May 6, 2019
Well last night was a very restless night for me, the hippos were talking all night outside our room, and the frogs seemed to have an influx of relatives because they were croaking to beat the band! Deafening, kept me awake since 3AM. Our guide showed me this morning where the hippos had bedded down in the sand right outside the back of our tent on the pathway to the main dining area. This is why you don’t leave your tent at night! Today was our last morning at Little Vumbura and our last day with our guides Sam and Benjamin with whom we’ve spent countless hours since arriving last Thursday. We’ve all grown familiar with one another and have had a lot of laughs. What is great about the company that runs this line of Safari Camps (they have a lot over here) is that they employ and empower the local people from the local villages. They provide them with an education in hospitality and train them for jobs. We have met the most delightful young men and women during our stay and they will stay on in our hearts. Sam and Benjamin are both expert trackers having grown up hunting for survival in their villages. Sam has been hell bent on finding this elusive herd of Cape Buffalo so that was our mission for our morning safari drive. We packed our bags, packed another breakfast to go, and left at 6AM for the boat ride to the safari jeep to see if we could find them. Our plane for the next camp leaves at 11:45 and it’s a 45 minute drive to the airstrip. We watched as Sam and Benjamin narrowed down where these buffalo were based on the tracks and even the smell - Sam said he could “smell” them. We went through the thickets and over dead trees, moving branches out of our path and got deeper and deeper into the bush. It took about 4 hours before we finally ran across them way off the beaten path and Sam was elated! They’d been eluding him for 3 days! Along the way we saw more of our favorite animal and bird friends and revisited their beauty. This is not a fenced game reserve we’ve been visiting, it’s all in the open and the animals are free to roam the land many times going over to neighboring “concessions” and neighboring countries. There is no hunting of course, the guides are not even allowed to carry a gun for emergencies. Botswana is very good about animal conservation and we felt so lucky to experience this location. Next stop was the air
port at Chobe where we met our new guide, Tops, who happens to be a relative of Sam, and were introduced to our new camp surroundings. Duma Tau is located northeast of Little Vumbura, about a 30 minute ride in our Cessna Caravan with other travelers going different places. The staff at Duma Tau greeted us with some tropical lemonade and beautiful lunch upon arrival. Our rooms are located right on the water where we can see hippos and elephants from our deck. Tops and almost everyone working at these safari camps are from local villages and tribes. Tops said when he gets his leave (2 months on, 21 days off) he drives 45 minutes to the Chobe airstrip, flies to Maun (about 45 minutes via small plane) drives his car for another hour, then gets in his Mokoro (dugout canoe) and poles down river for 6 miles to get home. His village has a population of about 500 people and he says he loves his life there and would not want to live in the city. He is well spoken, educated, and has a devilish sense of humor and a million dollar smile, handsome young man. For our afternoon safari Tops had heard that the male lions were sleeping in a certain area, so we drove out to find them. We drove for 40 minutes in very hot temperatures, came around this corner and there was one just stretched out alongside the road with his brother a little deeper in the woods. The one by the road lifted his massive head and looked at us and for a second I’m thinking “I sure hope Tops knows what he’s doing!” But the Lion just laid his head back down and started snoozing again. So the deal is, that when we show up in the Toyota Landcruiser, the Lion (and other animals) see us as just one giant unit and aren’t interested. But if you were to get up and stand on your seat you would break the profile and then the animals might take interest in what’s inside the truck so naturally we obeyed when told to “sit still and no sudden movements”. We watched them sleep for 15-20 minutes but since they weren’t doing anything we moved on. A little while later Tops shut off the engine and listened to the birds. He noticed that they were communicating in a certain way that he said was a warning to other birds and animals in the area that there was danger, which means probably a big cat or hyena. So off reading we went searching for the predator. We were all looking off to the other side of the jeep when Tops said “there he is” and a gorgeous male leopard was literally 4 feet off the left side of us just strolling along. He apparently had recently eaten because his belly was full and protruding. His coloring was deeper and had more contrast than the first leopard we saw at the last camp, he was just mesmerizing to watch. We watched and followed him for about 30 minutes before he disappeared completely into the tall grass, once again, didn’t have a care in the world and no interest in us. We agreed that perhaps this was the new highlight so far to our trip.
port at Chobe where we met our new guide, Tops, who happens to be a relative of Sam, and were introduced to our new camp surroundings. Duma Tau is located northeast of Little Vumbura, about a 30 minute ride in our Cessna Caravan with other travelers going different places. The staff at Duma Tau greeted us with some tropical lemonade and beautiful lunch upon arrival. Our rooms are located right on the water where we can see hippos and elephants from our deck. Tops and almost everyone working at these safari camps are from local villages and tribes. Tops said when he gets his leave (2 months on, 21 days off) he drives 45 minutes to the Chobe airstrip, flies to Maun (about 45 minutes via small plane) drives his car for another hour, then gets in his Mokoro (dugout canoe) and poles down river for 6 miles to get home. His village has a population of about 500 people and he says he loves his life there and would not want to live in the city. He is well spoken, educated, and has a devilish sense of humor and a million dollar smile, handsome young man. For our afternoon safari Tops had heard that the male lions were sleeping in a certain area, so we drove out to find them. We drove for 40 minutes in very hot temperatures, came around this corner and there was one just stretched out alongside the road with his brother a little deeper in the woods. The one by the road lifted his massive head and looked at us and for a second I’m thinking “I sure hope Tops knows what he’s doing!” But the Lion just laid his head back down and started snoozing again. So the deal is, that when we show up in the Toyota Landcruiser, the Lion (and other animals) see us as just one giant unit and aren’t interested. But if you were to get up and stand on your seat you would break the profile and then the animals might take interest in what’s inside the truck so naturally we obeyed when told to “sit still and no sudden movements”. We watched them sleep for 15-20 minutes but since they weren’t doing anything we moved on. A little while later Tops shut off the engine and listened to the birds. He noticed that they were communicating in a certain way that he said was a warning to other birds and animals in the area that there was danger, which means probably a big cat or hyena. So off reading we went searching for the predator. We were all looking off to the other side of the jeep when Tops said “there he is” and a gorgeous male leopard was literally 4 feet off the left side of us just strolling along. He apparently had recently eaten because his belly was full and protruding. His coloring was deeper and had more contrast than the first leopard we saw at the last camp, he was just mesmerizing to watch. We watched and followed him for about 30 minutes before he disappeared completely into the tall grass, once again, didn’t have a care in the world and no interest in us. We agreed that perhaps this was the new highlight so far to our trip.
Male Leopard
Cape Buffalo with Ox Pecker on his back which eats the ticks and flies for him
Warthogs again, they just make me laugh
With our guides, Benjamin on the left and Sam on the right
Monkeys
Our room in Duma Tau looking out over the Linyanti River
Big male lion
Same male leopard
Kudu with Ox Peckers on him
Male Leopard
What we usually see when we try to photograph warthogs, they stick their tail in the air and trot off into the woods
Monkey of some species (can’t recall right now)
The common area dining room at Duma Tau
Our shower looking out over the delta
I am so enjoying your adventures and pictures! Please don't be kilt by hippos or I won't know how the rest of the safari turns out!!
ReplyDelete