Safari in Botswana

Written by Charles (photos chosen by William)

The plane that we used to get from the Botswana border to the Okavanga Delta made all the other planes look like jumbo jets.  This was a twin-engine turbo prop that seated a maximum of 10 passengers.  When we landed at Mombo, our safari camp in the Okavango Delta, we saw elephants and giraffes from the plane.  We landed at the Mombo “International” Airport (a dirt runway with the terminal being three covered parking spaces for safari jeeps).  We rode in a safari jeep towards the camp, and 3 minutes from the airport we met giraffes.  That’s when the hunting started.

Well, hunting with cameras…suddenly the cameras went rapid-fire machine gun mode.  One giraffe crossed the road in front of us; eventually we moved on.  We got to the camp, and I saw that the camp was a series of boardwalks with huts and tents/log cabins about ten feet off the ground.  I also saw that there were no fences around the camp, keeping the animals out.

That afternoon we went out; within the first forty-five minutes we made National Geographic envious.  We first went to see a pride of lions just ten minutes outside of the camp.  They were eating a dead mama warthog.  It was cool because the lions let us get close because they thought that we were a big moving and talking rock. Then they started to fight; they were roaring and clawing each other.  After that one of the lions stood up and started walking towards something.  We drove to the lion, and then the chase began. 

The chase was on, baby warthog in front, lioness, four safari jeeps, and a pride of lions all on the warthog’s tail.  We trampled bushes to see where the lion went and finally, with the warthog in her mouth, she laid down to eat.  I won’t go into detail, but I’ll say that she was, in simple terms, putting her lipstick on.  Her mouth was bright red and… well, look at the pictures and you’ll figure it out.

After that we went to go visit the elephants.  We drove right up to them, and some of the larger ones didn’t care.  Some of the smaller elephants wanted their space though.  One was a teenager, and one was a 3 year old.  The teenager came up about 30 feet from the Land Rover and swung his trunk.  He also dipped his head and pretended to charge.  Everyone was scared, except the driver.  Then the baby elephant came up and did the same thing as his brother, and we all thought that it was funny.

After that we went to see a different pride of lions.  We saw jackals making a run for a bush.  We also saw a pack of hyenas; they were walking in a pack of about 11.  We went to the lions, who were feasting on a dead buffalo.  There were vultures waiting in the trees and on the ground.  All the cameras were out of batteries except mine, which I also had an extra battery charger for. 

Then, as we started to leave the buffalo/lion feast, the hyenas approached.  There were 2 lions looking at the 11 hyenas.  They stared at each other, and only my camera went click click.  The guide said that the hyenas would have fought the defending lions, if they hadn’t been two boys.  Actually, there was one boy and one girl, but the girl had a mane, so she looked like a boy. 

That night we went to bed with only screen doors and canvas walls to protect us from the lions, hyenas, and leopards. The next day at 6:00 a.m. (5:00 wake up) we went on a rhino hunt; although we didn’t see any rhinos, we did see a leopard.  It was hiding in the bushes, but we found it because a giraffe was staring at the bushes.  We went in, trampling small trees and plowing over bushes. In other words, we were being a stealth jeep, rock, or bulldozer. 

The leopard was drinking from a watering hole, and she let us get 10 feet away from her.  That day we also saw elephants, zebras, and buffalo in the same area.  The zebras and buffalos wouldn’t let us get that close though.  We tried to go close to the buffalo, but they would run, while the old boys would form a wall and stomp on the ground like bulls.

We also saw wild dogs playing.  They ran around in a watering hole and splashed each other.  A while down the road we saw hyenas playing in a different watering hole.   We also saw a hippo; he was like the ones we saw in Victoria Falls, who just floated in the water like logs.  That afternoon we took a nap to make up for the 5:00 am wake up.  Then we went out on the evening safari.  The coolest thing we saw was lions, who were just lounging and taking naps near the airport. 

The next morning, after another terrifying night and a five am wake up call, we went on a lion hunt.  We saw nothing unusual, except for some giraffes in the bushes away from us.  We also saw a hippo pretending to be a log again.  We ended the morning early for an open-door helicopter ride.  They took the doors off and flew us around hunting for animals.  We saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, crocodiles, hippos, warthogs, buffalo, impala, baboons, and of course, lots of birds. 

That evening we saw nothing, except some impalas and a jackal that was running into a bush.  When we came back from dinner, we saw a hippo next to our tent/hut.  It was eating, and it went “Gwahhaammp blumbplumb Gwahhaammp blumbplub.” It saw our flashlights and tried to walk away.  Instead it bumped into the support of the cabin and shook it.  William was inside it and yelled “Earthquake!!”

The next and last morning we saw lots of elephants and a hippo.  The elephants walked all around our truck and didn’t really care about us.  Then we drove around until we saw a leopard.  It gave us lots of photo opportunities.  It walked around, and we followed it until it looked like it was going to jump on top of the truck.  Then the driver (who was in the front seat) told us it was dangerous and we skedaddled.  That day was also my birthday, and I thought that it was one the best birthdays ever (up to the leaving part).  Then we took all the flights home with a total of 24 hours (give or take) till we got home.  I don’t think that I will forget that trip ever, and I want to go back to most of the places we went to.