Ari Day #57 sabbatical

5/12/2022

Machaba Camp, Khwai Concession, Botswana

Here I am sitting at a table in the main lounge of Machaba Camp, overlooking the Khwai River which is about 50 feet away from me. Over this past 2 days, from this vantage point, we have seen about 8 elephants, ~15 hippos (including 3 waddling out of the water), several impala, 4 kudus, countless baboons which continue to jump on and around our tent trying to enter it, and numerous species of birds. If someone were to tell me that this is what we would see on our safari, I think I would have been satisfied. But then came the game drives…

We arrived 2 days ago on a 50 minute chartered flight from Kasane to the Khwai concession. Flying in, we saw ~5 elephants which piqued our excitement. We then drove the 20 minute drive from the airstrip to the camp, not really seeing any remarkable wildlife. During this drive, I noticed this area was quite wooded with trees and bushes, limiting visibility. As Cris and I had previously done a safari in Kenya and Tanzania where there are wide open savannahs which provide easy wildlife viewing opportunities, I was admittedly disappointed as I figured we wouldn’t see much in this obscured environment. Well, I was dead wrong…

Our days consist of a fairly consistent schedule:

6 am: Albert (our native guide) wakes us up.

6:30-7 am: Continental breakfast consisting of yogurt, granola, fresh fruit, freshly baked muffins/crepes/bread, juices, and coffee and tea.

7-10:30 am: morning game drive going wherever Albert feels would have the best viewing opportunities. In the concession, one can drive wherever the vehicle can go which provides great perspectives of the animals. By the way, you get coffee and a pastry during this drive.

10:30-11:30 am: brunch consisting of multiple freshly made salads, a couple scrumptious hot dishes, and made-to-order eggs, bacon and sausages.

11:30-3:30 pm: siesta time to do whatever: sleep, exercise (consisting of very limited options such as jump roping as there are many animals which can end your life quickly that wander around and through the camp).

3:30-4 pm: high tea consisting of cheese, crackers, some made from scratch hot dish, and drinks.

4-7:30 pm: evening game drive which also consists of yet another meal of snacks and drinks.

7:30-9:30 pm: dinner consisting of impeccably put together, made from scratch food on a table under the stars, and a bonus is they put hot coals under your chair to warm your butt.

10 pm: bed time.

Now, back to our story. When we arrived, Albert told us that at night we are not allowed to walk ANYWHERE in camp without a guide because of the animals wandering through camp. I felt this was overly cautious, yet this feeling went away after the first night…

Our evening game drive began with seeing lechwes (antelope) and impalas, followed by jumping headfirst into the safari with a leopard lying next to a dead elephant which died of unclear causes (was not killed by an animal—turns out there are at least 4 dead elephants in this area, possibly some contagious disease). This was followed by Asher spotting yet another leopard followed by multiple elephants escorting us along the road in the dark on the way back to camp. These elephants terrified all of us as a couple were ~5-10 feet from the car and were large bull elephants, one of which was a bit aggressive. We then had an incredible dinner and headed to bed. Cris and Linden put in their requisite ear plugs and Asher promptly passed out. I was then left to hear the insanity all by myself. The night began by loud screams of baboons all around camp. This progressed to the low rumble of calling hippos. And then came chaos. I heard the seemingly deafening snaps of tree trunks about 5-10 feet outside our tent. I was terrified, yet did not want to wake the family as it would only terrify them also. After 3 hours of being nauseated (literally), Cris woke up and realized that the world was coming to an end. She yelled a silent scream and squeezed me so tight as to take my breath away. She scream whispered into my deflated ear “WHAT IS THAT????” I told her I had been dealing with this for the past 3 hours and then she proceeded to go to the couch in front of the screen door. She then scream whispered to me that the elephant was RIGHT THERE! I sat with her and we watched an elephant’s tusks and trunk swing back and forth 8 feet from us, with the bottom of the chest/belly at the top of our 8 foot tent door. Over the next hour we listened in fear together while many elephants made deafening noises consisting of scraping noises of their hoofs/trunks scouring the ground and breaking of large trunks and branches. After I took some Zyrtec and put in earplugs, we somehow went back to sleep. The next morning, we asked the staff is this was normal and the answer was a resounding “Yes.” Honestly, after what I had heard over the night, I thought there would be no trees still standing. However, apparently my imagination was bigger than reality and the place looked just fine. Take home message: yes, at night, don’t walk alone.

After a fitful night’s sleep came the first full day of our safari. After fulfilling Asher’s wish of seeing elephants the night before, Asher promptly moved on to his next goal of seeing a giraffe. He told Albert about this wish and I quietly felt bad for Albert as a guide could never satisfy a curious 11 year-old boy. Our morning drive began with innumerable sightings of enormous bull elephants, including seeing a family of elephants consisting of many kids—infants to teenagers. We headed to a different part of the concession which was quite open. After some time, Albert somehow pulled a giraffe out of his magic safari hat, satisfying the curiosity of the 11 year-old. We had morning snack at a watering hole, 50 feet from 3 large bull elephants quenching their thirst. At camp I took advantage of the 4 hour siesta, and then back out on a drive. In the afternoon drive, the curious camper said that now he had seen elephants and giraffes, he wanted to see a lion. No such luck, but we re-visited the leopard feeding on the elephant and were privileged to see two rare honey badgers (can’t help but to smile when thinking of the You Tube video…). And, of course, the magical sunsets during the game drive are truly unique to Africa—rust orange sky with stars appearing within it. Dinner was unreal…again…then we actually all slept well as the elephants left us alone that night.

On the second day of safari, Asher greeted Albert with the same request: we want to see lions! Then came my favorite part of the safari so far. Albert, who grew up in a small town in rural Botswana, a town without roads living among the wildlife, showed off his tracking skills. Lions had not been sighted in the concession for over 4 days, yet at night, one could hear their distant roars. It didn’t take Albert very long to find a lion track on the dusty road. He then followed the tracks for a bit of time, periodically looking at the tracks. He eventually lost the tracks, but smelled something in the air. He began following this scent which was barely detectable by the clueless tourists. He began driving between bushes, making his own trail through the bush. After about 20 minutes of seemingly aimlessly wandering through roadless territory, he said “There she is.” Lo and behold, a lioness was lying in the shadows of the bushes, unbothered by us. Shortly thereafter, he found yet another elephant carcass, 2 young male lions, 2 more adult female lions, and a 2 month-old lion cub who provided endless entertainment and waaaaayyyyy too many photos and videos. We spent the morning watching this live Planet Earth episode. We returned to camp, happy and satisfied. Well, sort of…. Linden and Asher finally were starting to drive each other nuts after 57 days together, so we decided to send them on a kid safari for the evening drive with Khan (10) and Nala (11) who live at the camp (they are home schooled). We had a wonderful evening safari with 2 travel agents from Belgium (JP and Jane), once again watching the pride of 6 lions.

I’m loving this experience and also we are all starting to yearn being home. We may scrap our Italy plans and head home a bit earlier. We will see….