The next morning, we got an early start at the breakfast buffet. Just to remind us we were in Africa, a couple of warthogs weren't shy about also noshing on their morning meal a few yards away. We were a bit sad to so quickly leave behind Zimbabwe, but very excited to move to our next destination: Savute Safari Lodge in the Chobe National Park of Botswana.
The travel itself was a new and rewarding experience. At 8am sharp, a shuttle driver picked us up. He drove us for about an hour to the border. We had to wait patiently is several lines to first exit Zimbabwe, and then to enter Botswana. While our passports were stamped, we were required to log by hand our details and customs declarations in a large ledger. At that point, our Zimbabwean driver handed us off to a driver on the Botswana side. This gentlemen shuttled us to the Kasane airport. While it is currently expanding, this hub only had one active gate. Little did we know that this would be the largest airport we would see for a while (it even had paved runways). Being escorted onto the runway by what we would soon realize was our very young looking pilot, we all got a bit nervous when we saw the size of the plane. The little bush plane boasted 6 seats in total (including the pilot), with a small cargo space for our bags underneath. It is safe to say there were a few nerves and white knuckles as the pilot reached top runways speeds and pulled back on the stick. Surprisingly, the ride was a pretty smooth one. There were certainly moments of stomach-clenching, heart-dropping turbulence, but the pilot always seemed calm and in control. And there is something about seeing the pilot make corrections that gives you confidence that these are not the last moments of your life. Plus, it was easy to get distracted by the amazing views. Botswana is a very large country, roughly the size of Texas or France. But with only 2 million inhabitants, the majority of the country is devoid of human life and has been preserved as national parks and game reserves. So from the window of a tiny bush plane, you can look all the way to the horizon and not see any sign of civilization. We were in the air for about 45 minutes, flying over beautiful desert terrain, before the pilot pointed out our landing strip in the distance. We were headed for a dusty lane just wide and long enough to land a plane. A few minutes and more white knuckles later, and we were on the ground in the middle of nowhere.
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| Our plane |
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| Always read the safety card! |
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| Juuuust a little nervous |
A safari guide was waiting to drive us to the camp. We were only about a 20 minute drive from the camp, so our minds were thinking ahead to checking in and exploring the grounds. What we had not mentally prepared ourselves for was the fact that we were in the middle of the Savute desert, where the wildlife is always active. In this first short drive through the bush, we got stunning views of elephants, giraffes, ostriches, and impala. Already the experience was beyond our expectations. Seeing this wildlife in its natural habit, with very little intrusion of man, is truly an awe inspiring experience. This quick taste of a safari game drive got us really excited about the first full experience would we get that afternoon.
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| Savute Lodge |
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| The watering hole behind the lodge, frequented by elephant |
We will write more about the lodges themselves in later posts, but in Savute we will focus on the activities. Every day in the bush starts with an early wake-up call. Depending on the time of year, either 5:30am or 6:00am. You eat breakfast and hit the game trail by 6:30am - 7:00am. Towards the end of your morning activity, you take a pause to have morning tea out among the animals. A bit more driving/walking/boating around and your morning activity concludes around 11:00am. At this point you return to the camp for brunch. 12:00pm-3:00pm is siesta time. Lay by the pool, take a nap in your cabin, drink a beer at the bar and rest up for your afternoon activity. At 3:00pm, the bell rings for high tea. After these treats, you hit the game trail again from 3:30pm-6:30pm. This time, instead of taking a break for tea towards the end of the drive, the guides setup shop for "sun-downers" (read: stiff drinks while you watch the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen). You are back at camp by 6:30pm to let you shower off the trail dust and get ready for dinner at 7:30pm. Dinner is always a multi-course and multi-glass-of-wine event running as long as you can keep eating. The day finally concludes by sitting around a fire pit and looking up at more stars than you ever knew existed. By 10:00pm-11:00pm you are too tired to keep your eyes open, and you head back to your room to get some sleep and do it all again the next day.
Each camp we went to offered different types of activities, but in Savute it was game drives pure and simple. The four of us we paired up with another American couple to ride along with the best guide in the desert, Gwist. A tall and imposing guy but with a friendly smile, he was extremely knowledgeable and kept surprising us with some dry humor now and again. For a total of four drives, we piled in the back of a open-top jeep to bounce along dusty trail tracks. We trekked all over the desert seeing something new on every drive. Our first drive was particularly eventful. About halfway into the drive, we had already seen quite a bit of wildlife, but most of it had been a comfortable distance away. Just then, we came around a bend to be surprised by a massive male elephant standing only a few yards away from the trail. Gwist killed the engine to let us silently observe this majestic creature. The elephant seemed disinterested in us, but Gwist asked if we were all comfortable with how close we were. We had just finished saying "yes," when the big buck decided he wasn't so happy with us after all and started charging directly towards us at top speed. Without hesitation, Gwist turned the ignition and stomped the accelerator, not to speed off, but the frighten the elephant. The loud noise scared the huge creature, and he turned his charge into a speedy retreat. Gwist explained that if we had run from him, the elephant would have taken that experience as a basis for behavior and could have begun to chase any trucks he came across. After checking to make sure our pants were still dry, we continued on the trail and were rewarded by our only leopard sighting of the trip. We had been seeing signs of leopard activity in the area (impala carcasses hung high in trees), but actually catching a glimpse of these crafty predators is rare. Another guide radioed that they had found him resting in a tree nearby. Gwist hurried us over, and we got to see the beautiful cat lounging in the tree tops just before we had to head back at sundown.
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| The struggle to eat grass is real |
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| You can't tell here but he is quickly approaching! |
While every drive brought more sightings of a huge variety of species, the highlights of the rest of our drives in Savute were dominated by the two kings of this desert: the elephants and the lions. This particular lion pride is a bit famous for starring in recent documentaries. They are an especially crafty and viscous group of hunters, know to have even taken down elephants in the most desperate of times. Three out of the four drives, we saw the massive cats displaying all sorts of behavior. Every experience emphasized the power and grace of these predators. We even caught a rare glimpse of the highly guarded and camouflaged cubs. For the elephants, of course the size and beauty of these creatures impressed us, but what kept catching us off guard were the numbers. On more than one occasion, we would be sitting at a water hole observing a zebra or antelope, and suddenly an elephant would appear. Then ten, then twenty, then thirty...At one particular sighting, we estimated we were in the middle of a group of 80 splashing and drinking elephants. Unforgettable.
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| The King calling for his pride |
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| Post breakfast nap |
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| The refs |
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| Tyler with the lions |
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| A cat in a tree |
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| The babies loving the water |
