lillipets trip report

Old Sep 9th, 2006, 03:57 PM
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lillipets trip report

I'm having a really hard time getting my thoughts together for this but I decided to just start and see where it goes.
I did a 10 day mobile tent safari to Botswana with Game Trails.All I wanted was a comfortable bed, convenient toilet, someone to cook my food while on safari, and lots and lots of game. The tents were large enough for 2 cots and a small table. The toilet/shower was open to the sky but attached to the tent itself via a zipper. Hot water was supplied every morning so we could wash up at the basin outside our tent. The rustic atmosphere was perfect for me, but my friend admitted that the next time she'd prefer something a little more upscale(something with fewer zippers!) The food was wonderful. Our cook's name was Grace. I don't know how she managed to cook such wonderful meals over a campfire.
Our guide was Nick Langton (sp??)He was a walking encyclopedia of information and wonderful stories. I managed to get some of the stories with my camcorder focused on our campfire and Nick talking in the background.
There were 9 of us altogether. My friend Linda, me, 2 women from Australia, and a family of 5 from Britain(they've lived in Germany for over 20 yrs so the kids who were 23, 21 and 17 really felt more German than British) It was a wonderful group to travel with. We really got along well and had a blast!
We got to Maun and after a quick lunch we had to find a welder to fix one of the seats in the vehicle that was very loose.
On the way to our campsite at Xananaka we got a flat tire and had to stop for that.Because of the delays we were not going to get to camp till well after dark. It wasn't quite dark yet when someone yelled "honey badger!" I yelled to Nick "honey badger!" but he just kept on going! At the time I just thought that he was in a big hurry and besides, even if we had stopped the honeybadger would have been long gone. So I ALMOST saw a honeybadger!We didn't get to camp till well after dark.
Soon after sitting down to eat dinner that night a hyena crept up to the table behind Nick that had the serving dishes on it. Just as someone said "Nick...there's a hyena behind you..." the hyena stood up on its hind legs like a dog stealing something off the counter, grabbed the pot closest to the edge and took off! We'll never know if he dropped it because Nick stood up and yelled at him or if he dropped it once he realized he had grabbed the pot with the spinach!
The only problem we had with Nick was he was deaf in one ear and there were times we wanted him to stop the vehicle and by the time he heard us we'd be waaaaay past what we wanted to see! We devised a system so that the person sitting closest to him would be responsible for getting him to stop if we wanted to, and to also get questions and answers relayed back and forth to the rest of us in case we couldn't hear him. So I really don't know if he didn't stop for the honey badger on our first drive to camp because he was in a hurry or because he didn't hear us!

I'll try and add more tomorrow!

Lily
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Old Sep 9th, 2006, 04:57 PM
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Hi Lily,

Great start to your report -- the hyaena story reminds me of the notorious kitchen-raiding hyaenas at Mombo. Apparently there are one or two hyaenas that make relatively regular attempts to raid the kitchens at night. Most of the time they are unsuccessful...though one night they took out their frustration on some of the leather furniture and ate that instead!

Cheers,
Julian
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Old Sep 9th, 2006, 07:34 PM
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What an exciting uninvited dinner guest to start of your adventure.

How did the nine of you in the vehicle work?

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Old Sep 9th, 2006, 10:37 PM
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I love it - the guide who's deaf in one ear! I have the same affliction - it's more common than you think - and it's very reassuring to know that a safari guide can survive like that... it makes it very difficult to locate the direction from which a sound is coming - although if he's had the problem since early childhood his brain has probably adapted. Please include as many stories as possible about Nick's deafness - as well as anything else. If you don't know how to get your thoughts together, just ramble - I'm sure nobody will mind; especially since we get very few reports for trips like this. Interested folks will always ask questions if you miss anything.
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 04:17 AM
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Great report so far Lily. What luck though getting a guide that doesn't hear too well. I'm not sure that I'd be happy with that - no offense to the hearing impaired out there, btw. Seems like this guy should have had some kind of system devised to compensate.

I'm very interested when you get the chance, that is, in hearing more details about your actual mobile camping experience as we mostly hear about the higher end camps here.

Welcome home!
Sherry
p.s. see my comments about the pilfering hyena on your other thread.
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 05:40 AM
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Hey Sherry! Offence taken!


Now which direction is stampeding buffalo herd coming from - let me just do a pirouette and then I'll get you guys out of here......


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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 10:15 AM
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I can already tell this will be a great report. Very interesting/funny--sounds like my kind of trip.

Can't wait to read more.
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 10:56 AM
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Luckily for us, our guide was deaf in his right ear which meant the ear closest to his passengers was the good one! It's a good thing vehicles in Botswana are right hand drive!
The vehicle had 4 rows of 2 seats each. One of us could have ridden in the passenger seat up front with Nick, but we opted to sit on the mini fridge between the 2 front seats. I just sat on it like I was riding a horse with one leg on each side of it. With a couple blankets on it for padding it was very comfortable!
We all switched the row we sat in after each game drive so every one got equal time in each row.
We got our wake up call each morning at 6 am. Breakfast was a casual meal of cold cereal, fruit, juice, yogurt, toast with peanut butter and/or jam.
We were on the road by 7 am and back at camp around 12-12:30 for a big lunch. We also had a mid morning stop for tea or coffee and cookies.
We'd have tea or coffee and cookies again at about 3-3:30 and were back on the road for our afternoon game drive by 4pm. We tended to stay out till just past dark except for our time in the national parks when we had to off the roads by sunset.
We had one scheduled night drive and added another one the next night. On our first night drive we saw lots of hippos out grazing, hyenas, eagle owls, and the usual scrub hares, spring hares, etc. The next night we wanted to look for aardvarks. We found a bunch of dens during the day and wanted to check them out that evening. Only 3 of us went-everyone else was too tired. No aardvarks, but we did see 2 porcupines!
In general, our first 2 camps (Xakanaxa and the Kwai River Community Area) were not productive as I had hoped. The Mopane forest was pretty thick and it wasn't easy to spot the animals. That all changed when we got to the Savuti area and Chobe Nat'l Park. There were a lot more open areas. It was more savannah-like and it just seemed like the game was much more prolific.
I would love to go back to those 2 areas at some point. I keep wondering if I could combine Mashatu with Savuti and Chobe.....????? Land in Joburg, travel by car to Mashatu(our driver in Joburg said Mashatu is only a 5 hour drive from Joburg), then fly up to Kisane to do Chobe and Savuti???? Oh well....1st things first! I need to finish this trip report before I let my brain go wandering off into the realm of future trips!
Savuti had terrific lions...cubs nursing, adults mating, eating, greeting, and even one old male dying. We thought he was already dead until he blinked an eye and twitched an ear. He was severely emaciated. Our guide Nick said he had been there for a couple days and was surprised the hyenas hadn't found him yet. None of us took any pictures...it all seemed way too morbid to even look at him for any length of time so we asked Nick not to stop and we kept on but in a much more subdued frame of mind.
Chobe had elephants, elephants, elephants! I got some video of 2 babies laying on the ground playing "footsie" with each other. It is absolutely mesmerizing!
If I ever figure out how, I will post some video. First I have to figure out how to get my photos on line. My pix are nothing special compared to so many of yours. I have a couple that I really think are special, but that isn't much considering I took over 1000! I really enjoy my videos so much more.Hearing the sounds,seeing the moving images really brings me back to the moment like nothing else can!
I'll keep adding things as I think of them. In the mean time I'd be happy to answer any questions about my mobile tent experience.

Lily



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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 11:27 AM
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Hi Lily

We had Nick as our guide on the Game Trails mobile safari also. I don't know why I never mentioned his deafness in my trip report because it was definitely an issue at the beginning of the trip. My dad is hard of hearing so I've learned how to deal with it by waiting until he is looking at me, lowering the pitch of my voice and enunciating (sp?) well. One guy on our trip had a strong NY accent and at the end of the trip, Nick confessed that he never understood a word the guy said.

Nick was such a great guide and so full of information that once we figured out how to get his attention on game drives we kind of overlooked his lack of hearing.

I look forward to hearing more about your trip. I'm glad you had the attached toilet/shower. When I went they were detached and shared by 2 tents.

Cindy
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 11:51 AM
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Lily,
WELCOME BACK !!!
I'm a bit behind with the board and trip reports because we have been very busy with visitors and a christening so I'm afraid I'm just catching up. I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip especially after all that stress of thinking you would be going on your own AND I just read about your 'female' issue - poor you! I'm glad you looked on the bright side though - only way to do it!
Can't wait to read more.

Imelda
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 11:59 AM
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Two porcupines on one night drive is wonderful.

That must have been sad to see the dying lion. With the nursing cubs, you witnessed the whole lion circle of life.

Your Chobe elephant experience sounds wonderful.

The info on Mashatu being a 5-hour drive from Joburg is interesting. A Mashatu-Savuti-Chobe itinerary would be great. Where does your interest in Mashatu come from? I am interested as well.

A couple of really special pix out of 1000 is not bad odds.
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 02:31 PM
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Atravelynn,

I had never heard of Mashatu until National Geographic began their live web cam coverage from Pete's Pond. My main reason for wanting to go there is the price! Not only do they have accomodations in tents(which I prefer)but the price for 2007 is $200/nite! How's that for a Botswana budget! Other peoples' comments on this board make it sound like a wonderful location for game also. In addition to the regular game drives you can opt to spend time with the researchers who are there studying leopards and elephants.
I know I want to include it in my next trip, I'm just trying to decide how many days I want to be there. I'd do a full 14 days if I didn't think I'd get antsy and wish I were someplace else. It's the one place in Botswana I can afford a full 14 days! Maybe 1 week or 10 days would be enough since I wouldn't lose any time on travel days. At some point I will probably find out if Game Trails will do a custom mobile for just the Savuti area and Chobe Nat'l Park since those areas were so wonderful.

Sundowner,
I'm glad you enjoyed Nick. He had some wonderful stories, didn't he? Did he tell you the one about the Italian tourist Gabriella? I wish I had gotten it on my video!

Lily
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 03:24 PM
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Thanks for starting your report. How long were the drives on your travel days in between camps? Was it very dusty on the road with the open vehicle? What did you think of the overall pace of the itinerary?

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip as well as your photos and video!
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 04:09 PM
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Ahhh, Gabriella. Yes! He did have some great stories and he's a wonderful story teller.
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 05:43 PM
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The Mashatu price is quite attractive. They also do mountain biking. I checked into the mountain bike trip to their rustic "trails" camp. Turns out there had to be a group of maybe 4 or 6 for the biking to take place and I was just one.

I would think in Northern Kruger there would be some inexpensive places also and you could combine the two.

I will be interested in the Gametrails response about customizing a mobile. Would you provide your own group?
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Old Sep 10th, 2006, 07:02 PM
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atravelynn, I checked with Masson Safaris (Nick's daughter and husband) about doing a custom mobile safari earlier this year just to see if they would do it and to find out how expensive it is. This is what they said:

We do a lot of private Safaris for couples and even single professional
photographers. The price will be in the region of US$ 310.00 per person,
per day if there are 2 of you on a tailor-made Safari. The final cost
will depend on the number of days and the distance traveled in the Itinerary.

This price includes:
A fully mobile camp as described in our website www.masson-safaris.com.
Professional Guide and Safari Vehicle.
All excursions as described in the Itinerary.
All Meals and Snacks.
Camp Staff and Chef.
Limited soft drinks, beer and wine.
All Park Fees and Camping Fees.
All Government Taxes, including 10% vat.

Out-of-pocket expense will be for things of a personal nature, curios,
travel insurance, flights and staff gratuities.



I'm sure GameTrails will do the same thing.
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Old Sep 11th, 2006, 03:01 AM
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Patty,
I think our longest travel day was between the Kwai River Community Area and the Savuti area. I think it was 5-6 hours of very dusty bumpy riding with nothing much to see but Mopane forest.In one area known for deep sand(called the Sand Ridge of course) we even had to get out and push the vehicle! At one point we passed another vehicle that was stuck and saw our wonderful cook Grace helping them! At that point we couldn't see our supply truck so we thought maybe she had abandoned us and we were all going to starve!
It seemed strange that Nick didn't stop to see why our cook was with someone else! Later we found out that she was just helping them and she knew we couldn't stop or we'd get stuck too.
I know some people in my group grumbled about the long boring day. My only regret was that it was a day without much game viewing. And with a short 10 day safari every day matters! For me personally,the long bumpy dusty ride, including pushing the vehcile was all part of the adventure! We were all very tired and dirty at the end of the day, but I felt sorry for the camp staff who had to break down camp, do the same drive we did, and then had to set up camp, cook us dinner and then clean up after us after we went to bed!

Sundowner,
Thanks for the info.I was going to mention that Nick's daughter and son in law own Masson's but you beat me to it. I'm certainly not tied to Game Trails so I may look into the custom trip with both companies just to compare. I know I can get at least 1 or 2 of my friends to go and maybe there are people on this forum who would be interested in trying out how the "the other half" goes on safari? I'd love to combine Mashatu with a week of Savuti and Chobe!
Lily
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Old Sep 11th, 2006, 03:35 AM
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Hi Lily,

This is a great report -- keep it coming!

There are two very nice but inexpensive lodges in private concessions in Northern Kruger, The Outpost and Pafuri. The Outpost is run by MIX (who also run Honeyguides and Ten Bompas in Joburg) and Pafuri is run by Wilderness.

http://www.theoutpost.co.za/

http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/ca...90&method=menu

It would be relatively simple to combine Mashatu with Chobe/Savute. You could spend a week at Mashatu, then head back to Joburg for a flight up to Kasane (an internal charter from Mashatu to Kasane would likely be very expensive, though you could check this option out as well).

You might also want to look into doing one of the walking trails in the Selinda Reserve, combined with a few nights at Zib -- this is not that much more expensive than the Masson mobile and will give you the opportunity to do walking, off-road driving, and night drives.

http://www.linyanti.com

Cheers,
Julian
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Old Sep 11th, 2006, 03:36 AM
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PS - Do tell us about Gabriella! I can sense a great story there...

Cheers,
Julian
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Old Sep 11th, 2006, 04:16 AM
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I will try and repeat the Gabriella story but keep in mind that Nick tells it so much better complete with Italian accent!
It is rather long which is why he didn't want to repeat if for me to get on video. I will try and tell a condensed version.
He is scheduled to pick up a group of 4 Italians in Livingstone but is delayed at the border. By the time he gets there, 3 forlorn Italians are waiting for him. They tell him, "firsta they losa our luggage, thena we lose our 4th person, and then we thinka we lose-a our guide!" None of them know where the 4th person is so they proceed camp. The next day (or maybe later that day) Nick gets a call that his missing person has arrived. He tells her to take a cab to the border and he will meet her there. Out of the cab hobbles a lady who is not only "seriously old" but on crutches with a full length cast on one leg! His first thought is how in the world is she going to manage climbing in and out of the vehicle! But no problem...he would have her sit up front with him where it would be easier to get in and out.
The next morning one of the other Italians tells Nick that "Gabriella has a problem" Nick says....of course she does. She is seriously old and is on crutches with a cast!
No...no....no...the Italian tells him. Gabriella has amoebic dysentry! Gabriella is a trouper though. She asks Nick to take her to a store in town where she buys a very large tupperware type of container. He never questions what it is for.That is all she requests.
So on the first game drive Gabriella immediately falls sound asleep! Now keep in mind that no one could possibly fall asleep on these bumpy rutted roads(2 tracks actually) without risking serious whiplash. But she does! Nick wakes her up to see an elephant and she replies...Oh Nicka, make-a me a picture." She hands Nick her camera and goes right back to sleep! This goes on for all 10 days! He wakes her up so she can ask him to make-a me a picture!
After their first nite in camp he asks her tent mate if she slept well. She answered with a resounding "NO" As it turned out every hour all night long Gabriella would wake up her tent mate looking for the "torch-a" She'd get the torch and would then use her handy dandy tupperward container as a toilet and let er rip! All nite long! How in the world she managed to lower herself onto something like that with one leg in a cast is too hard to imagine! And then she'd nonchalantly pop the lid back on and go back to sleep!
After that 1st night Gabriella's tent mate decided that she would sleep with the cook(who according to Nick was no prize himself!)
They eventually got another tent delivered so neither of them had to share.
At some point (I can't remember all the details..maybe Sundowner can help me out) Gabriella wanted to use the group toilet in the middle of the nite. Nick couldn't have her hobbling around in the dark on crutches...she'd be an easy meal for some carnivore! He told her to keep using her tupperware but she kept getting out during the night to hobble around in the dark. They finally ended up locking her zipper closed after she went to bed!
After 10 days of this the safari was at an end and Nick looked at Gabriella and asked here where she planned on going for her next trip.
I think-a I go to Everest Base Camp!

And that's the story of Gabriella!

Lily
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