The last 4 days of our trip were very different from the first 6 - we went mobile. The mobile camp felt much different from the lodges, although not due to lack of amenities - we were not roughing it. Our guide at this camp prided himself on being so far out there that we would not see another car - and he held to it. We were on our own when it came to what we wanted to do, where we wanted to go, and what we wanted to see. It also meant that we had to find our own wildlife, instead of relying on the radio network from the other trucks in the area.
8/9/2024
We got picked up from Moremi around 1p and had to make some time getting down south to our camp. Thankfully, this truck was much newer and equipped with far better shocks than the previous trucks. Still, there was quite a bit of rocking back and forth as we made our way south - we coined this the Safari Hula, hips swaying back and forth as we drove. Our guide was much more informative than our previous guides, less so in their overall knowledge, but more so in his willingness to share it. Our previous guides were less far less interested in sharing the intricate details of a termite mound or how the phases of the moon affect the wildlife. This might have partially been the language barrier, but I think it was probably more so the difference between a job and a passion.
On that note, we drove through the elephant orchard - Mupani forest. These Mupani trees have been heavily grazed by the elephants, to the point where they are no more than 10 feet high. But the Elephants leave a few trees to grow to full height (100+ feet high) to both provide them with shade while they graze but also to provide for the stunted trees. Mupani trees are like Aspens in that their roots are connected and they share nutrients. Very clever of the elephants!
After a few hours of driving, our guide stopped and went to retrieve our lunch. For reasons that I do not fully understand, he decided to walk across the flooded field rather than drive - he said something about worrying about getting stuck but he only went up to his knees and I’m sure the truck could have handled it. I’m assuming this was more for our benefit…
I got some fun pictures of a Tawny eagle taking off - He looked to be about the same size and color as a juvenile bald eagle.
As our camp was set right on the edge of a lagoon, there were a lot of Lechwe about. These pictures really show how disproportioned they were - huge back legs and rumps with these tiny front legs by comparison.
Now that the hula was over, we slowed our pace a bit to look for wildlife. We spent a bit of time with a small family of elephants - it took me a little while to internalize slowing down a bit. At the lodges, you race between animal to animal but our guide for this section of the trip was perfectly happy spending an hour or more with elephants or following a pair of lions. Once I figured it out, it was actually much nicer to really watch these creatures - see their behaviors and practices rather than just getting your pictures and moving on.
As we were watching the elephants, our guide hear some Impala “barking”. It sounds more like a deer blow combined with a burp than a bark. Similar to deer, it’s used to warn the others in the herd that a predator might be nearby. We went to check it out, and sure enough there was a young male stocking the herd of impalla in the trees. It looked like he might have been alone at first, but within a few minutes we found a half dozen lions napping nearby. We stuck around for a couple of hours, watching them wake from their naps and start to head out for their evening hunt.
Because we stayed for so long, we got to see their social behaviors - cuddling and pressing against each other while they were sleeping. They clearly craved each other’s touch - even the older female (who bared her teeth when the younger ones approached) seemed eager to touch the others - although still to sleepy to play. Our guide mentioned some study done in the past about how lions (the only social cat) likely developed this social behavior to allow them to compete with the Hyenas - the other very strong pack hunter in the area.
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We pulled around the corner following the edge of the lagoon and there was this amazing camp waiting for us. The mobile camps are mobile in that they can only stay setup for 7 days at a time. That being said, it was far from roughing it. They boiled water and filled bladders for our flushing toilets, showers, and sinks. We each had very spacious tents with a central mess tent for hanging out and for meals. From the central tent, we could watch elephants, hippos, impala, lechwe, while we had cocktails - quite the place. Apparently it takes only 8 hours or so to setup camp - which I found to be quite impressive.
Over dinner, I got the chance to quiz our guide on a bunch of topics - but one interesting discovery is how moon phases impact the Kalahari. Leopards/Cheetahs hunt between 5 days before a full moon to 5 days after - they prefer to have some light to see their prey and rely on their camouflage to hide themselves. Lions hunt the opposite, they like it to be dark. The lions aren’t great hunters (30% success rate vs 80% for Leopards/Cheetahs), so perhaps they are rely on the hope that their prey will not see them(?)
After dinner, I finally got the chance to ask about how to find the southern cross. I had asked several times at the lodges, but was never able to find a guide after dark. Turns out, it’s a bit harder than the north star (their is no southern star, it turns out). You have to find the pointer stars (alpha centauri/beta centauri) and the southern cross. Then, you take an angle perpendicular to the pointer stars and follow the long arm of the southern cross to find a point on the sky where celestial south sits - a point that is black/devoid of stars. Astronomy is fascinating…
8/10/2024
With the 4 of us being the only people at this camp, we were able to depart earlier than we have before. We had a 5:30 am wakeup and we were in the trucks and driving by 6:05a - coffee in hand. We spent the first hour and a half following a pair of male lions who were doing their morning patrol. Male lions have a really tough life. Every male lion we have seen is covered in scars and open wounds - from past battles with other males. The lion density is high in the Okavango and as a result, most lion prides have 3-4 males who have teamed up (always siblings) to defend their territory. The territorial battles must be fierce.
The majority of the lions activities involved scenting - both making and smelling. They spray their scent all over the bushes probably once every 50 feet or so and then the stop to smell interesting smells - which presumably are evidence of other males in the area. When they do find a smell - they do something called a Flehmen response, which I don’t fully understand but it has something to do with capturing the scent to process it better. There is an organ in the roof of their mouth called the Jacobson organ which they use to process the smell.
We stopped for breakfast around 8:30a or so. Since we left so early, we had breakfast out of the truck - which was still quite fancy with ceramic plates and everything. The hot sauce was particularly good (although not all that spicy - I didn’t get the impression that spicy food is a thing here). Angela got some great pictures of a couple of birds during breakfast.
We drove past a small family of elephants on our way back to camp and we ran across a lone Lechwe laying down in a field. This was not a good sign - Lechwe do lay down when they are with a herd, but they tend to be very alert when by themselves, so this one was probably not doing well.
Good morning for me to get more accustomed to the slower pace of things. Only 13 miles total and most of that was done at a very slow pace following the lions.
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We got back to camp around 11 am and watched a variety of different animals from the central tent before lunch. We watched a Giraffe drinking during lunch as well as several groups of elephants, impala, warthogs, lechwee, crocodiles, hippos, and countless birds… The views from our camp were spectacular, at one point I counted 100 different individuals within a half mile or so of our camp.
We had a lovely lunch under a couple of small trees just next to camp. I found a beautiful pheasant feather - I kept it for the next couple of days, but put it back where I found it (I am a firm believer in leaving nature as it is).
We had a fun conversation over lunch about the types of people who go on safaris - just wed or nearly dead. We were bucking the trend here, but I could see why a trip of this magnitude would be reserved for special occasions or retirement.
We took our cestas after lunch and used a new technique for staying cool - a wet towel called a Kikoi is draped over your body and then you run a fan over it. The water evaporating cools you off. Angela figured this one out right away - it took me a couple of days. The towel needs to be on bare skin to work, and I was trying to put it over my shirt…
We took off in the late afternoon for another drive. This one was a quite a bit more low key than some of the others - some pelicans, elephants, and warthogs to start.
We watched a herd of elephants do their mud thing in the heat of the day - alternating water and then dirt thrown onto their backs. Not particularly novel, but I got some good pictures.
We stopped off for mid-afternoon tea near a shallow pool and got our feet wet to cool off - the water is very orange and full of tannins, just like the olympic peninsula, from it’s long journey from Angola. As it evaporates, it gets darker and darker until it is almost blood red.
A healthy zebra has over 4000 ticks. That’s why the Oxpecker birds are so helpful - they live almost entirely on parasites that are collected off of various animals. Zebra, Impala, giraffe…
Giraffe are really funny to watch when they run…
Angela got some more great pictures of birds. Our guide told us the last two were african skimmers, but looking at them now I’m not so sure…
We headed in to dinner just before sunset. Angela and I rode on top of the jeep - in the balcony seat. It was really fun up there, but you do tend to get hit with more branches. When we were about a mile from camp, we hit a stick the punctured the tire. The leak was slow though and we were able to make it back to camp without it going fully flat.
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I was still able to get my customary evening/sunset photos during the ride back and before dinner.
We ended up eating quickly and in total darkness under the tent to attempt to avoid the midges. Midges apparently spawn like this, with a giant swarm emerging for only one day. We had a fire after dinner which kept the midges away, and then headed back to our tents for sleep.
8/11/2024
We had another early start this morning - our last full day at the mobile camp. Tomorrow afternoon, we will be heading out to our island camp - but more about that later. We spend the morning wondering through less traveled area where new areas were being flooded as the waters continued to flow into the delta.
We spotted a lone Hyena mid-morning. He seemed to be just laying down for a nap. This was the third lone hyena we found during our trip - they are mostly nocturnal hunters so they are seen in packs at night, but for some reason these few hyenas were up during the day. Insomnia maybe?
We saw a small family of Steembock - unusual as they are usually alone or in a pair. Our guide told us a story about a young male Steembock who was being raised by a woman in Maun. They have these little tiny horns and I guess in this little guys eagerness to got to the bottle, he stabbed the woman in the leg with his little horns and ended up killing her. Very sad. After this point, we started working on a plot for a horror film - the Steembock slaughter. This became a rolling joke for the next couple of days - Such a cute little animal, but still dangerous and wild.
It seemed like very corner we came around, there was new animals out enjoying (and feasting) on the newly formed flood plains. We ran across a pack of lions, just laying down for their mid-day nap. One particular young male lion was very interested in us, he kept perking up every time we moved. Still getting used to the Jeeps being around…
Then we stumbled across a spectacular scene - a pair of lechwe’s jumping across a deep channel. Those powerful back legs can really push them along!
Around another corner, we found an incredible menagerie. Diane coined it - the animal crackers scene. Probably 100 baboons, zebra, wildebeests, and impala were foraging around a newly formed flood pool - an incredible sight.
We headed back to camp for lunch and a cesta before our afternoon drive. We passed by a jackal berry tree just before lunch, but apparently the berries aren’t any good this late in the season. I do wonder what they taste like when they are fresh - something to add to the list…
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Our afternoon drive was shorter, we had a night drive planned and we wanted to save up for it. I decided to put my camera away for this trip and just enjoy.
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We toured the kitchen before dinner - it was quite impressive. They cook by Mupani wood, which is a really dense wood and makes for great cooking fires (in addition to being great food for elephants). I was amazed that they could cook all of that amazing food with just a wood fire and a couple of basic metal grills.
We started off on our night drive after sunset, but while there was still twilight out. Derek and Diane started off on the balcony seats and then moved down for the actual game drive. We saw a bunch of spring hares and then, out of nowhere, 10 hyena started running about around us. They were very active - not hunting yet, but they seemed to be on the prowl. You can see them in the night vision on the last image.
Most of the time on the trip, one of use had the night vision binoculars and two of us had red-lights. We would swing the red lights hoping to catch the shine off of an animals eyes and then use the night vision to get a good look. Very different experience.
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We had a fire after the night drive and spoke with our guide about some of the other trips he had done - one of his first trips was with Taylor Swift’s film crew to help them film that music video with the lion (can’t remember the name). The lion was fake but the scenery was really africa. They also helped to film a naked and afraid episode - right at the end of covid. It sounded like an incredible experience - crazy what the contestants put themselves through. One of the two groups he helped used dried elephant poop and sneaked up on the pheasants at the watering holes. Hence the new running joke - Lets get toasted, get starkers, and throw some elephant shit at birds.
8/12/2024
We packed up and left a little later this morning. After we came out for breakfast, we heard from the camp staff that they found 6 honey badgers in mess tent this morning - and nobody woke us! I would have loved to make my own honey badger meme… :)
We left camp around 8 am this morning and starting to make our way slowly to the docks. We passed through some of the places we had frequented over the last few days - spotting zebra, crocs, hippos, giraffe and elephant. We also learned a little bit more about Zebra - they live in a family group of up to 9 females with one male. The stallion always walks in the back, so he can defend his females. Zebras pregnancy lasts for 11 months and then they are pregnant again in 2 weeks - wow.
We learned a lot more about termites - as promised. Termites in Africa are 2x the mass of all other mammals put together. Most of those termites are harvester/farming termites who create these huge mounds. The mounts are caverns of interlocking tunnels and the purpose of the mound is to cool fungal colony that creates their food. The queen will send commands to open/close openings in the mound to maintain the perfect temperature. The mounds are also habitat creating - the nutrients that the termites bring back to the mound creates the most nutrient rich grasses right around the mounds base and the creation of the mount lifts the earth - which creates islands when the floods come in. I mentioned this earlier, but the mounds are built to last - surviving for hundreds or thousands of years with new queens occupying the mound after the old queen dies.
We ran into the other guide that was part of the Barkley-Stenner group and he had just found (on food!) a leopard who had recently killed and tree a warthog. This was an incredible sight for me - seeing a leopard in the wild with it’s recent kill.
As promised, we found a good spot to take a swim. A herd of a few hundred cape buffalo had just crossed the chanel and stirred up all the water so it took us a while to find a place that was clear enough that we could see the bottom (apparently critical to avoid the crocs). The water was the beautiful yellow-orange color that makes you dirtier when you get out than when you entered… :)
After mucking around with trying to find a swim place and taking some time to see the leopard, we were late to get back to our boat and it was time for some safari-ferrari again - hold on tight!
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We boarded our double decker boat around 2-3 pm and started to make our way to our island camp - a trip which we expected to take several hours. The boat was comfortable and we had our standard mid-afternoon snack along with a beer this time for good measure. We didn’t expect to see to much wildlife, but we kept our eyes peeled anyway.
And we found an otter! They are apparently not super common - so we hung out for 20 min or so watching him frolic about from our up-high vantage point.
We also saw a bunch of elephants - retirement home elephants. One in particular was just about underwater - made for some very cool photos.
And finally we made it to our camp just before sunset.
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We were greeted by the camp staff who helped us take our bags in and get situated quickly. The camp was just as nice as the last one, but different. Here are some pictures.
We had one more trip for the day to see a bird rookery where the Maribou story frequents. These birds frequently fly at very high altitudes, so they have developed an air sack under there neck to hold extra air for them to breath. When on land though - it looks like they have a scrotum under their neck. I didn’t know these birds existed until today…
We wrapped up our short trip and headed back to camp for dinner and to sit by the fire. We have an early flight in the morning (unfortunately) so we were unable to do the walking safari around the island - but we certainly did see a lot in a short period of time
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Goodnight!
8/13/2024
We got underway early the next morning - headed back to the airport near camp Moremi. The boat ride back was quite eventful, we were on the lookout fo the Sititu, which is apparently a small antelope that only lives in deep water. We did see a couple, but they were way to fast to get a picture. Fortunately, however, we were blessed to see a leopard right next to the channel in the grass. This was an amazing spot - these guys blend right in…
Other than the leopard, we just had a relaxing trip back, enjoying the scenery and soaking in our last day in Africa. We knew we had a long travel back to home, so best to enjoy the outdoors while we still can.
It seemed like the trip back to the docks was faster than the trip out to the island - but maybe that’s just because I wanted it to take longer.
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We had just a short trip from the docks to the airport - we passed through the elephant orchard and said farewell to those magnificent creatures.
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We unpacked all our bags at the airstrip and said farewell to our guide before loading up for our trip back to Maun. Goodbye Okavango!
Unfortunately, the reason why we were picked up so early this morning is we had 3 stops to make before landing in Maun. There was a nasty crosswind and the pilot landed on one wheel each time. It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride to end the trip!
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From Maun, we had a couple of hour layover where we did some shopping and bought lunch. Our flight to Johanesburg was relatively quick, but that’s when the trouble started. We were supposed to have a hour or so in Johannesburg, but our flight was delayed by almost 6 hours. Qatar airlines did take care of us, but we were now expected to miss our connection to Seattle in Doha - so we had a 28ish hour layover in Doha. We went to the national museum - which was very informative regarding the history of Qatar for the first 80% and then basically propaganda about how amazing their current king was for the last 20%. Angela had a hankering to go to the Suq - something that I was much more reserved about. I’ve been to plenty of middle-eastern Suqs before and I wasn’t eager to go back. This one, however, was perfectly civilized. It wasn’t super crowded or dirty and the shop keepers weren’t yelling at you to enter their stores (probably because most of the shop keepers were immigrants). Either way, we had a decent time walking around and exploring Doha.
The last flight back to Seattle was long, but uneventful and we made it back to Seattle after just a little less than 3 solid days of travel. We were all dumpster kitties by the time we got back, so I’m going to choose to close out this blog post with a more joyful photo from the boat on our last day in the Okavango…
