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At 9.30am our driver picks us up for the next part of our African adventure. It’s day two and country number two on our journey in southern Africa.
Botswana beckons.
It takes us two hours to reach the border.
The crossing is simple. We enter a large recently built hall and get our stamps to leave Zambia. We cross the hall and get our stamps to enter Botswana, we clean the soles of our shoes and we’re on our way again.
Within minutes of crossing the border we see an elephant on the side of the road. We drive on and see a giraffe reaching up for the topmost branches of the trees and we pinch ourselves.
Are we really seeing this? On the side of the road?
At Elephant Sands Lodge we sit entranced all afternoon as elephants play in the mud and drink from a fountain in the middle of the lodge grounds. Signs saying ‘Give way to elephants’ hang on the edges of buildings and off tree branches throughout the grounds and we’re warned to always look out for the majestic creatures. They come from all directions, between the cabins, to get to the watering hole.
During our stay we see as many as 30 elephants, with their young, in the watering hole at any one time.
We move only when it’s time for dinner and even then the elephants come to the watering hole, even then we watch in amazement from our dining table. The sun drops below the horizon and still the elephants come. An overhead lamp lights the watering hole like a spotlight on a stage, as the elephants perform for an entranced audience.
On a morning walk we learn more about the habits of elephants and see impala grazing in the distance.
But it’s our second guide, O’Neil, who gets us bogged in a small town, drives us into low hanging branches, repeatedly gets us lost and calls out over her shoulder ‘Soddy’ that steals our hearts and keeps us smiling throughout our trip.
Our third night in Africa is spent sleeping on salt pans, where the sky goes on forever and the Milky Way burns bright, where O’Neil speaks about herself in the third person and tells us she wants to go to Australia to be a guide and to see the talking parrots, and we all go to our sleeping bags feeling a little perplexed.
We wake up under the stars and watch the sunrise over the crisp white of the salt pans.
Our first stop for the day is an open plain where meerkats pop up out of holes in the ground and stand on mounds surveying the threat.
We take a walk with a couple of Kalahari Bushmen, dressed in loin cloths and feathers, who walk us through the plains and teach us about local seeds and fruits hanging from nearby bushes and about the bush medicine growing all around us.
And we watch in wonder, and more than just a little fear, as they dig a scorpion out of the ground. They pick him up by the tail and dangle him in front of our eyes.
“Who wants to hold him?” they tease and we all take a step backwards.
They talk to each other with clicking sounds and to us in English. And silently, we marvel at the diversity of the world and think how lucky we are to be here, meeting these two men, learning about their culture.
On the drive to Maun, we see yet more elephants and giraffes, two ostriches, some zebra and even some cows and goats on the side of the road. With every moment the reality of Africa, its unique landscapes and flora and fauna stretches out before us.
On the fringe of the Okavango Delta, we take a mokoro ride out to a small island. We sail past hippos and watch elephants and giraffes grazing on the land that surrounds us.
We glide through the channels for an hour before landing on the banks where we take a short walk and stop for lunch. We see more hippos and zebra and follow what we think are leopard tracks but despite peering into all the trees, we see no actual leopards.
At Moremi Game Reserve we reach the Okavango Delta proper. We drive through the big wide gate with wonder, stopping for lunch and protecting our meals from the baboons that threaten. We see an elephant before we’ve even entered the reserve and our spirits are high.
Our guide, Clifford, tells us about the reserve and helps us see the wildlife, he points out their habitats and their traits. Someone has taken our camping spot when we get there, small tents with a separate privacy tent. Our hearts sink as we all wander silently if that’s what we’ll be sleeping in – tiny dome tents with a separate toilet and no shower.
Not the ‘ensuite tents’ we thought we had booked.
We drive on and find a zebra that has been killed by a lion. Hidden in the brush under a log opposite lies the lioness watching over her dinner. A hundred metres behind her a campsite full of young campers sit huddled on the roof of their van. And we vow not to leave our tents at night, no matter how uncomfortable our bladders become.
As we drive through the Delta looking for our campsite, we watch elephants meandering across the plains, silhouetted against the setting sun. And we stop, repeatedly, so that Adrian can take just one more photo of an elephant at sunset.
When we finally arrive at Boga campsite, our home for the next two nights, we find beautiful spacious tents, each with its own ensuite. Shampoo and conditioner, body wash and moisturiser sit on a table all laid out for us beside the makeshift showers. At night our guides bring us hot water bottles and cups of tea as we listen to the elephants surrounding us and watch a honey badger run through our camp looking desperately for food.
On an early morning game drive we watch as three lions navigate their way around our van and sit in the shade of our canopy. We sit as still as can be as they come within three metres of our open-sided vehicle, trying to be silent as we take photos and marvel at the world in which we find ourselves.
We go in search of leopards and find one camouflaged against the branch of a tree, hiding from the hundreds of eyes all trying to tick the big five off their bucket list.
But when we head back after lunch he is on the ground at the base of the tree, lying in the long grass and we can see his fangs jutting outward from his jaw. And we wander how would he hunt? How would he chew through prey?
At sunset we watch elephants play in the dust as Adrian continues in his mission to capture every single elephant in Botswana, at sunset, if he possibly can.
We drive back to camp but are stopped when a family of giraffes appear in the soft light before us. At every turn there is a photo opportunity, just one more remarkable scene in the tale of our adventure through Botswana.
Another early morning game drive, but this time we see thousands and thousands of buffalo, who block the road as we drive toward our boat ride – the morning’s planned activity.
The buffalo come from everywhere, they stare us down as if to say; ‘what are you doing here?’ and form a moving wall across the road in front of us.
Clifford pushes on.
He takes us to see hippos in the water and hippos on the banks of the water, hippos coming out of the water and hippos going into the water. We see crocodiles and birds and elephants, wildebeest and giraffes, antelopes and zebras and watch as a jackal feeds its young.
Finally, we board our small boat and we glide over the water through the channels of the Okavango Delta. We see yet more elephants, antelope and birds, so many birds.
A small plane takes us to Kasane and the edge of Chobe National Park where our fancy suite overlooks the Chobe River and a freezing cold swimming pool beckons us in the heat of the day.
We take a morning boat ride and find ourselves immersed in the waterways of the Chobe River as Adrian tries to capture yet more elephants. We see crocodiles and hippos and buffaloes and waterbirds, but it is the scenery here that takes our breath away.
At Chobe we take morning game drives and nightly boat rides and we see lions from the road and the river, we see hippos fighting, buffaloes on the move, elephants scratching themselves against trees and some of the most unusual African animals we’ve seen, including antelope with antlers that look like something out of The Lion, The Witch and Wardrobe.
At night, we watch as a group of tourists enjoy sundowners on the banks of the Chobe River, overlooking Namibia, unaware a pride of lions is slowly making its way towards them.
Our driver calls out to warn them of the impending danger and the group quickly packs up their food and tables as the lions reach the trees overlooking their shady spot.
And at the end of each day, Ade insists on stopping at every elephant to photograph it silhouetted in the sunset.
Botswana has delivered us a plethora of travel tales and wildlife encounters beyond our imaginations.
And our love for Africa grows with each passing day and every new wildlife encounter.
Read more about our adventures in Africa here.
We travelled to Botswana in 2023.
We were here for 10 days.
We travelled with Kalahari Breeze. They were awesome.
Highlights: Every single day delivered a highlight. From sleeping on salt pans, to meeting the Kalahari bushmen, from watching hippos fighting to seeing a never-ending stream of elephants, the lions, the leopard, the abundance of buffalo…
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