4 Ladies on Safari in Botswana

 The Journey Begins ...

Hollie M'gog, Paddy, Janet and Lou .... 4 Ladies ...

Safari Theme Song (Click Here): Cabaret - Two Ladies

The Plan: To drive 9 days through Chobe NP with two nights at Ihaha Campsite, two nights at Linyanti, two in Savuti and one in Khwai (Mbudi campsite) .. very close to where I used to work.

 

On the Chobe River

 

The Chobe River is just a phenomenal place to see. The sunsets throughout the trip were spectacular, but there is always something about a sunset over water.

The river begins its existence as a small mountain spring in Angola, where it is known as the Kwando (a Hambukushu name). From here, it travels great distances through the Kalahari sands before it reaches Botswana and becomes the Linyanti (a Subiya name).

It finally becomes the Chobe at the border post of Ngoma, from where it continues to run along Botswana’s northern border before meeting the mighty Zambezi and tumbling over the precipice at Victoria Falls. The Chobe’s course, like the Okavango and the Zambezi River, is affected by fault lines which are extensions of the Great Rift Valley.

By the time the river reaches the national park’s northern border, it has become a broad, twisting mass of water that snakes its way through swampland and is interspersed by a number of lush, green islands.

This section of the river attracts an almost unbelievable density of game, including huge herds of elephant (which can often be seen crossing the river) and buffalo, as well as countless hippos and crocodiles. The birdlife is extraordinary too, particularly in the wetter summer months. The wide banks and lush grass attract rare antelope such as red lechwe and puku to the water’s edge. The river is also home to over 90 species of fish.

On the boat trips on the Chobe we saw elephants swimming, crocodiles sunbathing, bufdalos in the mud, zebra, kudu and hundreds of species of birds

Then we picked up the car ...

4X4 petrol Cruiser with only 40,000 kms on the clock and all kitted out with fridge, esky, chairs, table, sand ladders, compressor, hi-lift jack and everything else that you think you might need on a safari!

Two roof tents and no accidents!!

To Ihaha Campsite we go then ...

Incredible Sunsets ... again

A view from camp out over the floodplains ... That is Namibia on the other side

Game Driving and Picnic Lunch

Elephants down on the river, right by our campsite

 

Then off we set to Linyanti ...

The north-western corner of Chobe meets the Linyanti River - this is a fragment of almost 900 square kilometres of the secluded Linyanti Swamp. This area is further expanded by the Selinda Reserve in the west and Namibia's remote Mamili National Park on the northern bank of the Kwando River. The area's relative remoteness makes it a favoured safari destination.

The Linyanti And Kwando Rivers

The Kwando and Linyanti Rivers are located mid-way between the town of Kasane and the Okavango Delta in Northern Botswana. The river changes course dramatically because of 'river capture' caused by faulting. The Linyanti River follows a line representing the extreme south western extension of East Africa's Great Rift Valley.The Linyanti River is in a way similar to the Okavango Delta with its papyrus-lined waterways, extensive reed banks and towering riverine forest. The river forms a swamp area, reminiscent of the one found in the Okavango, although it is not more than 900 square kilometres in extent, as opposed to the much larger Okavango Delta.

Deep Sand Driving

Letting the Tyres Down

Some mornings were single rainbows, other mornings were double rainbows

View from Camp out over the Linyanti Swamp

And on, through the deep sand to Savuti

The Savuti Channel is a place of enchantment and beauty in northern Botswana covering 1,930 square miles in the south west of Chobe NP, some 135 miles north of Maun. 

Savuti (also spelt “Savute”) is known for its mysterious and fascinating channel which runs 62 miles from the Chobe River in southern Africa through a gap in the sand ridge to the Mababe Depression.

Fhlemming Giraffe

Louise goes for a Loop!

Bushmen rock art in the small hills surrounding Savuti was first discovered in March 1968 by Tim Liversedge who was a warden of Chobe National Park. The latest of the paintings is thought to have been done in around 1810. Although the paintings are all of a similar style and outlined in red-ochre (similar to the nearest rock paintings found at Tsodilo Hills) they seem to have been done by different groups of people. Through the years small groups of San bushmen would have moved in and out of the area following migrating game and adding their contributions to the adorned rock faces. Some of the animals depicted in the paintings are eland, giraffe, elephant, gemsbok, and hyena, with the more recent ones superimposed on older fading areas.

Then to Mbudi Campsite in Khwai ...

The usual style of bridges in the delta area

 Lunch @ Crocodile Camp

Returning a rather muddy car ...

The Scenic Flight Over the Delta 

We flew from Maun (bottom right) to Shakawe (top left) and the house boat cruised up and down the pan handle there, all the way up to the Namibian Border. We then took the little motor boat out each morning and evening to explore the channels.

A little video I made for you to watch..

Then Came 'The Kubu Queen' a beautiful houseboat 

Two cabins below, two single beds open to the elements above and a roof-tent for the capain above

Lou and Janet had a cabin each

Trying to hook a Tigerfish ... no luck

Lunching while cruising

More incredible sunsets

Swamp Cows (the cows all roam free and are collected back up as the floods receede .. yes some are snapped up by crocs, but remember winter is coming and crocs estevate)

Jacana Eggs .. we also saw chicks

Islands where there will always be a black mamabe and some have residenet pairs of Pels Fishing owls (we were not luck enough to see either)

The new Mohembo Bridge, right up near the Namibian border ... the road is a dead end 100km further. Why the bridge? No-one knows .... the car ferry will soon be out of business

Beautiful fields of lillys

Coucal

Pods of hippos

Bee-eaters

Great big crocs

Staying with Mark Muller and Ali Flatt in Maun

Sundowners on the pans ... there were about 10 elephant behind but no visible in the pic

On Local Transport to Gweta Lodge ...

 

To Ntwetwe Pan to Sleep Out Under The Stars

 

Old baobabs on the way there

On the Pan and Under the Stars

Pan Perspectives

Nata Bird Sanctuary

Nata River

The Nata sanctuary is situated at the mouth of the Nata River delta, at the north-eastern border of the Sua Pan (salt pan) within the larger Makgadikgadi Pan. The Makgadikgadi Pans Landscape, located in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to the southeast of the Okavango Delta, is the most important of natural habitats. It covers wild life conservation parks such as the Makgadikgadi National Park and the Nxai Pan National Park, apart from the Nata Bird Sanctuary, which is "one of the largest breeding sites of Lesser and Greater flamingo in the world."

This region was inhabited by the Nata, Sepako, Maposa and Manxotae communities, who grazed their 3500 and odd cattle in the area. The villagers were persuaded to move their cattle so that a securely fenced sanctuary could be established covering an area of 230 square kilometres; 45% of the sanctuary lies in the Sua Pan.