Day seven - Walking safari and a unexpected visitor
It is now been a week since we arrived in Botswana and during this time we have experienced so incredably much, it's hard to take it all in and sometimes it almost felt surreal. It's one of the things I think is the hardest - how to keep the those feelings as long as possible. When the plan hits the ground back home again everyday life is back. To write about it and produce photos are for me a way to process the memories and make them come to life again. When you look at your photos ore describe a moment everything comes back, and that's why i think it´s great to write a TR, not just for others but for yourself anyhow we are not yet in Sweden again and lot´s of exerting days to come!
This day we are going out for a walk in the bush and on a boat ride on the delta. I have never done a bush walk earlier so it will be very fun. The aim is not to see big animals, but focus more on the small details such as trails, plants and if we are lucky some smaller animals. Botswana is not a typical walking safari country such as Zambia and Zimbabwe so it will be interesting to see how the standards are here.
Christian didn't what me to be last in line, in case some one thinks of me as the fallback kid (much shorter than all the others in the group) but you must take photos right?
We saw a lot of tracks from eg African wildcat, hyena and genet. It was very exciting to learn more about tracking, It´s a impressive skill. We walked for maybe 40 minutes and then came to the meet up with Equator who was waiting in front of a boat that would take us on a little longer tour of the delta, this time guaranteed spider free
The walk itself was okay, but it felt very light, not at all as the videos we have seen from Zambia. We didn´t expected it to be either, and i would say this was a nice break from the sitting in the car and getting closer to tracks.
We drove around the delta through canals in the water, some of them had been formed by hippos and elephants that walk in the shallow water during certain periods. The vegetation in some places was to thick that we had to turn and enter through another channel . It was really a great morning and the scenary was so incredibly beautiful with the papyrus and lots of water lilies. In the middle of a pool of water lilies, we stopped for tea and cake, then Equator fished up a water liliy and showed how to make a necklace of the stalk. A little cheesy but cute
Halfway back to camp we were met by familiar faces in the middle of the bush. All of the staff from camp were there and the had brought the whole interior, dinner table, chairs, barbeque, etc. and set it up in a spot under some trees for a surprise lunch, so very nice!
Back in camp and our tent I sat down and read for a while outside and heard a lot of unknown sounds down at the water, and look, a new tent mate - a BIG warthog that was feeding in the fine grass along the water.
Hello buddy! I didn't really need the binoculars but as a said before - I just love to take a close look even if the animals are close!
Buy the way - worst color of kimono ever, glad he didn't ge a fright, haha.
Suddenly, a much loader sound came from my left just next to me, my expression might give away that this time it was a bit bigger new friend to had joined the party.
DAY SEVEN - Walking and unexpected visitors
It is now been a week since we arrived in Botswana and during this time we have experienced so incredably much, it's hard to take it all in and sometimes it almost felt surreal. It's one of the things I think is the hardest - how to keep the those feelings as long as possible. When the plan hits the ground back home again everyday life is back. To write about it and produce photos are for me a way to process the memories and make them come to life again. When you look at your photos ore describe a moment everything comes back, and that's why i think it´s great to write a TR, not just for others but for yourself anyhow we are not yet in Sweden again and lot´s of exerting days to come!
This day we are going out for a walk in the bush and on a boat ride on the delta. I have never done a bush walk earlier so it will be very fun. The aim is not to see big animals, but focus more on the small details such as trails, plants and if we are lucky some smaller animals. Botswana is not a typical walking safari country such as Zambia and Zimbabwe so it will be interesting to see how the standards are here.
Christian didn't what me to be last in line, in case some one thinks of me as the fallback kid (much shorter than all the others in the group) but you must take photos right?
We saw a lot of tracks from eg African wildcat, hyena and genet. It was very exciting to learn more about tracking, It´s a impressive skill. We walked for maybe 40 minutes and then came to the meet up with Equator who was waiting in front of a boat that would take us on a little longer tour of the delta, this time guaranteed spider free
The walk itself was okay, but it felt very light, not at all as the videos we have seen from Zambia. We didn´t expected it to be either, and i would say this was a nice break from the sitting in the car and getting closer to tracks.
We drove around the delta through canals in the water, some of them had been formed by hippos and elephants that walk in the shallow water during certain periods. The vegetation in some places was to thick that we had to turn and enter through another channel . It was really a great morning and the scenary was so incredibly beautiful with the papyrus and lots of water lilies. In the middle of a pool of water lilies, we stopped for tea and cake, then Equator fished up a water liliy and showed how to make a necklace of the stalk. A little cheesy but cute
Such a jewelry designer my Christian
I finally also got to sit in the trackers seat - a little disappointed it was just for photos
Halfway back to camp we were met by familiar faces in the middle of the bush. All of the staff from camp were there and the had brought the whole interior, dinner table, chairs, barbeque, etc. and set it up in a spot under some trees for a surprise lunch, so very nice!
The outdoor bar is always ready!
A little washing station was also set ut!
Equator handle one of the barbeques
Happy campers <3
Back in camp and our tent I sat down and read for a while outside and heard a lot of unknown sounds down at the water, and look, a new tent mate - a BIG warthog that was feeding in the fine grass along the water.
Hello buddy! I didn't really need the binoculars but as a said before - I just love to take a close look even if the animals are close!
Buy the way - worst color of kimono ever, glad he didn't ge a fright, haha.
Suddenly, a much loader sound came from my left just next to me, my expression might give away that this time it was a bit bigger new friend to had joined the party.
Tough and cool it´s not my middle name, haha!
Nice legs buddy!
... then wow, wow, wow! It was an elephant! How awesome that a elephant came so close to the tent, if we have had the tent cloth at the window down we could have stretch out our hand and touched him. This bull elephant often visit the camp during this period of the year to check out if a particular fruit had ripened. It was initially a bit scary to be surprised, but once inside the tent, it felt perfectly safe, even if it was only a thin canvas which separated us. We enjoyed the view for 10 minutes, before he walked away behind the tent, so cool! Not that great pictures but we captures some nice videos. We didn't dare to walk outside to the shower part and take a look, it probably would have been just fine, but since it was our first close up of a Ellie we decided to stay low.
In the afternoon when we had a coffee break the elephant came back and then he wasn´t as welcome, it's not quite convenient to have an elephant in the kitchen. He was quite pushy and did not want to leave. We were told to get behind a large termite mound. Not just us guests but the whole team, Katembo then tried to scare him away but he was not completely satisfied, trumpeted threw his head around. But after a while he slowly turned and trotted away. After this experience it is clear - we have to do a real walking safari soon, it is a completely different experience to see the animals when you are on the ground. (Ps. we have booked SLNP for June 2019, jey!!)
So far today we had not seen so many animals, we had focused more on nature and the small details during the walk and boat trip. But in my perpective, this was still one of the best days with the bush lunch and the elephant coming into camp This afternoon we would focus on trying to find that leopard, and wow - we were not to be disappointed.
Look, high up in a tree, we saw two paws hanging down, we have found a leopard cub lying waiting for her mother. We were so excited, the cub started to move and looked down to the ground, probably we would also get to see the mother. Here comes a lot of images, this was really a unique experience.
After greeting her mother, the cub turned to another tree where there was a dead warthog. However, it did not go as planned, the cub started playing with the carcas and dropped it on the ground :/ not a good idea to leave it there during the night, what if a hyena or the big lion pics up the scent and comes for snack?
We stayed with the leopards all night, and just enjoying their company - no sundowner to night, this was way much nicer!
We left the leopards when the sun had gone down and on our way back we were completely bubbly of happiness, what a great day! <3