Well after the big birthday party (I fell asleep at 10pm the night before), we spent the following day packing up early and leaving the Little Makalolo camp in Zimbabwe for the Chitabe Lediba camp in Botswana. Our flight to Botswana was through Victoria Falls but there was rain that day so we got to skip the morning game drive for a 2.5 hour drive to the main gate of the park and then another 2 hour drive to the airport.
They must have meant liquid rain because it was sunny and hot the entire trip. I equate it to how us west coasters act when we hear that there *may* be snow in the forecast. Everybody panics, schools close, Costco runs out of toilet paper, and what happens? We have a beautiful sunny day. Folks its apparently the same in Africa.
The ride to the park entrance still featured some wildlife for us though so that was fun.
I was a bit shocked that the bathrooms at the entrance of the park didn’t have toilet paper or soap but they did have a healthy supply of condoms available. Safe sex is definitely encouraged and supported by me but so are clean hands and undersides!
Once we got to the airport we had to pay a $50 per person tax to have the pleasure of leaving Zimbabwe. I was not expecting this and thank goodness they took credit cards as we were starting to get low on cash (which we gave out for tipping our guides and helpers). We got on another small plane but this time I got to be the copilot.
I actually had a good time talking to the pilot through our flight and getting to see first hand how you fly a plane. Maybe it was the anxiety pills but I was significantly less nervous about this flight than the prior one.
We arrived to the camp in Botswana and went straight out for a drive after tea. The Chitabe camp was definitely different than Little Makalolo. The staff seemed a lot more organized and friendly. Our dinner the first night included singing and dancing and another healthy buffet of meats and various vegetable dishes. We were waited on wherever we turned and I must say I could get used to that. But I won’t because I can’t afford to live like that every day.
The room also had a lot less bugs than little Mak. The rooms were a lot nicer in terms of being less rugged. Little Mak was nice don’t get me wrong but there were bugs and moths everywhere. This camp seemed to have much better control over that issue.
Our game drive that first night was unreal. We got to see a mama lion playing with her cubs and after they got done playing they came over and nursed. It was very cute to see all of the little baby lions.
The leopard is apparently one of the most difficult animals to see on safari given how they travel alone and are very seclusive and private. But we got to see one walking across a long field and got plenty of awesome shots.
The next day we had a delicious full breakfast before heading out. It was a slower day on safari much less active than the day before. We still got to see our fair share of zebras, elephants, and giraffes but we did wind up in a massive rain storm.
Botswana does not have the drought conditions like they were having in Zimbabwe. There was much more greenery and far less dead elephant corpses laying around. However during the rain storm we did see a pack of hyenas come out of the bushes which was pretty fun to see yet a little scary for me.
I don’t know why but those animals have always scared the living daylights out of me. I think I am still traumatized by the Lion King scene where the hyenas take over Pride Rock or at the end when they attack and kill Scar. Regardless still pretty neat to see them live in nature.
The rain cleared up after lunch and we got in some good pool time and a nap.
We also got our laundry back so it was nice to have some fresh clean clothes to wear for the evening. A fellow tourist told me on the trip that each safari drive is like a different story, not one is the same and boy was that true. Our guide at the camp, Phinley, spent most of the evening drive going off road to look for Cheetahs which unfortunately we never saw. We did however come across another very rare safari find – the painted dog/wild dog.
These animals are endangered and rarely are seen at zoos or habitats. We finally found them and then when they started hunting spent the time following them as they hunted. It was a total thrill. Being there and watching them run, hunt, and eventually eat.
We headed back to camp and hunted through the all you can eat buffet eating some venison and chicken. As with the other nights it ended with a great glass of African red wine, an Opus X cigar, and a fire with my lovely wife.
Richey's Travel Adventures 