Kwai

From the itinerary: July 25, 2024

Be awakened before dawn

pack

game drive to the airport

fly to Kwai

Game drive to Leawood River Lodge

Rest

tea

Game drive

dinner

bed

Weather:  cold and clear in the morning

F’ing hot at mid-day (in the 30s) and sunny

cold and clear at night

I forgot that they replaced the washing water after calling wakeup, so I got up to go to the toilet, only to hear the zipper going right next to me.  This was off-putting to say the least.  I huddled in the toilet as GG did his thing.

For breakfast I skipped the egg and had the slow cooking porridge made with millk which I never make at home.  Add to that burned sausage and crispy bacon- I was in heaven.  I’ve switched to tea because the coffee is too strong for my taste. Here is the buffet:

After packing we said goodbye to our team

and went off in search of the wild dog puppies. Here is our morning route- green is start/ red is end. The little finger towards the top is where we found the wild dogs.

Along the way we saw an African fish eagle.

We were lucky to find the wild dogs and the alpha male was guarding the road to the pack.

There were 9 pups that were about a month old and 10-12 adults, so a big pack. 

The pups were immediately curious about our jeep and came over to explore underneath and to chew on the mud flaps.  I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but my glasses fell onto the ground.  The puppies decided these were interesting and started to play with my titanium framed, very expensive glasses. 

I was willing to take one for the team, but Cavin shewed them away and picked up the glasses before the adult dogs got aggravated.  Eventually the pups came back to explore again until we had to leave for the airport.

We boarded our flight at Savute International Airport (unfortunately I couldn’t get a photo of the sign) and started our flight to Kwai.  We had one stop along the way after about 30 minutes - this airport even had a tent that doubled as a waiting room.

And then on to Kwai - another 30 minutes.  This area had interesting terrain because the river Kwai adds a serpentine pattern of green to the ground.  We were able to spot elephants along the way.

We dropped down to land and were met by Chief, our guide, who has 5 years with this lodge, but almost 30 years of guiding experience with other companies

In Kwai we stayed at the Leadwood Lodge, a sister &Beyond property. 

This lodge is owned by the African Bush Company that has several other lodges.  I won’t be staying at any of them again.  More on that later.

The entry to the public rooms is beautiful. The lodge is situated on the banks of the Kwai and is open to catch the winds in the hot afternoons. The pool, while freezing, added to the welcoming ambiance

The combination transfer to the lodge and game drive was amazingly bumpy - the worst of the trip - and very dusty/sandy.  I don’t mind that, given where we are, but it is merely an observation.

Some of the bridges used during flood times were interesting and I was glad we didn’t need to use them now.

It was odd to see so many dwellings along the way - in fact we passed the village of Kwai.  I finally understood that up to now we had lodged on private game reserves.  Now we were not, but were to drive to Moremi game reserve for future game drives - more on that later.

Our lodge is made up of 7 “rooms” and the complex is on stilts.  I’m not exactly sure why because I was told it doesn’t flood and was never given a satisfactory explanation.  Each room is self contained with an indoor and outdoor shower - a nice thing to have given the extreme afternoon heat.  Here is the room.

The entire team “sang us in” and we were welcomed by Miss Tee and Eunice who are hostesses.  Chef Bassian offered us a Ginger and lemon welcome drink. Rob decided most of the male staff looked like different rappers and named them accordingly….

The lodge is situated in a nice spot, overlooking a bend in the Kwai river where animals come to drink in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, WIFI is only available in one small area of the lodge.  That said, Lisa was able to get it in her room - lucky girl.

We had a buffet lunch

and sat near a S. African couple who seemed really rude to the staff and generally not following procedures.  After being here 24 hours I started to understand why.   More on this later.  The bread sticks were the highlight of the meal.

There were also a couple from Florida who were departing which left us with the party of 10 from Texas and Florida. And us.

We were left to our own devices to rest in the heat until 3pm for high tea and then off to the afternoon game drive.

For this drive we stayed in the few miles around our lodge (e.g. not going to Moremi) and saw the “baseline animals “ of the area:  Red lechwe, impala, Steembok, elephant, crocodile, African fish eagle, kingfishers, zebra, heron, etc.

Our 2 big moments were coming up on a big male  elephant in the road and being able to watch him eat only about 10 feet away.

And watching the antics of a hippo that kept yawning and rolling over …

…During our sun-downer

Back to the camp where we expected a quiet dinner away from the group of 10.  This was not to be.  We were shown into a corral for a buffet dinner together with the group of 10.  Before we could start dinner we had to have a drink and sit around a camp fire and get to know one and other (I had a Kwai sunrise which was supposed to be made from gin which I don’t like.  They substituted rum).  This wasn’t enough.

Then the entire staff came out and danced and sang local songs in loud voices for about 15 minutes (almost as loud and long as my birthday  thing at Ngala), but this wasn’t enough.

Then the staff forced us to dance with them. Believe me it is ok that these are blurred…

To top it all off, we had to have dinner with Miss Tee which was excruciating.  I had the strong feeling that everyone on staff was in training, with the exception of the guides and the head chef.  I was beginning to understand why the S. African couple acted the way they did at lunch.  We didn’t meet anyone who had been around for longer than a year and most were officially still training.

Here are the dinner pictures- I don’t remember what was on offer, other than 3 kinds of meat and soup and salad.

The group of 10 maybe weren’t as bad as initially thought, but they did attack the buffet like a pack of locust.

The night was filled with hippo grunts and splashes and very loud lion roars.