Overwhelmed

Hello everyone!

Wow - and that definitely does not begin to sum up all the things we have seen and experienced in the past two days.

Let me pick up from Gaborone: we left two days ago on October 24^th and drove to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, which took about 5 hours. We left around 9am and had a smooth drive, in spite of the occasional goat, sheep, horse, and especially cattle, crossing the road. Very tricky – especially at night!

We arrived at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in the afternoon in time for an evening game drive. During the drive, we saw lots of different animals – kudu, impala, cute little steenbok, ostriches, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, and 4 huge white rhino! This was Jack the Rhino, a 30-year old bull, and three of his females who did not look very impressed with our visit at first but fortunately allowed us to enjoy their company.

We ended this first successful evening with dinner at a small place called The Garden Café in Serowe, the nearest town outside the Sanctuary, about 20 miles away. We knew we wouldn’t be disappointed, as we had already met the very friendly host/chef when we had lunch at her Café earlier in the day. Dodging the occasional cow or goat, we made it back to the Sanctuary safely and went to bed.

Contrary to what normally comes to mind when we think of Africa, it was pretty cold at the Sanctuary. We woke up at 5 a.m. to a beautiful sunrise, and went for another game drive wearing three layers. Lo and behold, we were lucky again! This time, we managed to find a black rhino named Nodi. There are only 5 black rhino in the sanctuary (which is 8,500 hectares), so finding one was really exciting! Our guide even led us right by this big guy so we got a really good picture!

We left Khama Rhino Sanctuary after our morning drive and a quick breakfast to head up north towards our next destination, Haina Kalahari Lodge in the middle of the central Kalahari (the Setswana word for ‘desert’). It was going to be another long drive – 5 hours in very hot weather without a lunch break as there were no restaurants in the villages we came across along the road. We did drive through tiny settlements of small rondavels, inhabited by goats, catlle and people selling bundles of straw.

3 hours into our drive, just outside Rakops, we said goodbye to paved roads and turned into a very sandy track for the final 2 hours of our trip. This was when we realized how happy we were to have a real 4x4 Land Rover – my Mini  would definitely not make it through.

Hot, sweaty and thoroughly shaken we finally made it to the Kalahari Lodge where we were heartily welcomed with a cool wet towel and a refreshing drink.  After freshening up, we met again at the lodge and went for an evening game drive through the lodge’s grounds (15,000 hectares – twice the size of the Khama Rhino Sanctuary!!). On our way, we saw zebra, lots of kudu, a banana bird, and a wonderful sunset! Not bad scenery for pre-dinner drinks!

After an amazing open-air Impala steak dinner right by a huge camp fire, we were taken back to our luxurious tents (there are no fences between our tents and the park so any animal can come right up to our doorstep!) and with the gentle roar of lions in the background, we slept like rocks.

My little tent (complete with bath and shower in the middle of the desert!):

Morning came early again – a 5am wake-up call to leave on an all-day drive to the Central Kalahari. It was going to be a scorcher as it was already very warm at sunrise. After a light breakfast we mounted the open-air safari jeep and our guide Muzila took off for the 1,5-drive to the desert gates. 

Our shaking and rattling in the safari jeep paid off as soon after our arrival, we saw a leopard chillin’ under the tree! Our guide tried to get as close as he could and we were lucky enough to see the animal in full motion.

After this highlight we continued our journey along some of the enormous pans. It is difficult to describe the vastness of these former seas – very arid, white sandy areas where it is hard to imagine anything grow or live. One of the largest pans was called Deception Pan, a name well chosen as it really looked like it was full of water (although you wouldn't say so from the picture!). 

Our guide whizzed up a delicious open-air burger picknick in the middle of the Sunday Pan. Of course, I almost forgot to mention the other animals we saw during our ride – gemsbok (also known as orex), tawny eagle, bataleur eagle, martial eagle, kori bustard on the love path and springbok along with more giraffe, kudu and steenbok.

I am writing this new post as dinner is being served in our lovely lodge. For now, I will leave you to enjoy my latest post and pictures!

Best wishes from Don and the Botswana Bunch!