Day 12: July 5, Moremi, Botswana

8:30am:
Today we're heading back into Botswana from Namibia. Overall, the Namibian people were far more reserved than the Botswana people were - at least at the lodges and in the villages that we've been to thus far. Perhaps that's because Namibia just won its independence in 1990 through a lot of heartache and bloodshed, whereas Botswana won its independence without conflict.

It's quite an adventure to get out of here - we take a 45 minute jeep ride, to a 1 1/2 hour boat ride, to a 40 minute small plane ride, to a 40 minute jeep ride. (I'm writing this on our morning boat ride, and I picked the wrong side of the boat - the shady side. I'm freezing my tush off. Oh well. At least my diarrhea has cleared up from yesterday - yay!! Oh, that was probably too much info, eh?)

4:00pm:
Some photos from today's journey... here is our international departing airport (and my plane):Here's our international arriving airport: And here is the bathroom (the "loo with a view"):
This is the women's room. The men's room doesn't have toilet paper. Whenever we need to "water the flowers", euphamistically speaking, the guide has to check out the area to make sure no predators or snakes are going to (literally) bite us in the ass.
The lodge here is gorgeous, and our tents are canvas-sided, but have plumbing. Yay! This place is so romantic... it would be perfect with someone to share it with. Especially the stars. I can't explain or capture a photo of the stars here. The Milky Way is like a silk ribbon across the sky, and there is no light pollution to hide any of them. I've seen the Southern Cross, Scorpio, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter... one thing I really want to do before I leave is spend some time staring at the night sky. (I know someone in particular who would really appreciate it as much (or more) as I do... been thinking about him a lot...)

Anyway, back to our tent:
The lodge's bar... a fabulous view...
The lodge bathrooms are a bit more refined, but not quite the 360-degree views of the loos in the bush: Here's the sign for the girl's room:
And this for the boy's:
The drive to the camp from the airport was beautiful, and we had a picnic lunch en route. Some zebras wandered by while we were eating, and so now I can truly say that I've had lunch with zebras. We also saw:
- Steenbok
- Black-tailed mongoose
- Kudu
- Baboons
- Red- and Yellow-billed hornbills

Here's a magpie that I snagged a photo of:
This is the first camp we're staying at that doesn't have locks on the doors. The locks, however, aren't to keep the people out, but to keep the baboons from entering your room and "messing it up" (i.e. pooping on your bed). Apparently, the baboons can open unlocked doors, but they can't open zippered tent flaps, which is what we have here. We've also been warned not to leave any clothing to dry outside the tents / lodges, since the baboons love to play with things, and take your colorful undies and display them in nearby trees. Personally, I think it might be worth losing a pair of my knickers to see a baboon wearing them... but maybe that's just me.

We had one elephant on the horizon to greet us when we arrive - along with the staff, of course. This staff is also extremely gregarious and outgoing, and once again sang as we came into camp. I guess that singing and music is simply a part of their daily lives... everywhere we've gone, someone has been singing to us.

Moremi Game Reserve - in the Okavango Delta region of Botswana - has fascinating topography. During the rainy season, it rains (duh), but the rivers actually flood during the dry season. This is because it takes 6 months for the water from Angola's rainy season to flow through the ground and into the Delta. As a result, the rivers are full now, so they have water source all year round. I think that's kinda cool.
The British influence is still very strong here, and we have high tea every day at 3:30 or 4pm, and they call the bathrooms "loos".

At this camp, we can do more activities than just sitting on our toosh for game drives. We can also do game walks, or a trip on the river in a traditional canoe. I'm looking forward to doing more than sitting on a land rover on my toosh every day, so that's exciting. I'll bet any animal looks very different (and much more terrifying) from the perspective of your two feet, instead of the back of a truck.

P.S. Toilets really DO swirl in the opposite direction here! Whoo hoo!

8:30pm:
Tonight's drive was OK, but I don't love the guide as much here as I did in the last camps. Oh well, I guess I've been spoiled. He's not bad, but just... well... quiet. We did catch a quick glimpse of an African Wild Cat, but only for a moment, darting behind some grass. It holds to our record, though, of seeing at least one new animal on every drive we go out on! (I hope I didn't just jinx us, though.)

We've also managed to see three and a half of the "Big Five". We've seen a leopard, elephant and buffalo. We've also sort of seen a lion, but I didn't count it as a full sighting since we only saw a head (hence the 1/2). We have yet to see a rhino (the final of the five), but they're so rare that we're not holding our breath.

We did see a Tsessebe antelope, which is the fastest antelope in the world:
We also saw zebras: And did our "sundowner" drinks at the "Hippo Pool":
Gads, you just can't get tired of the sunsets here... note the hippo heads on the right side of the photo:
The clouds, on fire...
Here's a weirdly furry photo of our group enjoying our "sundowner" (which is basically just another excuse to stop and drink alcohol... like we need another excuse?)
Other stuff we saw on the evening drive:
- Warthog
- Senegal Coucal
- Nile Crocodiles
- African Civet
- Wildebeest
- Springhare (which was hysterical to watch.... boing boing boing!)

Tomorrow morning, Joanne and I are taking our tour of the river on a mokoro canoe, a traditional form of transportation for the villagers in the Delta. We're going to freeze our butts off.

Another amazing thing here is the sage bush growth. There are two types of sage here - silk sage and wild sage. Each has a unique scent, and it grows invasively here - the amount of sage is insane, and the scent is positively overwhelming. They burn it back to allow some grasses to grow, so that grazing animals can eat. I love the smell, though everyone seems to be tired of it except me! Am going to have to find some sage when I get a home...

Day 13: July 6, Mokoros & Cats

The mokoro ride this morning was very calm and serene. On the way to the launch, we spotted more of the uber-rare roan antelope, which had never been seen in this portion of the park, according to our guide: The ride reminded me a little of gondolas in Venice, but completely different, of course.

We didn't spot a lot of game, but did see a few very cool birds, including a lesser jacana, which the guides were very excited about. The guides were fabulously sweet, and told us stories of their home (they grew up in a village in the delta, and had been "polling" the mokoros since they were 6 years old). They made us bracelets from palm leaves, and told us long African lore tales of crazy mother-in-laws and witchcraft. There are a few bugs and mosquitoes here too, but not nearly as many as were in Namibia. Still, I can't imagine how bad they are in the rainy season.

The dry, winter season in this part of the world is painfully dry. There is absolutely no humidity in the air at all, and my skin is cracking from the lack of moisture. I put on sunscreen every hour or so, and it just soaks right in. After showering, I slather on moisturizer, and it's gone within minutes. I feel so high maintenance (and for those of you who know me, you know I'm not high maintenance at all!) But the dry air just sucks the moisture out of you, and the dust coats everything. The grasses are all crispy and dry, and if it weren't for the river, I would swear there hadn't been water here in decades.

Here's a photo of the fire pit at the new camp:

This afternoon was another game drive. We saw quite a bit, including another baby giraffe - who was quite happily munching on this acacia tree, even if his three guardians weren't so sure about us.

No ostrich today, as I was hoping, but on the drive back to the lodge, we came across a serval (a small spotted cat) sitting literally in the middle of the road! The guide had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him, and he darted off into the bush. He was absolutely gorgeous, and of course, I didn't get a photo, but here's a link so you can see what he looks like. Gorgeous!

About 2 minutes later, two caracals (more cats) were also sitting in the middle of the road, and dashed off into the sage brush when we approached. They lead us on quite a chase... We spotted them, and they darted into the bush, so we went around the bush to get a better peek. As soon as they saw us, they ran behind another bush, and we followed them again. This happened about 5 times, and the guide said that they were a mating pair who was playing with us. They certainly weren't panicking when they saw us - it was more like a domestic cat playing hide & seek... too funny. I still can't believe that I'm seeing this for real...

The stars are - if it's possible - more incredible here. I am in awe when I look up at the sky at night. I'm going to try some long exposure photos one night to see if I can capture even a bit of what it looks like. It's unbelievable. And if I wasn't terrified of being eaten by lions (or freezing to death), I would sleep under the stars every night.

As I lay in bed writing this, the frogs along the Delta are deafeningly loud. I can't imagine being a nocturnal predator around here and trying to locate anything other than frogs in this din. Crazy. The people who really need to come to Africa are serious bird watchers. The variety is amazing, and so exotic. I've also come to the realization that I'm going to be seriously disappointed in zoos from now on, having seen the "real things" in action like this. At zoos, the animals just seem to lie about, doing nothing and bored to the point of catatonic states. But out here, animals are always doing something - even if it's running away from us.

Tomorrow morning is my first game walk... yay! Very excited... Hope I don't get attacked by anything...

Day 14: July 7, Botswana Drama

Whew! We had crazy adventures this morning! Last night, Joanne and I were kept awake by some very loud noises - low grunts, growls, groans, and scraping sounds along the wooden walkway outside of our tent. It scared me to death, and I was convinced it was lions, until I realized that whatever it was was munching on branches and grass. I talked myself into believing that they were elephants, but was too scared to poke my head out of the tent to find out (they tell you *never* to poke your head out of the tent at night!)

We woke up (and the sounds were still there) to find ourselves surrounded by a herd of about 50 buffalo! (We found out later that one of the guides had also heard the sounds of a leopard mixed in with the buffalo grunts. I couldn't tell the difference.) The buffalo scampered off to a safe distance when we exited the tent, and I tried to take a photo, but it was dark, so I don't know how the the pictures came out. (Note: Here's the photo. It came out kind of blurry, as I had suspected it might.) At breakfast we fed the francolins rice krispies:
And before we left, it was light enough to get one last, clear photo of one of the buffalo that kept us awake all night:
This morning, I went on a "game walk" with our guide, Sam. This is basically a walking wildlife lesson that puts you distinctly on the bottom of the food chain. Sam carried a shotgun, and we had to walk single file, and keep our voices down. He showed us tracks of various animals, poop of various animals, and roots of trees that elephants like to eat. It was cool. (Apparently, the local villagers use impala poop to treat chicken pox. With so many impala around, I'm sure there's plenty to go around when there's an outbreak.)

About half-way through our morning walk, we got a call on the walkies that there was a sighting... so we rushed back to the vehicle and drove like maniacs (my kidneys are still bruised from the bumps on the road.) At first, all we saw were more jackals...
...but then, through the brush... we saw LIONS! And not just one or two, there were 10 lions lying about, including a few cubs:
They'd just made a kill, and had eaten a large breakfast... so they were just laying around, dozing... and yawning:
They were stunning, inspiring and impressive animals, even while they were dozing... These are incredible animals, and to be as close as we were, and realize that if they got in the mood they could kill you with one swipe... gives me the shivers...
We finally found the male lion, lying a little further away from the pack:

He was gorgeous, and walked right by the trucks...
He just moseyed around... and didn't seem to have any direction, until we realized that a female was calling to him, and he was moving towards that sound.
So we left the two alone, and went back to see if we could find the lion's kill...
And sure enough, hidden underneath some brush, two females and a baby lion were finishing off a zebra:

On the drive back to camp after our morning adventures, we had a staring contest with a Yellow Mongoose. He just sat in the road, and we sat staring at him... I think he just wanted to make sure we got a good photo of him: We also saw some other animals, too... like a live zebra...
... and another fabulously gorgeous giraffe... (*smile*)
Later that evening, we went back to the lion site, to see if they were still there. The lions had left, but the remains of the zebra were still there. Here's a hoof and the lower jaw bone:
Here are the ribs, upper jaw, and part of the mane. The hyenas would arrive later, and eat the bones (their jaws are strong enough to crush bones... amazing.) It's stunning to me what an animal can be reduced to in a matter of hours, and it was a stark reminder of how brutal survival is out here in the bush.

There were about a thousand vultures circling the area too, including one with a tag on his wing: Number K064....
More giraffes in the evening...
And we also saw:

- Elephants

- Steenbok

- Saddle-billed stork

- Short-tailed Eagle

- Kudu

- Impala

- Yellow-billed Duck

- Red-Billed Teal

- Black-winged Stilt

- Spur-winged Goose

- Grey Heron

- Warthog

- Double-banded Sandgrouse

- Slender Mongoose

- White-backed Vultures

- Hooded Vultures

We returned to the hippo pool, and while the sunset wasn't as impressive as the last few evening's, there were two adolescent hippos that were playing and frolicking in the water hysterically. We went back to camp, exhausted from everything we had seen...

Tomorrow, we leave for Zimbabwe, so the staff at the lodge gave us a fabulous farewell. We danced, sang, and listened to them perform on traditional African musical instruments. I'll be sad to say goodbye to this beautiful place.

Day 15: July 8, To Zimbabwe

Morning:
This morning was quite an exciting adventure! It was an early (and c-c-c-cold) start to along day of travel as we head towards our next lodge in Zimbabwe. It was definitely the coldest morning yet - close to freezing. All during breakfast we could hear the lions calling to each other in the not-too-far-off distance. But as we were driving to the airport, someone in our troop yelled "Leopard!" and pointed off to our left. It wasn't a leopard, but a hyena, sitting in the middle of a clearing. This was sort of weird, and he was just hanging out. We also saw a few jackals wandering around, and a giraffe that was just standing about... and then started running off suddenly away from us. We couldn't figure out the weird behavior until we caught sight of...
More lions!
Not only did we catch sight of the lions, but also caught the smell of their breakfast... another zebra. They allowed us to get frightfully close to them as they were cleaning off the bones of their kill:
We weren't more than about 20 feet away from them. But full bellies lead to sleepy cats, so this guy gave us a nice big yawn:
How'd you like this to be the last thing you see before you die? Ow.
We definitely got close to them, as they were lazing about in the sage brush... it was really eerie to be this close to a wild predator like this:
And a little further down the road, we spotted... yes... another lion with another zebra kill. That totalled three zebras killed by two lion groups in 24 hours that we saw. It was, in short, a really bad weekend to be a zebra.
And the hyenas were just waiting for the opportunity to steal some...
While it warmed up considerably, we took a flight from the lodge and are now in a bus heading through Zimbabwe to another teeny-plane flight to our next lodge. (I don't know why this shot is crooked - the sign was straight, but apparently my head was on sideways that morning. I'll have to straighten out my horizons when I get my 'puter up and running.)
(As I write this, there are baboons crossing the road in front of us... I wonder how much baboon road kill they have here.) The border crossing was uneventful (more free condoms on the wall), and we made it through the smuggling checkpoint in the highway without fuss.

Afternoon:
The drive to the lodge here was FILLED with elephants! Apparently they have a huge overpopulation of elephants in this particular park... so they are everywhere... One charged us: ... others mooned us ...
... and a few reminded me of Reservoir Dogs.
I love the camp here - Linkwasha 2 Camp in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. I think this might be my favorite camp so far. The tents look quite humble on the exterior:
But inside is quite luxurious... (see what I mean when I say it's romantic?)
Even the shower was cool! We have to be escorted to our rooms at night by an armed escort carrying a rifle. I assumed it's for the animals, but after hearing that there is a train station not too far off, I'm not sure if it's not for people protection, too. (I asked the guides later, and they said that it was for animals, so there's the answer.)

The evening drive was beautiful, with more elephants...
... more gorgeous sunsets (here's me on a viewing platform over a water hole. The black spot in the water to the right of my arm is a hippo.)
Tomorrow is another game walk in the morning. Tonight... hot water bottles on cold toes. :-)