Khutse GR - Day 3

An empty waterhole and more clouds on the way

Our luck had completely deserted us in Khutse. Another bust of a morning drive with nothing but the honey badger that we’d seen the previous day, too far away to photograph. The waterhole was empty bar one eland and 2 gemsbok which all ran before we were even 200m away from them.

Khutse GR - Day 2

Storms all around us

It was a dark and stormy night… 

The storm must have started around midnight when we were asleep and it sat on top of us for about 2 hours. It was vicious with lightning lighting up the sky and the thunder reverberating through the tent. And plenty of rain hammering the front of the tent it was a pretty scary experience hoping that lightning wouldn’t hit us. 

Khutse GR - Day 1

A week after elections and it was inauguration time for the new president. After over five decades in power, there is a new government in place and that needs to be celebrated. Which meant a public holiday on Friday for the inauguration.

Nxai Pan NP - Day 5

One of the baobabs in Nxai Pan

With a long 11 hour drive ahead of us we didn’t want to waste any time, so it was up at the usual 5am and we were out of the campsite just after 5.30am. Not checking out the waterholes - just straight out. The 35 km drive to the main A3 road was largely uneventful although we did see a few gemsbok which we hadn’t caught in the park. And there were more giraffe as well, probably due to there being some nice green acacia trees for them to feed on. 

Nxai Pan NP - Day 4

Baines' baobabs

This is more of the Nxai Pan we were expecting. Not much happening and no sign of cats. The main waterhole was devoid of animals bar a jackal trying to grab a last morsel of meat from the 3 day old carcass. It seemed like a hyena had been there in the night as well as half the skull had been crunched through - plenty of animals had been fed thanks to this kudu.

Nxai Pan NP - Day 3

Time to eat

We didn’t think that the lions would be at the waterhole by morning so we were stunned to drive up and find out that not only were they still there but they had been joined by 3 other lionesses!

Nxai Pan NP - Day 2

Lion at sunset

Despite our early start, we were the last of the 3 campers to be out the campsite and off on the morning drive. There was no question where anyone was going - straight to the waterhole. And we were not disappointed - the 2 lionesses were still at their kudu kill but they were having it for breakfast. We quickly positioned ourselves and started shooting. The lions gave us plenty to photograph, from gnawing at the carcass to pulling it over to get better access.

Nxai Pan NP - Day 1

Arriving at South Gate

Up at 5am and gone by 6am, it would be a long drive to Nxai Pan from Gaborone; about 11 hours according to Google.

Considering many people would have taken Friday off to make it a 5 day long weekend, the road between Gaborone and Palapye - easily Botswana’s busiest road - was surprisingly quiet.

Elections in Nxai Pan

Ready for Nxai Pan

Botswana announced that their elections would be held on 30 October, which would be a public holiday with the following day also being declared a holiday. These holidays would fall on a Wednesday and Thursday so it was a no-brainer for us to take Friday off to have a 5 day long weekend. 

Lake2Cape - Namibia

Deadvlei - one of Namibia's top attractions

While we had the opportunity to check out Namibia during our time in Botswana, we never got down to it and regretted not getting to Etosha at the very least. With cyclone Freddy bearing down on Zambia and Botswana, Namibia remained the only dry option at this point and we finally entered Namibia through the Caprivi. 

South Luangwa NP, Zambia - the place of leopards

Luangwa river in the dry.

Zambia had been on our mind ever since we moved to Malawi. Unfortunately for us the COVID pandemic had put a stop to any travel internationally so we had been spending most of our time traveling in-country, but finally the pandemic was starting to lessen and we decided to take a chance and head to South Luangwa in Zambia.

Majete WR, Malawi - A remarkable recovery

Elephants at the Shire River

If you’re unfamiliar with AfricanParks, it’s an NGO set up in 2000 to rehabilitate and manage national parks that had been neglected and poached out of animals.  After 3 years of negotiation, Majete became the guinea pig - the first reserve in AfricanParks’ portfolio. 

Liwonde NP, Malawi: A hidden gem

Cheetahs in Liwonde

This is a story about a national park that punches above its weight. So far it is a conservation success story and hopefully it will continue to be so. The park is Liwonde National Park, located in the East of Malawi, about 2 hours drive from Blantyre and about 3.5 hours from the capital Lilongwe.

Akagera NP - Cats on the road

Running giraffes

We have spent quite a lot of time in Akagera in 2019 - about 8 times in the first 3 months of the year.  And it has paid off with some nice sightings of lion, a couple of glimpses of leopard, and one really good long weekend where we caught the Big 5.  

Uganda - The pearl of Africa

Crossing the Equator, just up the road from QE national park

The only real point of reference we had for the Pearl of Africa was the Semliki Forest. Much like the Serengeti, Maasai Mara or the Okavango delta are hotspots to the wildlife enthusiast, the Semliki is for birders due to the sheer number of endemics this small dot on the map seems to have. If you have ever paged through any volume of the ‘Birds of East Africa’, the Semliki will most certainly catch your attention. There are other draw cards for Uganda including the primates and of course the shoebill and all this lay within a day’s drive Kigali!

Rwanda - land of a thousand hills

The land of a thousand hills

The Rwanda story has to start with the horrible events of 1994 but I leave you to read the various reads on this subject, without which one can never really understand the Rwanda story but all I can say is never again! What is relevant is to focus on what Rwanda is today and just how far this small little country has got to since those dark days of 1994. In a relatively short period of time Rwanda is today one of the great success stories of Africa.

Mikumi NP: January 2017

Us and our road block

Ten days after spending New Year ’s Eve at Mikumi and opening our 2017 shooting with Super Sub on the road, we were back at Mikumi. It was the first long weekend of the year and last one before the April holiday season so we were back looking for shooting opportunities. The rains were late and except for the odd spot of green, the landscape was still waiting for the rains in January. Metres from the gate there was a fresh buffalo carcass by the side of the road and the hope was the lions were in the vicinity.

Ruaha National Park - December 2016

Ruaha National Park

One year after we broke the timing belt en route to Ruaha which led to a string of expensive repairs and after fixing a new clutch and four new heavy duty shocks after our last Serengeti trip earlier this year, we were finally heading to Ruaha National Park in the Southwest of Tanzania.

Mikumi NP, December 2016

Hippo Pools was the only water for miles.

With no long weekends in November, two public holidays early in December was an opportunity to check out Mikumi for the last time of the year. The usual early morning start and we were on the road this time with 4 new heavy duty shocks a new clutch plate. The check in at the gate was surprisingly quick for a long weekend. The lion report was the Hippo pools pride was last seen near the water holes two days ago.

Mikumi NP, October 2016

Dry season at Jacana pool.

A long weekend a couple of weeks after returning from the Serengeti saw us packed up and on the road early morning to Mikumi. We were still driving on standard shocks which was a concern but given we had driven from Moshi to Dar on them, it shouldn’t be an issue.