Baines Camp, Okvango Delta, Botswana

Saturday, Baines Camp in the Okavango Delta

After a long flight (4.4 hours total, two hops) we arrived in a beautiful, wet part of Botswana, We landed at Francistown for av gas and to pay landing fees. The currency is Pula. The forms used carbon paper. We had a lunch packed for us at Chupunga and ate in route, We landed at Stanley’s on a dirt strip and a Toyota land cruiser and our driver and guide Martin helped push the aircraft to a suitable spot and we headed for Baines Camp-45 minutes of bouncing, fording water that was so high it went over the hood of the vehicle and into the floor of the vehicle. Baines Camp is beautiful; buildings build on stilts and connected by raised walkways. The construction is amazing-the people collected aluminum cans, sealed in wire mesh and Hessian panels and finished with an elephant dung plaster. Only 5 rooms and 9 guests! The place is run by a young Irish woman who has been here for 10 years and 4 months ago married Charles, whose family owns a winery in Cape Town. Our room is darling, a king size bed, covered in mosquito netting that they roll out on our deck so we sleep under the stars. Water and wet lands surround is and the hippos are in the camp. An elephant hangs out in the camp. Like other camps we are free to walk around but after dark we are escorted around. The game drive last night was great, we saw all the usual and two spotted hyena puppies (? They are in the cat family) and they were so friendly I thought they would get in the vehicle! I think the mother was off hunting as we had seen a female adult earlier in the evening. We returned to camp around 8, took quick showers and gathered for cocktails on the deck with the other guests around a firepit. Very lively group, the Duff family from Michigan/London and his 3 adult children and one of their spouses. A nurse from Orange County rounded out the guests and Chas and Semma joined us. We ate at one large table and the wine and food was the best yet.

Around 5:30 we were awakened from our outdoor bed by a gentle voice. We found tea and rusks waiting on a table inside. We washed our faces and brushed our teeth and layered up, ate a quick breakfast in the dining area and headed out in two large vehicles to meet up with Doug and Sandi Groves (for more information and a look at the elephants go to Living with Elephants on the internet.) and their family of three elephants
Botswana is home to more elephants than anywhere else on the planet-25%. For the next 6 hours we learned more about these wonderful animals and grew to love them. Doug and Sandy’s mission is to educate people about them and to raise these three as healthy elephants that are truly ambassadors for their wild counterparts. The three consist of a bull, about 5 tons, and two cows. The bull and one of the cows have lived with Doug for 20 years after he rescued them from a cull. The second cow has been with them about 12 years, and he rescued her from being put down. Elephants are the longest living land mammals other then man. They require years of training by their parents and the herd. Deprived of this training by a cull, she turned to bad behaviour. With a 3 ton animal "bad behavior" includes killing rhinos and overturning cars. Doug said that for months she tried to kill him every chance she got. Thanks to his patience and the assistance of the other two elephants she has come around to the point that, like the other elephants, we were able to touch and examine her. The bull is so large that I could just wrap my arms around his foreleg. It was amazing to watch Sandy, Doug's wife, stroll around and under the bull. She was about 5 foot 1, and could walk under him without ducking. At round noon we found ourselves under some trees enjoying a wonderful lunch. The elephants ate nearby, a variety of elephant treats that had been trucked in.

After a short nap I am attempting to catch up on this blog that will be posted one of these days.

The Okavango Delta seems suited to be an elephant habitat, lush and green and with enough foliage to provide these huge animals the food they need without leaving a scarred landscape of trees ripped out of the group and bark eaten trunks. The down side of this beautiful area is the biting flies and humid heat. Mornings and evening are very pleasant but midday is hot.

Baines Camp has a free laundry service and we needed it after this morning. We hugged elephants, played with their trunks, walked with them with their trucks on our shoulders, were kissed by them, and heard a chorus of their vocalizations (which sound very much like a didgeridoo.

I have not detailed the animals lately because they are so common. Who would imagine that we could get rather blasé about seeing a giraffe or a troop of baboons, wonderful birds. They are everywhere and watching them is so enlightening. The guides are very knowledgeable and Martin has a great sense of humor and a great driver. The vehicle HAS a snorkel like thing that allows it to go into deep water.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Another great night of sleep on the deck under the mosquito net covered beds. We hear hippos in the nearby waterhole. Someone at breakfast reports hearing lions roar. Breakfast is a lovely buffet. Food at Baines has been the best. One of the guests suggests the cooks make a cookbook and we all agree we’d buy it. We bid the Duff family goodbye as they head out for a charter flight to another camp. We set out with Martin for our game drive around 6:30. It is cool this morning. I am wearing my jacket, long sleeve shirt, capris, hat and my Wolky boots. Sun is coming up and it feels fresh and exhilarating. We see a lovely group of zebras, giraffes and wildebeest grazing together, then head for a spot where a leopard tracks lead us. An impala hangs from a tree where it has been hoisted by a leopard. No sign of the leopard. The Impala is very common and easily seen and preyed on by lions and leopards. We see a very large troop of baboons and coming home a large group of elephants. A young cow charges the vehicle several times making a threatening roar. I must say it was a little frightening. Botswana has lovely smells, sort of herbal and fresh. Martin tells us that it has only 1.7 million people. They are really talking advantage of the natural resources to support themselves.

We are back in the room, reading and blogging and looking forward to tea and a boat ride to see hippos and crocodiles. Have I mentioned the laundry service? It is included in the cost and comes back everyday spotless and ironed and is left in a basket in our room and tied up in tissue paper with raffia. Have I mentioned that each game ride the guide stops and set us a table with tablecloth and serves us tea or coffee in the morning and a mixed drink in the afternoon, complete with appetizers? And South African wines are served with dinner and that they are great. Baines Camp may be the nicest yet. All the African crafts are made by the staff or families of the staff. I am tempted but would like to wait until the end of the trip to avoid hauling it for the next ten days.

September 29, Monday
Last night was quiet at Baines Camp as the other guests had departed. Instead of our usual game drive Martin took us on the delta in a small, open aluminum boat. We saw several hippos, lots of birds. African birds are spectacular in color and call. We drank a glass of wine by the firepit, joined by Semma and Chas, then a quiet meal-Springbok. It was superb, the best game I have ever eaten. Went to sleep on our mosquito net covered bed that had been rolled out on the deck under the stars.

This morning after breakfast we went on a mokoro (dug out canoe) one of the staff stood in the back and pooled us through the reeds and lily pads. The lily flowers are white to a dark shade of purple and every shade between. We saw the evidence of herds of elephants that cross from island to island. When the water is deep the babies ride on their mother’s backs. We saw tiny frogs that were difficult to spot as they blended with the brown and green reeds. The air was full of fresh grassy smells-Botswana smells so good. How can warm, wet delta smell so fresh?

I asked Charles if most Botswana’s were as happy with the government as Martin and the others were. He said yes, it was a very democratic government with good leadership and a process of involving the people in decisions. They have heath care, good schools and the government is successfully using the nature resources to employ the people and keep them in the rural areas.

After the mokoro ride we left for the airstrip. Martin has surrounded the tires with thorny bush to keep the hyenas from eating the tires. The cleared the runway with the Toyota and off we went. The flight to Sauvuti was to be 35 minutes but a strong head wind made it closer to an hour. Lots of small airstrips visible from the air as we left the lush Delta and headed north to a dryer region. Our guide, Goodman picked us up in a land rover and we headed to Savuti. Savuti has 5 large accommodations and 1 family tent that sleeps 4. More later as it is time for a nap in the huge bed, its 1:30 and the heat of the day.