Just drop me off in the Delta

Issue 32

Could northern Botswana be the ultimate all-season safari destination for the adventurous, well-heeled traveller? Iain Wallace visits one of the country’s pristine private concessions to find out. Botswana is huge. Big as Texas, they say, but with fewer residents than a New York suburb. What’s more, most people live in the southeast, leaving the wildlife-rich Chobe, Moremi and Okavango regions in the north with hardly any people at all. Visit this wonderful wilderness and your tick list of ‘species spotted’ needs to include homo sapiens. Despite the remoteness, everything you’d want to digest in your dream safari is here. Northern Botswana’s confusing web of swamps and lagoons and vast plains of mopane and acacia are prime game-viewing country. There are 50,000 elephants in Chobe alone, some 65 varieties of fish in the delta, and over 450 bird species across the whole region. Throw in the obligatory hippo, large herds of antelope and buffalo, with their hunters, leopard, lion and hyena, and you have a veritable feast of wildlife-watching. The majority of lodges in northern Botswana are small, designed for eight to sixteen guests. While some are little more more than clusters of tents offering the bare necessities, others provide a level of comfort which you’d be hard pushed to find in some five-star hotels, let alone under canvas in the bush. Personally, I prefer the back-to-nature experience combined with a smattering of luxury. I decided to hitch up with Kwando Safaris who operate a truly massive million-acre concession hemmed in between the Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park. Three camps are on offer – Kwara, Lebala and Lagoon – and each boasts a stunning location with facilities to match. Open air showers are de rigeur, but when you’re also offered en suite bathrooms with hot and cold running water, ‘his and hers’ washbasins and flush loos, plus reading/writing areas and your own sundeck with jaw-dropping vistas, then you realise this is something special. Flying with Moremi Air from Kasane, we were greeted at Kwara by hosts Clive Moffett and Blue Coetzee. They immediately set the scene by pointing in turn to the resident rock monitor, a large bull elephant rubbing its rear end against my tent, and the walkway back to camp known as ‘lion alley’. “Oh, if you’re troubled by any snakes just blow the whistle, and please don’t walk past the scrubwood fence or the crocs will get you,” added Blue without a hint of concern. Hmm. A stiff drink was in order. Over a fortifying gin we learned more about the Kwara concession from camp guide Kambunduava Kandjou – better known as ‘Joe’. To subscribe or to buy this edition, click here Located on the northern edge of the Okavango Delta, Kwara extends to some 1,700 square kilometres. There’s a wide diversity of habitats, ranging from clear delta waters with reed-lined lagoons to open grasslands and palm-fringed islands, but the focus is definitely on the wet stuff. The camp is renowned for providing a year-round delta experience, both day and night, with the opportunity to experience unforgettable lagoon sunsets in a power boat, fish for African pike and feisty tigerfish, and glide through crystal-clear waters in the famous mokoro dugout canoe. Exclusivity is the key and, like the other Kwando camps, Kwara offers sole and private traverse for all its varied activities; any ‘outsiders’ are politely shown the way out (it helps when you’ve got the Botswana Defence Force in your back yard). With only eight luxury tents on offer, you’re guaranteed a high degree of personal service. Some visitors go further by hiring a private vehicle complete with experienced guide and tracker, but I recommend teaming up with fellow guests because you just never know who you might meet and what you might learn during a three-hour game drive. Like most safari guides, Joe has that uncanny ability to spot all manner of hidden wildlife at 500 paces; at times you’d be forgiven for believing he was blessed with superhuman eyesight. A vivid example came within minutes of leaving Kwara when a dark speck flashed across the distant savanna and, without a word of explanation, Joe told everyone to buckle up and prepare for a bumpy ride; the chase was on for what turned out to be a wild dog separated from its pack. This indeed was a rare opportunity. There are probably less than 5,000 wild dogs in the whole of Africa and only six countries have viable populations of more than 100. Northern Botswana is one of the strongholds of this endangered species, but even here the numbers fluctuate wildly because of road kills, predators and infectious diseases – alpha females will even kill the newborn pups of a subordinate female. Drawn by the musical ‘hoooing’ of the separated dog, we drove at break-neck speed through dense acacia and mopane woodland, but it still took us almost an hour to track down the animal which had barely broken sweat. He was soon reunited with the pack, whose red lips and full bellies indicated a recent kill. Packs hunt by day and prey is chased at speeds of up to 56km/h over distances of up to 3-5km; their stamina is incredible and prey often simply collapse through exhaustion before being killed by disembowelling and dismembering. Wild dogs feed very quickly to avoid kills being stolen and a pack of ten dogs can eat through 100kg of meat from an adult kudu in fifteen minutes. The chase had also made our party rather thirsty so, as the crimson sun slunk down into the horizon, we disembarked for the traditional sundowner. However, the strong body odour of the wild dogs had attracted other guests and through the deepening darkness we could see the unmistakable silhouettes of spotted hyenas; it was time to go home. Apart from wild dogs, northern Botswana’s big attraction is, of course, the Okavango Delta. Floating on almost 15,000 sq. km of Kalahari sands, the delta is fed by the waters of the mighty Okavango which rises in the Angolan highlands and, unlike any other major river on the planet, follows an inland course to disappear in an endless web of lagoons and lush wetlands. Visitors explore the delta by aircraft, boats, pontoons and even horses, but the most popular and most environmentally friendly way of viewing this magical land is by mokoro, the traditional dug-out canoe. Swift and silent, this craft skims lightly over the surface to provide a memorable close-encounter experience – it’s a bit like meandering down a country lane on a bicycle instead of racing through in a vehicle. Piloted by a poler with remarkable poise and balance, we slid through the channels made by hippo and elephant, all the time soaking up Africa at its pristine best – jacanas stepping lightly across water lily bridges, a malachite kingfisher diving for food, exotic herons observing fish eagles, long reed frogs the length of your fingernail chirping out distinctive high-pitched calls. Hippos, too, could be encountered around every corner and although they offered superb photographic opportunities, our guide was wise enough to give them a fairly wide berth. The deeper permanent waters of the delta are explored using engine-powered boats which have been modified to provide good game viewing. This is a bird watcher’s paradise with water fig islands providing ideal roosting and nesting spots for a bewildering array of egrets, herons and storks. Most water birds within the delta time their breeding to coincide with the annual dissipation of the annual floodwaters, when fish trapped in the region’s pools provide ample sustenance for the growing chicks. As darkness approached, our craft approached to within feet of the teeming birdlife, then it was time to drift off, try a spot of fishing and gaze upon another magnificent African sunset. No matter how tired you become on safari, make time for a guided walk. I thoroughly recommend it – let’s face it, how else would you learn to differentiate between male and female giraffe droppings? Kwara provides a couple of well-armed, knowledgeable walking guides and it’s amazing how much you learn away from the comfort of a 4x4 padded seat. Our early morning venture into the open grasslands couldn’t have started more dramatically when we paused by the nearby floodplain to watch a baby hippo being turned over and torn apart by crocodiles. A mother had been careless or the baby had been born premature, either way the spectacle had quite an effect on a number of stomachs still coming to terms with breakfast. On we pressed across the open savannah, our guides stopping regularly to point out elephant, cheetah and leopard footprints, whilst in the background a herd of tsessebe, said to be the fastest of all antelope, looked indifferently on. Tsessebe rams mark their territory with faeces, and manoeuvre grass stems into the opening of a gland just in front of the eye in order to leave behind sticky, clear pre-orbital secretions. They also rub their faces in the soil and paw the ground, again to deposit secretions from glands in their front hooves. The Okavango Delta has relatively few species of tree and shrub compared to other parts of southern Africa, but most of the best-known bushveld varieties can be found here. Magnificent specimens of umbrellathorn, sausage tree, jackal berry and sycamore fig occur in abundance, while tall woodlands of mopane and Zambezi teak cover enormous areas. Nuts of the marula tree, oozing with goodness, are favoured by man and elephant alike, and baboons have a fondness for the huge fruits of the sausage tree. Unfortunately for these primates, the sausage tree is also a favoured resting spot for the leopard. A short flight north takes you to Lebala, which means ‘open space’ in Setswana. The scenery is indeed dominated by vast plains with scattered palms and tree clumps backed by wooded savannas, although Lebala itself fronts onto the Linyanti wetland which offers excellent sightings of elephant, hippo, zebra, giraffe and tsessebe. Lebala is worth a visit if only to meet up with larger-than-life character Kalahari Harry. Bon viveur, raconteur and legend in his own lunchtime, Harry Steyn is that extra ingredient which can make an otherwise routine visit just that little bit special. With a lifetime’s experience etched on his bronzed face, Harry has forgotten more about the bush than most will ever learn, and his evening safari tales had us rolling about with laughter until the wee small hours. I still chuckle at the image of one American guest arriving for dinner dressed in what looked like a space suit, having to feed herself through endless folds of mosquito netting. Less amusing was the time Harry had to move sharpish when a Japanese tourist hopped off the 4x4 in order to hand-feed a dozing lion. Each secluded tent at Lebala has its own sundeck and a game hide near the water’s edge. During one midday siesta by the pool I was gently awakened by a fellow guest and told that a large herd of elephants had just come through the lagoon and was following a trail through the camp. Unfortunately I had left my camera back in the tent, but I was comforted by the knowledge that my companion was relaxing on our sundeck and would experience something quite special. Once the herd had tromped off into the distance, I rushed back to our tent and sought out my companion on the sundeck. “Well, what a sight. That was fantastic. Did you get many photographs? There must have been at least 25 elephants!” I spluttered like an excited schoolboy. To my exasperation, he slowly turned, sleepily lifted his eyelids and uttered: “What elephants?”

< Previous		Next >