DESTINATIONS AFRICA |BOTSWANA


FROM LEFT: A hippopotamus in Mababe’s wetlands; one of the nine guest tents at Wilderness Mokete


PICTURES: Will Whitford; Paige Fiddes


explains, with initiatives under development including an airstrip, small guesthouses and a cultural village selling crafts.


A WILD RIDE Carnivores are ever-present in Mababe. One afternoon, we pass seven sleeping wild dogs, each sporting their uniquely patterned coats of brown, black, gold and white. Hyenas whoop into the night, encircling a tree near the


Mokete camp where a leopard had deposited a dead impala. And every day we see lions: one time unsuccessfully stalking red lechwe in the river, another giving up on a lumpy old buffalo that spotted them before they could pounce. On our last day, while driving


towards the border with Chobe National Park, we spot dozens of giraffes strutting across the plains and elegant elands dashing away. A hundred or so buffalo


eye us suspiciously, while small herds of elephants mooch around as silent as ghosts. Perched on skeletal leadwood trees dotting the landscape are myriad birds, from multi-coloured lilac-breasted rollers to African fish eagles and vultures. It feels like the calm before the imminent carnage, as the dry season looms and even more animals will flock to Mababe’s watering holes, but it proves there’s plenty to see without the kills.


TW


BOOK IT


Yellow Zebra Safaris offers a four-night trip in the green season (December to March) from £5,259 per person, based on two sharing. The price includes one night’s B&B at Grays Eden Sanctuary in Maun, three nights’ all-inclusive at Wilderness Mokete, return helicopter transfers between Maun and Mokete, and international flights. yellowzebrasafaris.com


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10 JULY 2025


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