| Botswana 'survival' September
2002 |
| The parks (part 1, Moremi) |
We leave for four bush-days to the
Moremi game reserve and the Chobe national park. The bar at the Drifters
camp in Maun was for some of our travelers somewhat hefty (for the experts:
70% gemsbuck, 30% springbuck). There are some grumpy faces and aspirine
in the morning. But there will be enough water this time... We have a new
tank!
It
is a long traveling day. We pick up a new guide & driver, City 
.
City will drive in the parks. It is forbidden for non-Botswanese to drive
there. It is also not permitted to sit on the roof. It's a real pity, but
putting your head out is still allowed 
.
We enter Moremi through the South Gate 
.
There is a public campsite 
where we have lunch 
.
We stay at a number of campsites in the
park. These are *very* basic campsites. Just a tree with a sign and
a number on it, nothing more 
.
We stay the first night on number twelve. We arrive long after sunset..
Before that we see our first lionnesses.
One at a termite hill, 
and one allmost invisible in the grass. They make an ambush for a vlakvarkie 
.
Lions are more patient then humans so we don't see the kill (if it happened
at all). We go on and see a slender mongoose 
,
a giraffe 
and some common game (impala, impala, impala, impala, etc.).
Just before sunset we encounter a male
lion. He lies wounded at one of his legs under a tree, just 10 metres away
from the truck. 
.
He looks so cute that we want to get out and stroke him! 
Next morning it is again an early wake-up
call! We leave just after sunrise 
to our next camp. 
The second camp is number 4 at the Kwai river. The camp is not too far
away so we get there just in the afternoon. On the way there we stop by
the 'Dombo Hippo Pool' 
with lots of hippo eyes and some hippo backs 
,
a lizard 
,
hornbills 
,
etc. We also see: red lechwe 
,
giraffe, elephant, zebra, jackal, tsessebe, kudu 
and some birds including the carmine bee-eater 
. This brings Tom in a higher state of mind....
Number 4 is a perfect campsite 
.
Everybody relaxes for a couple of hours. Some of our fellow travelers do
their exercises. 
.
We decide not to join the afternoon gamedrive. We need our rest. We just
want to enjoy the environment, 
,
a bushdouce and a good glas of wine. It appeared to be a good choice because
they didn't see much at the gamedrive.
.
We enter Moremi through the South Gate 
.
There is a public campsite 
where we have lunch 
.
.
We stay the first night on number twelve. We arrive long after sunset..
and one allmost invisible in the grass. They make an ambush for a vlakvarkie 
.
Lions are more patient then humans so we don't see the kill (if it happened
at all). We go on and see a slender mongoose 
,
a giraffe 
and some common game (impala, impala, impala, impala, etc.).
.
He looks so cute that we want to get out and stroke him! 
to our next camp. 
The second camp is number 4 at the Kwai river. The camp is not too far
away so we get there just in the afternoon. On the way there we stop by
the 'Dombo Hippo Pool' 
with lots of hippo eyes and some hippo backs 
,
a lizard 
,
hornbills 
,
etc. We also see: red lechwe 
,
giraffe, elephant, zebra, jackal, tsessebe, kudu 
and some birds including the carmine bee-eater 
. This brings Tom in a higher state of mind....
.
Everybody relaxes for a couple of hours. Some of our fellow travelers do
their exercises. 
.
We decide not to join the afternoon gamedrive. We need our rest. We just
want to enjoy the environment, 
,
a bushdouce and a good glas of wine. It appeared to be a good choice because
they didn't see much at the gamedrive.
