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| Southern Giraffe |
After 10 days in Zimbabwe and Zambia we flew from Kafue ("a bush air strip") to Livingstone airport in Zambia. From there we took our bus to cross the border of Zambia into Botswana over the Zambeze River. The camp, Baobab Safari Lodge, was in Chobe National Park and overlooked the meandering water channels between Botswana and Zambia.
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| Lilac-breasted Roller-a species of Old World birds named for their unique abiliy to perform aerial acrobatics in flight and typically have eight brilliant colors on their bodies & the males & females look alike! |
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There were always animals along the shallow water and often fishermen in flat bottom dugout canoes called mokoro propelled by a standing person with a long pole.
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| getting ready for brunch after a morning game drive |
Our game-drives were along the water where we saw our best sightings of the Big Five animals -Lion, Elephant, Leopard, African Buffalo and Rhinoceros. The "Big Five" originally referred to the difficulty in hunting these five large African mammal species and they were known to be dangerous. It was considered a feat by trophy hunters but today they are poached for illegal trade on the Asian market.
To see the Rhinos, we visited Mosi-oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders" (the Africian name for Victoria Falls). It is the country's smallest National Park and is a protected reserve for the southern white rhinoceros. The southern white rhino were brought back from near extinction in the 20th century and are now listed as "near threatened". These rhinos were brought from South Africa and live in this park with 24 hour armed guard protection from poachers.  |
| men and women see their job as a "calling" to protect the rhino from poachers |
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| mom with baby |
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| the white rhino have broad, flat mouths for grazing and are the most social of all rhinos |
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we walked in silence with the guards and got very close!
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This is also where we saw several leopards and hyena with fresh "kills". The leopard sightings were the most exciting and unique. We saw the hyena running along the highway carrying a large hunk of raw meat in its jaw. They are scavengers and steal the prey from other animals.
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| one night drive we saw a very large number of vultures in the trees and the guide suspected there was a kill nearby but he couldn't find anything |
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| the next day our guide took off into the bush to find what the vultures were waiting for |
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| We were fortunate to glimpse the leopard with its fresh kill-an impala antelope- as it took it into the bushes to hide it. Leopards often move their kill even up into a tree to protect it from scavengers |
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| This was another leopard stalking something. We watched it for several minutes and it barely moved. |
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Suddenly in the blink of an eye the leopard sprang and grabbed a bird-look closely
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| Marabou stork-rather ugly is known as "the undertaker bird" with a 12 ft wingspan |
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| endangered black sable antelope |
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| Burchell's zebra has a shadow brown stripe |
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baboons
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| African buffalo can be very aggressive |
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jackal-a very secretive animal that vigorously defends its territory from other jackals
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Our last night in each camp was usually a very special meal or ceremony. Here we were treated to a braii (b-b-q) in the bhoma which is an enclosure used for gatherings.
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| the chef- she described all of the food which is typically eaten by hand |
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tradition is to pour clean
water from a small bucket and give towels to each person before we eat |
The next morning we flew on small bush planes landing on a dirt airsrip in the middle of the woodlands and drove to our final camp in the infamous Okavango Delta of Botswana, a massive network of river channels and floodplains in the Kalahari Desert.  |
| view of the Okavango Delta |
Botswana is a land-locked country covered by the red Kalahari sand. The country was never colonized because it was thought to be a huge desert with nothing worthwhile there. If you have ever read any of the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series by McCall Smith you can feel the authenticity of his Botswana.
Here our camp overlooked a water hole where we saw elephants, antelope and warthogs drinking and cooling themselves. Did I mention how hot it? We were just coming out of springtime and temperatures in the days were low 90's. We had standing fans and open windows but no A/C in the tents.
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| elephant herd at the water hole |
After seeing so many fabulous animals at our other safari lodges, we opted to focus on a lion hunt. Each day our guides followed the tracks of the lions and we discovered several prides of female and male lions.
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| they would look out the side of the vehicle when driving and often got out to walk & track |
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| lion prints are about the size of our hand |
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| the lion is in the shade and as long as we were quiet with no sudden moves we could watch for hours |
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| mother with three cubs-notice the spots on their legs |
three young male lions together
We also saw many other animals while searching for the lions
We were totally surprised with a special lunch set up out in the bush and we were only a few hundred yards from the lions we had just seen!
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| complete lunch even with the bar set up |
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| The end of a fabulous African Safari |
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our wonderful new friends
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The final stop on the O.A.T. tour was in Victoria Falls on the South African side where we enjoyed the "city life" for 2 days. Lots of shopping here at the many vendor markets where the most popular items were wood carvings and baskets. The Victoria Falls is the largest curtain of water on earth and is one of the world's Seven Natural Wonders. The falls are nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls and 1-1/2 times as wide. The mist can be seen-and felt-50 miles away, hence the African name "the smoke that thunders". Some of our group took helicopter rides over the falls, bungee jumps or zip-lines over the Zambie River. Us? We just walked and shopped.
Once the O.A.T. tour ended back in Johannesburg, we flew on to Cape Town for another 6 days. We stayed in the BoKamp area which is known for the brightly painted buildings and many mosques.
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| Table Mountain in the back |
We engaged a local tour guide for 3 days to drive us and explore the area surrounding the Cape. This turned out to be very good and an easy way to spend our last few days in Africa….and saw more animals.
One of our tour members, George Schellenger, is a two time Emmy Award-winning producer journalist and he prepared this short video of our trip (used with permission)-see what our photos really look like! Thanks George and Sean
