Wilderness Tented Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana

Up before 5 am for breakfast and checkout and leave by 7 am for the Kasane International airport.  
On the way to the airport, while riding in a mini bus, we spot a leopard just off the road.  Before we could get our cameras out to take a photo, it has disappeared into the bush.  But we can claim that we have now seen Leopard #3!!

We then came upon a cackle (group) of hyenas and this time we had the cameras out but taking photos through a bus window is not good...

We board a 12-seater plane for an hour's flight to our next camp in the Okavango Delta.

Upon arrival we meet our new game-viewing guides from the camp, Taps and Julius,  who have coffee and bush tea prepared for us and then we head out for a game drive before going to the camp.

Taps and Julius know where there are 2 lions and we head that way.

We find the lions and within minutes they are mating. Wow!  And again, and again, about every 15 minutes for 3 days to ensure impregnation of the female. 

They had no care that they had an audience within 10 feet of them!

Almost done...

Done...for now!

See you again in a few minutes, honey!

Then it was on to find painted (wild) dogs with pups.  We watched them and their litter of puppies.  A hooded vulture came in...it didn't pose any harm to the pups.

It was an hour's drive to the camp over the bumpy, twisting roads.  This vehicle had seat belts and we definitely needed them.  

We drove over a couple of these bridges.

And dodged branches...

And were once again welcomed to the camp with the staff singing songs and dancing.

The main lodge building...

...where we eat our meals.

We are staying in a tent with a wonderful view of the marshy delta.

It is a tent!  Framed but the walls are canvas and screen.  Terry is unzipping our "door".

Comfortable beds...

 and a bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower.  Quite the tent, eh?

After lunch we had time to relax in our tent.  What a view!

Later in the afternoon, Champion presented a lecture on the history of Zimbabwe and then we went on a sundowners drive in the delta.

Our guide, Julius, talked about termite mounds.  These things are HUGE and old....termite mounds usually outlive the colonies themselves....80-100 years old.  The structure of the mounds can be very complicated. Inside the mound is an extensive system of tunnels and conduits that serves as a ventilation system for the underground nest. 

The outside is hard like concrete.

We saw a wonderful sunset while sipping wine.

As we returned to the camp, we came across 6 elephants.  The vehicle behind us angered the elephants by using flash photography.  We heard the elephants trumpet for the matriarch and we sped away as she angrily emerged from the bush at a fast pace.

The next morning, we are up at 5:30 am.   During the night I heard and then saw the shape of an rhino walk past our tent...about 10 feet away from the foot of our bed.  At first I thought it was an elephant as all I saw was the domed back slowly moving past our screen door.  Terry corrected me that it was a hippo.  There is a well-trampled path just on the other side of our deck.

During the night we also heard a roar of a lion and the grunts of hippos and the call of a hyaena....and birds singing as dawn approached.

After breakfast we are off early for a full-day game drive.  

It was a day filled with many sightings of various birds, baboons, kudos, zebras, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, painted dogs.  Here are just a few photos...

 We counted 23 elephants crossing the road ahead of us headed to the water.

Saddle-billed stork

Lilac-breasted roller

Painted dogs aka wild dogs--are the king of the killers as they have speed and endurance and can chase their prey until it is exhausted.  They are ferocious and can take down an impala and eat it down to the bones in 5 minutes.  They start eating before their prey is dead.

Painted (wild) dog

 Lots of zebras...they are Botswana's national animal.

And here's our trip leader, Champion....playing "King of the elephant dung"!  There is certainly no shortage of it in the bush.

We watched an elephant bathe itself in mud to kill parasites.  After the mud is dry, the elephant removes the mud and the parasites by rubbing against tree bark.

Lion tracks

At times we crossed through water...

We stopped for a picnic lunch served up by Champion, Taps, and Julius

Dan and Terry

Across the water from our picnic spot, we watched hippos in the water.

And then we learned what these two were doing!  Champion said he had only seen hippos mating once before in all his years of guiding. We are a lucky group of safari travelers! 

The female is completely submersed.

Whatcha looking at!

Get out of here!

Done and the female surfaces

And this must be their high-5 for the finale.

  

There was an elephant behind us but we couldn't get him in the photo!  It was a full day of game viewing....we saw so much!

For our "Learning and Discovery", Tschidie, the camp business manager, gave a talk on the interaction of humans and animals and the land.

Then Taps talked about lobola.  He and Tschidie plan to marry, and considering Tschidie's education, etc. Taps will probably pay the lobola with many cows as her "value" should be quite high.  He considers paying the lobola an honor.

During the night there were plenty of animal sounds...hippos, lions, hyaena, elephants.  It is hard to tell how close they actually are.

After breakfast we did a short game drive with Taps.  Almost immediately we saw a parade of elephants crossing the road ahead of us. They had just come out of the water.

 There was a very young elephant...Taps thought about 3-4 months old.

You can't tell we are having the time of our lives, can you?

Taps stopped to pick up something white....it was dried hyaena poop.  Hyaena are scavengers and eat flesh and bone.  Due to bacteria in this food, their poop is white.  When dried it becomes like a piece of chalk.  Taps wrote our names on the inside of his door.

Taps took us off road to see what could be found...we came across 2 bull elephants in some water.

 We watched them for quite awhile as they edged toward each other.  Finally there was a moment of head butting and splashing water before they separated again.

Taps thought they were probably challenging each other for a female.

A few birds, some more termite mounds and hippos...

...and we arrive at the waters edge where we will take a ride in a traditional African canoe, called mokoro.

We spent about an hour slowly cruising through the canals that are made by the hippos when they are feeding on the grasses.

The water flowers and lily pads were beautiful .

We tried to take a photo of the littlest frog ever...almost an inch long.

It was then time to head back to the camp for brunch, rest and a little packing.  We have a travel day tomorrow.

During afternoon tea, Taps talked about Botswana and the Okavango Delta, which is a very large, swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough.   All the water reaching the Delta is ultimately evaporated and transpired, and does not flow into any sea or ocean. The scale and magnificence of the Okavango Delta helped it secure a position as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

The Okavango is produced by seasonal flooding of the river.  The flood peaks between June and August, during Botswana’s dry winter months, when the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from miles around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.  We could see that the water level was rising while we where at this camp.

Then we went on the afternoon game drive.

Taps showed us the largest termite mound in the Okavango Delta....it is 80-100 years old.

We saw  a family of giraffes and watched them for awhile.

Then we saw many vultures in a tree and went off road through the brush and trees trying to find what died as we could smell something dead, but with no success.

When we returned to camp, it was time for the traditional African dinner.

Following custom, the wives had to prepare a plate of food for the husbands and kneel down before handing it to him.  The men thought this was a great idea!  The women humored them!

The staff performed a few songs with a bit of dancing. 

Then we returned the favor, and as a group sang "God Bless America" and then we  all said our names and what state we are from.  Sue and Sande presented a small statue of liberty to the staff and explained its significance.

 It was 4th of July today.

Tomorrow morning we leave this camp and head to Zambia and the Lufupa Camp.

To continue reading, scroll up towards the top of this page and click in the right-hand column the entry entitled: Lufupa Camp, Kafue, Zambia