us met on a Lindblad Expeditions trip to Baja California nine years ago.  As sometimes happens, we “hit it off” and have traveled every year since, to destinations as different as Antarctica, Malawi, Chile from Patagonia to the Atacama, Tanzania off the beaten track, and Rajasthan and Bhutan.

A happy coincidence among the four of us is that three are not especially interested in planning trips while I revel in the opportunity.  Thanks to the skills, know-how, and attention to detail of Sue Rovegno at Travel Beyond, we’ve worked through, modified and finalized some fabulous trips – including our Ultimate Safari.  Africa “grabs you”, no question about it.

This trip was special in many ways – Namibia is a fascinating country, the second least densely populated country on earth (after Mongolia).  The open spaces, the unique ecosystem and wildlife and the fact that you can be off in incredibly remote areas and have a first-class operation, as are all the Wilderness Safaris camps we encountered, is a real plus.  The fact that our entire trip was built around their camps made coordination and transportation virtually seamless. We can’t say enough about all of the Wilderness Safaris operations, their staff and their whole approach to stewardship of the land, the inhabitants and all of the natural resources.  First class in every way!

We are conscious of how lucky we were to be able to make as extensive a trip as we did, spending nearly a month visiting seven different camps.  For anyone considering a shorter safari, any one of the camps or any combination would be well worthwhile.  All are unique and more than comfortable.

Our journey began with flights from the States to Frankfurt, with an overnight there – a buffer we like to include in case of weather issues.  From Frankfurt, a non-stop overnight flight to Windhoek, Namibia made for a very clean and simple start to our trip. A day in Windhoek prepared us for our flight to our first safari camp, Little Kulala, close to the famous red dunes of Sossusvlei.  The desert environment was a fascinating introduction to Namibia, and climbing among the sand dunes observing the flora and fauna with our knowledgeable guide Moses was a treat. To reach our next destination, in the far northwestern part of the country, we first flew to Swakopmund. The flight was directly over the Sossusvlei dune area and is a must-see to really appreciate the size, scope and beauty of this very unique area.

Skeleton Coast Camp, our next destination, is one of the most remote camps in all of Namibia, close to the coast and the border with Angola.  Skeleton Coast Park is a very special reserve, a huge area set aside for low impact tourism.  It is roughly the size of our home state of Vermont plus adjacent New Hampshire.  Believe it or not, we along with the camp staff were virtually the only ones there for the four days we spent at Skeleton Coast.  Daily drives, in a specially equipped (for sand) Land Rover were simply unreal, and the feeling of open spaces and emptiness were overwhelming.  We drove on endless sand dunes, had the thrill of floating down a 50 degree slope in our Land Rover and drove along the ocean beach for more than 20 miles with only bleached whale bones, birds and scurrying crabs to be seen.  Jonathan, our guide was as skillful as he was knowledgeable.

A visit outside the reserve to a native Himba village was a unique experience.  These people, one of the last truly nomadic tribes on earth, have a simple and unique life.  We felt as though we had stepped into the pages of a National Geographic magazine, privileged to have had a glimpse of their way of life. Animal life in the area is sparse, but adapted to that harsh environment.  Desert-adapted elephants, oryx, giraffe and lions were seen.  Also, we were able to deliver supplies we had brought to a small local school.  The nearest other school was some 150 miles away.

Little Ongava camp was next – a beautiful, elegant setting on top of a hill within a private reserve adjacent to the famous Etosha National Park. This area was much less arid, and game was plentiful, including sightings of both white and black rhinos.  Birds were plentiful and varied.  We had the very unique experience of getting stuck, really stuck in a muddy area made worse by recent rain.  It takes a lot to stop a Land Rover, and we spent a couple of hours before being extracted by two rescue Rovers, a lot of helpful and not-so-helpful suggestions from staff who came to the “rescue”.  Lots of laughs as well!  Guide Gabriel made our time at Little Ongava really special.

Next, it was on to Botswana by way of Maun, which is the pivotal town for the entire area.  Another smooth transfer and we were off to Duba Plains, which is perhaps the most remote camp in all of the Okavango Delta, accessible only by air.  This camp was the setting for the National Geographic film “Relentless Enemies” which documents the relationship between lion predators and buffalo prey.  The lions of Duba, some of the largest and strongest in all of Africa did not disappoint – we saw eating, sleeping, mating, stalking and socializing lions.  A leopard family was spotted, an exciting event as they seem to be re-colonizing the area after a long absence.   Of course, many plains animals, elephants, giraffes and again, birds galore.  At Duba, we saw what snorkel-equipped Land Rovers can do in a watery environment as we had to cross a marshy area on each drive. Our guide James “007” is a thirteen year veteran of Duba Plains, an unusually long tenure.  He explained to us that he had many opportunities to move to other camps as many do.  He clearly knows Duba like the palm of his hand and remains because he loves it deeply.

Next, we headed to Little Vumbura Camp, a unique camp located on a small island  reached by a short boat ride.  The camp is elegant, beautifully situated  with waterways (“Hippo Highways”) all around so we were able to have some special experiences on the water.  On land one day, we drove through a grassy area where there were many carmine bee-eaters.  They found that is was profitable to follow us closely as the wheels scared insects into flight as we drove.  They followed us on all sides alongside the vehicle like precision jet fighters, sometimes at arm’s length.   What an exhibition!   Our guide “K” was a bird caller supreme and one evening imitated a black cuckoo to the point where they had an extended running dialog.  Again, at Little Vumbura Camp, there was no shortage of animals, and we never tired of seeing them all in different settings.  Sable antelopes, an uncommon sighting, were spotted on several occasions.

Our next-to-last camp was Little Mombo Camp.  It has to rank at or near the top of the list of outstanding safari locations anywhere.  The camp itself is unique in that the lodges and the walkways between them are all built on stilts so that animals can circulate freely “in, under, around and through” the camp.  On several mornings we had a bull elephant eating leaves just feet away from where we ate breakfast.  There was an abundance of wildlife of all kinds everywhere.  Our guide “Tsili”, a big man with a most hearty laugh was yet another knowledgeable and friendly credit to the Wilderness Safaris organization.

The very special highlight of our Mombo visit was the surprise appearance of Sue Rovegno and her husband Marco, who were on a familiarization tour of a number of camps.  I had worked with Sue over the phone for something like seven years, in my role as trip planner.  Sue and I shaped the itinerary and she very capably handled the details.  Our friends Ursula and Walter had met Sue at an airport stopover in Minneapolis several years before.  My wife and I never had although I had gotten to know her “smiling voice” pretty well over the years.  We were in on the surprise, our friends were not.  We knew that some new guests were going to appear, and we played up the idea of checking the new folks out to see if we would allow them to join us at Mombo.  When Sue and Marco showed up, just seeing Ursula’s face as it slowly dawned on her that she recognized Sue, but there she was, completely out of context.

We had more fun, and more laughs over the following days…..as the kids would say, “a blast”.

We “met” the leopard that was featured in the “Eye of the Leopard” National Geographic film – with an impala kill up in a tree and two youngsters nearby.  This was a close-up encounter with them and with a number of hyenas eager to snatch scraps and clean up leftovers.

The finale at Mombo was seeing a buffalo kill by a pride of nine lions; a little gory, but an amazing thing to watch.  We witnessed the scene over two days, with the buffalo providing meals for all the lions, many hyenas, jackals, vultures, and smaller birds.  We learned later that by the end of the third day, there was nothing left of this huge animal but the skull and horns.

Outdoor evening meals and a surprise lunch set up by a hippo pool are among many special memories of Mombo.

Our final camp was King’s Pool, named after a visit some years ago by the king of Sweden.  It is located on the river which forms the border between Botswana and Namibia.  Another beautiful camp in a very special setting.

We had a very good leopard sighting with a chance for some close-up pictures.  The grandest of grand finales of our unforgettable trip occurred on the very last evening.  We were riding along on a trail at river edge just at sunset when our guide looked off in the distance and pointed out some elephants headed from the Namibian side to swim the river into Botswana.  He found a spot at river edge, and we watched well over 100 elephants, young and old, cross over close in front of us in a procession that lasted the better part of an hour……all as the light faded in a spectacular sunset.  Truly an unforgettable ending to our Ultimate Safari!!!

The Other Side of the World
Southern Africa safari mesmerizes with a land always ready for its close-up.
By Lainey R. Seyler – AAA Home & Away magazine

South Africa Airlines’ flight from Washington to Johannesburg is one of the longest a traveler can take—it’s 18 hours plus a fuel stop in Senegal. Worlds away, Africa is a continent more diverse in culture, language and geography than I can fathom, and last spring, my father and I set off on a trip to explore the southern region of the fabled land.

Natural Wonders
After a pit stop in Johannesburg, including an overnight at the Grace Hotel, Dad and I gathered ourselves and joined our tour group for a brief flight to Livingstone, Zambia, a town near Victoria Falls.

Residents joke that the highest point in this part of Africa is a termite mound. But it’s here the Zambezi River, seemingly impossibly, plummets more than 350 feet from a plateau into a gorge. The visitor’s only sign from a distance that he or she is approaching this natural wonder is the spray, which rises more than 1,300 feet above the falls. By some considerations, Victoria Falls is the largest in the world, passing some 2 million cubic feet of water per minute over its edge by the end of the rainy season.

A tour of the Zambia side of the falls affords close contact with the river before it takes the plunge. Outfitted with rain ponchos, our group hiked on a paved trail to a point directly across from the falls. After this year’s monumental spring rains, we could barely see the cliff through the mist of spray. We made the trek without slipping but laughing and completely soaked—even with the ponchos.

Later that day, we caught a twilight boat cruise on the Zambezi, during which we spotted vervet monkeys on the Zimbabwe side of the river, a few errant hippos, and the lively and colorful white-fronted bee-eater—a bird common enough in Zambia, but one I never grew tired of seeing.
 
Safari Time
The following day, we passed into Botswana for the wildlife-centered portion of the trip. Botswana, South Africa and Zambia have enjoyed a prosperous decade, achieved by luring tourists to wilderness areas protected from poachers and industrial development. Botswana’s government has also worked to limit the number of tourists who enter its national parks in order to promote the territory’s conservation and encourage a calmer atmosphere for the animals.

Up before sunrise each morning, our group of six was in a Land Rover after breakfast, cameras and binoculars in hand. Our guide for the trip was Botswana native Francis Kudumo, who seemed to know everything about the flora and fauna of the region. Deer-like impalas crossed our path at practically every turn, and Kudumo always had something new to tell us about their coloring, horns, group dynamics or mating habits. And he knew this information for every animal we saw.

Observing the animals was like solving a mystery of nature revealed bit by bit. Stumbling upon a herd of elephants forging the Linyanti River, we saw how the adults shielded the youngsters from us. Kudumo told of the pachyderm’s memory for every trail it travels. I was in complete awe of the symbiotic balance of nature playing out before me.

Our morning drives took us countless miles on dusty roads. We stopped mid-morning for a coffee break, then returned to camp for lunch and a siesta in the heat of the day. Following afternoon tea, we were out again for an evening ride.

Throughout, we spotted exotic raptors with prey, families of warthogs and mongooses, and impossibly colorful birds such as the lilac-breasted roller and the saddle-billed stork. We were even fortunate enough to spot a few larger predators. One night under a full moon, we happened upon a pack of wild dogs whose kill had just been stolen by a group of hyenas.

Another night, we received word of a leopard sighting. Kudumo shifted into third gear and sped to the spot. It took a while to find
the cat, which had temporarily fled the scene, but patience paid off when it returned to the tree where its impala was hidden. Hyenas gathered at the base of the tree, ready to catch any stray morsels. We observed and snapped photos in stunned silence from the safety of the vehicle.

On the Delta
The third camp we visited was in the middle of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Okavango is the largest inland river delta in the world. Instead of emptying into the ocean or a lake, the Okavango River trickles through the Kalahari Desert until it evaporates.

We stayed at a camp located on an island. Traditionally, Batswana maneuver the river in canoe-like boats called mokoros, propelling themselves with a long pole. Hired “polers” ferried us to our campsite and on quiet early morning and evening tours.

We spent hours drifting from island to island through the delta’s reeds, careful not to squish the spiders and tiny frogs that wandered into the mokoros. And when hiking, we were more cautious of elephants and Cape buffalo without the protection of a vehicle.

We stopped to sip wine at dusk each evening. Even on the other side of the world, the sun still sets in the west, presenting a new display for those who take time to watch it.

Planning Your Trip
For information on Zambia and Botswana, visit www.zambiatourism.com and www.botswanatourism.us. Wilderness Safaris, which partners with Travel Beyond to handle its bookings, operates more than 60 lodges throughout southern Africa. To plan your Wilderness Safaris journey, contact Travel Beyond at (800) 823-6063, www.travelbeyond.com  or craigb@travelbeyond.com.

To read Seyler’s Web Bonus about Wilderness Safaris’ extensive conservation efforts and to see more of her images, log on to www.HomeAndAwayMagazine.com.

There are few activities in life as civilized as the Sundowner. It represents the still extant link between the modern world and the wild—an activity that provides us with an understanding of who we are and a reflection upon how far we have (and in many ways have not) come as humans.

Only a fermented beverage could offer such promise.

I came to this realization during a six-week trip through Botswana and Zimbabwe in 2006—a glorious voyage it was. Each morning we would wake with the sun, consume a quick coffee and biscuit, then head out to view the animals coming in from the night. After several hours of wandering around, we’d head back to camp, as it becomes too damn hot for both humans and animals, whose preferred midday activity is to loll about instead of partake in fascinating behavior (running, jumping, roaring, eating, etc.).

So, around noon, we would all just nap it out. Then, we’d be roused for tea at 3.

Now, I profess I’m an American. But afternoon tea is an exceptional concept. It’s enough caffeine to wake the mind (but not too quickly), and there’s a little sweet and a little savory to get the blood sugar back up. Piled upon a restful nap, nothing could be better.

But wait, there is something: the Sundowner!

While the mind and body are finding their bearings as you sup from blue China and look over the bush, you are faced with perhaps the most challenging question of the day: “What, sir, would you like to drink at sunset this evening?”

What, indeed!

Do I have a glass of red? Perhaps a gin and tonic? Maybe tonight it would be best to take two fingers of single malt with half an ice cube?

This decision is important because your fate is at stake—your happiness several hours from when you place a bet on your first cocktail of the evening. (For those of us over 30, we know the importance of having a drinking game-plan. This isn’t college after all; it’s the African bush!)

So, carefully you decide.

Here’s how it plays out. At teatime, you inform the guide of your preferential potable, and this individual logs it along with the others’ choices. You then forget about it, hop in the vehicles, and head out for some sightseeing late into the afternoon. About sunset, the guide finds a good watering hole, and pulls over where there’s a fine vantage, and you disembark.

Maybe it’s all the Hemingway lodged into the back of the American mind, but the soul resonates with the sight of a field table covered with a proper linen cloth, topped with decanters and silvers jars, standing against the African countryside—which, mind you, is filling quickly with a random assortment of animals coming in from the heat of the day to take a drink before nightfall.

And then the entire situation crystallizes, suddenly.

Nighttime for animals of the bush is when everything comes to life. It is a wild time. The darkness is fraught with danger and excitement. This is when it all happens—eat or be eaten, fight or flight. But before all the creatures plunge into inky darkness, they mingle and drink. They gear up for what’s ahead.

You too are there for the same. And you see it, so similar to life at home. The predators and the prey, drinking side-by-side at the watering hole before the craziness of the night begins. We could be at any bar or lounge in the world and see the same sight. How far we have not come in behavior. But how far we have come in appreciation!

As the sun goes down, there is little left but to take in the beauty of the scene and allow a sense of wonder about life wash over us—as the spirits in our glass give us lift, heightening our senses while simultaneously putting us at ease. And this is needed in the African bush, where we willfully place ourselves back the food chain, and we acknowledge that the only thing separating us from the animals is a little bit of electricity.

Botswana’s oldest and second largest national park is home to some of the finest year-round game viewing in Africa.  The park is famous for: massive elephant herds along the Chobe River in the Dry Season (May – October); exceptional predator viewing; the wide Chobe River teeming with hippos, crocs and fish; and the game rich Savute Channel and Savute Marsh home to Africa’s second largest zebra migration and the predators that eagerly follow them (November – March).   During the Green Season (December – March) the animals move from the rivers in the north to the lush grasses and full waterholes in the southeast of the park; from April – November the animals migrate back to the rivers of the north as the interior dries out.  The Chobe River supports the largest concentration of elephants in all of Africa; some estimates have their population in Chobe at 120,000 individuals.  These elephants are physically the largest in the world, although their tusks are relatively small; they are migratory, moving over 120 miles from the Chobe River, where they concentrate in the Dry Season, to the pans in the southeast of the park which fill with water in the Green Season.  Self-driving is allowed in the park, but the deep sand, clay, and uncertain nature of the roads makes a four-wheel drive vehicle essential.

Chobe National Park is accessible, affordable, and self-driving is an option; these great strengths are also the parks greatest weaknesses – big lodges, lots of people, no off-road driving, and queues of vehicles at animal sightings.  The big difference between a safari in Chobe National Park and a safari in the private concessions surrounding Chobe is the number of people and vehicles you will encounter.  In the private concessions you will pay a price for privacy, in Chobe you will pay a lower price but share the bush with more people and vehicles.  The entire area is unfenced and game viewing is spectacular throughout the region.

Chobe Highlights

• Dry season elephant viewing
• Africa’s second largest zebra migration
• Boating on the Chobe River
• Exceptional predator viewing
• Over 450 bird species including Pel’s Fishing Owl, African skimmer and African fish eagle
• Fishing for tigerfish and bream on the Chobe River
• Accessible and affordable safari lodges
• Day trips to Victoria Falls
• Self-driving
• The game rich Savute Channel
• Cheetah and African wild dog sightings

There are 2 main safari areas in Chobe National Park:  Serondela and Savute

Serondela (or Chobe Riverfront) is located in the northeast of Chobe National Park where Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia converge; the area is characterized by the wide Chobe River, lush floodplains and dense forests.  The town of Kasane which has an International Airport serves as the northern entrance to the park and is just 50 miles from Victoria Falls; day trips to Victoria Falls are an activity from the safari lodges in Serondela.  Boating on the Chobe River is a special feature of this area.

Because of Serondela’s close proximity to Kasane, and the fact that large safari lodges have been built, this is the most visited area in the park, and for that matter, all of Botswana.  Some of the lodges are set beautifully on the banks of the Chobe River; here the river is very wide and surrounded by lush plains and dense forests.  Sand roads follow the course of the river and its floodplains and wind through the woodlands, allowing for diverse game viewing.

Serondela Pros: exceptional dry season elephant viewing; the Chobe River; affordable and nice accommodation; convenient location just minutes from Kasane International Airport; boat cruises on the Chobe River; fishing; self-drive option; day trips to Victoria Falls; cultural activities

Serondela Cons: lots of people; lots of vehicles; big safari lodges; no off-roading on game drives; no night drives; no walking safaris

Serondela Game Viewing – Huge elephant herds along the river during the dry season (May-October); excellent predator viewing including:  lion, Hyena, leopard, African wild dog and cheetah; lots of hippos, crocs, zebra and giraffe; massive buffalo herds; antelope species including: lechwe, impala, bushbuck, puku, kudu, tsessebe, roan, sable and eland.  It is best to avoid the Chobe Riverfront during January and February as the majority of elephants and other wildlife will have moved south to other available water sources

Serondela Activities –Game drives morning and afternoon with expert game rangers; bird watching; game viewing from a river boat; sunset cruises on the Chobe River; cultural theme evenings; day trips to Victoria Falls; day trips for river rafting on the Zambezi River; fishing; visit four countries in one day (Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia)

Serondela Lodges

• Mowana Safari Lodge – 111 rooms
• Chobe Marina Lodge – 66 rooms, 10 minutes outside the park
• Chobe Safari Lodge – 76 rooms, in Kasane on the Chobe River, on the park border
• Chobe Game Lodge – 47 rooms, inside Chobe National Park, 2 hours from Victoria Falls
• Muchenje Safari Lodge – 11 rooms, located on the western side of Serondela and the only lodge in the area, 40 minute drive from Kasane, less crowded than lodges closer to Kasane
• Chobe Chilwero – 15 rooms, just outside the park, 10 minutes from Kasane and 1.5 hours from Victoria Falls
• Chobe Garden lodge – 8 rooms

Savute is home to the Savute Channel, Savute Marsh, rich grasslands, savannah woodlands, and the Gubatsa Hills full of Bushman rock paintings.  (Savute is spelled with an “e” inside the national park, and with an “i” Savuti, outside the national park – this is not always the case but you will definitely see it spelled both ways when reading about the area)

Located in the southwest of Chobe National Park, Savute is a productive year-round wildlife area.  Huge concentrations of game pass through Savute on annual migrations from the rivers and marshes in the north and west (Linyanti) to the lush grasslands and pans in the southeast of the park after the summer rains.  A highlight of Savute is in the early summer months; after the first rains in November or December thousands of zebra, impala, buffalo and wildebeest come to the area to enjoy the lush new grasses of the Savute Marsh.  This is Africa’s second largest zebra migration (the Great Migration in Tanzania and Kenya is the biggest), and all these animals are followed closely by large lion prides and other predators. Cheetah and African wild dog sightings are excellent on the grassy plains of the Savute Channel.  Because Savute is less accessible than Serondela and the safari camps in the area are smaller, the crowds are much less than Serondela, but because the area is still within the national park, restrictions still apply:  no off-road driving, night drives, or walking safaris.   The Savute area is home to vast grassy plains teeming with animals, dry desert like landscapes in the Dry Season, elephants gathering at waterholes, large lion prides, the Savute Channel (normally a ribbon of grassland but now is flowing with water for the first time since 1982), the Savute Marsh, and the Gubatsa Hills home to numerous Bushman rock paintings.

Access to the Savute camps is by chartered aircraft from Kasane or Maun, or, a 5-7 hour 4×4 drive from Kasane.

Savute Game Viewing – November - March the area explodes with life as enormous herds of zebra, buffalo and antelopes come to the area after the season’s first rains to enjoy the new lush grasses, these animals are followed by a huge predator population especially lion and hyena, other predators include leopard, cheetah, African wild dog and black-backed jackal; numerous antelope species including:  kudu, wildebeest, impala, tsessebe, waterbuck, roan, sable and eland;  giraffe and warthog are abundant.  Lion, leopard, hyena and huge bull elephants are year-round residents.  The camps have man-made waterholes and when the Savute Channel is not flowing elephants are constant visitors in the Dry Season, providing amazing viewing right from camp.

Birding is good year-round but exceptional during the Green Season.  Bird species include: secretary bird, kori bustard, Abdim’s stork, carmine bee eater, Pel’s Fishing Owl, and African fish eagle.

Savute Activities – game drives morning and afternoon; visit the Bushman rock paintings at Gubatsa Hills; see Africa’s second largest zebra migration; birding; waterhole game viewing from camp

Savute Lodges and Camps

• Savute Safari Lodge – 12 rooms
• Savute Elephant Camp – 12 rooms
• Camping facilities

Chobe National Park Safari Seasons

Dry Season (May – October)

Peak safari season sees warm sunny days and cool to cold nights.  Game viewing is at its best as the bush is dried-out and huge concentrations of animals gather along the Chobe River and other available water sources.  Game is at its most dense and visibility is excellent.  The heat and humidity begin to build in September with October being the hottest month just before the rains; game viewing is excellent along the Chobe River at this time.  Massive elephant herds are seen and lion viewing is epic around water sources.  Peak safari lodge rates apply and this is when the park is at its most crowded.

Green Season (November – April)

The peak rain months are January and February; rain usually falls in heavy afternoon downpours with visually stunning thunderstorms.  Some areas of the park become inaccessible especially for self-drivers.  Temperatures are hot and humid and this is mosquito time, malaria prophylactics are highly recommended during the Green Season.  After the first summer rains during late November or December thousands of zebras migrate from the Linyanti in the north and move south through Savute to the lush grasslands, they are followed by huge predator populations, especially lion and hyena.  The landscape is lush and beautiful with wildflowers in bloom, antelopes are giving birth and the birding is exceptional.  Low season lodge rates apply.  November and December are very hot and humid.  It is best to avoid the Chobe Riverfront during January and February as the majority of elephants and other wildlife will have moved south to other available water sources.

Bordered to the west by the Selinda Wildlife Reserve, to the east by Chobe National Park, and to the north by the Linyanti River, Linyanti Swamp system and Namibia, is the remote and inaccessible private safari concession NG15, aka, the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve.

Linyanti Wildlife Reserve gets its name from the Linyanti River which forms its northern boundary.  The river divides the lush Caprivi Strip and Linyanti Swamp system of Namibia with the waterways, lagoons, floodplains, forests and grasslands of the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve in Botswana.  The reserve is 275,000 acres of private wildlife concession unfenced with its neighbors allowing game to roam freely, and home to only four small safari camps accessible only by light aircraft offering visitors a private un-crowded and game rich safari experience.  For clarification – the Linyanti River begins its life on the central plateau of Angola where it is called the Kwando River (also spelled Cuando), then its name changes to the Linyanti River where it hits a fault line and turns northeast, then the name changes again to the Chobe River before it flows into the Zambezi River and tumbles over Victoria Falls.

Game viewing in the reserve is focused along the banks of the Linyanti River, the Savuti Channel, and the forests and grasslands of the interior.  The Linyanti River is characterized by hippo and croc filled pools and lagoons, marshes with aquatic sitatunga and red lechwe antelope and abundant birdlife, and massive herds of elephant, buffalo and zebra during the dry season with predators constantly keeping watch.  Birdlife along the river is tremendous especially during the Green Season when the summer migrants are in the area.  Open floodplains along the river attract antelopes, predators and large baboon troops.  Beyond the floodplains there is a band of riverine forest home to kudu and leopard, and inland are huge dry mopane forests and grasslands with abundant giraffe and antelope populations.  Running through the middle of the reserve is the famous Savuti Channel (spelled ‘Savuti’ outside the Chobe National Park, and ‘Savute’ inside the national park).

The Savuti Channel starts in the Linyanti Swamps, meanders through the reserve, and ends at the Savute Marsh in the middle of Chobe National Park.  Throughout its history the channel has fluctuated from a flowing river to a dry ribbon of lush grassland.  For the last 28 years the channel has been dry; but now the channel is once again flowing with water and elephants are happily frolicking, cats are swimming, wild dogs are chasing kudu through the channel, and lion and hyena are battling over kills in the shallow water.  Game viewing is spectacular and this is one of the best places in Africa to see the African wild dog and cheetah.
 

Game Viewing – at its best in the dry season May through October

The reserve is famous for its enormous herds of elephant, buffalo and zebra along the Linyanti River and Savuti Channel during the dry season.  Estimates put the number of elephants in the area during this time at around 50,000; it is not uncommon to see over 1,000 per day while on safari.  Thousands of zebra spend the winter around the Linyanti Swamp system before heading south to the Savuti in November in expectation of summer rains and good grazing.  During the Green Season, water is readily available throughout the area, animals are much more spread-out so the density of game viewing is not nearly as good as during the dry season.

Predator viewing is exceptional – The main predators are lion, cheetah, wild dog, hyena and leopard.

Hippos, crocs, fish and water birds are abundant in the waterways and lagoons.

There are high concentrations of giraffe, baboon, vervet monkey and warthog.

Antelope species include:  Wildebeest, impala, kudu, waterbuck, red lechwe, sable, roan, eland, and the aquatic sitatunga.

Birding is phenomenal especially during the Green Season.  Species include:  kori bustard, carmine bee-eater, wattled crane, slaty egret, woodland kingfisher, African skimmer, and a host of summer migrants.

Night drives provide the opportunity to see nocturnal animals such as bushbaby, spring hare, aardwolf, serval, genet, porcupine and pangolin.

Activities include: off-road game drives morning, afternoon and night; walking safaris; canoeing, boating and fishing depending on water levels.

Green Season: November-April:  rain falls during the warm months of November to March with high temperatures and humidity. Game spreads out as water is readily available inland.  Exceptional birding.

Dry Season: May - October: sunshine evaporates the inland waterholes and water becomes scarce forcing animals to congregate in huge numbers along the Linyanti River and Savuti Channel. Game is at its most dense and easily visible. October is the hottest month.  The prolific and diverse wildlife and scenery form a wonderful contrast to the Okavango Delta creating a nice compliment to a Botswana itinerary.

Linyanti Wildlife Reserve camps

DumaTau

Kings Pool Camp

Savuti Camp

Linyanti Tented Camp

The Selinda Wildlife Reserve is 320,000 acres of private and pristine wilderness where guests are treated to one of Africa’s finest wildlife safari experiences.  The reserve is a private concession ‘owned’ by a few passionate conservationists who are all about wildlife, the environment, conservation, small luxurious safari camps, and offering their guests intensely personal and impassioned safari experiences.  There are only three camps in the entire reserve, between them they host a grand total of 32 guests per day, meaning that this reserve is one of the most private and intimate places to view wildlife in Africa.  When on a game drive you will not see anyone else other than those people from your small camp.  This privacy cannot be overstated – the difference between viewing wildlife undisturbed, by yourself, and on your own time, with the ability to off-road to get close to the sightings, and the option to linger all day at a sighting if desired; and viewing wildlife in a queue of Land Rovers, minibuses and personal vehicles with hordes of people trying to see the same animal that happens to be next to the road, is a dramatic difference in the overall safari experience.  At Selinda, you will see no fences, no power lines, no roads and no crowds of people or vehicles, just untouched ecosystems and loads of animals.

The Selinda Spillway, a sometimes grassland sometimes shallow water river, winds its way through the entire reserve linking the Okavango Delta waters in the west to the Linyanti and Kwando wetlands and rivers in the east. Because Botswana is so flat, the water flows in both directions, but only in years of major water volume does the water flowing from the west meet the water from the east, but water or not, this is an incredibly exciting wildlife area.  The Spillway is an Eden for wildlife, especially in the dry season (May-Oct).  The Selinda Concession is ecologically similar to the Linyanti Concession on Selinda’s eastern border but Selinda has more extensive floodplains.  The landscape is lush savannah, waterways, palm trees, dry woodlands, marshes and lush floodplains.  Like the Linyanti, enormous herds of elephant will be seen in the dry season.  The three safari camps in the concession are luxurious, small, expensive, relaxed, located in fantastic settings, and home to incredible staffs, chefs and safari guides.  Guests receive the highest standard of service in postcard picturesque surroundings with dense game viewing in total privacy on a flexible schedule where the animals dictate activities – when there is game to be seen you can go see it and stay with it for as long as you want!

Activities include – off-road game drives morning, afternoon and night in open safari vehicles, walking safaris, birding, fishing in the Zibalianja Lagoon and canoeing (depending on water levels). The guest experience is all about the animals, flexibility and relaxing in one of natures most spectacular settings.

An endangered African Wild Dog peers at two endangered Wattled Cranes, and a Saddle-billed Stork

Game Viewing

Enormous elephant herds in the dry season, huge herds of buffalo, exceptional predator viewing – Selinda is home to the famous hippo-hunting lions, cheetah, leopard, one of the best places in Africa to see the rare African Wild Dog especially June-August when they are denning in the area, hyena, civet, serval, giraffe, zebra, kudu, roan, sable, eland, wildebeest, red lechwe, waterbuck and impala.

Over 300 bird species including the endangered wattled crane, best birding is during the Green Season, November – April.

* Selinda Wildlife Reserve is partially owned by the famous conservationists and wildlife filmmakers Dereck & Beverly Joubert.  Some of their award-winning films include ‘Ultimate Enemies’, ‘Relentless Enemies’ and ‘Eye of the Leopard’ – all filmed at Selinda.

Selinda Camps

Selinda Camp

Zarafa Camp

Motswiri Camp

Selinda Canoe Trail and Walking Safaris

Dry season: April to October: enormous herds of elephants; easy to spot animals as vegetation is less dense; cool/cold nights, sunny warm days; peak season rates; October is generally the hottest month of the year with temperatures around 100F.

* Thanks to Wilderness Safaris, specifically Colin Bell, Michael Poliza and Dana Allen for the overhead camp image, the Land Rover image and the Zarafa Camp interior image.

Botswana – A booming economy in a stable country with no mass tourism, dominated by the Kalahari Desert and home to only 1.8 million people.  A high quality/low volume tourism philosophy has created a sustainable safari industry which employs 50% of the population and offers visitors the most remote, pristine and private safari experience in Africa.

I’m in the Okavango Delta.  It’s 6 a.m., the winter allows an extra half hour of sleep, its August and the morning is cold, about 48F as I sip my coffee next to the crackling fire.  Rain is never in the forecast this time of year; the cool crisp morning will give way to an 80F cloudless sunny day.  There are ten people in camp plus the staff and all around me the shimmering expanse of a 4,000 square mile network of papyrus lined waterways, lagoons, grasslands, and palm trees on sand islands.  I hear elephants sloshing through the shallow water en route to feed.  I leave the warmth of the fire and board the open Land Rover and put on the wool lined poncho provided for me.  The cool air hits my face as we leave camp and moon gives way to warming sun.  Red lechwe, zebra, wildebeest, hippo, elephant, lion, leopard and sable antelope await my gaze.  The two areas for visitors within the Delta are the Moremi Game Reserve and the large private reserves called ‘concessions’ that surround Moremi; these concessions are leased by safari companies and offer visitors the most remote, game rich and private safari experience in all of Africa.   Botswana’s high quality/low volume safari philosophy means that while expensive, this is the best place in the world for a safari where you will see loads of animals and no people except those in your small camp.  There are no permanent structures in the Delta; and while luxurious, all the camps can be dismantled without a footprint in short order.

The afternoon is warm.  I climb into a mokoro and the  poler pushes his pronged branch into the Kalahari sand under the clear shallow water and we silently slip through the tall grass penetrating the water.  A tiny painted frog clings to a blade of grass and we silently pull up next to him and observe at eye level; an African Skimmer nest with eggs inside is right on the side of our mokoro waterway; an African Fish Eagle is perched on a branch overlooking a lagoon and calls to his mate for life across the channel; in the distance elephants are on the move.

The Okavango Delta is a wetland paradise utop the white sands of the Kalahari Desert.  The Okavango River flows from the highlands of Angola into northern Botswana where it hits a fault and fans into fingers, creating a 4,000 square mile labyrinth of crystal clear waterways, lagoons, grasslands and palm islands teeming with wildlife.  The water from Angola doesn’t reach Botswana until the dry season, the result is that the Delta is in full flood when the sky is blue and there is no rain.  Moremi Game Reserve covers about 20% of the Okavango Delta and is surrounded unfenced by private safari concessions; the whole area is a pristine wildlife wonderland.  The difference between the camps within Moremi and the private concessions is that in Moremi walking safaris and off-road game drives are not allowed.  Palm trees, sandy islands, grassy plains, wooded islands, slow meandering papyrus lined watercourses and quiet lagoons provide the visitor a very unique and diverse ecosystem which in itself is worth the trip.  The safari camps are small and intimate with some of Africa’s best safari guides and bush chefs; and you will see very few other people while there.  Activities are numerous, both water and land based are on offer.  Mokoro (low dugout canoe) trips through the Delta are surreal; power boating  through the passageways and lagoons is a thrill and the fishing is relaxed and peaceful in secluded lagoons.  Game viewing is excellent year-round and birding is spectacular in the summer months.  Game drives are done in open safari vehicles day and night and walking safaris are allowed on the private concessions.   It is peaceful and divine and I believe, provides one of the world’s best, if not the best, safari experiences in Africa.  Rhinos are being re-introduced into the area, and sightings are slim.  In the Delta there are both water and land based camps, at the land based camps the activities revolve around game drives in open safari vehicles and walking safaris, while at the water based camps the activities focus on mokoro trips, power boating, walking and fishing; game drives are usually on offer with a boat bringing guests to the safari vehicles waiting on dry land.  It is a good idea to combine water and land based camps on an Okavango itinerary to take advantage of the different experiences and different species found at both.  Camps are relatively expensive in the Delta because of the remoteness which means you must fly into camp; the camps are small, intimate, wonderfully staffed and provide true bush luxury.

Game Viewing

Over 160 mammal species including: zebra, wildebeest, kudu, warthog, buffalo, elephant, giraffe, hippo, crocodile, lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog, hyena, jackal, genet, serval, monkey, baboon

Unique species include: red lechwe, sitatunga, sable antelope

Over 500 species of birds including: Pel’s Fishing Owl, lilac breasted roller, African Fish Eagle, Slaty Egrets, ostrich, kori bustard, African Skimmer, pennant-winged nightjar

Dry season: April to October: easy to spot animals as vegetation is less dense; cool/cold nights, sunny warm days; the Delta is in full flood, water activities are abundant under the warm African sun; nights are cold, fires are warm; peak season rates.

Consider visiting Botswana in the shoulder months: May – June and November – December, the wildlife viewing is very good and you benefit from shoulder season rates.

Ever heard of a pink elephant? Well, now you can see one! A rare sighting of what appears to be a partial albino calf was recently captured on film in Northern Botswana. Mike Holding, a wildlife cameraman who captured the sighting while filming for a BBC wildlife program, said: “We only saw it for a couple of minutes as the herd crossed a river in the Okavango Delta. This was a really exciting moment for everyone in camp. We knew it was a rare sighting – no one could believe their eyes.”

Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants. Albino elephants are not usually white, but instead they have more of a reddish-brown or pink hue. While albinism is thought to be fairly common in Asian elephants, it is much less common in the larger African species. Ecologist Dr. Mike Chase, who runs the conservation foundation Elephants Without Borders, said: “This is probably the first documented sighting of an albino elephant in northern Botswana.”

You may not be lucky enough to spot a ‘pink’ elephant on safari in Botswana, but you will be sure to spot many other elephants while there. Boasting an elephant population of over 130,000, Botswana has the largest population of elephants on the African continent.

Article Adapted from BBC News / Photo Credits: Mike Holding.