A Botswanan Adventure.

[drron]

Walking you could see there was absolutely no adipose tissue-

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[drron]

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You may think that is a lot of pictures of one lion.many more are in my picassa album!Over the 6 weeks of this trip I managed to shoot 6100 photos.
The lion walked into a wooded area.The other cars followed but we went back for lunch and a well deserved nap.
finish off this thread with our room-

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And decorations in the main building-

 

[turtlemichael]

Presumably the lion had had lunch as that lady's leg hanging out the van looked mighty tasty to me.:shock:

 

[drron]

There had been five Australians in our car but on the way back from the morning drive the fifth fellow was delivered to his plane.We gained another Australian couple and the six of us just hit it off.We had a ball.anyway we started off our afternoon drive very sedately on the roads and saw one of the little five-an african tortoise-

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Also the light was just right for this starling-

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Of course just after that Ishmael was off road again.I am certain all my internal organs have been rearranged.we headed for where the leopards were seen.Unfortunately they were well hidden.We did though get good views back to the camp-

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So it was being a little quiet on the first part of the drive.Other highlights-

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I also loved these kingfishers.nearly as colourful as the rollers.

 

[drron]

So I told you I loved the kingfisher-

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Next was a mother elephant and her new baby-

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We had set Ishmael another task for this afternoon and that was to find a rhino.The next 2 camps did not adverise rhino.Well we got to see this-

A rhino's rest room.sadly not the animal who made the deposit.It was now getting time to think of our sundowner drinks.Ishmael knew of a waterhole.Only two problems-

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A young brother and sister.Drinks would have to wait as we followed them.

 

[drron]

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So the lions were now some distance from the waterhole so back we went for delayed sundowners-

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[Princess Fiona]

Just catching up with this pictorial feast
What an amazing TR and thankyou for sharing it with us. Eagerly waiting for the next instalment

 

[drron]

Hands up who didn't guess this post would be the sunset.As I said I love these African sunsets-

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It was dark when we set off back to the camp.Ishmael lost the track and twice a young male lion passed just in front of the car and these fellows were hunting.When we got back on the track we encountered a herd of elephants-lights had to be turned off as sometimes they will charge at the lights.
then we had to do a slight detour and pull another car out of the sand it was bogged in.got back to camp ~ 1935 so just a quick freshen up before dinner-lamb shanks,very nice.

 

[zig]

got back to camp ~ 1935

At the risk of repeating myself - wow, what a day!
Your photos are magical, thanks for posting. Love the sunsets and all the animals.
I'm enjoying your trip so much that I am reconsidering my plans for 2014. You are doing a great job for African tourism.

 

[drron]

Thanks zig.This trip has been on my bucket list since childhood.I really enjoyed it.A lot of research went into it as mrsdrron wasn't and still isn't keen on Africa.She does admit our Botswanan trip though was enjoyable.Botswana was picked because of it's reputation as being the least corrupt government in Africa.Also because of it's policy on poaching which is shoot to kill(the poachers).In the early days when poaching wasn't as organised and most poachers crossed from Namibia it was shoot to kill but leave one to go back and tell the tale.It obviously has been successful.In Chobe National Park there are well over 100,000 elephants.In Namibia just across the river which elephants can swim there are none.
Also talking to many I have the utmost respect for the first President who was in fact cheif of cheifs or king.Botswana was not a British colony but a Protectorate so the locals had more say in the decisions.When the Chobe NP was set up ~ 1960 and then with other national parks or game reserves he went around to every village affected and talked with the people on why he wanted the village moved and what benefits would come from it.That promise was kept and virtually all jobs now are locals in the camps.Puts us to shame.

So enough politics back to the animals.today was going to be another great day.Started off with a grey heron-

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So today was to be the day of my first African kill.Well you did see the frog in the heron's mouth didn't you?
Next though was a sight thay completed our lion experience-

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[drron]

So we had a pride of 4 mature females and 2 cubs-

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The cubs decided they were hungry-

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But mum was having none of that-

So they tried their luck with one of the other females-

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But no luck there as well.

 

[drron]

Something caught their attention-

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A couple of minutes after they noticed so did we-

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A hyena was looking in the direction of the cubs.After a few minutes it decided there was time to leave.One cub made sure it was gone-

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[drron]

So the last of the lions-

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Then we noticed the birds-

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So a hammer hawk,storks,a fish eagle and more storks.

We finally continued on our drive and very quickly came across this-

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A tower of giraffes.At least a dozen but probably more.

 

[Major]

I had to look up a tower of giraffes....just to make sure

 

[drron]

So now a giraffe pictorial-

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You have to be lucky to get a shot of the mythical 3 headed giraffe!

 

[drron]

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[drron]

Every giraffe has a different pattern of body patterns.So theoretically if someone who knows their giraffes looks at these photos they could tell you their names-

The next on the list was a herd of greater kudus.normally these are fairly skittish but this lot was happy to stay-

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[drron]

It was now time to have our morning tea.The spot chosen appeared to be a haven for birds-

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But also evidence of the cycle of life-

 

[drron]

Now it was time to head back to the camp for lunch.A relatively quiet period.There were some zebra-

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A large herd of elephants in the distance-

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And a waterbuck-

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And the common impala-

 

[drron]

Got back to our room and a troop of monkeys were entertaining themselves there-

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Then off to lunch and this time took my camera but all that were there were the warthogs and kudu-

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Lunch was a ball.The 6 of us sat,talked and drank until someone looked at a watch and it was just past 3pm.Only time for a very quick freshen up before the drive.Mrsdrron though opted for a massage.
Now there were a lot of new arrivals-8 Finns who were friendly and 8 Americans who weren't.You could see the disapproving looks we were getting at lunch.On the way back from freshening up I finally found a squirrel who could stay still for a little while-

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