Lise,
I am writing to thank you for putting together another amazing adventure in Botswana for us. Like our previous trip everything went off without a hitch. It seems amazing that planes appear in the middle of the wilderness right on time every time.
The four camps you chose for us were great. The staff, the food and the accommodations were excellent. Each one offered a different experience that we thoroughly enjoyed. The guides at all of the camps are amazingly knowledgeable and easily communicated the information to all of us.
Highlights of the trip included a post dinner night drive and a helicopter ride in Linyanti. On the night drive we got our first sighting of a wild dog and then saw a Small Spotted Genet that I didn’t even know existed. The helicopter ride offered a truly national geographic type view of life in the water. We saw several herds of elephants, hippos and buffalo that we did not see from land. It was very cool.
Khwai River Lodge allowed us to get up close and personal with hippo’s which are really quite funny. We also had multiple interactions with lions, including viewing a confrontation between the lions and hippos. A male lion was trying to get back to his pride that was on the other side of the river and the hippos swam down to be directly between them. One hippo even went up on land to chase the females away. It was quite something to watch. In the end the male ended up going another several hundred yards up the river to find a safer place to cross.
Stanley’s Camp was an adventure from the time we got picked up at the airport. The high water level in the delta made in necessary to drive through several “canals” on the way back to camp. It’s a little unnerving to be riding through tall reeds with water up to the hood of the vehicle. It was kind of like being on a flume ride at an amusement park. We truly enjoyed the Elephant walk experience. It is quite something to be able to get up close and personal with these majestic animals. That night we saw a hunting pack of wild dogs who chased down an impala and had it devoured in a matter of minutes. Pretty intense. The next morning we got to spend some time with a leopard who had to abort his hunting of impala because of a pack of baboons. Then the true adventure started at as we were able to be on hand for the pursuit of a water buffalo herd by two male lions. The patient pursuit finally ended in them taking down a young buffalo. We couldn’t believe how extraordinary our 24 hours had been.
Camp Kalahari was a very different experience. The desert is so visually different and quite stunning. The time spent with the Bushmen was wonderful. The time spent with the meercats was a delight. Elizabeth got to enjoy a meercat hat for a few minutes. The pictures of that are a getting quite a reaction from her friends and co-workers. We also saw a few rare animals, a Caracal and an Aardwolf. Our guide was excited as we were The Baobob at sunset and chance to drive the ATV’s on the pan were also amazing.
Lise thank you for the heads up on seeking out a pay lounge to use in the airport. It was great to get cleaned up and relax in a comfortable place for a few hours before getting on the plane for the long flight home. We of course spent a good amount of that time looking at our photos and trying to figure out when we can go back. I know before our last trip we said it would be a once in a lifetime experience for us. Now we are saying that twice is not enough!
Thanks again for all that you do. We left home totally confident that everything would be great and we were not in anyway disappointed. We can’t wait until next time.
Kind regards,
Jim