Day 13

We decided to forego the morning drive (5:30 am wakeup) in favor of sleeping in. We got up at 7:45 and had a leisurely morning of packing, organizing and watching the scenery from our tree house. We joined Lets and Ray for brunch at 10:30, and found out that they were able to locate a cheetah with a cub so Bo felt a little sorry she missed the drive. At 11:10 we left for the Tubu airstrip for our 11:30 flight to Maun. 30 minutes later we arrived at the Maun airport, which is supposedly the busiest airport in Botswana and second busiest (after Johannesburg) in southern Africa. Unfortunately, it is a tiny place (nothing like the modern Kasani airport) that can hardly accommodate the crowds. We said goodbye to Lets and Ray and proceeded to immigration and customs. There is only one small waiting room for all departing flights so many people had no place to sit. Our flight was delayed by about 30 min, but we made it to Johannesburg in plenty of time for our next flight. The Johannesburg airport is another story, probably one of the most inefficient airports in the world. It took us over an hour in two very long lines to get through the transit pathway to our London gate. Bo didn’t have enough time for shopping, and there is fantastic shopping for African goods at this airport. The 11-hour flight to London was uneventful. Heathrow transit was efficient, and the flight to LAX was also good except that after we landed they kept us on the tarmac for 45 min because there was no gate available. In summary, we are very happy we can cross this experience off the bucket list. It was quite unique among all our travels. Animal sightings were fantastic. We saw: Thousands of impala Hundreds of elephants Dozens of: zebras, giraffes warthogs, antelopes (kudu, red lechwe, waterbuck, bushback, roan, tsetsebe, springbok), wildebeests, buffalos, baboons, Smaller number: monkeys, honey badger, African wild cat, wild dogs, leopards, rhinos, hippos, mongoose, jackals, hyenas, crocodiles, Angola red frogs. And a multitude of various big and small birds, including fishing eagles, tawny eagles, fishing owls, vultures, and others whose names we don’t remember.

Day 12

Early wakeup (5:30) then the drive around the area after breakfast. Today’s sighting included: lots of elephants including a group harvesting palm nuts from a tall palm tree by vigorously shaking the tree and eating the nuts that fell. We saw herds of wildebeest, buffalo, zebras. All of them were running from the same direction so our guide thought there may be a lion there. We drove around to check, but no lion. We also saw warthogs, baboons, and lots of impala. Lots of giraffes and 2 young ones playing by intertwining their necks. We did go back to the place where we saw the leopard cubs yesterday, but the cubs were gone. The mother must have come back and took them to a different place. During our mid-day siesta, a herd of giraffes came and stayed not far from our tent all afternoon -- 4 adults and two little ones. It was fun to watch them from our tree house. After lunch and rest we set out again looking for a lion to no avail. Then we heard reports of a leopard and cubs. We found them. At first the mother was up on a tree, but then she climbed down and we followed her to a place where she left her recently killed impala. Soon both cubs joined her. Our guide put the safari truck two feet away from them and we watched for 30 minutes. The cubs played together and jumped on their mother. Bo got hundreds of close up pictures. It was dark when we left so no sundowner. When we got back to the camp, dinner was set up by the fire pit. The dinner table was surrounded by lantern and candelabra, and there was a grill set up on the side + a buffet table. It was quite a beautiful setup. During dinner, we heard thunder and saw lightning, and then we got a few drops of rain. They told us that it’s quite unusual for this time of year. It must have been Africa saying goodbye to us.

Day 11

After packing and late (8 am) breakfast we left the Pelo camp and embarked on our 3-hour boat journey to our next camp. The ride on the water is calm and scenic and we only got stuck twice. With a long stick they managed to get us free. We passed by two other camps, Jacanda and Jao, and a few boats with supplies and people. We didn’t see anything new – the same multitude of birds and familiar animals. Our final camp, Tubu, is secluded among large trees, with elevated tents/huts and walkways. It consists of two parts – Little Tubu (where we are staying), which only has 3 tents, and Tubu Tree, the main camp with 9 tents. Tubu (both parts) are rated a level higher (more luxurious) than the other camps we stayed in. Our tent is very large, the shower cabin has glass doors (not sure why this is more luxurious), it has a big outdoor shower as well with two showerheads, a big viewing terrace overlooking the open plain where you can view animals that come close to the camp, and it also has a tree house, which can be reached from the terrace by climbing two sets of steps. The tree house has two day beds so you can relax there and maybe also look at the stars in the evening. They told us (like in the Linyanti and Gomoti camps) that we have to be careful because baboons can come and visit our tent so we have to always lock the doors. After our afternoon rest, we embarked on what we thought would be a long drive. Instead, within 15 minutes we came upon leopard cubs in a tree. Our guide said that the mother left them to go hunting and told them to stay and wait for her return. So we waited too. There were two cubs, a male and a female, both about 4-5 months old. Supposedly leopard cubs become independent when they are 18 months old. The cubs were not very active, they mostly slept and occasionally changed positions and location. We took a lot of pictures of leopard cubs and waited a long time for mommy to return but to no avail. We then drove back to the camp with the obligatory stop for drinks. Dinner was excellent and we were joined by Dave, the camp director, a really nice guy from Pretoria.

Day 10

After breakfast we got into a mokoro (a dugout canoe) and went for a ride in the everglades. Bo and Al sitting and our guide standing in the back with a long pole. The water varies in depth between 6 inches an 3 feet and the method of propulsion is by pushing the pole on the bottom. It is very quiet. Lots of reeds and water lilies. Our guide pointed out indigenous frog (Angolan red frog) which is smaller than your thumb but very pretty. We also saw a lot of water birds – fish eagles, a fishing owl, herons, and many others whose names we don’t remember. At some point a group of red lechwe ran through the water making a big splash. There are lots of little islands in the delta, formed by river sediments. Elephants often wander from island to island to look for their favorite foods. We saw some on our mokoro ride. After 1 ½ hours we stopped for the obligatory drink and cookies. Then back to the camp for lunch and rest. After rest we reassembled at 4 pm for the obligatory high tea, and then embarked on a boat tour of the delta. We saw tons of birds, baby crocodile, lots of water lilies, elephants, red lechwe and a couple of other boats from the Jao camp. We stopped in still water for drinks and snack at sunset. Sunsets here are magnificent – a huge red sun reflected in the water with unobstructed view until it disappears behind the horizon. Then back to camp for drinks and dinner. After dinner Lets took us to our tent, we had to be careful because there was an elephant near tent 5 (we are in tent 3), He must have wandered close to our tent because we heard him for quite a while on the side of our place. It is very dark outside so we can’t see much, but the night sky is absolutely amazing – the number of stars and their brightness is something we have never seen before.

Day 9

We said goodbye and left camp at a reasonable time (7:15 am). The plan was to drive aimlessly for two hours then go to the airstrip. But we were informed that there was a leopard at the airstrip so that is where we went. Upon arriving we saw a large dead impala high up in a tree. The leopard was lying nearby. For an hour he posed for pictures but unfortunately did not climb up to eat. Our plane arrived and we had an easy 25 min flight to Jao. Jao is a very busy airstrip because it serves a bunch of camps so there were several vehicles parked there with people and luggage. When there is a larger group of people flying (11-12), a different plane takes the luggage. From the airstrip we were supposed to either take a 30 minute boat ride to the Pelo camp if the water levels are high enough or a 30 minute on dry land followed by a 5 min boat ride (Pelo is on a small island). It turned out to be the car ride The scenery is totally different. The Gomoti area was dry like a desert as it was on the edge of the Kalahari desert. Here it is marshland. We saw lots of red lechwe antelopes; one herd was enormous, hundreds and hundreds of them. The 5-10 minute boat ride to the camp was very scenic. The camp itself is unbelievably gorgeous. Large cabin with indoor and outdoor showers. Swimming pool and equipment for water sports. Pelo is a water camp so there are only water activities here, no drives, which is a welcome change. Since it is surrounded by water there are a million bugs. Our cabin is big and well appointed and screened all around. The afternoon activity was a boat ride. It is akin to the everglades. On the way back we had to stop for the obligatory sundowner of drinks while watching the gorgeous sunset. When we got back to camp there was a large elephant blocking our way to the cabin. So we had to have drinks for 30 minutes hoping he would leave. Dinner was great. When we got back to our tent after dinner, we heard elephants taking a bath in front of our cabin. It was too dark to see them, but we heard a lot of elephant noises, and frogs too. There were tons of incredibly bright stars in the sky, which we tried to photograph to no avail. Lets, our guide, is an accomplished nature photographer and during dinner, he told us the story of how he got started.