Friday morning saw us up at 0500 for an early breakfast before heading out on a game drive in the Khwai conservation area. We were pretty much wearing every warm piece of clothing we had as the morning was very cold and the vehicle movement added considerable wind chill.
The temperature was quickly forgotten as we had sone high quality game spotting. Two separate, great leopard spottings, a couple of lions seeking peace , quiet and privacy for a breeding session (they were sorely disappointed) and numerous elephants and birds.
The first leopard was a female who had just killed an impala doe. She had dragged it into a bush, ate a bit, cleaned herself up and then layout for a stretch and snooze.
We think the second leopard was a male. We found him about an hour later, after seeing more elephants.
He hung out behind a termite mound for a bit, then stalked and killed a Guinea fowl for a snack as we watched. We didn’t get the shot, but he leapt around 1.5 metres into the air and plucked the bird in mid-flight – a spectacular jump. We left him spitting out mouthfuls of feathers.
After a brief sojourn back at our camp for lunch we went down one of the main branches of the delta channels in a traditional canoe known as a Mokoro. The difference from the old days is that they are now made from fibreglass, they previous practice of using 200 year old plus trees ultimately proving unsustainable in the delta.
A massive highlight of being in the Mokoros was the ability to get very close ( almost uncomfortably close) to game. On this afternoon we literally ended up on a breeding herd of over 30 elephants taking on their afternoon drinking water.
After the mokoro adventure our guide found us a waterhole with hippos and crocs. We watched the sunset over the waterhole with G&Ts or Talisker. A great end to an another beautiful day out bush. Good leopard sittings are quite rare- two like we had in one were exceptional and we were more than happy with the great game viewing we had. Back to the camp for dinner and fire pit story time before another snug night under the quilt in our tent.
We were up very early on Saturday morning the 15th July. There are two ways to drive to Kasane from the Khwai conservation area. Back to Maun and a nearly 650km journey from their on the highway, or directly through the Khwai, Savute, Linyati and Chobe parks / conservation areas on very crappy roads. We did the latter, a distance of just over 200km that took us 11 1/2 four wheel driving ours – with ever changing scenery and game thrown in. We even got to refresh our tyre changing skills about halfway through – certainly easier with a few people helping!
We arrived in Kasane ( on the Chobe River, near the intersection of Botswana with Namibia ( the Caprivi Strip), Zambia and Zimbabwe at 1730. We were all a bit shattered after 11 1/2 hours exposure to the elements and corrugations in an open game vehicle. It wasn’t long after dinner before everyone did the AJ fade away and hit the rack.
On Saturday morning the 16th most of the group opted for a sleep in after a week of 5am starts our earlier. Our two Americans, Mel and Matt braved an early morning game drive in the Chobe Park and were rewarded with sone sightings they had been chasing.
In the afternoon we took a sunset cruise on the Chobe River, which at this point marks the border between Botswana and Namibia. We actually had to provide the tour boat operator with our passport details in case we ended up at in Namibia again at some point .
The river cruise was great. Apart from the sunset, highlights were the bird life, water buck, stacks of hippos and elephants swimming the river to get to an island in the middle for sweeter pastures,.
After the cruise it was back for dinner on our last night in Botswana- and the novelty of watching the Wimbledon men’s final at an early hour.
Ness’ and Mark’s Wandering 