Self-Drive Safari in Botswana, South Africa, and Namibiab

[KaliCA]

Above is an experimental night pic of moths flying around webcam at

Nossob.

[KaliCA]

I think the above pic is a tawny Eagle?

 

So, you have read how unlucky we were spotting the lions and Cubs at Marie se Draai, blame it on late gate opening, but at least we had a nice sunrise.

 

 

 

[KaliCA]

Post 7

 

Nossob to Gahaghab, Wednesday, September 17

 

This morning, we were almost first out the gate and headed straight for Marie se Draai WH waiting for lions, but we must have missed them again as there were plenty of big and small lion tracks around. Seemed lion time did I not coincide with gate time again! We had to make do with jackals, oryx, and springbock in the beautiful morning light.

We had BF at camp, refueled and restocked on water and veggies before heading north on our way to Gharaghab camp. We had some amazing bird activity at a WH north of Nossob. Also, we came across many vultures congregating by a waterhole in a huge flock.

The highlight, however, was finding a black-maned lion and his lady at Kwang WH. We watched them mate once, for a few brief seconds, then waited, and after twenty minutes, the pair mated again. This was a first for us to come across mating lions and we thought it was an awesome sight and the sounds that accompanied it were very memorable as well.

We found the turn off to Gharaghab which happened to be 10 km before Union's End, the end of the park road. It was already passed 3pm, so I decided not to drive up to UE and thus did not leave a message at the message box for my friend from the UK. Hope she will understand. (She did and thought mating lions made for a good excuse!)

So we drove rather fast through the red sand road in order to avoid the washboard effect and checked into Gharagab to enjoy our stay.

It seemed we were first to arrive and so asked the attendant for cabin number 2, the one best suited for photography and best view of the WH. First, the attendant said that he could not assign cabins. But to our surprise, a few minutes later, he came back to announce that cabin number two was ours. Hallelujah. Yes, he got a small gift for that favor.

I liked the lay-out of this cabin the most. It had a balcony with a Braai area, then a kitchen area with a square table, then two single beds with cubbies and finally a shower in the back. However, I liked the shape of this water hole the least. It somewhat spoils the photos to see animals drink out of a trough.

Why not make them more natural looking?

Here are the sightings at Gharagab: Oryx and Hartebeest, many jackals roaming the hills and then....out of the red sand.... a graceful Cheetah. She took her time approaching the WH and kept hiding behind rocks and bushes. Even when she was finally drinking, she stopped every few seconds and looked around nervously. I left the cabin to keep my eyes on the Cheetah, but when I reached the look-out tower, it had already disappeared. I noticed a storm approaching and a few fat raindrops fell into the red sand, creating small craters.

Just before dark, a Brown Hyena made an appearance and I saw my first ever Brownie! Last one to be checked off my must-see list.

We had steak, potato packets and salad for dinner on our patio/balcony, very yummy, but it was very stressful nonetheless, because all the bugs and grasshoppers were attracted to the light. The bugs kept flying into us and our female friend kept yelling out each time one hit her. I think the bugs also were looking for shelter from the approaching storm.

During dinner, we were treated to a tremendous lightening show that lit up the dunes far and away and there were huge waves of thunder. Also, a jackal came very near our balcony, clearly asking to be fed.

During the night and early morning light, I saw two more brownies. Yeah. I loved this place, but had a bad night's sleep because I kept thinking I would miss something by not looking out to the waterhole every few minutes. In the morning, the floor and blankets were covered with dead grasshoppers and beetles. It never actually rained, however.

 

Gharaghab to Karahari Rest Camp, Kang, Botswana, Thursday, September 18

 

It was cold and windy in the morning, a big change from the heat the previous days. Today was our long distance driving day and this was the part of the trip that made me most anxious.

We left Gharagab on a one-way road that connects off the hills back into the Nossob valley It was a very pretty drive through greenish tall grass and acacia trees with a few steenbok staring at us. We reached the Ka'a Gate turn-off by 9:30. It is clearly signposted and we had made a note of its position earlier.

Then we headed east into the Botswana side of KTP for 84km, some in deep sand, some through pans, and some over corrugated tracks. The park advises to drive this road with another car and that was one of the reasons I had invited our friends to join us. There was no game around on this drive.

We had lunch off the road in the bush. There were no animals at the Ka'a waterhole either and there were no formalities, other than signing the book. The ranger lady asked for the vehicle fee paper, but since the Bots official in TR did not issue it to us, she just shrugged her shoulders and said she was not going to do the other official's work and let it go! Wow, lucky us.

Then came 6km of very thick sand driving, before it got easier by taking the wide cut road and then we could drive faster. Finally, we turned into a gravel road towards our first Botswana village named Zu... after that we made a left to Hukuntsi, our second village in Botswana with goats, cows, and people on the side of the road. The sign only read "Huk"so I picked up the broken sign below it and turned it over, and lo and behold: it read "untsi". We had a good laugh about that.

At the tar road we had to re-inflate the tires and ... You guessed it...our friend was waiting for us to be done and then used our compressor again.

This tar road took us 120 km from bush into flatland with nothing much in them, some farms, many cows and donkeys. It was close to sunset when we finally hit the A2, also called The Kalahari Hwy and then it was 14 1/2 km north to Kalahari Rest Stop, our goal for the day.

We checked in and had an adjoining Bungalow with our friends being on the other side. At this point we were exhausted, me mentally from all the worrying about crossing the Big Empty, and DH physically since he did all of the driving. We had dinner right away and it was Schnitzel again, before turning in for the night. It had been a long and tiring drive and I was very happy that all had gone well and we had crossed the dreaded sand fields to reach civilization once again.

Most memorable about Kalahari rest stop was that the bathroom/ toilet facility was enclosed by a low wall and when sitting on the toilet, you looked at the bed. Very awkward, and certainly not enough privacy.

[KaliCA]

[KaliCA]

Chronologically, the mating lions should be before the pics of the Gharaghab cabin.

 

 

 

[Colobus]

A great read so far KaliC and you got your Brownies. That is one up on me.

Your Tawny Eagle above is actually an Immature Bataleur.

Keep it coming.

[KaliCA]

Thanks, Colobus. How little we know and how much we still have to learn. Do you have a pic of a tawny eagle so I can compare?

[KaliCA]

Post 8

 

Pics from Gharagab to Kang

[KaliCA]

[KaliCA]

Kalahari Rest Stop to Tautona Lodge, Friday, September 19

 

We had BF in our room, while our friends preferred a real breakfast at the lodge. We made our way up north on the A2 to Ghanzi town and had to get used to traffic and trucks on the road again. We knew we had to find the Department of Wildlife office before they would close for the weekend, as we had to secure our park permits for many days to come. So our first stop was indeed the DW station (easy to find in Ghanzi, no line) and two helpful ladies got us a permit for 14 nights park stays in Botswana. I think we were able to pay by CC. Again, another of my worries put to rest. We have our permit! Yay!

 

Then we did some serious shopping at the Spar in Ghanzi ( many very poor and raggedy dressed children were watching our every move in the parking lot and out of guilt, we ended up giving them some bananas and bread) as well as buying Pula (Botswana currency) at the bank and getting fuel and wood at the Puma gas station.

 

After driving east for a few minutes, we realized that Tautona Lodge was more or less across the gas station and we had missed the sign. The lodge is set back from the road by a few km and had nice buildings with palm trees and a pool, even a convention center. Camping, however, was way in the back, near a waterhole. We were the only guests there and had the very sandy place to ourselves. There is a big lapa and good showers, as well as a waterhole where we spotted some very shy waterbuck.

Our friends wanted to find a liquor store (bottle shop) and a post office, so we went back to town for some errands and we even found a filling station for propane gas called GMF store. To our amazement we were already running low on cooking gas. Had we possibly received containers that weren't quite full?

Back at camp, we cooked sausage on the Braai and had mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans for dinner. The night was very quiet and we had a good sleep.

 

Tautona Lodge to Motopi Pan, CKGR, Saturday, September 20

 

We had an early BF at camp, then watched some cheetah and wild dogs in their cages. It's hard for me to see these magnificent animals caged up. At least they had a lot of room to roam in and it looked to be all natural bush. Had I known that, I would have stayed somewhere else.

We were on the road before 8 am via the A3 east towards Kuke. Just before the buffalo fence, we deflated our tires, then we turned into the track to Tsau Gate which is clearly marked and followed a straight sand track along two, sometimes three parallel fences for 39 km. The Bradt guide for Botswana shows a good map for planning your route into the CKGR, and of course, we had the GPS with preloaded waypoints for extra help.

To our surprise the Tsau gate was not manned. So we left a note with all of our information and I put it under a rock by the door. Did it even matter? Who knows. We moved the chain aside and we were in the CKGR, one of my dream destinations and famous places to visit. Then we drove another 32 km along a fence. On the way we saw plenty of elephant dung and crushed fences. Elephants in the Kalahari? In September? Hard to believe. We also spotted a Kudu family and curiously, many many yellow butterflies fluttering around the ellie dung.

After 32 km we turned south and found an antenna with a solar panel, this was the pump for the waterhole. We made a right turn at a hand-painted marker that read CK MOT 02, 01, 03. Turns out that site 2 is closest to the WH and it is located up on a dune with nice valley views. This is the best spot to be in the future. Site 3 was next, and 1/2 hr drive from the turn off, we finally were home at CKMOT 01, the furthest camping site from the WH. O shucks. There was a scrawny tree, almost no shade, a bucket shower corral, as well as a drop toilet corral, and very limited valley view.

A word about fences: while in KTP's main camps, people are fenced in and animals are kept out. Wilderness camps are unfenced and wildlife can and will come very close as it happened in Urikaruus and Gharagab. You are not allowed to walk around the wilderness camps, other than between cabins.

Now that we have reached Botswana, all our camping would be in unfenced sites and we would need to be vigilant and aware of possible wildlife in and very close to camp.

Back to Motopi. There is no loop back to the main track, so we dropped off our table and chairs, ate a quick tuna sandwich, then rattled back the same road and found the Motopi WH two kilometers east from the turn off. Oryx and springbock were the only visitors, so after a while we drove 10 km further and found many melon patches and gemsbok cucumbers, which are, according to our KTP guidebook, a valuable water source for many animals.

Back at the WH, we spotted two golden eagles and some busy squirrels, but nothing new, so we left at 6 pm. After 20 minutes, our friends showed up at our campsite with news of a Cheetah sighting we had missed. Looking at their pictures, it turns out that we had missed a LEOPARD, not far from the waterhole, in fact it was a beautiful square-headed male. Despite their blinking lights and telling us on the two-way radio we had brought along, we had just plain driven by it. And our radio had been turned off! Boy, were we mad at ourselves for having missed a leopard in the CKGR!

Dinner was very pleasant at Motopi 1 and we kept shining our lights around, but had no visible visitors. Our friends were a little leery about camping among the wild things and not having a fence around us, but they put up a brave face. DH and I cooked chicken, made cucumber and tomato salad and Spanish rice.

[KaliCA]

Post 9

Pics from Kang, Tautona

[KaliCA]

Pics from CKGR

[KaliCA]

CKGR

[KaliCA]

[penolva]

CKGR! Great photos, those butterflies, cacti flowers, camp in the evening beautiful. Can't wait to go back.

[Treepol]

@@KaliCA I'm so enjoying your TR and photos, my fav is the squirrel with the giant melon.

 

I remember that accommodation at Kang!

[KaliCA]

penlova, thanks for reading along and I hope you will be luckier in your sightings than we have been in the CKGR. Enjoyed the landscape and the foxes, as well as the smaller treasures, though.

 

 

Treepol, great to have you come along and thanks for your kind words. DH says the better photos are yet to come.

Turns out melons and cucumbers are very important sources of moisture for many animals, even elephants.

[KaliCA]

Post 10

 

Motopi Pan to Sunday Pan, Sunday, September 21

 

We will be at Sunday Pan on Sunday!! How poetic.

We left at first light to sit at the Motopi WH and saw a small herd of wildebeest run off, however, six giraffes stayed close as they got used to seeing the car. Then we drove 40km to Passarge Valley WH, but the stagnant water stank to high heaven there and that may have been the reason that there was no activity.

The Passarge Valley drive was long, but presented a varied landscape with pans, dunes, bushveld, and thornveld, even open savannah with umbrella trees added a Serengeti-like touch. Game, however was sparse. We encountered springbock in small groups, a group of juveniles sitting together that looked like a nursery, oryx, kori bustards and a first, an agama lizard. Also, there were tree islands scattered around the golden grass. Very pleasant on the eyes.

By adding the CKGR to our itinerary in September, I knew I was taking a gamble on limited game activity and it turned out to be true. The Bradt guide gave me plenty of warning. This park must be chuck full with life when the grass is green and water plentiful. Maybe in the future we will make a green season visit.

Lunch was taken in the heat at a shady camping spot where I spotted a squirrel eating a melon. We passed Leopard Pan and Sunday Pan came right after that. The WH had no activity we could see. Our campsite was CKSUN04 which was located about a kilometer above the waterhole and seemed to be the best of the four sites, as it was located nearest the WH.

Here is a summary of our time spent at Sunday Pan: we visited the WH at least 10 times at various intervals and the only game spotted was a night owl. Was there a problem with the water? We began to wonder.

We made our way to Deception Pan and a fellow camper pointed out the tree island where Mark and Delia Owen had spent many years studying lion and hyena. Nothing left of their harrowing time there, not even a commemorative plaque. (read all about their adventures in the 1970's in their book called "The Cry of the Kalahari."

The same man had seen lion that morning, but we were unlucky to see any lion at CKGR. Our best sighting was seeing bat-eared foxes and watching them dig themselves into the ground and play chase with each other. They were shy, so not a long visit. Also nice were the sunsets and sunrises through the branches of the tree islands, as well as observing a mirage. There was also evidence of elephants having been present, spoors and dung, but we could not spot any.

Sunday Pan has no water supply for campers and only has a drop toilet which worked quite well. We ended up leaving a day early and only spent two nights there as it simply became too boring with only a few animal sightings.

 

Sunday Pan to Maun, Tuesday, September 23

 

We left Sunday Pan via Leopard pan and then checked out through the Matswere Gate. This is where you deposit your garbage into a big bin. The friendly ranger told us about ellies who walk 100km a day from the Boteti River to the CKGR in order to find melons. Hard to believe, but we had seen the evidence.

On the sandy road from Matswere Gate to Rakops, we left the bush behind and encountered many goats and cows on the road. In Rakops, we had to re-inflate the tires again for driving on the tar road. And our friend....you guessed it!

We crossed the Boteti River bridge on the way to Maun and, indeed, the water was flowing as the Bradt guide had said, and there was greenery and shrubs all around it. Beautiful on the eyes to encounter greenery and water after the desert. Crossing the bridge over the Tamalekane River into Maun, we noticed the water level to be quite high as well. My friend and I went to Woolworth's store in Maun to buy a good pillow, since we had quite enough of sleeping on a flat pillow.

After asking at two camps for a night's camping but had no vacancy, we finally found a camping spot at Island Safari Lodge. Camping is right next to the river under many tall trees and we enjoyed the pretty riverfront setting. We had a good shower, then our friends cooked chicken, rice and broccoli. You may have noticed that we switched off cooking and kitchen duties. One night us, the next night them. This system allowed each couple to have some lounging time every other night, and more time for showers etc.

We also talked to our kids since wifi was good and for free. Camping was $10 per person and a bungalow with Aircon would cost $115. So maybe we will stay there in the future, as this lodge is on pretty riverfront property and the gardens and pool are well taken care of, unlike at Audi camp where things are a bit neglected.

 

Maun, Wednesday, September 24,

 

We had a late and lazy BF before booking a Delta flight-seeing trip with Mack Air for the following morning. We then spent the better part of the day in Maun, shopping for souvenirs, groceries at the Spar, filling up at Riley's Garage. We had lunch at Bon Arriveé across from the airport. By 4 pm we checked into Audi Camp which is more or less across the river from Island Safari Lodge.

I had a quick swim in the cool pool, then we got organized with food and water, doing a big load of laundry in the sink and hanging it all outside to dry. (BTW, I always bring a few hangers with me, as well as cloths pins and a few meters of rope). These were all chores that needed to be done, because we were going to dry camp for the next 4 nights.

We ate dinner at Audi Camp and it was ok at best with me having Cordon bleu and DH having a greasy schnitzel.

We have now been twice to Audi and had the "luxury chalet" each time. For about $100 it is good enough and great to have a bed and a bathroom, but it is not luxury. It's a tent on stilts with a balcony all around and covered by a lapa roof. It has plenty of shade from huge trees, obstructed river views, but the place needs some TLC and their restaurant service is slow and tedious.

[KaliCA]

[KaliCA]

Ha ha, maybe be true in Winter. Look what you would have to drive through in wet season.

[KaliCA]

[KaliCA]

Audi Camp

[KaliCA]

Maun and Delta flight, to Khumaga Camp on Boteti river, Makgadikgadi NP, Thursday, September 25

 

We slept quite well in our tent number four at Audi, except for some annoying barking dogs. (Another of my must-bring items is a few pairs of earplugs) After a quick cup of coffee and tea, we left for the Mack Air office by the airport. We checked in, walked across the street into the airport and were driven out to a small airplane that could seat five people, including the pilot. We met Ziggy the pilot and we were off flying over the Okavango Delta. We flew north up to the buffalo fence and then along Chief Island.

We left Maun behind and could see areas of houses with fences and cows around them. Then there were more and more areas with water and swamps, green and blue ribbons of channels, and less and less bush, except some dry islands. We spotted herds of buffaloes, ellies crossing waterways, hippos in the water, two rhinos under a tree, as well as herds of lechwe and giraffe. It was a real challenge taking pictures and video, as the plane was lifting and dipping a lot and on top of it I got motion sick, as did DH. Tip: take a motion sickness pill if you do flight-seeing.

Now we have seen the delta by land, air, and water, well the latter in 2012, anyway. It was very pretty to see and we are glad we took this flight-seeing trip. The price was certainly right as well: $110 per person and we were up for more than an hour.

After the flight, we went back to Audi Camp for a late breakfast.

Then we bought some fire wood from a local on the street and were driving east past Motopi town to look for a bridge that led across the Boteti River to Khumaga campsite as per advice from the tourist office lady in Maun.

Upon closer inspection, there was no bridge, just as I had suspected, but luckily, there was a pontoon or ferry with a friendly ferryman that took both of our cars across the river for 160 pula each, not cheap. I hope the attendant did not make up this fee on the spot.

It was fun crossing the Boteti on the ferry and the scenery was very pretty with a lot of greenery, dead and alive trees, as well as cows in and along the river. Getting off the ferry, we just drove up a steep hill and there was the Khumaga entrance gate. Too funny.

The ranger checked our permit and we were assigned KK2, a nice spot, riverfront on the cliff above the river and ....surprise! Contrary to the info in the Bradt guide, there was a big, new ablution block with hot showers and flush toilets, as well as a water point. Sweet! I was expecting drop toilets, but I take flush toilets any day.

We prepared a quick lunch in the shade of a tree as it was stinking hot, then went on a game drive above the Boteti and along the river front. Plenty of ways to get down to the river. There was thick sand and deep ruts in places, but the game was plentiful. In the first half hour, we saw zebra, 9 giraffe, wildebeest, impala, kudu, and ellies. Wow, what a change from the sparse sightings in CKGR. Very happy that this side of the park is very much alive with game as the Bradt guide had promised.

Later, at sunset, we watched zebra drinking from the river in the golden evening light. There are many many zebra in this park and it is a challenge to sneak up on them and catch them drinking as they are quite skittish. We were back at camp by 6:30 and made dinner for the crew with sausages from Windhoek, potato packets, as well as a salad with many ingredients. It was a nice dinner with good company. By 10pm we were up in our cozy roof tent listening to hippos grunting in the river below.

My sister has visited this spot a few years back and was amazed to learn that the Boteti was flowing once again. When she was there, the hippo pool was the only wet spot around.

[KaliCA]

[KaliCA]