Wild Adventures: Our blog from Botswana: Day 1 & 2. Maun & South Gate (Moremi Game Reserve)

Despite arriving a little jaded after a long flight we were excited about arriving back into Maun and starting our self drive adventure through Northern Botswana. However, we had a busy day before us though before we could totally relax! We were met at the airport by a nice chap from Bushlore who took us to what was to be our home for the next 2 weeks. Imagine our excitement when we were led to a brand new Land Rover, with just 1000km on the odometer! Bushlore had certainly looked after us and one of the reasons why we had chosen to spend a little more on an operator such as a Bushlore. Although not the cheapest operator you get what you pay for in this world and we have learnt the hard way before that using a cheap vehicle hire company can often be a false economy! Although brand new can also come with a few disadvantages as we later found out that day.

Maun is a small but good town and a hub for 'overlanders' and those preparing to go into the bush. After bidding farewell to the Bushlore contact we purchased our food and fuel for the next two weeks and visited the DWNP office where we collected our permits to enter the reserves. With most chores complete we headed 19km out of town to a small lodge on the banks of the Thalakame River and where were able to get ourselves organised before venturing into the bush.

The next morning marked the official start to our adventure as for the next 10 nights we would be camping remotely in the bush across various Botswana national parks. Our first port of call was to be South gate campsite, located 2 hours from Maun and at the southern end of the Moremi reserve.

With just a short distance on tar road after leaving the lodge we were soon into gravel, followed by bush tracks with pockets of deep white sand. We began to feel a sense of excitement as we started our journey driving into the wild.

Arriving at the gate after what felt like a quick 2 hours we showed our permits and were about to relax at our first campsite. Until suddenly we smelt the one smell you do not want to smell and that's the smell of diesel! Sure enough there seemed to be a small leak from the tank. Not a huge one but enough to be of some concern. This is where the benefit of Andy having previously built our expedition Land Rover came into some use as he soon established the problem emanated from the breather pipe of the long range fuel tank. As the vehicle was new it was likely a case that it had not been tested with a full tank of fuel. Andy was confident that after the level of the fuel dropped so would the pressure and therefore stopping the leak. A quick call into Bushlore confirmed Andy's diagnosis and minor panic averted!

Off we went on our first game drive that afternoon. Instantly the difference in vegetation was remarkably different to that of East Africa, huge tracts of Mopane woodland and scrub dominated the landscape. Incredibly dry and dusty the presence of large numbers of elephants was obvious. Huge trees pushed over, bark missing from trees that were slowly dying, branches discarded across the roads and a carpet of elephant dung everywhere. It almost resembled a post apocalyptic scene!

Whilst we knew we would not have the level of predator sightings we are used to in the Mara it was great to see other species on the first drive that we are not used to seeing, such as Tssebbee, Steenbok and Lechwe. The highlight of this afternoon was two Verreaux Eagle owls perched high into a tree. Contrary to the first statement of this paragraph we were lucky to see Lion, 3 males and a female, two of which were collared. Sat deep in the bush and shading from the hot sun.

Arriving back in camp we noticed our fuel leak had stopped and so this came somewhat as a relief. The night sounds in camp did not disappoint, two Hyena whopped in the nearby forest and generating probably the best acoustic vocalisation we have ever heard. The little critters came into camp and both were 'papped' by the night cameras we had set up. It was cold at night, yep really cold! With the temperture dropping to around 6 degrees c.

The morning drive enroute to our next camp brought us more cat sightings, two male cheetah spotted from afar (sadly no tracks taking us any closer) as well as a large male Serval that darted across the road. in addition a glimpse of a female Lion for about 2 seconds!, who was hot on the heels of a zebra into thick vegetation. Given neither reappeared it was apparent the Lion was successful.

Maun Town