South America and South Africa

After having survived Petra’s and Thomas’ attempt to kill me ( 😉 )… No new beginning – After having saved Petra and Thomas from being caught for trying to poison the security staff on Cape Town International Airport… No new beginning –  After having prevented the accidental smuggle of a small scorpion in Petra’s and Thomas’ camera bag to Germany (numerous times I pulled out the camera and changed the lenses before I finally saw him) we had some fine days in the Moremi Game Reserve, which is part of the Okavango Delta, and particularly Chobe Nationalpark, which is adjacent to the MGR in the East and stretches out to the Botswanian and Zambian border. The two campsites were beautifully located close to the river while the campers are strongly advised to keep the tents closed at all times to minimize the risk of interference of wild animals. At the campsite of the MGR a lonesome hyena often shows up overnight and searches for leftovers to eat. We heard that hoarse laughing of the hyena in the early morning hours and together with seeing its footsteps it was quite an eerie experience.

On our first game drive (the animals are called “game” here and hence a “game drive” is a safari) we sunk the 4×4 car in a mud puddle and had to stay overnight in the car, as it was already too late to go to the ranger-station. Since it is low-season and the road we have chosen was apparently blocked due to bad road conditions (I swear, we couldn’t see it from the side we entered) and surrounded by meter-high grass there was no hope that the drivers of another car would see us. Luckily the ranger-station was only a five minute walk away but given that there are also lions, elephants, hyenas, etc. in the park, those five minutes felt quite intense. The ranger was very kind and didn’t let us feel like idiots, what we actually were, and together we made the walk back to the car. The car he had called to pull us out came about half an hour later and the second attempt to pull out our car with the help of six people pushing it was finally successful and all in all this episode had a happy ending.

As the highlight of our stay in the Moremi Game Reserve I consider seeing a pack of African wild dogs hunting for impalas given that these wild dogs are an endangered species (only 3,000 to 5,500 wild dogs are left in maybe only 15 countries) and the population in the MGR is considered as the largest remaining in the world. We also saw some giraffes, antilopes (kudus and impalas) and hippos but overall I was a little disappointed as I expected the big herds of animals, no, I mean game.

When we entered Chobe Nationalpark a day later the picture changed completely. Already after five minutes we saw the first elephants when we were driving the River Side Loop. It was breathtaking – smaller groups of five to ten elephants were coming up the slopes and one of these groups was passing our car maybe in five meters distance. Since a thunderstorm was quickly eating up the scenery and the evening approached we decided to drive to our campsite, still about 45 minutes, to go. After the first raindrops fell the visibility reduced to almost zero and finally we thought we might have lost the road while we were driving in a riverbed. In front of us a river was crossing the route we considered before being our driveway, not being sure about that anymore, but given our experience of being stuck in the mud puddle just two days ago, we decided to be on the safe side. We stopped the car behind a bush were the terrain appeared to be flatter to avoid the risk of potential landslides or being dragged away from a forceful waterstream. Few bigger 4×4 cars from tour operators cautiously drove around and through the lake that appeared earlier to be a river while others were waiting on top of the opposing slope. When the rain got weaker we also tried our luck and eventually reached the other hillside. While we were making our way to the campsite the flooding of the road was so immense that we decided to wait in the car for the next day not risking to get stuck again. Given that we had our supplies for the next three days we opened a bottle of South African Pinotage and started our quiz about the world’s geography and economics with the help of the “factbook” on the itouch. About an hour later a convoy with soldiers and the campsite operator came to pick us and other campers up to bring us safely to the campsite were we arrived at about 1 a.m.

After relocating to our booked lot we started our first game drive and the assumption that Chobe has ample wildlife to offer became reality. While we were there we saw hundreds of elephants, some of them as close as three meters, hundreds of zebras, hippos, antelopes, thousands of buffaloes, many eagles and vultures, ONE SCORPION, and finally on our second last game drive – clearly the highlight of our stay – a pride of eight lions. Firstly we only saw a lioness and a young lion nibbling on a dead warthog’s head about hundred meters away in the open field but when a bad weather front approached it was clear that they will change their location. We waited patiently and indeed, when the rain started they returned to the bushland right next to where we parked and just 15 meters in front of us they passed to hide in the bushes. While we could still see them we could identify more lions than just those two and when the rain got weaker the entire pride came out – three lionesses and five cubs. The lions apparently enjoyed the attention of the people sitting in the security of the cars, meanwhile some more tour operators have showed up. These were truly special moments to see the lion cubs play, banter and caress each other from a distance of maybe 15 meters overseen by the three lionesses and I guess I will never forget these hours.

At the moment I cannot wait to see the photos on a big screen as the small display of the camera offers only the opportunity to check whether the photos are focused and not blurry. Likewise I am excited to share these photos with you via this blog upon my return to Germany end of December.

See more under photos “Botswana”