My Amazing Safari to Botswana
- Thread starter Brokenlink
- Start date
Brokenlink
Banned
Ok, ok.
Well we did some research on where we wanted to go. Or rather, she did some research on where we wanted to go while I said "yeah yeah, whatever." For some reason I wasn't that excited about it all. Sure, I was excited, but I assumed it would be like any trip where I might see one or two cool animals. And I knew i was going to be stuck with 3 or 4 people I didn't know. And I'm not a social person. I'm the guy that either sits in the corner minding my own business and wishing everyone would die, or I'm telling some horribly long drawn out joke about a tin cup, a frozen egg, and a vagina to a bunch of 70 year old women. Yeah, I'm the awkward guy.
We zoomed in on Botswana because it only allows so many people into each area at a time. This means that you don't get the busloads of people you get in other countries. But it does tend to be more expensive because you're not lined up in a group of ten buses (each with 20 people) around a lion. When we saw the cheetah, we were alone. The lion, yeah there was one vehicle there. Leopards were all us...
So then we called a travel agent. Honestly, we wouldn't do this again. I'd look for tour companies and see what they are rated......We ended up getting booked on one the best, but not most expensive, companies. Anyways, PM me if you want more info.
On to the photos:
So after watching the baby leopards for a while, we decided to head to camp.
Ate a marvelous dinner and went to sleep.
The next two days were spent tracking the mother leopard and a lion pack.
We didn't have great luck, although my fiance saw a big male walking off into the trees. We were able to watch him for a few minutes, but he was too far for photos.
We did see lots of other crazy weird things:
Blue wildebeast
Baby elephant drinking
Two male red-billed francolines fighting for territory
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Brokenlink
Banned
Little bee eater
waterbuck
A pair of Hadada ibis' mating
Baby zebras
Pied kingfisher
waterbuck
A pair of Hadada ibis' mating
Baby zebras
Pied kingfisher
Brokenlink
Banned
And then it happened, she walked out right in front of us. The mother of the cubs.
Yeah.
She completely ignored us. She walked on the road for a bit while we took pictures, then veered off to a log on our left.
And then another vehicle came up and she wandered off.
Yeah.
She completely ignored us. She walked on the road for a bit while we took pictures, then veered off to a log on our left.
And then another vehicle came up and she wandered off.
Blankpage
alien
So we basically watched the cheetah and went back to camp. We had a fantastic meal and drank a bunch of wine around the campfire, then went to bed.
The night sky must have been an awesome sight with no cloud or light pollution.
I think I would have enjoyed that as much as anything
TripleSeven
...
Lilac breasted roller
Mind if I draw this guy?
Mind if I draw this guy?
Brokenlink
Banned
Please do Robert. That would be an honor. I'm going to update the thread sometime today with more pics.
mean dad
Well-known member
:laughing
Brokenlink
Banned
:laughing
Look at that O face.
Look at that O face.
Brokenlink
Banned
We stayed at Savuti for three days. It was great. A lot more flies than either Khwai or Moremi, but the wildlife was spectacular.
We saw tons of elephants. Like herds of twenty or more. They just kept coming out of the trees.
Watching their behavior was amazing. The adult males taught the juvenile males quite a bit about how to survive. It's pretty amazing to watch.
Of course, we also saw lots of other cool things:
The African darter swims underwater to catch fish, but its feathers are not waterproof like ducks and other waterbirds. Therefore it must dry itself after it hunts:
We saw tons of elephants. Like herds of twenty or more. They just kept coming out of the trees.
Watching their behavior was amazing. The adult males taught the juvenile males quite a bit about how to survive. It's pretty amazing to watch.
Of course, we also saw lots of other cool things:
The African darter swims underwater to catch fish, but its feathers are not waterproof like ducks and other waterbirds. Therefore it must dry itself after it hunts:
Brokenlink
Banned
Tawny eagle:
Pearl-spotted owlet:
We even saw a group of ostriches. Amazing friggin birds. They are huge and ungainly. And then they kick it into gear and haul ass. They covered about 1/2 mile in 45 seconds.
Goofy as hell, but amazing
Pearl-spotted owlet:
We even saw a group of ostriches. Amazing friggin birds. They are huge and ungainly. And then they kick it into gear and haul ass. They covered about 1/2 mile in 45 seconds.
Goofy as hell, but amazing
Brokenlink
Banned
But generally we were trying to find the pride of lions. And it was tough. Eventually we heard that the pride had killed a zebra on the other side of the park. We hauled ass down there but by the time we got their, all that was left were two lazy males and some vultures.
So went back to camp and prepared to leave the next morning.
So went back to camp and prepared to leave the next morning.
carries an axe
meat bone meat meat meat
that bee eater bird is awesome
Brokenlink
Banned
Ok, a few more leopard pics. Then I'll tell you about the evening......
She proceeded to mark her territory:
While you are mulling that over, here are a couple of maribou storks:
She proceeded to mark her territory:
While you are mulling that over, here are a couple of maribou storks:
bcv_west
Well-known member
Dunno why, but this is one of my favorites. Maybe the way you can see how they disappear into their environment. Or the way his face is broken up by the grass, almost an oil painting effect.
Brokenlink
Banned
So that night was interesting. It was our last night on safari and we were packing up and hitting the road in the morning. We had to cover 185 km of 4wd road in 5 hours. There would be no game drive tomorrow.
Sometime in the middle of the night there was a cacophony down by the river. I slept through most of it, but according to others, there were lions roaring and all hell breaking loose. I had no idea but do remember that the birds were really loud that night (they'rte loud every night, but they were really loud that night).
We got up and left the camp. As we crossed the river we noticed a commotion off to our left.
Hyenas eating a giraffe. Apparently the lions had killed the giraffe during the night and had been chased off by a shit-ton of hyenas. There were three packs of hyenas, all fighting each other for the dead giraffe.
Here, more photos:
Sometime in the middle of the night there was a cacophony down by the river. I slept through most of it, but according to others, there were lions roaring and all hell breaking loose. I had no idea but do remember that the birds were really loud that night (they'rte loud every night, but they were really loud that night).
We got up and left the camp. As we crossed the river we noticed a commotion off to our left.
Hyenas eating a giraffe. Apparently the lions had killed the giraffe during the night and had been chased off by a shit-ton of hyenas. There were three packs of hyenas, all fighting each other for the dead giraffe.
Here, more photos: