Botswana – EXTRAORDINARY AFRICA

Once every so often, absolutely ridiculous special offers come across our desks, and this is one. You may well know that the Okavango Delta has the reputation as one of the best places in the world for safari. What you may not know is that within the Okavango Delta, some of the very best game viewing is found on Chief’s Island.

Game viewing so good the wildlife comes to the airstrip to meet you…

If you wish to do safari on Chief’s Island you can either stay within the public areas of the Moremi Game Reserve, and take your chances with other vehicles, or you can stay in one of two ultra high end private camps- Mombo or Chief’s Camp– both of which cost over $2,000 per person per night. In fact, at the height of peak season, Chief’s Camp costs an eyewatering $3,285 per night. And yes, that is per person.

Camp reopens on the 10th of December, and there are astonishing re-opening special offers, starting as low as $294 (£226) per person per night. If you can, go now.

The fine print: During high season (21st Dec- 3rd Jan) stays cost from £554-£443 per person per night ($720-$576ppn), otherwise the range is £376-£226 ($490-$294) per person per night. This runs until the 31st of March, and the more nights you stay, the better the per night price is.

Logistics: At the time of writing (November 2020) UK residents will still need to quarantine on return from Botswana, though we hope this will be lifted soon. As the Foreign Office still advises against travel to almost all of mainland Africa, you will need to get appropriate travel insurance. Lastly, a negative PCR test will be required prior to travelling to Botswana. Worth it? Absolutely.

Boat safari, Botswana, Eco-Friendly, Malawi, Mountain Biking, Namibia, Top tips, Zambia

Our top tips on making your trip to Africa more eco-friendly

June 3, 2019 Alexandra Matts

1. Stay in eco-friendly lodges

We can help you choose lodges with eco-friendly credentials such as Mwaleshi in Zambia’s remote North Luangwa, or Mumbo Island in Malawi for the true Robinson Crusoe getaway. Many of these lodges are powered from solar panels, use compostable loos, and will recycle as much as possible. Even if a lodge doesn’t have particular credentials, you can still do your bit by reducing the number of towel changes in your accommodation, kindly refusing any plastic straws in your sundowners, and trying not to use too many paper napkins.

2. Choose lodges that give back to the local community

Many of the lodges we use make various forms of charitable contributions to the local area to help with sustainable tourism and other benefits to the environment. Serra Cafema is one lodge where nearly all the staff are locals, and the land is leased to the Himba people for their livestock grazing. Make your own contribution by helping with “Pack for a Purpose” which is widely recognised by a lot of the lodges we use. This involves packing items that will be of use to the area you are travelling to and handing them over to your accommodation when you arrive for distribution. Let us know if you’d like to contribute and we can suggest some suitable items depending on your destination.

3. Consider alternative modes of transport

Walking and horse riding safaris are the obvious choices here, but how about looking at a mountain bike safari, or for those who’d like a more relaxed version of a biking safari, there’s the option of hiring e-bikes as well. A few of the lodges, Lewa Wilderness being one, are now adopting electric safari vehicles too, many of which are being charged through solar panels back at the lodge. Another option would be a leisurely canoe down one of the many rivers, in particular the Okavango Delta, Botswana in a mokoro.

4. Use a reusable water bottle

Often these will be supplied by lodges to be used instead of sipping out of plastic cups, and can often be taken home with you afterwards to continue the good work at home! Many bottles will also claim to keep your drinks ice cold for up to 24 hours, perfect for those long days on safari in the midday heat.

5. Take a reusable shopping bag

Foldaway shopping bags take up very little space in your luggage and will eliminate the need for plastic bags during your trip. These would be especially useful if you’re planning a trip to the shops in places like Cape Town, Zanzibar and Nairobi. Tanzania have also now banned plastic bags completely, so all the more reason to go prepared!

6. Meet the local community

Take a trip into the local villages to meet the locals and browse the local shops. These shops will provide you with much more authentic gifts and souvenirs than the larger hotel gift shops, and it will help to inject some money back into the local area. If you’re off gorilla trekking in Uganda, be sure to visit the Bwindi Bar in Buhoma for a refreshing drink or a quick bite to eat.

Birds, Botswana, South Luangwa, Zambia

The Carmines are Coming!

September 27, 2017 Alexandra Matts

As the heat builds in the South Luangwa, September offers one of the valley’s more colourful sights- the arrival of the Carmine Beeaters. During this dry hot season the water levels in the rivers are low, exposing the banks for the bee eaters to excavate a tunnel to build their nests. The annual movements of the Luangwa River channel means that each year the nest chambers are dug anew, and there’s a stiff competition for the bee eaters to stake their claim to the steepest part of the riverbank.

Bee Eater Colony- taken by Bryan one of the Tafika Guides

Carmine Bee Eaters-taken by Bryan one of the Tafika Guides

The sheerer the drop, the greater the protection from predators like the water monitor lizard, a fearsome climber and notorious egg thief. While eggs are lost each year to the monitors, their large bodies often can’t access the further reaches of the nest chambers- some of which can be up to three metres deep, and the carmines nest in such numbers that just a small proportion of eggs are stolen. Colonies can often contain hundreds, if not thousands of birds, providing safety in numbers from other predators, including fish eagles, who’ll cheerfully pick off a bee eater or two if the opportunity presents itself.

Zambia’s South Luangwa Valley is certainly one of the best places to see this phenomenon, and most of these photos were taken in and around the hide at Tafika, however, if you are keen to see the carmines en masse another fabulous spot to visit is King’s Pool in Botswana’s Linyanti Reserve. Here the carmines nest in the ground, rising in huge clouds every time a predator approaches or a squabble erupts- it’s an extraordinary sight, and one that our own photos just don’t do justice to, so many thanks to the pros for showing us how it should be done!

Carmine Bee Eaters at King's Pool — Ground nesting carmine bee eater colony near King’s Pool

Boat safari, Botswana, Trip Reports

“Seeing animals isn’t the point of mokoro, it’s bringing your heart closer to the water.”

November 27, 2015November 27, 2015 Alexandra Matts

Listening to our briefing in the baking sun of a late November afternoon safari in the Okavango Delta, it was hard to get excited about anything at all. We’d spent an exciting, but long and very hot morning on a game drive. After lazy lunch, adding another hour to my afternoon siesta seemed far more appealing than abandoning my bed at Little Vumbura for a wobbly dugout canoe. We were warned not to move around too much- “I have seen these capsize often,” said our poler, and not to trail our hands in the water for too long. Not because of hungry crocs apparently- it just made steering the mokoro more difficult.

Mokoro trip

Once we climbed aboard our mokoros and lowered ourselves gently into the seats, peace descended. I picked the back seat so I could snooze discreetly behind my sunglasses and bush hat if the heat overwhelmed me (and while sleeping would’ve been an utterly disgraceful waste of precious hours in the bush, it really was very hot). However, though the mokoro ride was the embodiment of tranquillity- this is Botswana’s equivalent to punting- and despite my tiredness, sleeping suddenly seemed a lot like missing out.

Travelling up front on hippo duty, our guide made sure the waterways were clear of unexpected four-legged surprises. Behind, our mokoro poler engaged us with tales of growing up in Botswana, and issued us with a challenge to spot the tiny Angolan reed frogs clinging to the top of swaying stems. We learnt the difference between night-time and day-time water lillies, how the jelly of the water shield plant could be used as sunscreen, and glided up on a pair of ducks so quietly that they shot away from us with startled squawks.

Reed Frog

Our mokoro ride ended as all good days in Africa should: watching the sun set with a cold G&T on a sand island as a family of elephants padded silently past. Afterwards we floated serenely home, listening to the calling frogs and watching the poler in front silhouetted against the light of the setting sun.

(Please excuse any fuzziness- all pictures the author’s own)

Botswana, Green Season, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia

Green season safari- is it all it’s cracked up to be?

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 Alexandra Matts

Think of African landscapes and the chances are you’ll be imagining an endless golden savannah, broken only with twisted and parched acacia trees. The wildebeest are cantering frantically in search of water and fresh grass (this is the main driver of the Great Migration) and vultures float on the thermals hoping to spot a lion kill.

Baby Hippo in the Green season with Norman Carr Safaris

Leopards with Norman Carr Safaris- green season

Lightening in the Luangwa with Norman Carr Safaris- green season

Birding with Norman Carr Safaris- green season

Boat safari with Norman Carr Safaris- green season

There’s another Africa however, the Africa that blossoms with life in and around the rains. The green season (sometimes rather optimistically known as the “emerald season”) transforms the landscape. Rivers burst with life and grasses and trees seem to glow in almost implausibly bright hues. Under thunderous storm clouds young animals learn to stand on shaking legs within minutes of their births, and predators look sleek and happy with a bellyful of food. This is the time when you’ll take the most spectacular photographs and see the bush at its very best (and sometimes at half the price of the peak periods).

Beyond that, the parks are largely deserted, and if you’ve done several safaris it’s utterly fascinating seeing the game reserves in a new light. Birding in particular is utterly glorious- if you’ve never seen a fish eagle swoop for its kill or a finfoot skiddle-skaddle across the water’s surface- this is your moment.

Green season safaris are at their best in Kenya and Tanzania in March and June (catch the savannah with its spring colours) or in Zambia between January and April. The ultimate experience is a boat safari in the South Luangwa– thanks to our friends at Norman Carr for the amazing selection of photos above. Elsewhere, watch the desert spring to life in Namibia, the mighty flood at the Victoria Falls or catch the mini Migration in the Kalahari.