Just arrived back from holidays. Usually we go away during the off-season for weddings but this year we made an exception because we went to Botswana on safari. The dry season is between May and September so May turned out to be the best time for us. We flew out to Johannesburg narrowly avoiding the infamous ash cloud from the unpronounable Icelandic volcano, the flight taking about 10 hours arriving at 6:30 am. Then we flew on to Maun in Northern Botswana and finally made it to Nxabega camp after a further flight, this time by light aircraft. After 24 hours travelling we had made it. The Nxabega camp is in the Okavango Delta one of the largest inland river deltas in the world.
The landscape is stunning which together with the wildlife makes the area a paradise for photographers. I had to force myself not to spend all of my time behind the camera. Though I won’t call myself a wildlife photographer it is difficult not to take great shots – well I like them!
We had planned to spend the holiday camping in “luxury tents”. However, the tents we were provided with looked a bit more basic. I thought that we had been drafted into the Foreign Legion. So after 3 nights we got ourselves booked into lodges and 5* luxury. Amazingly the walk-in rate was around £80 per night each for full-board and all of your drinks. (We are now in “discussion” with the holiday company…)
Anyway first morning and first game drive – up at 5 am, before dawn to get a sight of the fresh animal tracks. The first animal I detected was a hairy caterpillar that had crawled up my trouser leg. I squashed the thing but not before it had done some damage – my leg now looked as though I had a nasty dose of chicken pox, with a bright red swollen rash all the way up my leg. Luckily it looked a lot worse than it felt so didn’t really itch – lucky. The first racks we found led us to two young male lions resting up after a night hunting:
We sat and watched them for a while until this one decided it needed to catch up on its sleep and lay down in the grass. What struck us was how difficult they are to spot, blending in perfectly with the surroundings. Needless to say we stayed in our vehicle. Later we took a dugout canoe onto the water for a peaceful tour of some of the delta. The water is crystal clear and full of water-lilies.
Aside from the obvious large game such as lions I find the bird life as amazing. The colours of the birds are often spectacular but also how close you can get to them. This malachite kingfisher was only a few feet away.
Try getting this close to our own kingfisher without sneaking up in a hide. But our favourite bird has to be the lilac breasted roller.
A fantastic looking bird with dazzling turquoise wings that flash out when the bird is in flight.
Of course the area is famous for the large herds of elephants. And to see a huge animal as this bull elephant wading through the water was amazing.
These animals were quite happy to meander a few feet away from us without any problem, though the younger ones did keep a wary eye on us. I found it quite spooky to make eye contact with such a huge wild animal.
After 2 nights we moved on by an even smaller light aircraft to Khwai River Lodge in the Moremi park. Another wetland area with fantastic landscape. We caught sight of a couple of water-buck taking a drink, but keeping a wary eye open for predators. They prefer to stand in the water as this affords them a better chance when faced by a lion. The buck can run through the water more easily than the lion can.
The light in Africa is fantastic and because we were out either early morning or evening there was always a golden glow to everything. This young baboon was good enough to pose for his portrait (no it’s not a self-portrait as my wife kindly pointed out).
Couldn’t have lit it better if I was in the studio. And look how he folded his hands nicely too.
Next stop Savute. The Savute Channel is usually a dried up river bed with a few water holes left. It was the first time in 27 years that the channel was in flood due to the large amount of rainfall a few months ago in Angola.
This elephant was making its way down to the channel for a late afternoon drink. What makes this shot more interesting for me is the small group of impala in the background. They keep their distance from the elephant, which stops for nothing.
In the game reserve the gates close at 6:30 pm. This is for good reason as by then it is almost completely dark. Dusk begins at around 5:50 pm and the sun has almost completely set by about 6:20. So for sunset shots you have to be quick off the mark and decide in advance how you are going to expose the shot. With luck you can get a couple of giraffe to pass by in front of the camera.
Our last stop-over in Botswana was in Chobe. This area is renowned for its large density of elephants. But, of course there is a wide variety of other animals there too. One of my favourites is the zebra. Very difficult to get a great shot of as they are a bit skittish and don’t let the vehicles get too close. They are also constantly on the move and seem to always turn their backsides to me just as I press the shutter.
At Chobe we managed to get a good sighting of a leopard. It was sitting in the road in front of us watching some impala – leopard breakfast. However at Chobe once the word goes out of a big cat sighting then vehicles appear out of nowhere. Within a few minutes over 20 had arrived and one driver seemed intent on spoiling the show for everyone by driving recklessly fast and too close to the leopard. Consequently it got nervous and santered off into the bush and out of sight. Here’s my best shot.
What a fantastic animal. How anyone could want to kill such a thing just to wear its skin is beyond me!
I wanted to see some buffalo at close quarters and so far they had eluded us. Then of course they popped up all over the place.
And at around 3:30pm the elephants make their way in family groups down to the river Chobe to bathe and drink. An unforgetable sight, especially the babies paddling in the water. It is very touching to see the interactions in the families with mum looking after the baby, making sure that no harm comes to it. And watching how the babies too are unsure of themselves of quickly go running back to the security of the nearest family adult.
All too soon our stay came to an end and after a night in Zambia on the banks of the Zambezi, overlooking the Victoria Falls it was time to fly home. Again our luck held and we avoided any disruption due to the ash – just as well as I’ve got a summer full of weddings to look forward to.
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