Botswana Safari: Part I

I recently returned from a two-week trip to the southeast African nation of Botswana,

Before I write about the amazing animals I saw and photographed, I want to write a bit about some things I observed during my trip, during which I was joined by three friends from the United Kingdom.

When I first learned of Botswana's decision to repeal the country's ban on hunting, I, like many others, was very upset. Due to poaching of African elephants to feed the Asian demand for ivory trinkets, elephants are facing extinction in the not-so-distant future if something isn't done to stop the killing.

What I learned from our guide and other local people hasn't made me OK with elephant hunting, but it did shed some light on the problem of elephant-human conflict. The plan would not open the country's elephant population (estimated to be at least 100,000) to large scale hunting. Anyone wanting to shoot an elephant would first have to obtain a permit from the government, and hunting would be limited to bull elephants. Bulls wander over vast distances as they search for elephant cows with which to breed. It is these elephants that cause problems with people, farmers' fields, etc. But opening the country up to any kind of hunting, regulated or not, is likely to encourage poaching, which can devastate a population. And elephants are such intelligent animals that shooting them for any reason makes me and many others very unhappy.

There was ample evidence of a bull elephant called George in our first camp, in the Kalahari Desert. A couple of nights later we found evidence that another, younger bull, called New Boy, had paid a visit to our camp. I never heard either bull, but both had left unmistakable evidence of their visit. We even saw the foot prints New Boy had left as he walked down a long dirt road from the park entrance to our camp.

One day our guide made the hours-long drive from camp to the Boteti River. During the trip we counted a total of 27 oryx, animals I had seen only a couple of times during previous safaris in Kenya and Tanzania. Once we reached the river, we got to enjoy the sight of several bull elephants spraying themselves with water and mud. One of the bulls took exception to our presence, although we were a safe distance from the river. He climbed a small ridge and started walking toward us. Elephants have a particular gait and look when they want to remind humans that they are much bigger and more powerful than we are, so our driver moved us out of harm's way. The bull never charged, but he definitely gave the impression that he was thinking about it. We ate lunch that day near a hippo pool, complete with a mother hippo and her little (relatively speaking) baby.

At our second camp -- a place I had stayed at a few years ago -- I was sitting by the fire waiting for dinner when one of the staff members sat down beside me. He introduced himself as Sue. I, of course, immediately was reminded of the Johnny Cash song, "A Boy Named Sue." I didn't have the heart to ask about the origins of his name, or even how he spelled it.

Because it is currently winter in southern Africa, nights and early mornings were quite cold (upper 30s to lower 40s F). Once the sun was up, temperatures climbed rather quickly, reaching highs in the afternoon well into the 80s F. But once the sun started to set, temperatures quickly dropped. During morning game drives, which started at 7 a.m., I wore a short-sleeve shirt, a long-sleeve shirt, a photographer's vest (zipped), a fleece jacked and a rain jacket. I also wore gloves, as well as a buff over my ears. I could have used one of my winter hats. Yes, it was that cold, especially moving along in an open vehicle.

At night, each bed got a 'bush baby,' a hot water bottle inside a fabric cover and slipped between the sheets. Each person also was given a bush baby and a blanket for the morning game drive.

Two of the lodges where we stayed had outdoor showers, which was wonderful on a sunny afternoon. Showering early in the morning or at night was just too cold, even in an indoor shower. There's nothing quite like taking a shower while watching baboons in a tree nearby.

Widespread fires in the Okavango Delta area resulted in lots of coughing and sneezing. Some fires were still actively burning, while most were merely smoldering. A layer of smoke and dust covered the ground every morning. Yet amidst this massive destruction, the land was sending up shoots just a few days later. The annual inflow of water from Angola hadn't yet arrived, and the water -- when it finally arrives -- is expected to be much lower than usual. Our rides in mokoros -- dugout canoes -- took place in water that was only 3 feet deep.

Because so much of the delta, which should have been covered with water, was dry, the animals had a much larger area in which to live, making finding them more difficult than usual. This was especially true with some of the predators, such as cheetahs and leopards. There were a lot of lions, and they live in prides, so it wasn't difficult to find them.

At our third camp, we had a tracker in addition to a guide/driver. James, the tracker, rode in a seat on the front of the vehicle. He quickly climbed into the empty seat next to the guide whenever we encountered dangerous animals, such as African wild dogs, buffalo and lions. One day we drove around the corner of a large group of bushes, to come fact to face with a male lion resting quietly. Our guide quickly put the vehicle into reverse, and James climbed into the interior of the vehicle.

Noises in the night: It wasn't unusual to hear animals at night. I heard lions roaring, elephants trumpeting, hippos grunting. One night I heard a noise I had never heard before. It turns out it was a giant eagle owl. I have seen this bird in Kenya, but never heard it. The noise sounded like something being attacked -- rather unnerving while trying to sleep.

One evening, as we were driving back to camp in the dark, we were startled by the very loud trumpeting of an elephant. Apparently we had startled it, or it wasn't happy about our presence, and it definitely made its displeasure known.

Botswana was full of death. There were bones scattered around, including the skill of a young elephant and the jaw of a hippopotamus. We spotted a buffalo that had been killed by lions late one day. The next day, after the lions, hyenas and vultures had finished with it, there was nothing left but the bones. The same thing happened with a waterbuck killed by lions in the morning. Later that afternoon, it had been picked clean. Vultures were in abundance, sitting on the ground and filling dead trees as they looked for a carcass. In some cases, it was impossible to see the carcass through the vultures sitting on and surround it. Despite the ugly nature of what they do, vultures are an essential part of the landscape as they dispose of the remains of dead animals.

One day we spotted a large group of birds -- mostly fish eagles, along with a saddle-billed  stork, hamerkop and marabou stork -- surrounding a small pool of water. The water had been home to numerous large catfish, but the water level was so low that the fish were struggling to breathe. This made them easy pickings for the birds. The water level had dropped noticeably later that day, and the water was nearly gone two days later.


New things: This was a new behavior for me: Two younger bull elephants, and an older 'mentor' bull, were having a dust bath. It was quite windy, and it seems that the wind and dust were irritating the eye of one of the younger bulls. So we watched in fascination as he used his trunk to rub his eye a few times. 

For the first time in my life, I got to see the Milky Way. The stars were amazing in the night sky without pollution from artificial lights obscuring the view. I didn't have a tripod with me, although I would have loved to try to photograph the Milky Way. 

We had two brief sightings of a pair of honey badgers, an animal I had never seen. They were running quickly, so the sightings were very quick.

On a morning game drive, we were following a lioness and her older cubs. One of the cubs decided to 'attack' a buffalo, which wasn't amused. So the buffalo turned and chased the lion cub, which made a hasty retreat. I had never seen a buffalo threaten a lion, although I know that buffalo have killed lions.

During a walking safari (with our guide carrying a loaded rifle for safety), we learned that palm nuts pass through an elephant's digestive system with only the outer covering being digested. The nuts then can give rise to new palm trees, sometimes being carried several miles in the water (before water levels dropped so low).  

We spent a bit of time visiting a Bushman village. These people live a primitive life, relying on hunting and gathering foods. Our interpreter was a young man who had 15 years of school behind him, but who choose to return to his ancestral way of living. The community was very welcoming and allowed us a glimpse into a culture about which we knew nothing.

These are a few of my experiences during this trip to Botswana. I will write another post about the many kinds of animals my friends and I observed and photographed. We have already started talking about where we hope to visit for next year's African safari.