1Ds.com

A trip to Botswana in the sense of a self drive is not one for the faint hearted. Where as in Kruger Park the amenities, Rangers and other park goers are there to assist you should anything go wrong, in Moremi, Savuti and Chobe there are no such real conveniences or luxuries. There are no shops and apart from a few circumstances, the amenities are at best rudimentary. So before deciding on doing such a trip, discuss it with people that have been there before. If you are a 3, 4 or 5 Star traveler, then the adventure of sleeping on a wonky rooftop bed for two weeks, surrounded by hostile predators, elephants and things that sting, bite and harass, will probably make the decision easier.

This trip is no camping expedition into known territory. There are no guides to help us out. The flat tires get were fixed there and then, with the girls as lookouts and the fixers breaking formula one records to get the tires changed over.

A key to a successful trip is in the planning. I was lucky enough to travel with my friend Ollie and his wife Mrs. Attenborough (Mrs. A is an amazing birder, game spotter and fount of information about Africa. of course, she’s African). Ollie is a genius with the details and with some input from yours truly a plan, day by day was made. On this sort of trip you have to plan it down to the liters of diesel carried, water, food and bathing needs and essentials. Spreadsheets make the job a lot easier.

An Example of a plan might be (with some anecdotal experience)

Before you head out. Calculate the days you’ll be without the ability to wash clothes. Take enough fresh undergarments. You’ll not be wasting water washing them. Also figure out how many clothes you can wear more than once. Remember, you’re going to be a messy puppy when to emerge.

Day Zero – Johannesburg
Head to Supermarket for all essentials for the trip. Nothing too perishable. Meats are not allowed across the border (we know this now, good lesson here. Do your research on the Country you are heading to!!) Get all your last minute hats, sunglasses, sunglass straps, haircuts etc.
Day One
Johannesburg -> Martins Gate 1244km (example)
Fuel (fill up on Way)
Food (Eat along way, snacks as appropriate)
Cash needed (remember no credit cards allowed for purchasing fuel in South Africa) RND 1,500

Day Two
Martins Gate -> Francistown 838km
(Watch out for the myriad of Donkeys on the roads.
Fill up on Botswana Side. There’s a new Caltex there. Buy some drinks and snacks for the drive. Make sure you declare everything at the border gate. Don’t want to be held up for silly reasons.)
Immigration. This is a long process. There are many things to check. Vehicle documentation needs to be verified. Make sure the rental company has done this before (given you the right documents). We were traveling with a Thai, a South African a New Zealander and a Brit. Immigration didn’t know Thailand existed. There’s a whole section that could be written about getting that visa!! Hehe
Cash needed: RND 500
(You may not see an ATM for a while, so beware)

Day Three Similar to day two

Day Four – in the Park
Maun – Moremi Gate 220kms (44 liters)
Afternoon Drive 50kms (10 liters)
Lunch: Snack
Dinner: Sausage / Chops / Corn / Pumpkin in Foil
Drinks : 4 Beers / 2 Savanna Cider

Day Five
Morning Drive 50kms (10 liters)
Breakfast: Bacon, 8 Eggs, Bread, Tea/Coffee
Midday Drive to Camp – 65kms (12.5 liters)
Fill up Diesel from Storage Tanks
Lunch: Light snack. Bread and Ham
Afternoon Drive 50kms (10 liters)
Dinner: Steak, Corn, Veges in Foil)

You get the idea. At the end of the day you can estimate your liters (I hate the American spell checker. Litres.. litres I say!!), food consumption, monies needs down to quite a detailed level. You then add a contingency factor of cash and fuel. For food, overdo the dried goods and the amount of water you carry. They do come in handy

.

So you’ve planned and are ready to go. I always recommend Business Class on a Photographic trip, as you get much more flexibility when traveling with hand baggage and stowed luggage. The choice to stow your 500/4′s or 600/4′s is one that each individual must make. I have carried them on board (using Kinesis Back Packs.. highly recommended way to travel with big guns!!) and I have stowed them, with only one incident as previously mentioned. I have shipped lenses all around the world with me this way and have yet to have a nightmare. But you need to get your gear to the place of photography and in these days of travel, if you’re based in Europe or the USA, guaranteed some worm is going to hassle you about your gear.

The list of gear we take is very similar to the Kruger list in Part One. Obviously there are issues with batteries, but this can be overcome. One item in particular that you should have at least two of is the power converter. You’ll be using a lot of batteries in cameras, storage devices and portable radios. These things will rarely, if ever, be turned off. On occasion we left a car idling with a laptop downloading something at night while we were cooking. The GPS saved us in Botswana when the track out of Savuti had been bulldozed into oblivion. Via the GPS we could see we were going the wrong way. Make sure each vehicle has one. Redundancy is a good thing.

When self driving in a place like Botswana, and you’re in the park, it pays to stick together. Radios can reach about 2-5 kms, but if you lose contact you can be horribly lost. Each day we went through our routing and confirmed where we would meet should we get all excited and split up for any reason. Safety is a big issue and especially in this incredibly hostile environment.

The first days on Moremi were the eye openers. If you’ve not done this before you’re in for a shock. Of course we are all paranoid about Malaria (Side note: The Thai Doctor we went to see for Malaria pills laughed at us. He recommended we catch it and then be treated. We opted for the pills. ) At the first camp, we noticed a small building. This was the shower and toilet block. It had started to get dark and we were keen to have a quick shower. Fortunately the water was kept warm by a friendly camper who had passed through the previous evening. Remember to do the same service for anyone that follows you. Tip: Gather wood early for your Braai (spelling now correct). Also get a few longer logs for any water heaters you come across. They can be fed in bit by bit and the water is kept at a nice shower able temperature.

We went up to the ablution block (I am being generous, it was a small shack) and opened the door to be almost carried away by the mosquitoes. Remembering the Malaria issue, one dives in and showers as quickly as possible. It’s day one, hour three, and you’re not feeling as clean as you’d like and there are noises in the trees above.

In all of the camps they have some residents. Firstly there are the baboons. A Surly bunch at best. One thing to remember is that the baboons are only afraid of male humans. If you get the ladies to take the rubbish to the bin, they will descend on them to pilfer the prize. This is the same for the toilets. Men, the ladies need escorts, or two ladies must go together when the baboons are close at hand. In Moremi, there are no fences or guards. You’re living with them. The other resident is usually a Hyena. You’ll spot him coming in a little later after you’ve had your mean and are sitting down for the post dinner chat. He/She will come right up to the edge of the light. Shining a torch on them will get them to move away. Also running at them making a fuss works. But this is intimidating the first 350 times.

These sort of camping expeditions are way more interactive affairs than a normal camping trip. Everyone is depending on the other so everyone pitches in with each others rooftop tents, gathering of tinder for the fire, cooking, dish cleaning and other duties. Make sure you go with people you get on with. If you’re going to have a domestic dispute, this is a bad time. Also be prepared to be tolerant. This is a test of your personality. There are many people I’d go to Kruger with that I wouldn’t take to Moremi or Savuti. Think about this long and hard. Even do some trips with your camping buddies first. You want that someone watching your back when there are big bad bull elephants hiding behind trees!!

The game viewing in Moremi and Savuti is tough. Moremi has more water than Savuti which had a major river dry up many years ago. This makes the days extremely dry and dusty. Your equipment suffers from the dust, as do you. Take some moisturizer for your hands and face. Make sure your blower is in your bag for a quick clean up at night before you head up to the tent atop your landy!

Game viewing can be frustrating here. It’s feast of famine. Sometimes you could go for a few hours and see nothing. Then you came upon Lion, Wild Dogs and other cool game. It’s all about patience. One thing to note, Botswana is full of Elephant. They are huge. When we were there it was just a large number of semi mature and mature bull elephant all angry, in must and wanting to vent their frustrations. Not a female elephant to be seen. Elephants can be well hidden in the most unsuspecting place. Their color makes them invisible quickly in the brush. They seems to be there clear as day, then they are gone. Until you’ve experienced this you cannot believe it. Ollie and Mrs. A were ahead of us one morning, the sand was heavy going so I was holding back a bit (one never knows when a maneuver is necessary) and I noted that Ollie was heading very close to a big bush. Very big.. and moving.. oops, a big bull elephant!! Before I could get the radio out and say excuse me old son, there appears to be a large angry pachyderm next to you, it had stepped out and proceeded to trumpet through his open window at a range of about 10 feet!!! As you can imagine Ollie fair crapped himself and was soon on the radio commenting on those who had his back  We saw plenty of great game. Leopard, Wild Dog, Lion masses of excellent bird life. It was just a little more spread out and seemingly harder to get at.

These Safaris are about the experience as well as the actual photography. I cringe at the hardships of the early explorers who had none of the good gear we have today.

The Park Rangers. We had crossed between Moremi and Savuti and had camped at our last site for the trip. At the Rangers office (this camp has a fortress for ablutions, as there is so little water the elephant tore anything down that was built. ) a group of rangers loitered around in a large Armored car. They were the poacher crew. We chatted with them, looked in the vehicle (photos not allowed) and one dryly informed us that the poachers they caught were usually the stupid or slow ones. Apparently they are not required to bring them in for trial. This was a well armed bunch. We were, of course, very polite. Tip: Bring Cigarettes in from South Africa or buy them in Maun. Great way to break the ice with locals. I know they are bad, but hey, you can get a wealth of info with some well placed ciggies.

Lions in the camp. It was out last evening in Savuti. We had been patrolling from this camp for two nights and days. This is the area of a famous pride of lions that almost exclusively eats elephant. We’d seen stacks of pachy’s but not many lion (one lone female only) and we surprised in the morning to hear a bunch of lion very close all calling each other. This put paid to the usual daily routine of up at 5:00. Make a cup of tea (pot) and start packing up the camp. Unpacking the tents, visits to the ablution block and putting out the fire filling up the thermos usually took around 40-45 minutes. Just in time to get out of the camp for sunrise. Nice and crisply cool, nary a sound or harbinger of the heat of the day to come. Not today, we knew they were in the camp. There were only a few others there. A couple of tenters and trailer towers (mad they are!!). Ollie points out the obvious dilemma and we all agree to stay put until it is light enough to see. Once the visibility is at a less ‘eat me’ level, we venture out. Billie is put on, one Landrover is packed quickly to take the girls over to the ablution block. Don’t risk it with Lion about. You’ll never see them until they are a necklace!! Footnote: the next day (we were in the Okavango by then) the pride took down an elephant right next to the main watering hole we’d been patrolling. One day!!! Oh well, a good excuse to go back!!

We were in the parks about 9 days and nights. This was about enough. You have to carry in everything you need. We ate almost all our food, were low (about 2 days worth) of water and the fuel situation was about perfect, with the final drops of the spare tank being fed into both vehicles for the trip back to Maun.

The Trip back to Maun was a real tough one. It was probably the longest haul we were going to attempt while in the park. The lions in the camp had set us back about 90 minutes and we knew we had to get a move on. This is Africa (TIA) and moving with haste is frowned upon in nature unless you’re chasing or being chased. So off we go, down the sand laden tracks heading to Maun. Being the hearty photographers we are, we do take any opportunity we can to photograph anything special. At one point the road was blocked by a large bull. He was not moving and was making signs that he’d like to chat to us (and the other vehicle lingering there) at little more closely. We’d patrolled around here extensively and knew we could back up and take another track, albeit a little longer to get to the gate. A quick conversation on the radios confirms that we’re now horribly behind schedule and we’d have to forgo any photography unless it was a Leopard or Cheetah or Wild dogs (you get the picture!!). We dodge around any remaining elephants and head out towards the gate. This is where the GPS saved us. At one point the track became not obvious. We scouted around and the GPS unit pointed in a direction that looked wrong. We headed down that track and eventually came across a crew building a road (yes, unbelievable!!) and they pointed us in the right direction!! Luck favors the prepared!!.

We hit Maun dry and exhausted. We were to camp there overnight (Hotel) and in the morning we did our warm down trip into the Okavango Delta. That will have to wait for another part in this series (if anyone’s interested).

Hot and Hammered in Botswana. Loved it!!! We’re going back in April 2008. It will be interesting to see how it’s changed and how we adapt to doing it a little more 5 star. Expect an interesting review then!!