Khutse GR - Thunderstorms in the desert Day 3

Rare sighting, flooded roads in the Kalahari sands. 

It was drizzling when we woke up but not nearly as hard as overnight. It started raining just as we got to bed and rained steadily the whole night. By 3am, it was bucketing down so hard that we thought that we'd be swimming around the campsite the next morning. 

Khutse GR - Thunderstorms in the desert Day 2

Just enough of a break to get packed, it was a wet and grey morning. 

It was drizzling when the alarm went off at 5am but we had planned for rain by putting our rain jackets in the tent. And shortly after we got out, the rain stopped for a brief period allowing us to get the tent packed away in the dry. 

Khutse GR - Thunderstorms in the desert Day 1

Ominous signs with rain on the cards as we left. 

We'd planned to go the previous weekend but the rain forecast had us postponing the trip. In the end it didn't rain much and with more rain forecast for this weekend and the next we decided it was now or never. So with thunderstorms predicted on both Saturday and Sunday we packed the car on Thursday, took the Friday off and headed to Khutse, hoping we wouldn't get too wet on our long weekend.

Chobe National Park - Day 11

Expect the unexpected, a dead elephant loaded on the back of a truck. 

We were a bit later than expected to start thanks to having breakfast in the campsite and last minute packing but we were still on the road just after 6.30am.

Chobe National Park - Day 10

The legendary elephants of the Chobe river. 

Since we'd were going into the park for the last day, we were up as usual before sunrise and ready to go soon after. We were dropping Sudesh off on the way to the park for him to pick up a guide and head to Maun to continue his adventure.

Chobe National Park - Day 9

Zebs on the flood plain. They seem to only hangout close to Ihaha. 

Today we leave Chabe National park so packed up and ready to go at 5.40 in the hopes of catching the resident leopard and her sub-adult cubs. She was elusive though so we changed tactics to follow up in the lions near to camp that had been roaring in the night.

Chobe National Park - Day 8

Yellow Billed Ox-pecker

Ready to go by 5.45am, we headed out of Ihaha and on to the plain. We hit paydirt quickly when we spotted 2 lionesses coming from the Chobe River channel after drinking, literally next to the camp site!

Chobe National Park - Day 7

Finding this guy around twin hills was pure magic!

We had a long drive ahead of us, out the Ghoha gate and re-enter the park through Ngoma gate but the priority was a morning game drive before leaving Savuti. So we headed straight to the elephant carcass in the hopes that the lions were feeding.

Chobe National Park - Day 6

The Lilac Breaster Roller kept us going waiting for the Leopard to arrive. 

Despite the roaring lions and kudu barking early in the morning, it was straight to the leopard sighting from the day before with the idea to just check on it before focusing on the lion cubs of the Marsh pride. The choice of chasing that 5 minutes away against a Leopard that is 45 minutes away! We went for the Leopard on the outside chance of the Marsh pride which had cubs.

Chobe National Park - Day 5

This guy had huge issues with the Northern pride on his doorstep.

We were up at 5.20 to get going by 6am and don't water valuable first light by fiddling around, just get out. As self drivers, it's critical you pick up as much intel of the night activities to work out where the predators are moving. The lions had roared the whole night and had not moved going by the roars. A Honey Badger had got in and emptied our bin! Just cannot keep these guys out no matter what.

Chobe National Park - Day 4

Always air down on bush tracks to ensure you don't dig up the track.

It took a while to get going but eventually we left Sitatunga around 7am and started the long trek to Savute. It took 3 hours on the sometimes corrugated, sometimes sandy road to finally get to the Mababe gate. The road to Mababe has long stretched of soft sand which is not a problem provided you have you have aired down and engaged 4x4.

Chobe National Park - Day 3

Campsite #5, good stand with a nice tree, we are set to hit the road north to Maun. 

An early start for us to get in a morning game drive before leaving. We did a round through the park but as expected there wasn't too much around. We have seen both Hyena and Leopard tracks at Kharma, but this place is about the Rhinos. There are Giraffe, Zebra and other game about including Impala and Springbok appearing in the same place.

Chobe National Park - Day 2

The Gaborone - Francistown road is always busy, a 5 donkey powered cart taking
it's position on an unexpectedly cloudy start of a long trip north.  

It was a gloomy morning when we finally left around 9am headed for the Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe, but luckily it wasn't too far a drive to our spot for the night.

Chobe National Park - Day 1

Trip planning is critical for these remote locations. 

The last time we'd camped with anyone else was 15 years ago when Cheryl's brother and his wife had joined us in Botswana. And now over a decade and a half later, someone else was joining us. And ironically, it was to the same place - Savute.

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 9

The call of the Fish Eagle is another magical call in the wild. 

Our final morning in the park but it was a quiet one. Even the game drive vehicles were telling us that the area was quiet. We did both the east and western sides of the Khwai gate but there wasnt even spoor to be found. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 8

Meandering bush tracks of Moremi. 

The lions were roaring just outside the campsite at around 4.30 am. After picking up our bucket that the hyena had grabbed and walked off with we quickly drove in the direction of the lions just after 6 am, but they were nowhere to be seen. In fact, the whole game drive was quiet, with even the tour guides struggling to find anything. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 7

Paradise pools sunrise. 

Our plan in the morning was to head first to Paradise Pools, and if nothing was there, we'd head into the area where we'd seen the leopard and then make our way slowly to Khwai. The good thing about paradise pools is that its only 4km from the entrance gate so we arrived there while it was still dark and were able to catch a few nice shots of the sunrise with dead trees as a focus point. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 6

Xakanaxa has beautiful scenes.

We always hope that our early mornings leaving in the dark will pay off, but they usually don't. But for the first time in a long time it paid off and with the biggest prize of all - leopard. We spotted eyes in the headlights and quickly worked out it was a leopard. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 5

The iconic Khwai river bridge at North Gate.

The campsite was quiet when we left in the morning after packing up and visiting the ablutions. We arrived at north gate just after opening while it was still dark. We weren't surprised to find the office still closed so we headed in and went straight to where we suspected the lions had been seen the day before. But the lions had long disappeared with not even spoor to give us an idea of where they had gone. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 4

The Xini pride was on our list for this trip. 

It was dark when we left after a night of few sounds except the scops owl and distant lion and hyena. Our plan was to head to 2nd bridge to check out the flood damage before heading back to the gate and then driving to Khwai. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 3

Crocodile camp Maun. Small individual campsite. 

Breakfast of muesli and coffee was had just after 5 am and we were out the Crocodile Camp gate at 6 am in the dark. A potholed road to Shorobe marked the end of the tarmac and after dropping the tyres we started the corrugated sand road to the park entrance gate. It's a 50km slog that should take an hour depending on the road conditions and of course, if you see anything as this is wild game country. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 2

The Thamalakane flowing thought Maun. 

Up early at 5 am but it took a while to get breakfast and the last of the packing done before we got on the road just before 6.30. We'd chosen the longer route - via Lobatse and Ghanzi - rather than travel on the busy Palapye road, but it was an uneventful drive to Maun. 

Moremi Game Reserve - Day 1

130 liters of diesel, 50 liters water, firewood, lots to fit in. 

It's time to pack the car again and head to northern Botswana. We had a 9 trip, 2 days to travel, and the rest of time in Moremi Game Reserve. The big difference compared to our trip the same time last year was the water levels. 

Braving the cold in Nxai Pan - day 4

White Headed Vulture is an uncommon sighting. 

A warmer night by about 5 degrees thanks to the cloud that had developed overnight. We were up and gone by 6 am to try and catch the aardwolf again, hoping he'd be at the nearby waterhole. Nothing at the water we made a quick stop at the main waterhole just in case before heading south to where we thought he may be denning.

Braving the cold in Nxai Pan - day 3

Pale-Chanting Goshawk is the the common bird of prey in Nxai Pan 

Despite the cold we were up and going even earlier than the previous day, heading to the nearby waterhole before driving to the main one. Nothing to be seen at either, we started our drive around the pan. Plenty of springbok and we also found some zebra but again the cats eluded us.

Braving the cold in Nxai Pan - day 2

The resident bull of Nxai are a feature of the park

A freezing cold morning that definitely dipped below zero overnight, it took a while for us to get going but nevertheless we were on our morning game drive just after opening time still in the dark. We were hoping for a night time creature but there was nothing to be seen. In fact, it was pretty quiet with no sign of cats.

Braving the cold in Nxai Pan - day 1

The road to Nxai pan

A public holiday on Tuesday had us thinking about how to make into a long weekend and go up north. We got a booking for Nxai Pan, but only Saturday and Sunday. It wasn't worth spending 11 hours driving to the park and only staying there 2 nights so we tagged on the Friday as well with a vague plan of working out what to do on the Monday when we were there.

Mabuasehube NP - Day 5

A soggy Mabua gate

The rain started about 2am and was still going steadily when the alarm went off at 5am. Wi the this much rain around our expectations to see cats was extremely low so our plan was just to head to the gate and get home as early as possible.

Mabusehube NP - Day 4

A campsite full of wildflowers

A good nights sleep with no roaring heard, and we were out again at 5.30am. Straight to the waterhole but there was no sign of the lions. After the storm of last evening, it would be understandable if they had run a mile. We checked the old scout camp where the youngsters had come from last time but also no tracks to be seen. 

Mabuasehube NP - Day 3

A great lion sighting

The jackals had been howling all night so we packed up and headed to the water on the pan in case something had been around. No cats, so we turned around and went back via our campsite to head to Mpayathutlwa. And there, just outside our campsite we spotted lion tracks. They’d walked straight past our camp sometime in the night with us none the wiser. The tracks were headed in the same direction we were - towards Mpayathutlwa. 

Mabuasehube NP - Day 2

Meerkats were a nice surprise

A 5am start gave us time to work out closing the roof tent. It’s largely like the old one but the rooftent cover is a real problem. On the road by 5.30, we made our way around Mabuasehube pan but there was no sign of anything. No spoor, no sound. So we headed to Mpayathutlwa pan after our round, the next pan about 8km away. 

Mabuasehube NP - Day 1

Sunset in Mabuasehube

We like to get up and get going as soon as possible when traveling to a destination but 2025 has started slowly. Normally we pack the night before but the thunderstorm that hit Gaborone on New Year’s Eve evening stopped us from getting anything done, so we had to pack first thing in the morning.