Days 5-6: Xakanaxa, Moremi Game Reserve

It was a relatively short journey from Third Bridge to Xakanaxa. On a few occasions we had the dilemma of which track to take, and as always you question if you took the best route. However, that not always such an issue when its such a lovely landscape and with no stress over time we ambled our way in a North East direction. Picking up the odd sign that affirmed we were going in the right direction and with the trusty GPS for a bit of back up! We continued to encounter sandy tracks and large wet areas as we tracked close to the Delta. However, the terrain varied from that which we encountered around Third Bridge once we came within a few KM of Xakanaxa. Dry open pans open had been replaced with larger Marshy areas and small forests with denser vegetation along the road side. We were truly in the heart of the Delta here and the opening to a huge water world. Plenty of game such as Impala, Elephant and Kudu were all seen along our way and on that drive only one other vehicle! As we arrived within 1.5km of the campsite we spotted Lion tracks and when your with 'The Skinners' that means only one thing! You gotta find 'em! Anyway before Lion antics could start we wanted to check out the camp and settle for a bit in the shade.

The campsite was again unfenced and positioned just off the main track and in woodland, opposite a Marsh, just a few KM for the airstrip and gate. It was a gorgeous setting as per the last two campsites. Once again we had a fire pit and a braai grill. This designated pitch was a little closer to the ablutions than previous pitches, around 100ft away. However, we faced the back of the block, the camp was quiet, pitches spread out so that really not an issue and turned out to be rather useful!! It was a really nice pitch with great views all around.

We had been around camp for a little while before Andy starts cooking pancakes whilst I sort a few bits out, charging cameras and all that boring stuff. Until I heard a crash in the bushes behind me, around 200 feet away. Stomping out come three big bull elephants. I warned Andy as they are on a bit of a mission to the vehicle and being in their way did not quite feel right! I initially got in the car until Andy says no, lets go to the ablutions block that was just behind us. Andy managed to clear a bit of stuff up away from the elephants but they were there rather rapidly. The elephants had little interest in us and more in what was going on in camp. Standing by the block, out of harms way we watched them circle the vehicle, no aggression or signs of stress shown at all as they casually investigated the vehicle with their trunks. It did not take long until they reached the camp table and there we suddenly saw a plate, bottle of cooking oil and a big bag of sugar left there. Needless to say one of the bulls immediately starts picking up the plate and playing with it, then sniffing the table until then it found the holy grail! The bag of sugar! It disappeared into its mouth within seconds! Unbelievable! We felt terrible that we had not had a chance to put it away, we don't condone feeding elephants but this was not intended we promise! Next to go for the trunk investigation was the cooking oil but that was not to the liking of the elephants as they casually discarded without consuming fortunately. We watched in amazement as the three elephants just sauntered right against the vehicle, on a couple of occasions you could see the Land Rover gently rock slightly as they rubbed against it softly. Thank goodness not causing any damage! The most annoying thing is that the cameras were in the flipping car! This would have made the most amazing video or photo so I am afraid you are just going to have to trust us that this happened!

The elephants eventually ambled off and browsed the trees in the camp, one moving onto the Marsh, another onto the nearby track and the third biggest bull wandering off through other pitches along the way, someone was about to have an elephant with a sugar rush in their camp!

We cleared up the dribble from the table and retrieved the plate and cooking oil, amazingly we saw the pancake mix still left on the bonnet and untouched in the bowl, despite them looking at it! What does that say about Andy's pancakes! Now we faced cooking pancakes again, but to be quite honest they tasted pretty vile with lemon juice and no sugar!

It was around 3:15pm and we had decided to do a boat trip in the Delta, we had found some local operators earlier before we went into our campsite and has booked a private boat at 4pm to take us right into the Xakanaxa Lagoon in the Delta. As were getting ready for the boat I turned to see that the biggest bull that had visited us before was back. This time on a mission to the camp pitch behind us that shaded under Marula trees. A family of mum, dad and two kids were in the camp reading and doing chores. Like us though they were soon stopped in their actions as the elephant marched up to the vehicle. Mum and the kids jumped in the car, whilst dad stayed outside.

The elephant seemed totally at ease with the human occupants in camp, he stood under one of the Marula trees and shook it with his tusks, causing many fruits to fall onto the cars roof and on the ground. He stood with a veritable feast in front of him as he hoovered up the fruits and continued to shake the tree again. He then moved right to the vehicle and putting his trunk into the open boot of the car in camp, with the dad stood just at the front bonnet!! The elephant starts trying to drag various things from the car, pulling a childs seat from the back and then treading on it , amazingly without breaking it ! He played with various items and fiddled with boxes for absolutely ages before then deciding to come and visit us again!

We moved away from the car, just again under the ablution block so we could watch him properly and in safety of course! This time we grabbed the little camera and took photos as the lone bull ate a few fruits from the top of our vehicle that had fallen earlier in the day. He sifted through our firewood and played a little with the roof tent, before moving off again, toward the ablution block where he fed on the bushes, very relaxed and stayed for another 15 minutes or so.

It was just the most amazing experience to again encounter elephants that so confidently come into the camp and yet so relaxed with human inhabitants, to watch them feed so close was incredible to watch and look at the detail of these amazing animals. Although I would never want to suggest being this close this is always safe! This chap was fine and we allowed him to go about uninterrupted but even so it got the adrenalin going!

After all that excitement we made it to the boat and had the most gorgeous ride into the Delta. The water was totally still, beautiful flowering lilies dotted the surface, with the occasional bubbles to reveal the submerged Hippos. We saw a phenomenal number of African Darters and a good number of Fish Eagles, their awesome calls being heard all across the area. It was nice to get out of the vehicle and spend some time on the water, an area so tranquil and so untouched. It was stunning and fantastic way to spend the afternoon and we watched the most beautiful sunset from the boat before making our way back to the banks of the delta and dry land. Having seen elephant and Red Lechwe on one of the islands on the way back.

Night in camp was as pleasant as every night before, hearing a couple of lions roar quite some distance away and wandering if they were the 'owners' if the tracks we had seen earlier. We still wanted to find them!

In the morning we packed up, collected the night cameras (that had captured Impala and Hyena in our camp) and headed off just before first light. We sat and listened but had not heard any roars this morning. However, went on the search of fresh tracks as we headed toward the area where we had heard roars in the night. We failed to find any fresh tracks other than that of a Leopard, that was nowhere to be seen.

We moved slowly scanning all around and by now around 5km from camp and roughly where we had taken a 'reading' from the roars the night prior. As we entered an area that felt like prime lion habitat we scanned hard and wide. We had only been in that area for around 15 minutes when we finally caught sight of two lions, as the tracked out of the reeds and into the forest. With totally full stomachs a sub adult male (around 2years old) with an older female moved a couple of hundred feet before slumping into the grass in a dry area. We sat with them for sometime, there was little expectation for any activity from these two full lions but it was still lovely to sit with them and watch them sleep for a while and occasionally groom themselves. As always happy to be finding lions!

After spending around 45 minutes or so with the lions we left them in peace and now it was time to start tracking in the direction of our next campsite, around 2-3 hours away in the Northern part of the reserve and where would stay one night before leaving the Moremi reserve and onto Savuti.

En route to Xakanaxa

 

Xakanaxa campsite

 

 

Curious Bull elephant visits our 'neighbours'

 

 

Then visits our pitch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boat trip into the Okavanga Delta

 

African Darter

 

African Fish Eagle

 

 

Lions!

 

Impala caught on night cam

 

 

 

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Days 2 - 5: Third Bridge Campsite, Moremi Game Reserve

A couple of hours later after leaving the South Gate area we arrived at our next destination, Third Bridge campsite. The tracks along the way once again consisting of deep sand. We passed through the reserve, with vast tracks of land unhindered by human settlement, passing just two vehicles in the journey. Many pans had long ago lost their water and signs of elephant damage continued to dominate the vegatation.

Third Bridge campsite is positioned on the edge of the Okavango Delta, its setting in a beautiful area. On one side a passage way of water lined with lucious reeds and pampas grass and the gateway to the Okavango Delta. On the other dry desert liked pans and in contrast beautiful lagoons and teeming with amazing bird life.

Our campsite was lovely, a huge shaded area with a Sausage tree in the middle, together with a braai and fire pit. Again we had only a short walk to hot and cold showers which was a welcomed facility. We were now much deeper in the bush, and again our campsite fully open with no fences, just how we like it! I am not sure what excited us more, the game drives or what may visit us in camp at night! Our pitch was number 7 and each pitch (total of 11) was really spacious and so a great location for three nights (although on the third night another group of four were also booked on our pitch which was a slight suprise!)

We didn't have to wait until nightfall for our wild visitors, not long after we arrived a curious young male elephant strolled into camp and decided to make himself comfortable in and around our camp for several hours. He wandered quite happily in and around many pitches, displaying an air of curiosity as well as enjoying a browse along the way!

The first afternoon we had a quiet drive around some of the waterholes and trying to gain a sense of direction, the area is stunningly beautiful a mixture of stunning lagoons, several seasonal pans, as well as a plentiful supply of Savannah and Mopane woodland.

Arriving back to camp we had a slight road block! We had wait a little time until we could actually drive into our pitch given that the elephant was still there in camp! Not wanting to block its exit route we waited until he moved off. That night we cooked up a tasty feast over the fire and listened to the night time sounds. Once again Spotted Hyena came right into camp. Strolling in bold as brass, followed by a Hippo who also paid us a visit once we had retreated to our roof tent. He very obligingly walked past our night camera we had set up as did a Jackal. Later that night a male Lion on its territorial rounds roared loudly just a few hundred metres away from our camp. We lay awake listening to him bellow as he moved away. Our plan for the morning was sorted, we wanted to find this fella!

Leaving at first light we found his tracks as expected in the area the roars had originated from and tracked them for some time, but sadly soon lost sight of them into an area with no road tracks, Nevertheless anticipating where he may be headed we continued our search but given the vegetation and the lack of any alarm calls it was now becoming unlikely we would find him given many hours had now passed. Not too long after we lost his tracks we them came across really fresh tracks from two Lioness and what looked to be two different aged cubs. We surmised the tracks could not have been any more than two hours old and felt as if we were hot on their heels although in two hours they could have still moved a considerable distance. Our optimism started to fade again though as we also lost these tracks, where they tracked off the road and into the dry but thick vegetation. We continued to search as much as we could around where they tracked off the road, knowing they could be visible still, until we came across a large breeding herd of Elephants very nearby. At this point we knew continuing the search around this area was entering a fruitless task. With several young calves in the herd it was highly unlikely that they would have tolerated the presence of the Lions, at the same time it was also unlikely that the Lionesses would wish to expose their young cubs to these mighty pachyderms. We made the decision to head off and continued on a pleasant drive seeing herbivores such as Zebra, Impala and Wildebeest along the way.

Later that afternoon we decided to head to a nearby waterhole, the variety of bird species was incredible and although a quiet afternoon drive it was nevertheless a pleasant one.

Our second evening in camp failed to disappoint on the wildlife front, The first visit coming from several different Spotted Hyena, with one particular female getting rather close for comfort behind me (just 6 feet away!) and needless to say we gave her a stern telling off and shoed her away rather rapidly! Mmm, never let your guard down!

The next visit came from the same male Hippo as the prior evening who grazed around the outskirts of the camp and seemed totally unperturbed by us clanging pans and making noise as we cooked Boerwoers on the fire. A troop of baboons had taken their night time refuge in a nearby tree and it was not long until they started barking in alarm, followed by the rasp of a Leopard less than 50 metres away.

At around 5am, just 30 mins or so before we would get up we heard the sound of two male Lions, not particularly close by, perhaps 2 or 3km away. Despite it being pitch black still we could not lay in bed any longer and got up to break camp etc and to sit and listen to the morning chorus as they continued to roar while tracking East. As we made drinks we heard the Leopard rasping again nearby, he could likely see us but remained out of sight despite scanning with the torch in the hope of seeing it.

We headed off on the search to track the two male Lions, we stopped every now and again to listen to them roaring intermittently, with no tracks in sight we had to rely on them vocalising. We knew we were getting closer and closer until around the corner we found them, around 3km from camp and approaching us along the road. Two stunning boys in a hazy morning light. They were around 7-8 years of age, certainly brothers and right in their prime, with quite interesting looking manes. We tracked them for some 30 minutes as they proceeded on a mission somewhere, panting heavily as they strolled near our vehicle with their eyes fixed on only their journey ahead. We soon lost them as their route took them into dense pampas grasses and right into the waters edge of the delta channels.

Our time in Moremi continued with a couple more lovely drives around the lagoons and soaking up this beautiful area of the reserve. We had enjoyed the game viewing and stunning scenery. However, as with anything all good things have to come to an end and so the next day it would be onto somewhere new and exciting again. The Xakanana area of Moremi Game Reserve.

 

En route from South Gate to Third Bridge

Third Bridge Campsite

Game Viewing around Moremi

 

Night time in camp

 

 

 

 

 

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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

Our hired Land Rover from Bushlore (with roof-tent/expedition equipped)

Our chalet, at a lodge just outside of Maun

View from our lodge in Maun

En route to Moremi Game Reserve

Dry dusty road into Moremi

South Gate campsite,Moremi Game Reserve

Game viewing around South Gate

Game viewing around South Gate

Game viewing around South Gate

Game viewing around South Gate

Spotted Hyena caught on 'night cam'

Giant Eagle Owl

 

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16 days, 3 countries - The next African adventure!

With just a few days to go until we depart it seems a fitting time to introduce our next African bush adventure. As a change from visiting our usual stomping ground of Kenya we are off on an exciting self drive adventure to northern Botswana, with a quick dip into Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Since our last trip to Botswana in 2005 we have vowed every year to come back, finally that year has come! This has been a trip thus far that has certainly been challenging from an organisational/logistical point of view. Booking the campsites was no easy feat but with lots of calls to Botswana and some perseverence we got there in the end! There were also logistics to consider in selecting an appropriate route and ensuring enough fuel etc. We are about to embark on nearly two weeks with no phone signal and no fuel stops. Self sufficiency needed somewhat! However, the planning is all part of the fun and where 'Mrs Skinner' comes in with maticulous planning! Or is it just a case of organisational OCD!
Starting in Maun we collect our vehicle, hired from South African based Bushlore. (Thanks guys for your prompt responses and assistance!). You may ask why are we hiring when we have a perfectly decent landy sitting there in Kenya!? Good question but with just 16 days available driving to and from Kenya is just to far. Therefore logistics determined that we would hire from South Africa and have the car delivered to Botswana, and Bushlore fitted the bill in terms of excellent vehicle specs.
We are in a geeky kind of way excited about our hire from Bushlore. Staying with the Skinner tradition we have hired a Land Rover Defender 110, with full expedition kit and rooftent. However, indulge us for a moment as this beauty is going to be a TDCi/Puma model, one we have yet to drive in the bush!
Ok, so that aside heres a quick snapshot of where we are headed.
Leaving Maun we plan to travel into Moremi reserve, home to the famed Okavango Delta and vast areas of bush known for good population of Lion and Wild Dog. Here we stay for 5 nights, camping in three seperate remote bush campsites in three different areas of Moremi.
Leaving via the beautiful Khwai area of Moremi our offroad journey takes us across the famous Magwikhwe sand ridge and onto the Savuti area of Chobe National Park. 156 miles long and 65 feet high, the sand ridge is the ancient shoreline of a super-lake that covered much of northern Botswana and will certainly test our 4x4 driving skills!
We stay in a bush campsite in the heart of Savuti for 3 nights, near to the reborn Savuti channel which flows once again after long periods of running dry. Here this area is known for its dense elephant populations as well as home to the well documented Lion pride who specialised in hunting elephant.
Leaving the plains of Savuti we head further north and deeper into Chobe National Park, camping at a remote site along the Chobe River. We remain in Chobe for our last three nights in the Botswana bush before crossing the border into Zambia via the Kazungula ferry.
As we reach Livingstone in Zambia we reach the conclusion of our 16 day African adventure but not without a two night stay and hopping over the border into Zimbabwe to view the mighty Victoria Falls. Having visited once before from both sides we both undeniably agree that its at its best seen from the Zim side. Having said that both views take your breath away and we cant wait to go back to see the 'smoke that thunders'.
As the sunsets on our last night in Zambia we are hoping to be chatting together on the banks of the Zambezi about 16 crazy, but sucessful days and 400 miles across 3 countries! (That hopefully includes Wild Dog!)
We will ofcourse be doing a blog during our travel but due to no internet signal all posts will be online once we are back home! Check back soon!

Botswana/Zambia - our destinations

Bushlore Land Rovers

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Andy's photos published in the Daily Mail online

Great to see a sequence of images shot by Andy in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park were published in the Daily Mail online this week.
Check out the link below for the full article and photos.
Daily Mail article

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Another previous sighting we experienced in the Mara is published inthe Daily Mail and Huffington Post.

Many of you may remember a previous sighting we blogged about in 2012. Check here for the article featured in the Daily Mail online recently.
Click below to read the full article
Elephants mourn deceased herd member - Daily Mail

Check back here soon for details of our forthcoming trip to Botswana....