BOTSWANA


A CHOICE OF ACTIVITIES


Most guests are happy to take group game drives, sharing a jeep with one or


two other couples. The seats on Wilderness Safaris’ vehicles are tiered, so everyone gets a good view. However, for families or couple who want complete exclusivity, guests can pay for private drives. And in Botswana, game drives are just one aspect of the safari experience. We also took a walking safari, spotting tiny insects, learning tracking techniques and getting a sense of the scale of the bush. The Okavango Delta is the only place in


TOP: Wilderness Air transports guests between Wilderness Safaris’ camps LEFT: A mokoro safari at Vumbura Plains. ABOVE: DumaTau Camp


one of the channels between the reeds, its trunk swinging. From the sky we see giraffes, their long necks peeking above the trees; herds of red lechwe antelope grazing, vivid against their green dinner; and hippos, scattered across the delta’s pools like slow-moving pebbles.


ANIMAL MAGIC


The sheer volume and variety of game makes Botswana a stand-out for safari. Every moment of our week-long trip was packed with


outstanding sightings, from the leopard breakfast club at Tubu Tree Camp, which is famed for its leopards, right up to our final morning at DumaTau Camp, where we spent half an hour tracking two large male lions, who roared repeatedly, challenging another male who they could hear responding from across the river. Fittingly, DumaTau means


‘Lion’s Roar’ in Tsetswana, and our stay at this camp in Wilderness Safaris’ Linyanti Concession,


aspire september 2015 — 51


the world offering mokoro safaris. Guides pole these traditional canoes through the shallow waters among white and purple lilies, pointing out skaters skimming over the surface, speckled eggs sitting on floating nests and tiny, camouflaged frogs clinging to the reeds. At Tubu Tree, we stopped on a deserted islet and one of the guides emerged in traditional bushman dress, performed traditional dances and songs, and showed us how to make a fire with sticks, and how to make a trap with thorns, twigs and grass. To explore more of the delta’s watery


world, we whizzed out on a motorboat, spotting brightly coloured birds, before stopping for tea with hippos, who shared our pond for half an hour before showing they’d had enough of us by grunting, rearing out of the water and opening their jaws face-crackingly wide until we left.


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