An African Adventure Part I
Big Game at Kings Pool
By: John T. Braun
Giraffe, lions, elephants, leopards, dung beetles, pythons, impalas, and hippos. This is the short list of things that we saw at King’s Pool in Botswana. No, not in a city zoo, but rather from Land Rover, sometimes at a range of only a few feet.
The animals were positively amazing. Companies such as Disney have transformed many of these animals into cuddly, loveable characters. But don’t be fooled. Any one of them can kill a person quicker than it took me to type this sentence so far! Regardless, we were happy to take the risks for you, dear reader, so that you could read, hear and see stories and photographs of these amazing creatures.
The journey started like so many others. Board a plane at JFK, and spend an hour or two tooling around the tarmac before the plane that you’re on finds its wings. JFK? Enough said. Fortunately, Dena and I were in business class, so with a nod of understanding to our brethren in coach, I won’t complain. About six hours after taking off, we landed in Dakar, a city on the edge of the great Sahara desert. The plane refueled, and recycled some passengers before the final, eight-hour leg to South Africa.
When we got to Johannesburg we were exhausted. Please, please Mr. Driver, take us to our room. Derek did, in grand style sporting a big black Citroen sedan. Our humble accommodations for the night? A three-bedroom penthouse complete with kitchen, courtyard and private pool. King and queen for a night. Unfortunately, we really didn’t have the time or the energy to enjoy many of the penthouse’ features. A dinner had been graciously scheduled for us at a posh restaurant around the corner that specialized in African food. As I’m so keen on celebrating our number one position on the food chain, I was compelled to try the Springbuck. Delicious!
The next morning, we were once again collected, and whisked off to the airport for our flight to Maun airport. Once we arrived at Maun, Botswana, I knew that we were no longer in America. The airport was incredibly basic. We stepped off the plane to the tarmac, watched the workers carry our bags to the terminal, and then walked out front to a dirt road for a short walk. This is an African village. Minimal infrastructure, cell phones and lots of smiles from the friendly people.
We boarded yet another plane for a 45 minute flight to Chobe airstrip somewhere in the middle of Botswana. The plane was a small four seat Cessna. The requirement for small bags suddenly became clear as the pilot began stuffing bags through an impossibly small hole in a compartment below the cabin. The flight was as expected…bumpy. Dropping down to the deck, I suddenly felt that perhaps we were only touching down to pick up some narcotics, and fly them back to civilization. However, when we landed we were met by a big Land Rover, and our guide for the next two days known as O.D.
A note on the Land Rovers here. They are known as Jeeps here. A testament to the timeless abilities of the real Jeep that certainly served tours here previously. They accommodate a driver and seven passengers. They don’t have windows, and only front doors. Instead, they are open air, with canvas tops and steps on the side of the vehicle for passengers to climb in.
Our first Wilderness Safaris camp, King’s Pool, was a 45-minute drive from the airstrip. Rolling into the camp, we were greeted by three members of the staff, smiling and waving enthusiastically. They offered damp towels to wash off, and a drink to sate our thirst. After a brief safety discussion, and signing of the requisite legal waivers, we were escorted to our “tent”.
“Tent”. Ha! I remember the tents in boy scouts. A few poles, stakes and 10 minutes and we were ready to sleep. Not here. Forget everything you know about a tent. Now, imagine a medium sized home with canvas walls, thatch roof, electricity, hot/cold water, king sized bed, office, toilet and private plunge pool. Oh, by the way, it’s decorated as if it was going to be on the cover of an Orvis catalog. Beautiful woods and materials throughout. So, as you can imagine, my mind was instantly transported back in time to the good old days camping with Troop 301. It wasn’t, but I really wanted to use that line.
I guess now Dena can say she and I have “camped”.
The schedule in camp is one of ups and downs. On the up, meals and a lengthy siesta are scheduled around game drives. The down side…day begins with a knock at your door (yes, these “tents” have beautiful, carved wooden doors) at 5:00am!
So, wacky, wacky at 5:00, breakfast at 5:30, and first game drive at about 6:00. Upon returning to camp in the morning, we enjoy a brunch at around 11:00. Siesta then proceeds until about 4:00 when we all meet for tea before the evening game drive. Just after dark, everyone returns for a chance to freshen up, and then eat dinner at about 8:00.
A word on game drives. Be careful not to get too caught up in an impala sighting, or even sometimes a giraffe. You’ll soon learn that some of the game animals are so numerous that you’ll only wish them to move out of the jeep’s way faster. On the other end of the spectrum, I had no idea how mesmerizing a sleeping lion or leopard would be. We could watch these for a long time. Honestly, though, it is kind of fun to watch them twitch and move about when they sleep. We even heard the lions snore as they slept on their backs!
The lions that I referred to above are a pair that is affectionately known as the Border Boys. Their territory spans the border of Namibia and Botswana, hence the name. When asked what his favorite animal was, our guide, O.D., replied “Lions, but only the Border Boys.” He went on to explain how their behavior differed from typical lions. Essentially, they are the junkyard dog version of the lion, if you can believe that! They’re very aggressive to other lions and predators. The two are actually brothers. A third was lost about a year ago. One of the remaining survived a noose trap two years ago. The wound was extremely deep and troubling. The camp contacted a veterinarian at the time who came out, tranquilized the lion, and inspected the wound to insure that it would not be fatal. To this day, the other brother cleans that wound for him, as it’s impossible to reach by himself.
The story about the Border Boys is just one story of many about how well these guides know the behaviors of animals, and of the specific animals. Their knowledge is deep, and their instincts about what an individual animal is likely to do are sharp.
Nighttime at the camp is a lot of fun. It’s a chance to share stories with other travelers over a meal, and get to know one another. We are restricted from going to our rooms by ourselves after dark. Quite literally, animals of all types, predator or prey, large or small, may be in the camp. We heard stories of elephants and lions going through, and personally saw quite a few impala.
The main pavilion, where we all congregated for meals, drinks and game drive departures overlooks a horseshoe shaped lake. At any given time we were likely to see elephants, hippos, impala, warthog or waterbuck across the lake, along the banks. We enjoyed a brilliant sky each day. It’s the rainy season, so the clouds performed their shape magic, and afforded us beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
African Adventure Part II - Tracking Animals at Vumbura
