From the itinerary: July 24, 2024
6am wake up
6:30 breakfast
7am Morning game drive
Lunch
3:30 high tea
4pm afternoon game drive
Weather: cold in the morning and in the 30s in the heat of the day.
Morning came early with a 6am wake up call. We immediately saw a honey badger that was around the camp all night.
Breakfast was porridge made with milk, bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs with some cheese. Here is chef making breakfast.
It’s finally light enough to get photos of the camp- my tent and the vehicle they use to move everything. Not only is there a flush toilet, but there’s a shower !
More romantic at night
In the morning we went in search of the lioness and her cubs, but more on that later. We first drove to the man made water hole which we came back to later again. The whole area is very dry as there has been no rain at all in February of this year. This means wildlife depends on these artificial watering holes. This place attracted elephants, wort hogs, Guinea fowl, Wildebeests, and even a jackel.
the water hole works on solar power, so as the sun gets hotter the water is pumped into the water hole. The elephants understand this and stick their trunks into the water exit pipe in order to get the fresher, cooler water.
A bit later on we were able to find a lioness resting in the shade. She looked very healthy and perhaps was pregnant (very full belly). She finally had enough and went walking along the plane. We thought she might be the one with cubs, but never did get that clarified.
During the day we saw rare eland and more standard animals like Steembok and Impala.
There were some road markers which included a hippo skull with its mouth held open with a stick.
We stopped at a large baobob tree for a break where we also got some good photos of the hornbills which became begging pests.
Unfortunately 2 other jeeps also stopped. A white South African came over and introduced himself to Cavon and proceeded to discuss where his group should go in the afternoon. It was from his driver that Cavon got directions to the lioness/cubs. We drove for miles trying to find this place, but no luck. I nicknamed the guy “the great white hunter” - unfortunately, we were to see him several times during our stay.
We came back to GG offering us a passion fruit juice mixed with sparkling water. While we waited for lunch, I was able to soak my feet in freezing cold water and bath salts left at my tent by the staff. It really felt good.
Lunch was pork chops, salad with avocado and greens, another salad of carrot and pineapple, home made bread with a spread which tasted good, but I don’t know what was in it.
After lunch we all took a nap for 3 hours during the heat of the day. Very civilized. We had tea before leaving which included apple cake. Anything baked is done in a Dutch oven. I’m sorry I never had a look at it.
At 3pm we were out for the second game drive of the day. Highlights were some bird watching like:
white quilled bustard
Kori bustard which is on Botswanas flag
Southern crowned white shrike
Brown lapwing
And the lilac breasted roller
There was a skeleton along the way
We finally found the lioness with her cubs, but these turned out to be a different group than the one we were looking for. We weren’t even sure it was the lion we saw in the morning. All was forgiven when we saw the adorable cubs.
We drove to our sun-downer for drinks and snacks to watch the sun set next to a second artificial water hole in time to see the elephants come in.
I’ve now switched to Botswana dry cider with ice as my sun downer drink.
We were met by GG again with apple cider punch.
Before dinner we had drinks by the fire side where Cavin told us about his 5 girlfriends who didn’t know each other and his 15 siblings.
Dinner was:
Meat sausage starter
Corn and vegetable cream soup
Sea bream, butternut squash and cauliflower/broccoli.
Brownie with chocolate sauce
Then early to bed. About the time I was ready for lights out I heard that honey badger trying to get into my tent. I flashed the flash light and it decided to go away. It was a quiet night.
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