The Kalahari in Bloom
Trip dates: March 31, 2017 - April 2, 2017
The last stop we had in Botswana was the Kalahari Desert. To be specific, we stayed at Deception Valley Lodge (DVL) in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. And even though it is the desert, the rains and high growth that we saw elsewhere in the region meant there was a lot of tall grass and colors here in the desert too, which we were definitely not expecting.
We flew another puddle jumper aircraft from Kadizora in the Okavango Delta to Maun, re-fueled and picked up two more passengers, then continued on to DVL. Our two passengers were British expats who were living in Botswana - they were nice but a bit chatty to each other during the game drives, which was a bit annoying!
The camp was really nice and open and our room was pretty large. The only downside was that the room probably hadn't had a guest in a while, so we had a few issues like gecko poop in our towels, big ass spiders (and more lizard poop) on our bath robes, lots of dust, and bats that thought they owned the place at night. Seriously - during the night, bats would flutter and freak us out because they'd get so close, and we'd hear them flying around while we were in bed with the mosquito net down. When in Africa, right? At least the bed was comfortable, the outdoor shower was refreshing (it was hot there), and there was a ceiling fan that helped a bit during the day when it was toasty if we wanted to nap.
The food here was delicious - the chef went to culinary school in South Africa and her skill level and creativity really showed with the variety and quality of food.
One of the unique things about DVL was that they have a big focus on sharing the local Naru tribe (local bushmen) traditions. Our first day, we got to see two of the local guides dress in traditional garb and show how they lived in the bush. We got to see weapons, ways to find water, even fortune-telling techniques! It was something that we weren't sure if we'd like since it sounded super gimmicky, but the guys put on a really good show and seemed to be really into it. With the guides' authenticity and enthusiasm, as well as lots of interactions with us, we ended up enjoying it a lot.
Our game drives here were a little less eventful because of the height of the grass, so like in the Delta, we saw less overall animals, but the sightings we did have were usually pretty unique. We also got to experience a lot of new and beautiful scenery and learned a lot in the process.
We came across this old bull giraffe when he was looking for water. There are a number of water pans that are filled by the DVL staff to help provide for the animals (and also to keep them around in the dry season). One was supposed to be left to dry, but our guide felt bad for the giraffe having only stale, brackish water. So he showed us how they have diesel pumps that would fill the pan with something like 10,000 L of water, which would only last a few days at most during the dry season.
We really enjoyed the amount and type of information our guide gave on this trip. He would frequently stop and hop out to look at tracks, or grab some fruit off a nearby tree to show and explain how locals would eat it, and just generally provide lots of interesting info. He was an Afrikaaner but had basically grown up in this area of Botswana; he could speak Naru and was essentially an honorary bushman.
Lishan was picking up some tips on tracking from observing our guides and asking questions on our previous safaris, but here, they gave us more even more details on what you were looking for. Our guide would tell us about how to determine how old tracks were, how to differentiate the types of tracks (i.e. lion vs leopard), and really involved us in analyzing the tracks and why we were going in a certain direction.
Here are some of the fun experiences and random things we learned.
As I mentioned, the scenery here was really great and continued our streak of being amazed at how different and beautiful each section of Africa looked.
We were super sad to leave Botswana, as we'd really enjoyed learning about the people, the culture, the animals, and eating the food! However, we still had a lot to see in South Africa. We ended up flying our little plane to Maun before hopping on a real plane again to go to Joburg. Yet again, we stayed at our favorite African Rock Hotel and had some great food before heading to another safari in South Africa.
Lishan is working on Safari Tails Pt. 3, so check back for that to hear some more highlights about our adventures in the Kalahari!
