18 September

18 September

This morning we went looking for the same lions. Our guide, Gwist did his best to follow their tracks and kept radio contact with the other guides. Eventually he had to conclude that they had made a kill and were enjoying their meal off in the bush. I could tell he was frustrated. He had wanted to be a wildlife scout as a boy, just like his father, but became a policeman for a short while before deciding that guiding would be his life.

We said goodbye to him and everyone else and accepted our packed lunches from the lodge before setting off to the Khwai area. The route was still unclear but there were two option:

1.       Go directly to Khwai. This might not have been possible due to flooding, as the Khwai is a river in the Okavango delta.

2.       Drive to the South gate of Moremi GR, up through the park and out of the North gate. This would take a few more hours (6 or 7)

The info Gwist had received from radioing the Mababe (southern Chobe) recommended going the long route through Moremi and he advised the same, but mentioned that we could check at Mababe. After the few hours it took through the barren and dry forests of Chobe, we found that the Mababe gate was deserted – a situation we had not anticipated. Frustrated, we took the opportunity to go toilet before resigning ourselves to the long drive through Moremi. Our travel agent in Botswana many months ago warned us that me should take this route and even ensured we had permits to travel through Moremi on this day. As the road to South gate would be gravel we re-inflated our tyres and set out. Not 5 meters from the gate, a land rover with a guide from a nearby lodge appeared and we asked him about it. He told us that we would definitely make it on the direct route and to turn left after ‘the bridge’ and ask for help. Okay, we decided we would risk it, but soon found that the direct road was pretty deep sand, and the guidebook told us this would go on for a while so we had to get out and deflate the tyres again.

After a while a long gravel road suddenly appeared. Our guidebook mentioned a road under construction, and our 2011 map showed this road but also had it ending abruptly in the middle of nowhere. Confused, we parked at the side of the road when another guide came by in a landrover. He was very kind and drew us a small map. He told us to take the 2^nd left after ‘the bridge’ (the first is too bumpy), and then get to a wide open area. Here we should wait for any guide to pass and ask them to radio our camp so they can come and tow us across the river. Our air inlet Is too low to tolerate the deep water untowed. We reinflated the tyres and followed his directions (passing a huge herd of buffalo in the mean time), and ended up on a wide open space. However, this was the wrong one so no cars ever passed us. After a while we used our satellite phone to call the North gate office but they never picked up. The south gate referred us to some other number, which helpfully offered to radio the camp for us.

After a decent amount of time 2 cars from our camp arrived, saying they heard we had broken down. I guess we played a game of chinese whispers. One of them towed us across the water and led us through a few shallower channels before bringing us back to camp.

The driver was called Face, which is short for something Ive forgotten and he is going to be our guide at the camp. As we were a little late, he offered to race us out to the current game drive as he couldn’t take us tonight. A lion pride was spotted eating a kudu, and we managed to get there before the other car we were transferring to. Once they arrived we had to climb across into their landrover with the lions lying not 10 meters away.

It was quite an awesome sight with them occasionally fighting for position around the meal, and the cubs were not given any favors. We returned to them again after dark, and the flashlight and bloody jaw gave even the cutest cub an aura of evil.

The camp is small and is just a bunch of tents. One big one with a bar and dining table, and 5 (I think) smaller tents. There is no electricity in our tent. Instead we have candles, and hot showers must be pre-ordered so they can heat it and pour it in the bucket hanging above the tent. It is right on the river though, and there are elephants right outside.

We all had dinner at one table again, and it was fun.

We are in the Khwai concession which is a huge area, managed by the community of Khwai village; river bushmen. According to the guidebook this area seldom fails to offer wildlife spectacles, as it is the easternmost stretch of water in the delta, and therefore the closest source of water for many many kilometers of animals.