Botswana - Awesome Safari!!

From Victoria Falls, it was an easy 2-3 hour drive to Chobe Game Preserve in Botswana.  We stayed at Chobe Game Lodge, which boasted all female guides and is the only lodge inside the game park.  Botswana prides itself on restricting the hours the park is open and the number of visitors allowed in the park so staying in the park means you don’t have to compete with others to see wildlife in the early and late hours of your safari.  There are rivers and lakes throughout Botswana so we alternated between boat and jeep safaris. 

Chobe has a huge diversity and density of animals so we always saw something interesting on our safaris.  Chobe has 42,000 of the 140,000 elephants in Botswana, so elephants were everywhere.  We saw them playing in the water and with their young babies who were small enough to walk under their mother’s bellies.  The only animal that was more abundant than the elephants were the impalas, which are similar to deer and who provide a steady food supply to the cats.

Everywhere we looked we saw hippos, crocodiles, lions, warthogs, zebra, giraffe, and beautiful colorful birds.  But the most entertaining to watch were the baboons and monkeys.  We could have watched them run around and attack each other for hours!  

After 2 nights in Chobe, we took a tiny bush plane south to the Okavango Delta and landed in a dirt airstrip next to the Moremi Game Reserve.  We spent 3 nights at Okuti, a small luxury tented camp along the river.  The staff was exceptional and performed evening dances and songs and the manager and guides joined us during the meals. 

Moremi was much more remote (and bumpier) than Chobe and did not have the density of animals, but it was much less crowded and we were able to get closer to both of the big cats in the area - lions and leopards.  We came upon one pregnant lion who did not seem bothered at all by our presence and kept moving closer to our jeep.  See it yawning behind Jay and Ryan. 

The absolute highlight of our trip was the mother leopard and her cubs, whom we saw on multiple occasions.  Our guides were able to find her each day because of the impalas she killed and put up in the trees or dragged into bushes.  On one early evening safari, the mom was away from the kill and the cubs played in the nearby bush and trees.  We wanted to pick one up and take it home with us, but thought our cat and dog would not appreciate it (not to mention the Botswana authorities)!  

Botswana is one of the most stable and progressive countries in Africa.  With only 2 million people and a stable democracy since its independence from Britain in 1966, it is in stark contrast to its troubled neighbors.  In 1967, diamonds were discovered and they now account for 1/3 of the GDP.  The country focuses on conservation and has some of the largest areas of protected land in Africa.    As we flew around the country (really the only way to get around),  we were surprised at the vast open areas.   other African countries can follow Botswana’s lead on racial equality, economic stability, multi-party democracy, strong conservation practices and a growing tourist income stream.

Our three stop safari adventure in Africa was an awesome experience. Between the frolicking baboons, splashing elephants, charging hippos, running rhinos and playful cats, we saw everything we could hope to see on our safari.  We have all of our hosts, who did an awesome job keeping us well fed (and well liquored with "Sundowners" during every sunset safari), to thank for making this a great trip!  We booked our trip through what turned out to be a local outfit at www.adventuresinafrica.com.