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A Botswana Adventure
Christmas in South Africa with Paul, my brother, and for many years an old Ermingtonian, seemed an ideal way to spend three December weeks, especially when comparing the wintery weather here with the summer over there! So it was that the Bower family found themselves being driven to Heathrow by a friend to catch the overnight flight to Johannesburg a couple of weeks before Christmas. This was a problem in itself as we had booked the direct flight to Cape Town where Paul, Rachael and Shannon now live, but a few weeks before the flight, South African Airways cancelled the direct flight and routed us through Jo'burg!
Having read the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, the proximity of Jo'burg to Botswana, and especially its Capital, Gaborone, seemed too good an opportunity to miss so we opted to break the journey and spend the first three days in a Game Reserve there. A search of the Internet revealed the Mokolodi Nature Reserve (www.mokolodi.com) to be a mere 20 minutes from the airport and it looked fine from the details so a quick e-mail and we were booked in. And what a gem of a place it was!
The flights went like clockwork (no jet lag as there's only two hours time difference) and we were met at Gaborone Airport by Thabo, our Botswanian guide from Mokolodi, in the reserve's Combi. Thabo was a knowledgeable 22 year old from the educational section of the reserve and turned out to be assigned to us for the duration. On the way to Mokolodi we had a tour of Gaborone to visit Mme Ramotswe's Zebra Drive from the book, and a supermarket to pick up breakfast essentials for our stay.
Mokolodi is a reserve of about 100,000 acres with lots of game but no big cats. It also has no roads, just tracks, and we found ourselves allocated to one of only 4 rondavels some 3 km into the bush on the edge of a large water hole. Two bedrooms with large comfy beds & huge draped efficient mosquito netting, gas fired fridge (essential in the intense heat) and shower (no heat needed!), and theoretically solar-powered electricity for lights (except the battery was constantly flat!). It really was exactly what we wanted. As dusk approached on the first evening, we wandered down to the edge of the water hole (but not within 5 yards or so in case a croc. was around!) And there was a magnificent giraffe taking his evening drink. Thabo arrived shortly to drive us in the Land Rover with raised seating to the restaurant on the edge of the Reserve for a totally unexpected treat of a really fine meal with superb wine from Stellenbosch. This "taxi ride" which was repeated any time we wished cost 5 Pula (50p) each way each time, and on each one we would see different game – including a nightjar on the way back in the dark. The ostrich kebabs, kudu steak, or beef steak were all excellent and it was such a pleasure to dine in these excellent surroundings outside in the pleasant evening temperature. Right on time Thabo arrived to ferry us back to our rondavel where we found it quite possible to read by the light of one candle each!
Each morning we awoke to the sounds of the bush as all the animals and birds themselves woke up. It was truly deafening! Baboons all around us making a frightening racket - especially the alpha males. We were usually up by 5.30 - 6 a.m. and over the next three days had early morning expeditions with Thabo. We went rhino tracking on foot and found two white rhinos, several game drives where we saw numerous impala, kudu, hartebeest, wildebeest, warthog, ostrich, baboon, zebra, elephant (only 4), and many magnificent birds such as martial eagle, yellow billed kite, three species of hoopoe, bee-eaters, shrikes and many others. A three foot water monitor wandered by, and we saw a fresh leopard's footprint - even though there were not supposed to be any in the reserve! Two orphan male 7 year old cheetahs were the stars for Becky Tom & Jack who were able to stroke and examine them at close quarters - and realise that they purred like domestic cats. And we saw hardly any other people and no vehicles on the drives - just what was needed.
The last evening ended after a two hour exciting game drive through the bush in an isolated clearing where a candlelit braai (BBQ) of various meats and salads, plus wine and beer of our choice had been prepared especially for the five of us. This was a wonderful way to end a remarkable three days in the wild, at a price that was considerably more reasonable than any of the South African reserves, and it was all too soon time to return to civilisation and Cape Town to meet up with Paul and Rachael and face up to the challenge of climbing Table Mountain.
John & Caroline Bower, Becky Tom & Jack
Ermington, Devon, UK |
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