“There are two lions out there doing what lions do best. “It is being postponed,” our guide said, pointing to the lioness reclining under the Kalahari apple leaf tree. Eyes closed, legs spread, tail wagging from side to side. Nearby, the cubs were lazily handcuffing each other. When I picked up my camera, the words “extremely cute” came to my mind, until a few meters away, I saw a baby giraffe lying on its side again, but two more lions were gnawing hungrily at its ribs.
This was a typical chill felt in the Botswana bush in November. This is the season when many herbivores give birth to their young, and meat eaters know it too. It’s a great opportunity to see baby animals at their most interesting; Just realize that a significant portion of baby animals will come to the wrong conclusion after a murder.
November is also one of the quietest times of the year in terms of tourism. Our summer is winter in sub-equatorial Africa and peak for safaris. This is the dry season, when animals tend to congregate around receding waterholes and are therefore easier to spot, and coincides with peak holiday times for families. Spring weather prevails in September and October; As the unpredictable rainy season approaches, temperatures and humidity begin to rise. So November is normally the time when safari camps take a breather before the Christmas rush and downshift for a quieter period.
However, Botswana spring is also a magical time that sees the bush transition from the dry, dusty months of winter to the lush abundance of summer, with the leaves of mopane trees turning green as they begin to unfurl and the magnificently showy tree adds a lustrous appearance. red splash on the landscape. Exotic flowers, scarlet fireball lilies, white bauhinia, aromatic wild honeysuckle, bright purple jacaranda and delicate yellow frangipani bloom around the camps, and the jeep tracks sparkle with the pungent scent of wild sage.
And it’s not just about flowers and animals. Since it is spring, birds are at their most active. I saw numerous summer migrants, including scarlet bee-eaters with their magnificent colors and distinctively long tail feathers, as well as resident weaver birds perfecting their exquisitely crafted, communal nests on the branches of acacia trees.
Egyptian geese, great white pelicans, blue-helmeted guinea fowl and a funny, long-necked African darter bird glided along the water’s edge, and occasionally I caught the emerald flash of a Burchell’s starling or the bright blue of a forest kingfisher in flight. . My excursions into the bush echoed with the ringing call of blacksmith lapwings and the “glug-glug” of copper-tailed coucals – and there was little peace at night either, a cacophony of courting cicadas and mating bullfrogs echoing around. swamp reed beds.
Even the bushy ground was bustling with activity. Aside from the drama of spotting large animals, some of my most fascinating moments were spent watching dung beetles form giant balls of mud, rolling them around swarms of tiny, scurrying red velvet mites, and passing sleepy leopard tortoises emerging from hibernation. , in order to impress a potential mate.
My plan was to explore this lush and fertile season in the Okavango Delta region of northwestern Botswana from the most remote bases, namely Selinda Camp, Duba Plains Camp and the newly opened Sitatunga Private Island; they were all stylish and comfortable eco-camps, part of the Big Camp. Plains Conservation – scattered among some of the richest habitats of elephant, lion, hippo, leopard and buffalo.
Each camp offered different types of outings and excursions, but the sense of drama and tension was common to all. From the hyena hiding in its den, waiting for an unsuspecting antelope calf to separate from its mother, to the unblinking eye of a crocodile lying like a log in shallow waters, watching for its prey. And from a coyote patiently waiting its turn to feast on a rotting carcass, to an eagle flying low in search of unsuspecting rodents. Most excitingly, we spotted a leopard quietly blending into the tall grass, almost completely camouflaged.
But my most chilling encounter yet was the vultures that began clustering next to the Jeep, getting as close as they dared to the lioness and her cubs. They were watching the lions feed the baby giraffe, silently, still and carefully like us, but with lunch on their minds rather than the photo.
How to explore Botswana?
by Jeep
Remote and beautiful, the Selinda Spillway is a water channel connecting the northern Okavango Delta to the wildlife-filled Linyanti and Chobe rivers. Within minutes of setting off from Camp Selinda, we spotted family herds of hippos wallowing in the shallow waters; Bull elephants, mothers and calves only two or three weeks old were also paddling along the water’s edge.
In the scrubby grasslands, impala antelopes grazed alongside their long-legged, bambi-eyed young, while the horned tsessebe, among the fastest animals in the bush, stayed close to their skinny, sand-coloured young. Herds of baboons and vervet monkeys roamed the scrubby plain with babies clutched to their chests, and wild boar cubs frolicked around their hairy and tusked mothers, who, although far from conventional beauty, gave birth to some of the most adorable and charming cubs I have ever seen. with their arrogant noses and ears drooping back.
by helicopter
The 10-minute air ride from Duba Plains in a small four-seater helicopter proved to be an excellent way to get a feel for the size of the region, a sense of space that you can’t fully appreciate on land. And from above, it becomes very clear why the region is described as a panhandle, as the Okavango River flows into the region from the remote highlands of Angola before branching out into long branches that flow in a pan shape over the landscape. .
The swamp-green landscape was criss-crossed by hippo trails that glittered like snail trails, and we flew low on elephants as they trudged along their well-traveled routes, past termite mounds so large they could be seen from the air. One of the most surprising moments was diving over a herd of Cape buffalo close enough to make out their dark bodies and magnificently curved horns.
On foot
A 40-minute boat ride from Sitatunga along the Okavango, whose shores are lined with papyrus and reed beds, took us to a landing point on a small island; Here we followed our guide silently and in single file through sausage trees, fever fruit and forests. elephant palm ledges.
Pointing out centuries-old baobab trees and clumps of milkweed that are home to fluttering African monarch butterflies, our guide showed us how to spot hippo and antelope tracks in the sand and explained that elephant dung contains berries that could be a rich food source for baboons. The whitened hyena manure from the cleaned bones created calcium-rich food for the turtles. Fluffy vipers were testing the dust, and he showed us holes in the riverbank that were home to water-watching lizards.
Fundamentals
Cazenove+loyd (020 7384 2332; jazzloyd.com) offers tailor-made travel to Botswana with a six-night stay at Selinda Camp, Duba Plains Camp and Sitatunga Private Island (two nights at each camp) from £9,860 all-inclusive, based on two shares, with private transfers. A two-night add-on at Mpala Jena Camp in Zimbabwe (for Victoria Falls) starts from £2,200. You can fly from London to Johannesburg or Cape Town with British Airways (ba.com) for £714 return.