Botswana Diary | Part I

Last week I was fortunate enough to head up North into Botswana for a week to view some of the Wilderness Safaris properties that I will be using in our Botswana Packages. In order to celebrate the addition of these magnificent packages to our portfolio, the month of February will focus on a variety of travel related aspects in Botswana. Over the next couple of weeks I will be covering the following aspects of ravel in  tBotswana:

• Botswana Travel Diary | Days 1-3 | Chitabe & Jao
• Botswana Travel Diary | Days 4 – 6 | Little Vumbura and Kings Poool
• Botswana FAQ’s  and General Travel Information
• The Okavango Delta | The Story Behind The World’s Largest Inland Delta System

This is the first in a series of two posts where I will relive this magical experience and share some of my thoughts and images from the trip with you. Enjoy!

Day 1 | Johannesburg to Chitabe Camp

Botswana is a great destination in that a mere 1.5 hour flight by jet on Air Botswana (2 hours by twin prop) gets you into Maun, a town which is just South of the glorious Okavango Delta. Upon landing in Maun we were met by a representative who assisted us with our check in for our connecting flight to Chitabe Camp in the 28 000 hectare Chitabe concession in the south east of the delta. Our group split off into two small aircraft and after a 20 minute flight over the southern section of the delta we landed at the Chitabe airstrip.

Chitabe is one of the Classic Camps in the Wilderness portfolio and offers combine luxury and comfort with the warm comforts of home and personal service. Each of the Camps feature their own individual style and will ensure that you experience the best that Botswana has to offer. Rates include all meals, non-premium beverages, game viewing activities (Chitabe is a purely land based camp with Game drives being the order of the day). Interestingly, classic and premier camps will always ensure that there are no more than 6 guests on a vehicle at any time – a far cry from being cramped into a vehicle with 9 or 10 people at a time. Classic camps like Chitabe are standardised throughout the range to offer the same level of services and accommodation across all regions. Meals are served in a buffet style around a single central dining area.

The eastern half of the Chitabe concession is characterised by grassy floodplains which separate the channel from acacia and mopane woodland – a favourite for elephants. The western half borders the Santantadibe River with a variety of typical Okavango habitats – seasonal palm-dotted flood plains, to wooded islands, tranquil waterways and dry woodland – ensuring a year round variety of wildlife and bird species. It is this diversity and mix of Okavango and Kalahari jhabitats that allowsgood concentrations of all the larger predators – lion, leopard, spotted hyaena, cheetah and wild dog, as well as herbivores like giraffe, buffalo, lechwe, tsessebe, impala and elephant.

Our group spent just a single night at Chitabe but were treated to some magnificent birding and game viewing – the highlight of which had to be the sighting of a young male leopard. One of the other vehicle from the lodge had spotted the young male feeding on an impala fawn up an Acacia tree. When we arrived the leopard was being watched  by a spotted hyaena hoping to clean up on any spoils that may fall to the ground. After waiting for the young male to have his fill and reveal himself more clearly from amongst the branches he descended from the tree and proceeded to provide us with fantastic photographic opportunities.

What made this sighting so special was the fact that after spending more than an hour and a half with this very relaxed male leopard, not once was our guides attention consumed by radio banter and administration usually associated with such high profile sightings in some of South Africa’s Private Game Reserves. With just two camps in the 28 000 hectare concession there was no pressure from other vehicles for us to move out and make space. We could quite easily have spent the entire day with this male if we had wanted to. The real wilderness experience that Botswana has to offer was starting to be very apparent to me after just one day in the country.

After an eventful morning drive it was back to the camp for brunch (mid morning combination of lunch and breakfast) before heading back out to the airstrip for our onward flight into the Jao Concession and Jao Camp.

Day 2 & 3 | Jao Camp

Jao Camp is on of four camps in the 60 000 hectare Jao Concession which is close to the panhandle in the ~North-west of the Okavango Delta. Here the vegetation varies from the Jao flats in the east to HUnda Island, covered in acacia and Mopane woodland and the largest dry area locally during the annual floods. Around the flats, spectacular herds of red lechwe are followed by their predators – lion and leopard. Other game in the area includes wildebeest, impala , tsessebe, giraffe, elephant, hippo and crocodile, spotted-necked otter and occasional sitatunga. Red Lechwe dominate the flood plains and provide fantastic photographic opportunities as they cross the flooded roads at this time of the year.

Birding is exceptional in this area and we were treated to sightings of endangered Wattled Crane, Slaty Egret, Rosy-throated Longclaw, White Browed Coucal,  Black Coucal and many many more species. Pels Fishing Owl to also occur in the area but despite searching on Mekoros, we were unlucky to catch a glimpse of one of these shy creatures.

The immense scale and diversity of Botswana was starting to hit home at this point, we had flown just 20 minutes from Chitabe and we were now in an area which offers both land and water activities year round with boat cruises and Mekoro (a dug-out canoe) trips dominating during the annual floods. This is great, especially for families travelling with their kids as the option of boat cruises, mekoro trips and even fishing can break the usual monotony of morning and afternoon game drives. I particularly enjoyed the boat cruise and mekoro trips which despite not offering great game viewing, provided a relaxing and welcome break from the game drives. These options are also great for birding!

Jao Camp is one of the Premier Camps in the Wilderness Safaris Portfolio and the difference between Classic and Premier was immediately apparent. The rooms at Jao were massive, incorporating a lounge, large bed, en-suite bathroom with inside and outside shower, large front deck and even a relaxing sala area. Meals at the Premier Camps also differ from those at Classic camps in that dinners are plated. Jao is also very unique in that it is one of the few camps in the Delta region that offer spa treatments in a dedicated Spa.  The other three camps in this concession (Kwetsani, Tubu Tree and Jacana) are all Classic Camps and provide great bases for exploring this beautiful region.

By the end of day three we had racked up over 120 bird species (13 of which were new for my list), enjoyed a fantastic sunset on the delta, been treated to a magnificent leopard sighting and I knew that Botswana had stolen my heart. Botswana, in my opinion, epitomises the true meaning of wilderness. With massive concessions and  a limited number of beds/Lodges in an area it was not uncommon for us to have a game drive where we did not see another vehicle. This was a far cry from the crowds I was used to, this was low density/low impact tourism at its best. Botswana has a winning recipe and it is one which I believe makes this region one of the few remaining true wilderness regions. I will leave you with a couple of scenic shots from this first half of our trip but be sure to catch the second installment of this Botswana Travel Diary next week!