Botswana & Being on Safari
Here's the second retrospective post about the honeymoon: Going on Safari.
Now, this is THE reason why we decided on Africa for the trip. You're only going to get to take this kind of time off once in your life, might as well do something well... once in a lifetime right?
We had booked the Safari part of the trip yonks ago... think it was April or June when we confirmed it. Thing is that the Safari camps only accomodate so many pple a night, so you have to confirm early and they can arrange transfers etc etc.
But, things are calculated in USD when it comes to Safari-ing. So... OUCH. We were definitely trying to keep to budget... which meant some really interesting transfers methinks. Will elaborate more in a bit.
Oh: PS: This is going to be REALLY long post. Read only at leisure.
Before we left, we got a beautiful booklet detailing exactly what camps, and advice about being in the bush in general. Part of it is wearing neutral, earth colours. Apparently, its so that we appear as common amorphous blobs in the 4x4 land rovers to the animals. But G was NOT going to buy new clothes just for Safari - he was quite adamant about that... so we compromised and he wore beige-y t-shirts but dark blue surf shorts! Hahahhahah. The chappies at the camps commented that he looked more like he was on a dive holiday.
The other big thing is that our luggage had to be in soft duffels and the limit was 12 kgs. Now, this can be quite challenging for a 3 week trip! The reason is that the transport is on small... when i say small, i mean small, planes. It is the only way to get from camp to camp.
We had chosen Botswana because it is the shoulder season - ie, its a bit cheaper and you can still see some game.
Winter (may to oct) is best because water is in short supply - no rains - and the game congregate at the water spots.
But I shudder to think how much it would have cost in high season.
In summer, the rains come and the animals wander off in many different directions.
We went with a tour company called Wilderness Safaris .
Most of its camps (it has many camps in Botswana, and you can choose how luxurious you want to live... from 3 paws to 6 paws - like stars only, bush style) only accomodate 6 to 8 couples.
And, only 3 vehicles are allowed at a sighting - this means that its not like some other national parks where busloads and busloads of tourists follow each other, and there can be 30 vans, buses and minvans at one leopard sighting. It makes for a very good experience this way, because the animals can be five to ten feet away from the 4x4 land rover, provided... provided you see anything lah!
But first, we had to make it to Botswana. I think because of the budget we set, we didn't fly direct from Zambia, we took a land transfer to the Southwest tip - where the countries join up.
It took a 45 min trip by mini van to a place called Kazungula, where Zambia and Botswana is separated by a strip of the Zambezi River. In fact, at the crossing, behind us was zambia, straight across was Botswana, on the far right was Namibia and on the far left was Zimbabwe.
There we "crossed" customs (stories to tell about this)... and were met by a small boat. It took less than 5 mins on the "ferry" and the guide said: Welcome to Botswana! Hehehhehe.
On the Zambian side, looking at the boat that would bring us to Botswana - which is that bit across the river.
We did our immigration stop, and then, we travelled on a 4x4 about 17 kms to a small town called Kasane, where there was an airport.
There, we would take our first flight into our first camp, Savuti.
It was a 12-seater Cessna Caravan. And it was the smallest plane I had taken in my life... yet, anyway. Here it is on the Savuti runway.
When we were up in the air, we were totally awed:
The first thing you'll notice about Botswana is that it is big. Huge.
It is the size of France and it has 1.85 million people.
Yes, only 1.85 million, but it is one of the richest and most stable nations on the continent. Its economy is strong with diamonds, tourism and beef as its its top three earners. And its the low volume, high quality (ie its damned expensive, and cannot go back even if I wanted to) type of tourism that the country is after. Wildlife and tourism employs 45 per cent of the people - and the evidence? Each home in the "township" we saw on the way to Kasane airport was well built and had satellite TV dishes.
I jest you not.
The Kalahari desert dominates 85 per cent of Botswana, but the nation is also home to the Okavango Delta, the largest untouched inland delta in the world. So the landscape can be very varied indeed. (PS: desert here is a bit of a misnomer because the land is covered in short scrub vegetation or grasslands).
And if you bring the rain, like we did (!), then, the trees and scrub literally burst into life, and it looks like a small, shorter, forest.
We arrived on this airstrip, which is really a concrete strip in the middle of nowhere.
The only sign of life: a small tent where the vehicles can park under so the guests are not baked while waiting for their air transfers.
We landed and we were greeted most warmly: and then told, it would be 35 mins via the airstrip "road" to Savuti camp by the 4X4. Now, this is in no way like a 35 min trip on Sg roads. These are dirt tracks, deep and pitted. In other words: think bumpy. So bumpy that your head jolts backwards and forwards and you can get a mild case of whiplash if you ain't careful.
We arrived there to singing and dancing - the staffers come out to welcome you whenever you get 2 a camp: and a cool towel and drink awaits.
They pull out all the stops if you are on honeymoon. Check out the sugar words on the glass - created specially by the bartender, called Dits. (double click on the photos to blow them up)
The bar is on the left, the middle bit is the place where pple just sit and hang out. And in the distance you can see a watering hole. This is artifically pumped and it provides much needed water to the animals during the super dry winter months. Apparently, herds and herds of elephants can come up and drink from the water hole. The pool is just past the bar on the left.
The pool. During the Winter months, if the elephants get desperate enough, they come and drink right out of it, apparently.
We also got the honeymoon tent - brilliant. It has an outdoor loo that faces right out into the plains.
What it looks like from the outside. It's raised on stilts.
The interior, and the nice deck area and some nice champagne in an ice bucket.
<-- the walkway to the loo 
Which looks like this...
and looks out right into the plain with the impala, wildebeest and baboons.
We also got a briefing: A staffer must accompany us enroute to the rooms at night because the camp is not fenced. And there are wild animals about.
In fact, when Gene was sick and sleeping in one morning, a baboon was scampering around the tent, peering in and apparently, very interested in the toothpaste in the room. Luckily, it did not get in.
But the luxury aside, timetables on safari take some getting used to.
Here's a sample of a typical schedule on safari.
Wake up "call" at 5 am
This involves one of the staffers coming to your room and rapping on your door until you reply. No reply, and they break down the door. heh. Joking. But they will only go away if you respond though.
Join people for breakfast at 545, 6 am at main area.
This is usually cereals, fruit and yogurt.
Then, you leave for an early morning game drive on the 4x4 land rover - the earlier the better because it starts getting hot around 930 am or 10.
But before it gets hot, the mornings and late evenings can be really cold... we have pictures of us bundled in coats on safari in Africa.
Around 9 am, stop for coffee/tea and biscuits in the bush. Good time for what we euphemistically call a *bush stop* or *marking the territory*. Have done it in full view of snorting, pawing zebras. But if you have to go, you have to go man.
Around 10 am or so, you return to camp, and relax. Have a drink (its full board, and beverages, alcoholic or otherwise are free flow... yes, we've been having quite a few G&Ts!!
Retire to the room for a much needed bath. (yes, there is hot water and full flushing toilets...)
11 am Brunch. Yumm.
Free time (read siesta time) till 4 pm
Tea - which usually has both savoury and sweet "snacks", like pies, rolls, pizzas that kind of thing.
430 pm you leave for your evening game drive or activity.
At sunset, they have a VERY civil notion: its called Sundowners. You stop out in a picturesque spot in the bush. Watch the sunset with a drink in hand. Preferably a G&T. Oh, there are some snacks to go with it too.
You come back at 8 pm and they feed you AGAIN!
Dinner is usually a formal sit down affair with the other guests and the camp's staff.
Notes about game at Savuti: we had a pretty special spotting. One lioness had her cubs less than 3 mnths ago, so they are extremely cute. They have big paws and are very playful. The lioness did this low huruumphing call and her pack mates came out of nowhere from the bush. One thing we noticed about all the animals. Big or small, they make VERY little noise going through the bush.
Her pack mates - all lionesses were very sweet and interactive. They are exactly like big cats, rubbing their faces and necks to greet each other and turning over on their bellies. But you know the lionesses are killers when you look into those yellow eyes. Can be freaky.
The big boys, which you have seen in Gene's post asleep and totally bo-chup (tt's the king of the jungle for you, they really have absolutely NO FEAR whatsoever, they can't even be bothered to wake up even when you are 5 m away), are prolly the dads. We saw them later at night, and they walked straight up to the vehicle (prompting little panicked "uh-ohs" from us).
Savuti's lions are also famous for killing... elephants.
We have pictures of a little baby elephant's carcass - it was killed the night before apparently and it was simply covered with vultures and Maribou Storks, which prompted one guest to comment: "I thought storks were supposed to bring babies, not eat them''.
I won't post them lah, they are a bit icky. Will show them on request.
Zebras have brown stripes too.
Giraffes can live to 28 yrs and they get darker (their spots) as they age! The females have slightly flatter heads.
A hyena does not laugh. Its a cross between a howl, growl and yelp.
And these sounds happening outside your tent at night can be erh, freaky.
Cute lil buggers. But they are perfectly designed to kill.
Hyena sniffing out 4-day old elephant carcass. Before we arrived with the summer rains, it was dry as a bone and it took the old, weak animals. But with the summer rains, loads of babies are born.
Sundowners... out in the open on a 4x4. Nat is checking to make sure the G&Ts are NOT doubles.
Sunset on an African plain.
For me, personally speaking, the best part of being on Safari was the peace and calm. I mean no cell phones, no Net, NO WAY WORK CAN CALL YOU... and the beauty of the place really seeps into you. Wild animals and it makes you think about the big grand plan out there and what a small part of the world you occupy. It was extremely good for the soul.
... To be Continued with our next camp...
Now, this is THE reason why we decided on Africa for the trip. You're only going to get to take this kind of time off once in your life, might as well do something well... once in a lifetime right?
We had booked the Safari part of the trip yonks ago... think it was April or June when we confirmed it. Thing is that the Safari camps only accomodate so many pple a night, so you have to confirm early and they can arrange transfers etc etc.
But, things are calculated in USD when it comes to Safari-ing. So... OUCH. We were definitely trying to keep to budget... which meant some really interesting transfers methinks. Will elaborate more in a bit.
Oh: PS: This is going to be REALLY long post. Read only at leisure.
Before we left, we got a beautiful booklet detailing exactly what camps, and advice about being in the bush in general. Part of it is wearing neutral, earth colours. Apparently, its so that we appear as common amorphous blobs in the 4x4 land rovers to the animals. But G was NOT going to buy new clothes just for Safari - he was quite adamant about that... so we compromised and he wore beige-y t-shirts but dark blue surf shorts! Hahahhahah. The chappies at the camps commented that he looked more like he was on a dive holiday.
The other big thing is that our luggage had to be in soft duffels and the limit was 12 kgs. Now, this can be quite challenging for a 3 week trip! The reason is that the transport is on small... when i say small, i mean small, planes. It is the only way to get from camp to camp.
We had chosen Botswana because it is the shoulder season - ie, its a bit cheaper and you can still see some game.
Winter (may to oct) is best because water is in short supply - no rains - and the game congregate at the water spots.
But I shudder to think how much it would have cost in high season.
In summer, the rains come and the animals wander off in many different directions.
We went with a tour company called Wilderness Safaris .
Most of its camps (it has many camps in Botswana, and you can choose how luxurious you want to live... from 3 paws to 6 paws - like stars only, bush style) only accomodate 6 to 8 couples.
And, only 3 vehicles are allowed at a sighting - this means that its not like some other national parks where busloads and busloads of tourists follow each other, and there can be 30 vans, buses and minvans at one leopard sighting. It makes for a very good experience this way, because the animals can be five to ten feet away from the 4x4 land rover, provided... provided you see anything lah!
But first, we had to make it to Botswana. I think because of the budget we set, we didn't fly direct from Zambia, we took a land transfer to the Southwest tip - where the countries join up.
It took a 45 min trip by mini van to a place called Kazungula, where Zambia and Botswana is separated by a strip of the Zambezi River. In fact, at the crossing, behind us was zambia, straight across was Botswana, on the far right was Namibia and on the far left was Zimbabwe.
There we "crossed" customs (stories to tell about this)... and were met by a small boat. It took less than 5 mins on the "ferry" and the guide said: Welcome to Botswana! Hehehhehe.
On the Zambian side, looking at the boat that would bring us to Botswana - which is that bit across the river.
We did our immigration stop, and then, we travelled on a 4x4 about 17 kms to a small town called Kasane, where there was an airport.
There, we would take our first flight into our first camp, Savuti.
It was a 12-seater Cessna Caravan. And it was the smallest plane I had taken in my life... yet, anyway. Here it is on the Savuti runway.
When we were up in the air, we were totally awed:
The first thing you'll notice about Botswana is that it is big. Huge.
It is the size of France and it has 1.85 million people.
Yes, only 1.85 million, but it is one of the richest and most stable nations on the continent. Its economy is strong with diamonds, tourism and beef as its its top three earners. And its the low volume, high quality (ie its damned expensive, and cannot go back even if I wanted to) type of tourism that the country is after. Wildlife and tourism employs 45 per cent of the people - and the evidence? Each home in the "township" we saw on the way to Kasane airport was well built and had satellite TV dishes.
I jest you not.
The Kalahari desert dominates 85 per cent of Botswana, but the nation is also home to the Okavango Delta, the largest untouched inland delta in the world. So the landscape can be very varied indeed. (PS: desert here is a bit of a misnomer because the land is covered in short scrub vegetation or grasslands).
And if you bring the rain, like we did (!), then, the trees and scrub literally burst into life, and it looks like a small, shorter, forest.
We arrived on this airstrip, which is really a concrete strip in the middle of nowhere.
The only sign of life: a small tent where the vehicles can park under so the guests are not baked while waiting for their air transfers.
We landed and we were greeted most warmly: and then told, it would be 35 mins via the airstrip "road" to Savuti camp by the 4X4. Now, this is in no way like a 35 min trip on Sg roads. These are dirt tracks, deep and pitted. In other words: think bumpy. So bumpy that your head jolts backwards and forwards and you can get a mild case of whiplash if you ain't careful.
We arrived there to singing and dancing - the staffers come out to welcome you whenever you get 2 a camp: and a cool towel and drink awaits.
They pull out all the stops if you are on honeymoon. Check out the sugar words on the glass - created specially by the bartender, called Dits. (double click on the photos to blow them up)
The bar is on the left, the middle bit is the place where pple just sit and hang out. And in the distance you can see a watering hole. This is artifically pumped and it provides much needed water to the animals during the super dry winter months. Apparently, herds and herds of elephants can come up and drink from the water hole. The pool is just past the bar on the left.
The pool. During the Winter months, if the elephants get desperate enough, they come and drink right out of it, apparently.
We also got the honeymoon tent - brilliant. It has an outdoor loo that faces right out into the plains.
What it looks like from the outside. It's raised on stilts.
The interior, and the nice deck area and some nice champagne in an ice bucket.
<-- the walkway to the loo 
Which looks like this...
and looks out right into the plain with the impala, wildebeest and baboons.We also got a briefing: A staffer must accompany us enroute to the rooms at night because the camp is not fenced. And there are wild animals about.
In fact, when Gene was sick and sleeping in one morning, a baboon was scampering around the tent, peering in and apparently, very interested in the toothpaste in the room. Luckily, it did not get in.
But the luxury aside, timetables on safari take some getting used to.
Here's a sample of a typical schedule on safari.
Wake up "call" at 5 am
This involves one of the staffers coming to your room and rapping on your door until you reply. No reply, and they break down the door. heh. Joking. But they will only go away if you respond though.
Join people for breakfast at 545, 6 am at main area.
This is usually cereals, fruit and yogurt.
Then, you leave for an early morning game drive on the 4x4 land rover - the earlier the better because it starts getting hot around 930 am or 10.
But before it gets hot, the mornings and late evenings can be really cold... we have pictures of us bundled in coats on safari in Africa.
Around 9 am, stop for coffee/tea and biscuits in the bush. Good time for what we euphemistically call a *bush stop* or *marking the territory*. Have done it in full view of snorting, pawing zebras. But if you have to go, you have to go man.
Around 10 am or so, you return to camp, and relax. Have a drink (its full board, and beverages, alcoholic or otherwise are free flow... yes, we've been having quite a few G&Ts!!
Retire to the room for a much needed bath. (yes, there is hot water and full flushing toilets...)
11 am Brunch. Yumm.
Free time (read siesta time) till 4 pm
Tea - which usually has both savoury and sweet "snacks", like pies, rolls, pizzas that kind of thing.
430 pm you leave for your evening game drive or activity.
At sunset, they have a VERY civil notion: its called Sundowners. You stop out in a picturesque spot in the bush. Watch the sunset with a drink in hand. Preferably a G&T. Oh, there are some snacks to go with it too.
You come back at 8 pm and they feed you AGAIN!
Dinner is usually a formal sit down affair with the other guests and the camp's staff.
Notes about game at Savuti: we had a pretty special spotting. One lioness had her cubs less than 3 mnths ago, so they are extremely cute. They have big paws and are very playful. The lioness did this low huruumphing call and her pack mates came out of nowhere from the bush. One thing we noticed about all the animals. Big or small, they make VERY little noise going through the bush.
Her pack mates - all lionesses were very sweet and interactive. They are exactly like big cats, rubbing their faces and necks to greet each other and turning over on their bellies. But you know the lionesses are killers when you look into those yellow eyes. Can be freaky.
The big boys, which you have seen in Gene's post asleep and totally bo-chup (tt's the king of the jungle for you, they really have absolutely NO FEAR whatsoever, they can't even be bothered to wake up even when you are 5 m away), are prolly the dads. We saw them later at night, and they walked straight up to the vehicle (prompting little panicked "uh-ohs" from us).
Savuti's lions are also famous for killing... elephants.
We have pictures of a little baby elephant's carcass - it was killed the night before apparently and it was simply covered with vultures and Maribou Storks, which prompted one guest to comment: "I thought storks were supposed to bring babies, not eat them''.
I won't post them lah, they are a bit icky. Will show them on request.
Zebras have brown stripes too.
Giraffes can live to 28 yrs and they get darker (their spots) as they age! The females have slightly flatter heads.
A hyena does not laugh. Its a cross between a howl, growl and yelp.
And these sounds happening outside your tent at night can be erh, freaky.
Cute lil buggers. But they are perfectly designed to kill.
Hyena sniffing out 4-day old elephant carcass. Before we arrived with the summer rains, it was dry as a bone and it took the old, weak animals. But with the summer rains, loads of babies are born.
Sundowners... out in the open on a 4x4. Nat is checking to make sure the G&Ts are NOT doubles.
Sunset on an African plain.
For me, personally speaking, the best part of being on Safari was the peace and calm. I mean no cell phones, no Net, NO WAY WORK CAN CALL YOU... and the beauty of the place really seeps into you. Wild animals and it makes you think about the big grand plan out there and what a small part of the world you occupy. It was extremely good for the soul.
... To be Continued with our next camp...
