Getting around Botswana by land presents a challenge due to the vast unpopulated areas and limited road system. Bush plane is by far the best way to navigate any long distance travel. On the way to the air field we saw large herds of Impala, Red Lechwe and a Kudu with a calf. It was not quite as exciting as the day before when while watching a heard of six elephants a young bull decided he wanted us out of the way. He charged at us from a running start of about 200 feet away, the water splashing under his feet, his trunk wildly shaking as he trumpeted. He didn't turn off to the right of us until the very last moment. Hearts racing and cameras flashing there was a palpable sense of relief when he finally turned. See calmly told us,"Don't worry it was only a mock charge. We would not be talking about it if it wasn't."
The bush plane taking us on this leg of the journey was fairly new and the flight was much smoother. The jungle below opened to vast open savanna with a sprinkling of termite mounds visible. I spotted a heard of zebras as they were startled by the plane's engine. Further along we could see hippos at the edge of a shrinking watering hole. As we approached the village of Khwai we could see grass huts sandwiched between the Khwai river and the jungle.
We were met by a new crew with Land Cruisers. See introduced the two men as Alois and Kedibis. They would be with us the rest of the trip , setting up camp, cooking and transporting us the rest of the journey. To enter the Moremi Wildlife Reserve
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moremi_Wildlife_Reserve ) you have to cross a 1940 wooden bridge which was of timber logs floating on the water, held together by thin wire. Even the U.S. Corps of Engineers could have done better. Needless to say we exited the trucks and walked
over while the drivers took a leap of faith and drove. Hippos were in the water waiting for the chance to do battle with any truck that might fall in. Large bands of baboons were working their way through the public camping area where they would heist anything not tied down. I had been reading about the problems with baboons in the local newspaper. The baboons were raiding camp sites, breaking into tents and stealing drugs. Baboons on crack! My guess is the drugs walked away with an upright walking primate. We went further into the reserve to a private camp site. See told us they use to camp closer in but the monkeys and baboons became too much of a problem.The amount of wildlife in Moremi is unbelievable. During the two days there we saw lions, large herds of elephants, Impala, Red Lechwe, Roan antelope, hippos, more elephants, zebra, buffalo, spotted hyena, giraffe, kudu, warthog, wildebeest, jackal, crocodile, rock monitor lizards and multiple sightings of eagles and many other bird species and of course baboons and Vervet monkeys.
Dinning in the Bush
I had convinced myself to try what ever I would be feed on this trip no matter if it were some type of corn mush or fried wild dog. I even told my two son-in-laws that they should bring along some energy bars or other foods to help their hunger because I just did not expect the food served to us would be very good. I could not have been any more wrong. From breakfast, to morning snack with tea, to lunch, to afternoon snack with wine and then a 5 course dinner the food was surprisingly five star. And good wines, too. Yes we did have ostrich once, some kind of grain mush called bogobe and the breakfast eggs weren't always from chickens, but even that was good. When I asked the cook where he received his training he laughed, "No training , I learned how to cook by reading a cook book by Julia Childs". We tried to talk him into publishing a "bush cook book" but it turns out CC Africa already has one : http://www.ccafrica.com/safarishop/default.asp.
It Isn't The Lions You Have To Fear
If you have any doubt that this is not a theme park just consider the first night at Moremi. A female wildlife reserve ranger asked See to set up an extra tent for her. She was left alone for the next 2 days and felt more comfortable sleeping in an outdoor tent with others rather than a wooden structure all alone. That first night the hyenas were back looking for any scraps. Two weeks before hyenas had killed a young boy who decided to venture out at night alone. Lions calling for their prides cut though the still night air and Kudus "barked" through the early evening. At about an hour before daylight a confrontation broke out just to the edge of our camp. An elephant and a hyena were head to head. The elephant sounded like an eighteen wheeler reeving it's engine, then she would trumpet and charge though the woods like a bulldozer, knocking down anything in her way. I could feel the vibrations under my feet. The hyena would yelp and scream but not give in. We all trickled out from our tents and gathered around the camp fire knowing this was a dangerous situation. Even the reserved See showed concern. Should this elephant move our direction she would not be very discerning as to the culprit causing her distress and would likely crush what ever was in her path. The confrontation went on for over an hour with finally the hyena making a dash for safety. The elephant had her way and walked away in triumph. I could almost hear the musical tune Elephant Walk playing in the background.
The next day, after having a great day of game drives, See took a left on a dirt path and had to make an abrupt stop. Several elephants were blocking the trail. One female had a calf by her side. We started to reverse course but then had several more elephants behind us. Some how we had managed to get ourselves in the middle of a herd of elephants. The matriarch of the pachyderms would not give way and was determined not to let us pass. She made a mock charge and stopped feet from us . Then the other elephants moved in closer. After about fifteen minutes they finally determined we were not a threat and moved out of our way. Everyone sighed with relief. You knew it was a dangerous situation since no photo's or videos were taken.
I will talk about some lion encounters later. As long as you can hear them, your okay.
As exciting as Moremi was I was interested in moving on to our next camp site in the southern part of Chobe. It would be a long 4 hour drive on a dirt road. Dry, and getting hotter as we moved further north.
Check out the next post: African Safari/ Savute-Chobe
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