Hello everyone. Let me start out by describing the tiny airport in the city of Kasane, Botswana. When we got called to board our flight, we were really surprised that we weren't getting on a normal plane like the ones you enter through a gate and all. Ours was a six-seater prop plane that was no longer than 15 feet! It was really cool to be in such a small plane and even cooler to be able to look down the aisle and see the pilot working all the controls of the plane.
After the 45-minute flight, we landed at an airstrip that was no more than a dirt clearing for the plane to land on. When we got off, we were greeted by Charles, who would be our guide for the next five days. He drove us for about 15 minutes through the African bush to Kwando's Lebala Camp, where we spent our first three nights in Botswana.
After settling into the camp, we went for our first game drive. One of the first things we saw was a huge herd of elephants. There were easily over one hundred of them. There were some young male elephants in the group that would play fight and it looked like they were having a wrestling match with their trunks. At one point, a big male elephant came right up to our tracker, Mr. Mo, who sits in a small chair off the hood of the jeep, and tried to intimidate him by swinging his trunk around. Mr. Mo knew it was all a big show and didn't budge. Eventually, the elephant left us alone.
After the 45-minute flight, we landed at an airstrip that was no more than a dirt clearing for the plane to land on. When we got off, we were greeted by Charles, who would be our guide for the next five days. He drove us for about 15 minutes through the African bush to Kwando's Lebala Camp, where we spent our first three nights in Botswana.
After settling into the camp, we went for our first game drive. One of the first things we saw was a huge herd of elephants. There were easily over one hundred of them. There were some young male elephants in the group that would play fight and it looked like they were having a wrestling match with their trunks. At one point, a big male elephant came right up to our tracker, Mr. Mo, who sits in a small chair off the hood of the jeep, and tried to intimidate him by swinging his trunk around. Mr. Mo knew it was all a big show and didn't budge. Eventually, the elephant left us alone.
It was really nice to have the same guide for five days because he knew
what things we had already seen and he made sure we were always seeing
new stuff. He was also able to teach us more that way. Charles knew so
much about the animals and birds and he was great about answering all
our questions and telling us lots of stories. After our three nights at
Lebala Camp, Charles came with us to a different Kwando Camp, called
Little Kwara, which was near the Okavango Delta.
Speaking of animals, look at this picture of a giraffe in the sunset. If you have a chance, read some of Stefan's animals facts, which includes a few about giraffes.
When we
arrived, Charles got a call saying there had been cheetahs spotted in
the area. They were about an hour away from camp, so we decided to
start our afternoon game drive early so that we could see them before
they went to sleep. When we got there, we found three brother cheetahs
standing on a termite mound looking around. After we watched them for
awhile, it looked like they were going to go hunting for some dinner
because there were a lot of antelope around. They slowly made their way
closer to the antelopes (some red lechwe), but when they finally sprang
out of the grass to try to catch one, they got away. We were really
surprised they didn't catch them since cheetahs are so fast. It ended
up that the lechwe ran into a marshy area and the cheetahs weren't able
to run so fast through the water. It was still really cool to watch
them hunt.
On our last day at Little Kwara, we were on a morning game drive when we saw some really fresh lion tracks; what they call spore. Our guide and tracker were determined to find the lion, but it wasn't until the afternoon game drive when we finally found it. We were so impressed how they were able to track it. When we finally found the lion, it was trying to find his friend by roaring really loud. The sound is so strong that it echoes and vibrates right through you!
The next morning we went to the airstrip to fly to Nxia Pan Camp, but this time Charles didn't come with us. It's a brand new camp that's also run by Kwando and it's located right in Nxia Pan National Park near. It had only opened two days before we got there and the main lodge was so new that you could even smell the new thatching on the roof. When we arrived at the Nxia Pan airstrip we were also welcomed by a brand new jeep and guide, along with a cute leopard tortoise that came around to say hello.
This
camp was really different than the other two in Botswana since this one
was near the Kalahari Desert. There were lots of wide-open spaces with
short grasses, with literally hundreds of zebra all hanging out there.
One day, we went on an all-day trip to a place called Baines Baobab.
There was a forest of Baobab trees there that were thousands of years
old and Stefan and I got to climb all over them because they grow in
all these weird shapes that twist and turn around.
After spending two days at Nxia Pan we hopped on another tiny prop plane for the last time and headed to Namibia, where our next stop will be the Cheetah Conservation Fund.
Goodbye for now!
Speaking of animals, look at this picture of a giraffe in the sunset. If you have a chance, read some of Stefan's animals facts, which includes a few about giraffes.
When we
arrived, Charles got a call saying there had been cheetahs spotted in
the area. They were about an hour away from camp, so we decided to
start our afternoon game drive early so that we could see them before
they went to sleep. When we got there, we found three brother cheetahs
standing on a termite mound looking around. After we watched them for
awhile, it looked like they were going to go hunting for some dinner
because there were a lot of antelope around. They slowly made their way
closer to the antelopes (some red lechwe), but when they finally sprang
out of the grass to try to catch one, they got away. We were really
surprised they didn't catch them since cheetahs are so fast. It ended
up that the lechwe ran into a marshy area and the cheetahs weren't able
to run so fast through the water. It was still really cool to watch
them hunt.On our last day at Little Kwara, we were on a morning game drive when we saw some really fresh lion tracks; what they call spore. Our guide and tracker were determined to find the lion, but it wasn't until the afternoon game drive when we finally found it. We were so impressed how they were able to track it. When we finally found the lion, it was trying to find his friend by roaring really loud. The sound is so strong that it echoes and vibrates right through you!
The next morning we went to the airstrip to fly to Nxia Pan Camp, but this time Charles didn't come with us. It's a brand new camp that's also run by Kwando and it's located right in Nxia Pan National Park near. It had only opened two days before we got there and the main lodge was so new that you could even smell the new thatching on the roof. When we arrived at the Nxia Pan airstrip we were also welcomed by a brand new jeep and guide, along with a cute leopard tortoise that came around to say hello.
This
camp was really different than the other two in Botswana since this one
was near the Kalahari Desert. There were lots of wide-open spaces with
short grasses, with literally hundreds of zebra all hanging out there.
One day, we went on an all-day trip to a place called Baines Baobab.
There was a forest of Baobab trees there that were thousands of years
old and Stefan and I got to climb all over them because they grow in
all these weird shapes that twist and turn around.After spending two days at Nxia Pan we hopped on another tiny prop plane for the last time and headed to Namibia, where our next stop will be the Cheetah Conservation Fund.
Goodbye for now!
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