I Speak (briefly) of Africa: Vic Falls and Botswan April-May 2007
 

Hello everyone,

As promised, here is a brief trip report on my visit to Botswana. The itinerary was as follows:

Sindabezi x1
Tongabezi x1
River Club x2
Motswiri x2
Selinda x3 (including a visit to the newly renovated Savuti)
Chitabe Camp x1
Chitabe Trails x2

Mobile safari with Uncharted Africa x6
* 2 nights in the Delta (Moremi Game Reserve)
* 2 nights at Jack's Camp
* 2 nights with the Bushmen in the western Kalahari

Joburg x2 (Melrose Arch)

SINDABEZI:
Originally I had planned two nights at Tongabezi, but when I arrived the management persuaded me to spend a night at Sindabezi. I’m so glad I did – this place is very special and really needs to be experienced to understand its unique charm. It’s an idyllic barefoot luxury retreat on an island on the middle of the Zambezi, with a tranquil ambiance and a very personal feel – it’s a place for relaxing, recharging, and enjoying the experience of just being in Africa. There are only 5 chalets (all facing the river) and the atmosphere is very informal. The food was excellent. There’s no electricity and at night the camp is lit by hurricane lanterns which is lovely. The honeymoon chalet has a particularly nice view of the river, and the ‘Parker’ chalet (the favourite of the owner, Ben Parker) has a little lawn with a table in front. There is a little eddy in the river which generates the sound of running water and you fall asleep to the sounds of hippos laughing. At the same time, you’re only 15 minutes by boat from Tongabezi and all the activities on offer there.

TONGABEZI:
Tongabezi is definitely a front-runner for the title of ‘most romantic place I’ve stayed in Africa.’ The houses are even more gorgeous than they look on the website, and the cottages are very comfortable as well. Sitting in one of those tubs and looking out onto the river has to be one of the most romantic experiences I can imagine. Each house is unique – the Dog House is the most spacious (it can theoretically sleep four), the Honeymoon House has a lawn in front, and the Tree House is the only one on two stories. The Tree House, the Dog House, and the cottages are down at the river’s edge, whereas the Honeymoon House and the Bird House are further up the river bank and have better views. The accommodation is so nice it almost seems like a shame to leave the lodge to go out on any activities! The food was superb (I definitely recommend do the san-pan dinner on the pontoon) and there was a warm, personal welcome from the staff (each room has its own valet). While at Tonga I visited the Zambian side of the Falls (it’s about a 30-minute drive) and went canoeing on the Zambezi (a first for me – we canoed to Sindabezi). Unfortunately, as it was the weekend, I wasn’t able to visit the school.

RIVER CLUB:
The River Club is just downstream from Tongabezi (I transferred between them by boat). If you’re driving from the airport you actually take the same turn off for both lodges. RC is set higher on the bank than Tonga and all of the rooms have sweeping views of the river (though the views from the family cottage, Litunga, are especially nice). There are two types of accommodation at RC -- normal cottages and honeymoon cottages. The main difference is that the honeymoon cottages are less 'safari' looking (they're yellow stucco rather than dark reeds and wood) and they're on one floor instead of two (the loos in the normal cottages are on the bottom floor -- though ground-floor loos are being installed as we speak). I think both are equally nice in terms of accommodation, but the honeymoon cottages are a bit more spacious and have a little private garden in front which is nice. You can ask for a double bed in the regular cottages as well as the honeymoon cottages. There is also one family cottage with two bedrooms -- this is the only one which can't be closed off with screens (though there are mosquito nets for sleeping). Peter Jones is a fantastic host in the eccentric Englishman mode -- he's been in Zambia for over 14 years and has a lot of interesting stories to tell! Beware the bugle, though...I'd advise you to pass it on if it comes your way at dinner :S- The staff at RC are excellent and very welcoming (as is Peter’s yellow Labrador, Charlie) though a bit more formal in manner than those at Tonga (this does not, of course, apply to Charlie – who ever met a formal Labrador?). The food at RC often gets a bad rap (it's described as British, and you can't get much worse than that :-S) but I found it to be quite good -- much more high table than school dinners. While at RC I did a helicopter flight over the falls, visited Simonga Village, and visited the Zimbabwean side of the falls. Some people on the forum have commented that the village visit wasn’t great (people trying to sell shoddy curios, begging children) but my experience at the village was excellent. The villages whose homes we visited have given permission for people to take photos so there was no awkwardness involved on that score. We were guided by a member of the local community and people went on about their lives as if we weren’t there. No one tried to sell us anything, and the only thing the children begged for was the chance to see themselves on the screens of our digital cameras. I’d probably credit Peter’s policy of encouraging guests to give to the community fund rather than to individuals for the changes. Sunset cruises are wonderful, and Peter knew of a place where there was a colony of white-fronted bee-eaters for us to see (and in my case to fail to photograph).

MOTSWIRI:
Motswiri is an unusual camp with an unusual location, on the western edge of the Selinda reserve on the border between the Delta and the Linyanti. Motswiri offers some unusual activities, including canoeing and swimming in the Delta (and, in the near future, snorkelling). You can canoe right from camp when the floods are in, and I spent one morning canoeing through the Delta with my guide, BB (Barberton) who some people may know from Selinda. There’s no pool, but I did swim in the hippo and croc-free Delta swimming hole (very refreshing!). They were awaiting some snorkelling gear so I didn’t have a chance to try that activity but it sounds fun (this will be done only in shallow clear channel where the bottom can be seen). In the past Motswiri was a hunting camp, and the game is still noticeably shier than at other camps I’ve visited. That being said I had very good sightings of a large herd of buffalo, elephants, and I even saw a sable as well. I also had a stunning sighting of a fish eagle drying its wings after diving for a fish. According to the guides, the game-viewing really comes into its own during the dry season (following a Linyanti pattern rather than a Delta one in that respect) with animals coming down to the water in front of the camp. Motswiri is a very simple camp, with only 4 Meru tents on concrete platforms and a small lounge/dining area. The tents are set along the Selinda Spillway, and while I was there the floods were coming in and slowly moving down the spillway. I could see and hear elephants coming down to drink from my tent, and saw buffalo as well. The camp prides itself on a personalised approach, and there’s no set programme – it’s all planned around what the guests would like to do.

Most people fly from Motswiri to Selinda, but I elected to drive so I could see the middle section of the reserve which isn’t visited very often by vehicles from the camps. I’m very glad I did, as we found two young male cheetahs about 17km from Motswiri. They’re the sons of the Savuti Boys and have been pushed out of their fathers’ territory. Motswiri is good cheetah country, so hopefully they will take up residence there.

NB Renovations are scheduled for this camp which will include adding one more tent (in a great location, surrounded on two sides by water) and replacing the tents with the current Zib tents. Zib is due to be completely rebuilt at a six-paw level this summer (December 2007 – January/February 2008).

SELINDA:
Selinda was a striking contrast to Motswiri. Guiding at Selinda (by Motsamai) was superb – activities were very flexible and we went out as early as we wanted and stayed out as long as we wanted, even doing a late night drive after dinner. I’d hoped to do the full moon count but it didn’t coincide with my time in camp. Even without the full-moon count I had superb sightings of the Selinda pride of lions (with five little cubs) including seeing them on a kill, as well as large breeding herds of ellies, hippos coming out of the water, and plentiful plains game. Selinda is a larger, more luxurious camp with 9 rooms spread out along the Selinda Spillway. (Zane, the manager, said that they are shooting for six-paw status, but I’m not sure about this given the plans to make Zib a six-paw camp as it seems a bit odd to have two six-paws effectively next door to one another…). The Selinda lounge is certainly of a six-paw level, and the rooms are gorgeous (though not so spacious at those at other six-paw camps). The bathrooms in particular are lovely – an interesting architectural compromise which uses mesh windows to bring the breezes and sunlight of the outdoors in while keeping the insects out. Both the lounge and rooms have great views over the Spillway – I saw elephants coming down to drink and a hippo with a small calf forgaing in the reeds. The food at Selinda is excellent and diner is served ‘six-paw style’ with a menu rather than a buffet. I missed the opening of what has to be the only art gallery in the Botswana bush by a few days – the art hadn’t arrived yet. It’s since been installed in the upper part of the former dining area (the lower part is the curio shop and wine cellar). The gallery will feature the work of Mark Joubert (Dereck’s brother) as well as promoting the work of local artists.

NB Upgrades still to be completed are a new pool (the old one will most likely go to the honeymoon suite) and replacement of the furniture in the fireplace area. Zane is also considering building a star-gazing / birdwatching deck with a spotting scope. Internet access is due to be installed in the near future.

SAVUTI:
I was fortunate enough to be able to drive over to the newly renovated Savuti Camp while staying at Selinda. We were on a mission to get to Savuti (it’s a long drive, about 2.5 hours) so we didn’t really stop to look for game, but I still saw plenty of ellies, buffalo, and lots of plains game. It’s been dry in Botswana this year, and there were already ellies and zebbies at the waterhole in front of the camp. The camp is stunning – the tents are much larger and all of them now have indoor loos and showers. The new colour scheme uses lighter colours and gives the tents an airy feel, as does the use of curtains to separate the sleeping and bathroom areas. One tent has been added (for a total of 7 tents) but it still feels very small and intimate. The new family room (now located where the honeymoon tent used to be, at Tent 1) was particularly impressive, with an innovative design which has two tents side-by-side, each with its own separate bathroom – this would also be a great choice for two singles travelling together, though out of all the rooms this one has the least impressive view of the waterhole. The lounge has undergone a rebuild which makes it much more spacious. Perhaps most important, the staff are as warm and friendly as ever – several people recognised me from my last stay and welcomed me back.

NB There are plans to add some more special features to the new honeymoon tent, which will probably be the new Tent 7 (on the far side to the right when you are facing the waterhole from the lounge).

CHITABE:
Game-viewing at Chitabe was incredible – I saw wild dogs on three out of six drives, and followed them on two hunts. The alpha female is pregnant and Dave Hamman thought that she was likely looking for a place to den (so if you’re going to Chitabe soon, keep your fingers crossed!). I also saw lions stalking a large herd of buffalo (unsuccessfully), had a superb sighting of two honey badgers, and was mock-charged by three animals in one day (an elephant, a hippo, and an impala). Life never gets boring at Chitabe! I had two guides during my stay – OT at Chitabe Camp and the legendary Newman at Chitabe Trails. Both were excellent – OT has been in the reserve for 9 years, and Newman as many of you know has been there basically forever. I’d highly recommend either one. I also unexpectedly ran into some familiar faces on the management side – Selene and Dawson, who had been at Duma Tau when I stayed there, are now managing Chitabe Camp. The common areas of both camps have recently been re-done and are lovely – the fireplace area at Chitabe Trails is particularly nice, and the views out into the little channel in front are great from both the lounge and the tents at CT. The tents at both camps are identical – very comfortable walk-in Meru tents with wooden floors and indoor and outdoor showers. They’re 10 years old and are beginning to show their age a bit, but are due for renovation this summer. Chitabe Camp is larger and more sociable, whereas Chitabe Trails is smaller, quieter, and more intimate – it depends on what you prefer. CT has better views from camp with the little channel in front drawing animals down to drink – I saw elephants, impala, and kudu. There are also some lovely resident bushbuck in camp. One night I had a close encounter of the elephant kind when I was walking back to my tent and found a large bull elephant browsing the tree next to it – Newman sent him on his way with a few words and some of those cryptic Newman gestures (those of you who have travelled with him will know what I mean).

NB I’ll admit that we cheated a bit with the wild dogs – I had a meeting with Tico McNutt (head of the Botswana Predator Conservation Project and author of Running Wild) and he saw them as he flew in and provided the coordinates. But Newman and Dave did spent two hours bashing through the bush to find them, so I think we earned it!

Sorry, there is an error in my post -- I made an edit that makes it sound like the guiding at Motswiri wasn't good, which was not the case at all! BB was great and I would highly recommend him as a guide.

Both BB and Mots are photographers and did a brilliant job of getting us into the best position for photography.

Cheers,
Julian

So nice to see a trip report from you! Looking forward to sitting down and taking my time reading it all as soon as I get home. Welcome back!

Still chuckling at your title.

Motswiri is looking interesting. Snorkeling in Linyanti, hmmm. Do you think they'd have the gear or would you bring your own?

Any wood pile news at Savuti?

That's great the dogs are likely to have another brood in Chitabe. They are doing well there.

Thanks for the informative report. Looking forward to your mobile. That's one I'd like to do.

Nice report Julian! Would love to snorkel in the delta! There was talk of Chongwe Camp putting in a croc-safe cage on the river-that would be exciting!

Hello,

They'll provide the snorkelling gear at Motswiri (it was due to arrive in camp a few days after I left...a running theme during this trip).

It's been very dry this year and there are already herds of ellies down at the woodpile (more than I saw last year, even though I was there over two months later last year). Anyone headed to Savuti this year is in for a treat!

Cheers,
Julian

Nice report Julian. Sounds like you had a great trip.

I have heard some good things on this board about Chitabe Trails. I see it is close to Baines / Stanleys. Do they share game viewing areas (maybe they are across water from each other, idk)? As for Newman, do you know the cost there for a private vehicle with him as your guide?

In the planning process for my next trip.

Thanks,

Richard

Hi! Thanks for the trip report. We are definitely thinking of Chitabe for our trip in 2008 so it's great to hear about it. I was wondering about the differences between Chitabe Camp and Chitabe Trails (other than the size). We like to be sociable so I think we might prefer Chitabe Trails, but we also want to be able to see animals from camp.

Savuti is definitely on our list and I will make sure to request the family room (my sister denies it, but she snores! And she always complains that I take forever in the bathroom!)

Moira

Jasher... not sure when you were at Motswiri, but we were at the Lechwe Island Camp recently which was just down the road from Motswiri. We passed the camp on our way to our adventure camp.

The area was lovely. We had two lion brothers across the spillway from us for the two nights we were there. The second night we could hear them roaring and then heard them walk through our camp. Eek... but awesome!

We did the canoeing at sunset which was great. Saw elephants galore.

We also did the drive through the middle of the Selinda concession. We thought we wouldn't see much but were surprised at the amount of game we saw. It was also our only leopard sighting... a 2 year old female sitting in the middle of the road. She was very shy though.

Awesome report. I look forward to your report on the mobile safari portion.

Oops! I meant Chitabe Camp, not Chitabe Trails! But both do sound nice...maybe a Freudian slip?

Moira

Hello Richard,

Baines and Stanleys are in a separate concession from Chitabe/Chitabe Trails, so there's no sharing of game-viewing areas. The terrain is pretty different between the two -- Stanley's/Baines has a lot more water whereas Chitabe has more dry land. Chitabe does share the concession with CCAfrica's Sandibe Camp.

There wouldn't be an extra cost for having Newman as your guide aside from the cost of the private vehicle -- this would be about $500 per day per vehicle in 2008.

Moira, it sounds like the family room at Savuti would be ideal for you and your sister. Don't worry about the view -- you can always go to the lovely new lounge and enjoy the view from there. I'll be posting some photos to the Safari Photo Album soon. BTW Chitabe may adopt the same design for their family tents during their upgrade (I showed the photos from Savuti to Dave and he was intrigued -- you have to love the Epson!).

Hi Buzztechie, I was at Motswiri on April 25 and 26. When were you there? I did hear the lions one night, but didn't see them. Sounds like you had a great trip!

BTW I heard from the managers at Motswiri that WS will be using Motswiri for some of their mobiles in 2008 (hence the upgrade and the additional tent). This is most likely in lieu of Ketumetse (sp?) for the Discoverer trips.

Cheers,
Julian

Julian - Not as close this time. We were at the Lechwe Island Camp the nights of May 13-14th.

Continuing with the trip report...

UNCHARTED AFRICA MOBILE (OKAVANGO DELTA)
I’ve never done a mobile safari before, so this was an entirely new experience for me. It was also the first time I’ve done an official ‘educational’ with other agents, which was an equally new experience. Because it was an agent trip the itinerary was a bit rushed – normally there would have been at least two nights at our campsite in Moremi before going fly-camping on the island, but we spent only one night there before going fly-camping. (Uncharted Africa’s mobile safaris are almost entirely on a custom basis so if you wanted to do a similar trip you could choose how many days you stayed at each place.). Our group of seven had two guides, Chris and Dabe, who are the main guides for UA’s mobile safari division. Chris did his PhD on the zebra migration in the Makgadikgadi, and his girlfriend is currently doing her PhD on factors affecting herbivore densities in the Delta (spending a lot of time at Mombo, apparently). Dabe started off as a Bushman walking guide at Jack’s Camp and has worked his way up. We met in Maun around 1230, but Air Botch (I mean, Air Bots) was running really late, so Dabe stayed behind to pick up the two people coming in on that flight and Chris took the rest of us up to Moremi. It was a pretty long and rather hot and dusty drive (about 4 hours) though at least it was on good roads – fortunately UA had packed some very good drinks and snacks (in general the food on this trip was superb). We entered through South Gate and saw some general game on the way to our campsite, a HATAB site which is leased exclusively to Uncharted Africa and used on many of their mobile trips. The camp was already set up and the tents were very nice – walk-in Meru-style tents with iron bedsteads, en-suite long-drop loos, and bucket showers. There was a central dining tent with a couch and a small library as well as a fully stocked bar. On our game drives in Moremi we saw lots of elephants, a lone lion, and a lone leopard as well as general plains game (the late-arriving pair from the Air Bots flight saw a civet on their way into camp). We spent the next night (following a very long travel day – 5 hours by vehicle and then 4 hours by boat) fly-camping on a lovely island in the Delta, near Gcodwike Lagoon. The boat ride (on a double-decker boat) was very scenic, though unfortunately animal-free. It was also rather hot, so it was great to stop and swim in the Delta at a swimming spot on the way to the island. The fly camp was simple but comfortable enough for one night – although we were sleeping on the ground we had real mattresses under mosquito nets, a shared loo, and a shared bucket shower. On the evening we arrived we boated out to the lagoon where we saw some hippos fighting. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to walk around the island in the morning, as we had to catch a fairly early flight to Jack’s Camp.

UNCHARTED AFRICA MOBILE: JACK’S CAMP
Ironically, despite the fact that I was arriving two months earlier than I had done last year, the Pans were drier than they had been during my visit in 2006. It was great to see Super (the head guide) again – he was my guide during my stay there (our group had two guides). In addition to quad-biking, going on a game drive where we saw the last stragglers from the zebra migration, and visiting the meerkats (I sat down among the burrows, and one of them decided to use me as a lookout post and climbed up on my head – they’re heavier than they look) we had sundowners on the Pans and went out looking for fossils, both things I hadn’t done on my previous visit. Since we were going up to spend two days with the Bushman community in the western Kalahari we didn’t go on a walk with the Bushmen at Jack’s, though I said hi to the guides I recognised from my previous visit. For the past two days I had been regaling my travel companions with tales of the fantastic eggs Benedict at Jack’s, which were as good as I remembered (the food there is some of the best in Botswana). The tents were as comfortable as ever – after two days of bucket showers it was really nice to be able to shower without worrying that the water was about to run out! The only thing missing was Ralph – he had originally been supposed to join us but was preparing for the filming of a Bushman initiation hunt.

UNCHARTED AFRICA MOBILE: WESTERN KALAHARI
Chris’s knee had put him out of commission, so we were joined by a new guide for the last leg of the trip. Glyn does research on brown hyaenas and is normally based at Jack’s or San, but also does guiding for the mobiles. He knew a huge amount about the Bushman community at XaiXai (pronounced ‘Kai-Kai’ by those who can’t click) where we would be spending the next two nights. It was a long flight (almost 2 hours) from Jack’s to XaiXai (part of the problem was that we were plodding along in a pair of Cessna 206s as the airstrip wasn’t licenced for Caravans). Dabe and the mobile crew met us at the airstrip, where people from the village had gathered to watch the planes land (a rare occurrence). They drove us to our campsite, which had been designated by the community. I’d read that we would have the option of sleeping in traditional Bushman huts and was looking forward to it, but when we arrived we discovered that the huts were not in good repair so we were staying in our tents for both nights which was a bit disappointing. After dinner we walked down to the Bushman camp and met our hosts. Unlike the people at the airstrip, the people at the camp were dressed in traditional clothes, which were seen as ‘bush-wear’ much as we would consider our khaki stuff ‘safari-wear.’ It had been a long time since the people in the community had met like this, and there was a lot of singing and dancing. We went to sleep to the sound of chanting and the beat of the trance drum. The following morning we accompanied the Bushmen on a hunting/gathering trip. They found a beehive and chopped the tree down to collect it, using smoke to calm the bees (this really does work – very few people were stung). I tasted honey straight from the comb which was amazingly flavourful. We went back to our camp for lunch, and then joined the Bushmen as they relaxed during the afternoon. I spent a lot of time ‘talking shop’ with the traditional healers, and tried some of the food that had been gathered on that morning’s expedition. That evening, after dinner, we had the privilege of attending a trance dance ceremony. It’s very hard to describe what I experienced at the trance dance – it was very primal yet very spiritual at the same time. (Ralph has filmed a trance dance and the video can be seen at the new Origins museum in Joburg – I’d definitely recommend seeing it if you can). Unlike some of the other cultural experiences I’ve had on my visits to Africa, I never felt that anything we saw was a ‘performance’ for our benefit – we seemed almost incidental to what was happening. (We did have the opportunity to buy some crafts the morning that we left, but no one actually tried to sell us anything – the stuff for sale was left hanging on some tree branches around the campsite and if we liked something we would ask Dabe to find out how much it was.)

MELROSE ARCH
After two days at XaiXai, it’s hard to think of a greater contrast than two days at the Melrose Arch Hotel in Joburg. The Melrose Arch is a very contemporary designer boutique hotel located in one of Joburg’s most fashionable neighbourhoods, where the enormous rooms have adjustable mood lighting, flat screen TVs with DVD players and surround sound, and in-room broadband. While definitely modern, it wasn’t cold like some modern places can be thanks to the use of warm natural colours and textures like raw brick and suede. There are some whimsical touches that I rather liked, like the in-room safe behind the painting of a burglar breaking into a safe and the bright yellow rubber duckies (mum and baby) perched on the rim of the tub. The staff were very nice and tried their best to sort out the problems with my broadband connection (they had upgraded their network the day before I arrived and there were still a few bugs). The food was excellent, though I didn’t get a chance to try out the famous pool restaurant (the one with the tables surrounded by trees in giant galvanised buckets). In addition to the hotel restaurant, March, there are a number of other restaurants within walking distance, including a branch of Moyo which had some excellent creative interpretations of traditional African food and some great live entertainment. (Moyo can get pretty lively in the evening, so if you’re a light sleeper it’s probably advisable to ask for a room at the back of the hotel as Moyo is right across from the entrance.)

the mobile sounds great Julian! and a meerkat on your head!! How cool!
Thanks!

Thanks for posting your report-it sounds like a great trip!

Julian, terrific report. I'm especially intrigued by the mobile safari -- I'm always looking for new destinations, and this may be a nice way for me to return to Botswana. Did you have any luck finding brown hyenas?

Thanks, Michael

Hello,

Having the meerkat on my head was really cool -- they call continually while they are foraging so there was this constant chirping and churring. I was a bit worried he'd fall off as he kept turning around to keep an eye on the surrounding area, but they've got pretty good balance.

Unfortunately we missed the brown hyaenas -- they'd just moved the den site and Glyn was still tracking them. It just means I'll have to go back!

I really enjoyed the mobile and would highly recommend it. Someday I'd like to go on the five-day Kubu Island quad-biking mobile trip which should be amazing.

http://www.unchartedafrica.com/page.php?p_id=279

Because the UA mobiles are very high-end and entirely custom itineraries they're more expensive than scheduled mobiles, but if you can get a small group together it would be a brilliant trip.

Cheers,
Julian

Julian

Lots of great updates and a great report on the Bushmen, thanks for your efforts.

Matt

The Bushmen encounters were excellent. Nice meerkat interaction too.

Julian,

What a great informative report. I have been to many of the places you mention over the years, so it was of great interest to me.
I shall be back at Jack's in October for my 10th visit, the first time was in 1994. I'm glad you had Super as your guide, he's always my guide and I've had some great times with him. I've also been lucky enough to have been there when Ralph & Catherine have been in camp.
Have you seen the wonderful book by the French artist Florine Asch ,Les Carnets de Safari which they have for sale? It's a beautiful memento of Jack's.
You certainly paint a superb picture of safari life yourself.

Regards, Jan