Oct 2015 trip.
Departing Namibia
After a fantastic week in Namibia, we flew to Botswana. Of course, we underestimated the actual drive time from Okonjima to Windhoek, so we were a bit late getting to the airport, cutting a little too close for my comfort to catch an international flight. However, we were able to get our 4×4 truck returned, checked out / inspected and got the van from the truck rental office to the airport. I don’t think we had a whole lot of time at the airport, but that’s probably for the better as the Windhoek Airport is not really anything to write home about. The flight from Windhoek to Maun is about 3 hours, so we really just kicked back and watched a few shows to pass the time.
Discovery Bed and Breakfast
For our first night in Botswana, we stayed at a small bed and breakfast that was just 20 kms outside of Maun, called Discovery Bed and Breakfast. The B&B is set up as individual little huts – I think there were originally eight and when we were there they were expanding out another eight. The hosts Rene and Marije were absolutely delightful – they had been travelling for a few years and were so struck with Botswana, in general, and the Okavango Delta specifically, that they decided to plant roots and start a business there. Each hut was relatively basic, but pretty much all you needed in the middle of Botswana. Ours had a full size bed, surrounded by mosquito netting, with a small curved wall made up of local twigs / branches which hid the toilet. The shower was outside, also hidden from the other guests by a similar curved wall made of larger branches. As is the case with many B&B’s, they offered a dinner which could be included in the booking. We were encouraged to sit around the fire to have a few evening drinks with the other guests, followed by dinner outside – which was inevitably followed by more drinks around the fire. My partner wasn’t feeling too great that evening, so she retired for the evening rather early, and Rene talked me into staying up for a bit and watching some rugby on the TV. I have no idea what game it was – although I do remember it was part of the Rugby World Cup 2015. I may have possibly made a pretty good dent in their beer stock that evening.
Helicopter flight over the Okavango Delta
The following morning, before we set off for our safari camp, we arranged to have a helicopter ride over the Okavango Delta. This is one of the only ways to see the majority of the delta, as there are very few roads through the actual delta itself. So off we went, on a 45 minute helicopter ride, just the two of us and a pilot. We were able to see a good portion of the delta just outside of Maun that morning, and we saw a few herd of elephants and we saw a group of giraffe.
A herd of elephants | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 200mm | f/4 | 1/5000th | ISO1000
Lone giraffe | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 200mm | f/4 | 1/5000th | ISO1250
River through the delta | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 70mm | f/4 | 1/5000th | ISO500
Those elephants munching just next to our camp at lunch
After our helicopter flight, we made a relatively long drive to our first camp. It must have taken us ~3 hours over paved roads, gravel roads, then finally dirt to make it into, quite literally, the middle of nowhere. However, when we arrived, we realized what a treat we were in for. Driving up, there was our tent, a dining tent, our guides tent, and another couple of tents for the couple of staff. It was just on lunchtime, so we got settled, put our suitcases away and wandered over to the dining tent for a bush lunch. I’m not one to let a good meal go by without a glass of wine, so we opened up some white and possibly had a few extra glasses looking over the view. Our view looking out of the dining tent was basically a large marsh / swamp with these really, really tall swamp grass. I mean, it must have been 3-5 meters tall. Our guide pointed out that some of the grass was moving a bit. So we sat and waited. We heard loud chomping and more rustling. Finally, about four elephants emerged from the grasses, just walking by slowly having a bit of a snack.
The elephant that joined us for lunch | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 200mm | f/4.5 | 1/500th | ISO200
This guy was checking us out – with a very skeptical opinion, I reckon.
Making sure we’re cool | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 200mm | f/4 | 1/500th | ISO400
Being in the middle of a water buffalo herd grazing
After the elephant lunch visit, we went out for an evening game drive. We didn’t actually get that far from our camp, just over a small river and a bit of bush, and came across an entire herd of water buffalo out for an evening grazing session. It must have been a herd of 250-300 water buffalo just hanging out, slightly suspicious of us, walking around. Our guide told us there is a saying in Botswana that water buffalo “look at you like you owe them money”. Couldn’t be more accurate.
Gretting the water buffalo | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 158mm | f/4 | 1/800th | ISO3200
Our elephant alarm clock (at 2 AM) at the first camp
Unfortunately, I can’t provide any photos of this, however, during our first night in our first camp, we had an unexpected surprise in the middle of the night. Imagine, we were in a canvas tent, with screens for windows, and basically two single-sized cots pushed together with a very nice mattress put over top for a bed. More comfort than I expected in the middle of Africa, but let’s all be honest with each other, I haven’t been properly camping in probably 15 years. Anyhow, soundly sleeping in my cot with my duvet, and there is a MASSIVE noise coming from what sounded like the corner of the tent. Crunching, breaking, ripping of what seems to be a perfectly good building in the middle of nowhere. This must have lasted for ~5 minutes or so. After much discussion among the group and our guide the next morning, we concluded there was an elephant or two that literally walked through the middle of our camp in the middle of the night and was snacking on a tree or two. The way it sounded, the elephant could have actually been inside our tent!!!!
The three lions
There are some experiences in life, and for me frequently in travels, that make everything else seem, well, insignificant. We made it out to our camp, got a night of rest (except for the friendly elephants in the middle of the night) and set out on our first morning of safari drives. At nearly the end of our morning drive, which was getting on about noon, we saw a couple of other safari trucks off the road, in what seemed like a grassy meadow. Our guide, very shrewdly, said ‘there must be something over there worth seeing”. So, off-road we went, and finally realised these other trucks had spotted not one, not two, but three lions. There were two male lions and a solitary female lion – all hanging out together. We sat and watched for a few minutes, before the female got up and started walking. Our guide quickly drove the truck about 200 meters ahead so the female lion would walk towards us.
Male lions out for a walk | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 200mm | f/4.5 | 1/1250th | ISO200
A few minutes after the female walked on, the two males followed her and, to the credit of our guide, ended up walking right past us. One of the males was, and I am not even exaggerating here, less than 2 meters away from the truck.
The lions growling | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 140mm | f/4.5 | 1/1250th | ISO200
The cuddles | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 140mm | f/4.5 | 1/1250th | ISO200
The three of them finally settled and sat down next to a massive termite mound and just sat, groomed, licked and loved each other.
The charging hippo
On one of our evening drives, we came across a relatively small pond, and in the middle of the pond was a relatively large hippo. Now, first of all, hippos are among the most deadly animals in the world for humans. They generally don’t like us, and can be pretty nasty. So, I’m sitting on the edge of the safari truck as we pull up to the pond. Our guide says, and I quote, “let’s see if we can get this hippo to charge us”, which is generally not my first instinct, but I went with it. He gets out of the truck, moves around a bit, and as you can imagine, this massive hippo starts to charge the safari truck!!! My immediate reaction was to very quickly pull my legs in from hanging outside the truck to ensure they didn’t look like the were dinner. Interestingly, hippos tend to do a little bit of a fake charge first, just to see if they can scare you off, which is what this guy did. In any event, our guide gave me no small amount of shit for being so quick to get myself inside the truck so quickly – he was laughing at me for hours.
Hippo coming at me | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 117mm | f/4.5 | 1/1000th | ISO200
The other three lions sleeping on our way out of our first camp
On our way out of our first camp, and ready to head to the next camp, we took a leisurely drive around the area for the last time. We were taking time, just driving around getting a few looks. One of the other guides stopped our truck and spoke in non-english and said something to our guide. We drove a little down the road and came across another set of lions. It wasn’t the same three lions, they were different ones, just laying around sleeping. Oddly, the three of them were almost in a perfect pinwheel configuration, just having a sleep.
Male lion having a nap | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 117mm | f/4.5 | 18000th | ISO200
They were just laying around, and they had what looked like relatively fresh blood all around their mane and faces. They obviously had just had a recent meal.
Three lions together | Nikon D600 | Sigma 24-60 f/2.8 | 24mm | f/9.5 | 1/250th | ISO400
Pack of wild dogs chasing off a croc and crossing the river
At our second camp, there was a river that ran through the area and split most of the area. In fact, our sleeping tent was literally 2 or 3 meters from the river. The river wasn’t all that wide, likely only about 6 or 7 meters across. As we were driving around, we came across a pack of African wild dogs – now these aren’t normal dogs, nor are they hyenas. Sometimes they are called painted dogs due to their unusual color patterns. We came across a pack of about 10 of them all together. Surprisingly, they charged up to the edge of the water and were growling and howling and barking. After watching them for a minute, we finally realized that they were literally trying to scare off a croc from the water’s edge.
Dogs looking for the croc | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 151mm | f/4.0 | 1/160th | ISO200
After the croc finally swam off, we then sat there, and drove around a little bit following this pack of dogs up and down the water. I couldn’t quite figure out what they were up to, but they just kept going back and forth, back and forth. Finally, after what felt like 30 minutes watching these dogs, they finally pulled the trigger and crossed the river. They must have been running back and forth, up and down the river, just to find the best place – where they wouldn’t be eaten by some hidden croc.
Dogs crossing the river | Nikon D600 | Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 | 200mm | f/2.8 | 1/750th | ISO1000
Hippo fight next to our tent at the second camp
Unfortunately, again no photos of this, but the first night at our second camp, there was this just absolutely *massive* crashing and banging and growling. My partner jumps up, trying for her life to place these noises out in the dark. I mean, these sounded like they were coming from inside of the tent!!!! After what must have been 20 or 30 seconds, but actually felt like 10 minutes or more, the camp staff started shining their flashlights out into the darkness. There was some rustling around and finally the noise went away. When we got up the next morning, I was chatting with our guide over coffee asking what had made the noises. He confidently says, “well, they were hippos, but they weren’t anywhere close to your tent”. So I walk over, notice only only 1 small tree completely annihilated, but also blood all up and down one other tree that had already fallen over, and a broken tooth that had fallen out of one of the hippo. Oh, and they were about 4 feet away from the corner of our tent….
Leopard spotting
The majority of our last day was spent tracking a couple of leopards. We found an adolescent leopard that we kept following and trying to track. Once he finally got to a place that we couldn’t drive, we heard on the radio there were a few more in the area.
Leopard on a stump | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 200mm | f/4.0 | 1/200th | ISO320
We ended up tracking a slightly older female – likely the boys’ big sister, and spent a good couple of hours with them. Nearing the end of the afternoon, as the sun was getting lower in the sky, we sat and watched that little lady track, and finally catch a late afternoon snack in the form of a squirrel. She watched it, and watched it, and finally made a move – she ended up missing the squirrel on the first go, but was determined not to let it get away and ended up nearly doing a flip just to get this little guy. Quite a sight to see something as big as a leopard keep up with and catch a little itty bitty squirrel.
Leopard stalking | Nikon D600 | Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 | 200mm | f/3.3 | 1/1500th | ISO800
Elephants playing / fighting in the river
Just after the start of our last evening drive, we were driving up and down the river trying to find some animals out and about. This particular part of the river wasn’t all that wide – I would guess about 20 meters or so, and didn’t end up being particularly deep either. We sat and watched a few elephants walk up to the river, and casually got in the water. But then, the couple of elephants just started rolling around in the water, almost like they were kids playing in a pool. Clearly, they were out to not only get clean, but also have a bit of fun while doing it!!
Elephant crossing the river | Nikon D600 | Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 | 200mm | f/4.0 | 1/1000th | ISO200
These two guys came from opposite sides of the river, and neither of them were willing to give way – so they ended up having a little scuffle in the water, both ear deep!!!!
A little elephant tussle | Nikon D600 | Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 | 185mm | f/4.0 | 1/3000th | ISO400
The elephant highway for sundowners
Finally, after a few hours of driving, we were getting to the end of our last safari drive. We tracked leopards for a few hours, and finally settled down for an end of the day drink – in Africa, known as ‘sun-downers‘. Not quite sure of the history of the phrase, but my theory is that in Africa, if you actually make it to the end of another day, that is cause enough to celebrate!!! In any event, our guide pulled up alongside what I can only describe as an ‘elephant highway’. There must have been at least a dozen elephant, mostly separate, walk right along the same path as we were sitting there. Most of them didn’t notice us at all, but this particular one made sure to let us know about his displeasure that we were enjoying a little cocktail by his walkway.
Elephant scaring us off | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 89mm | f/4.0 | 1/125th | ISO3200
The sun set on our time in Botswana
Before we left on this trip, travelling across Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique – I was quite sure the beach holiday in Mozambique was going to be my favourite part of the holiday. It turned out that I fell in love with Botswana. The land, the animals, and the people were all absolutely lovely. But unfortunately, with all holidays, sooner or later they come to an end. The shot below was our parting sunset, with the moon just hanging in the evening sky.
Sunset on our last night | Sony A7R II | Sony 70-200 f/4 | 71mm | f/4.0 | 1/125th | ISO6400
I cannot say enough about our guide. He was born in Botswana, and he and his wife and young family run their own safari company. He was extremely knowledgeable about the land, the wildlife, and how to get the best out of our week. And as it turned out, I also got some pretty handy photography lessons out of it as well!!! If you are considering a safari through Botswana – give Chris a call!!!
Paul Rin Travel Photojournalism 