Botswana by Chris

September 2009

We get woken up at 5.30am by a very loud horn, we discover this is what our multi talented guide Newman meant when he said he would wake us in the morning.  We throw on our clothes and leave our tent in the early morning light and make our way to the big fire around the Boma.  On the fire is a big black pot full of yummy porridge - another of Newman's talents we discover.  Then it is off in the jeep on a mission - today we are having a "nature walk".  

We park up and then Newman takes a gun from the jeep and tells the 5 of us that we should stay in single file right behind him.  We do, for a while. Then we get a nature lesson starting with Dung - I decline to partake of the first game which is "who can spit the dung the farthest" - Impala dung I discover looks just like a chocolate peanut.  Newman then spots some fresh Leopard paw prints and looks around and sees another set - he announces, "it is a mating pair and they have just left as we disturbed them" - mmm we are not so sure - I think he is teasing.  Newman 'tracks' the prints and we follow in a long straggly line and next thing a beautiful elegant female leopard walks right across in front of us.  We are all too stunned to even turn on our cameras and then we remember that there is another leopard, male, somewhere nearby and suddenly we all converge on Newman. We are all one close step behind him as we return to the car.  And this is all before breakfast!

We drive through the bush and see lots of animals and then suddenly we see a flash of bright red and there setup in a clearing is a table and nearby a chef (with chef’s hat) and a BBQ – it is a gorgeous hot breakfast, all you can possibly eat and some champagne – too perfect!

This evening we are going on a longer drive so that we can do some night driving.  We start off around 4.30 and have great game viewing until Newman parks up with an amazing sunset view.  We drink our sundowners (gin and tonics) and enjoy some nibbles as the glowing orange sun sinks into the distance.  Then it is back in the jeep and bundled up with some light rugs we head off in the night with the spotlight on.  Newman found a chameleon and we held it, it was the most gorgeous bright green and it had tiny claws that you could feel as it ran over your hand.  Not long later Newman spots a male Leopard lying sprawled up high on a tree branch.  He is a beautiful cat but somewhat cross that we have turned up. We watch him yawn and stretch and then he leapt gracefully down to the ground and stalked off after some dinner. Wow!    Then totally satisfied we drive back to camp and just before we arrive Newman who is ever vigilant spotted a beautiful Giant Eagle Owl sitting serenely in a tree.  He was huge! 

After a gorgeous dinner we sit around the big fire in the Boma and talk about all our sightings and listen to stories from Newman…