After a long day’s flight to South Africa from Arizona, and an overnight night in Johannesburg, we flew to the city of Maun in northern Botswana, at the southern edge of the Okavango Delta, where we would spend the next 12 days. Our photography safari was arranged through Wilderness Travel using Capricorn Safaris, which I highly recommend. I was there by invitation from my friends Lee and Barbara, and we were joined by Greg (Hungary), Chris (Great Britain), and Rodolfo (México). We are all avid photographers. The Okavango Delta is a curious geological feature; the Okavango River flows inland, spreads out into a delta, and then vanishes in an extensive desert. It never reaches the sea, but provides a rich haven for all kinds of wildlife. 

Lee and Barbara (below), and I were shuttled from the airport to Thamo Telele, a really nice game lodge outside Maun, where we would spend three nights. The staff at the lodge was very warm and welcoming. Each day included breakfast, lunch, high tea, and dinner. After high tea, we went out each afternoon to the watering hole for a sundowner with Emma and Katie (below), who run the Giraffe Conservation and Education program. However, we saw much more than giraffes: zebras, kudu, wildebeest, impalas, vervet monkeys, ostriches, marabou storks, and Egyptian geese.

Following Thamo Telele, Capricorn Safaris took the rein and off we flew to our camp in Moremi. Our guides were Adam and Ezekiel (“EZ”, below in the dining tent). There, we had two vehicles, each with a guide and three passengers. The guides’ knowledge of the terrain and ability to spot animals is by far the best I’ve ever encountered. When we arrived at camp, it had already been set up: a main open tent where we would dine, sleeping tents, the kitchen tent, and (I imagine but didn’t see) a small village of tents for the staff. While we were tenting, the experience was somewhere between what I remember from Boy Scouts and glamping. The beds were incredibly comfortable, we had a very cool sink, small electric lights powered by batteries, an indoor shower that was supplied with a bucket of hot water at 5:30 a.m. (which lasted about two minutes), and a toilet room… of sorts. Oh, and look! A rare photo of me taken by Lee. As he noted, “These are the hands that plate the food…” The staff of Capricorn Safaris is truly amazing, and extremely accommodating. I cannot say enough good things about them. (Adam, below, with his son, Shane.)

After our three nights at Moremi, we packed up and drove to Khwai for the next three nights. In both of these camps, the schedule was identical: get up pre-sunrise, drive after breakfast, lunch back at camp, photo-editing time, high tea, a late-afternoon drive, a rather hearty sundowner “snack” on the road, then back to wash up in time for dinner. Before and after dinner, we would sit around the campfire and share our daily adventures. Chef Kay and her assistant Susan did a great job of preparing excellent meals in a camp kitchen (and, no, I cannot stay out of the kitchen). To say they were magical (and long) days is an understatement.

After our third night at Khwai, everything was packed up, the Capricorn Safaris crew headed home, and the six of us and our two guides proceeded onward to Camp Okavango, our final destination. This involved a game drive that took us to a boat launch (with a champagne brunch en route) where we met our boat, Jenje, and her captain, to take us to the lodge. We had two incredible days and nights at Camp Okavango, a luxurious lodge in the middle of the north fork of the Delta. From the lodge, going on safari meant going by boat and then on foot with our guides, Thabo and Boston. And, yes, there were lions on our walking safari, and our guide was armed. Happily, there was another group between us and the lion we saw; I’m sure they were tastier. Adam and EZ stayed with us until it was time for us to head to the “airport” for our flight back to Maun, from there to Johannesburg and back to the States.

Now, on to the animals. Let’s start with lions. I had hoped to see at least one or two lions. We saw 46, often in family groups. Spectacular!

As cats are my favorite, I’ll continue with the leopard. We saw but two, and for that I’m incredibly grateful, as they are very hard to spot. Sounds like a bad pun, but their markings aren’t actually spots, but rosettes; spots are reserved for the cheetah.

My first ever encounter with a cheetah was in a cage in Nairobi, where Mark and I were allowed to get in and pet them (after they had their lunch). In Botswana this particular cheetah was in the wild, yet happy to pose for us. It was only when editing photographs that I noticed he had quite the gash on his rear leg, probably from a recent animal encounter of his own. 

Zebras are one of my absolute favorite animals. For this photographer, they are graphically perfect. I had to stop myself from taking endless photos of them.

There was no shortage of majestic pachyderms almost every day. Even deep in the Delta, we saw elephants in the river among the reeds. They are amazing creatures, with close family groups. Several times, we got quite close… probably closer than Mark wanted for me!  I asked our guide Adam what an elephant footprint look like. Within moments, he pulled the Jeep over, got out and showed me several enormous and beautiful prints in the sand so crisp they showed the “fingerprint” pattern. 

Giraffes are another graphically beautiful animal, if a bit ungainly. I was surprised to learn that they have the same number of neck vertebrae as humans do — seven. That said, each vertebra is about 12 inches long.

The grumpy uncle of the animals is the cape buffalo. They never look happy! Oddly, if you come across the skull of a cape buffalo, it looks like it’s smiling. EZ would always say, “Now there’s a happy buffalo!” Most often, we saw small groupings of cape buffalo, though once we saw an entire herd. It was astonishing.

DLAs. Deer Like Animals. This is a term we learned from friends we visited in Kenya years ago. There were so many species of antelopes, often in constant motion, that they just decided to call them all DLAs. Below you will see clockwise from the top: waterbuck, lechwe (ma, impala, wildebeest (gnu), tsessabe, oryx, steenbok, and more lechwe (females).

When I was in Namibia, there was a sentiment among the group that baboons were disgusting. However, in Botswana, I developed a fondness for them after seeing them in their family groupings. Baboons tend to socialize in clans of around 40, and we got to see a large group as they were finishing up their day, getting ready to cross the Delta. They do not like to get their tails wet, so the machinations to which they went to keep their tails dry was very funny. (They also hate going in the water because they are afraid of the crocodiles.) It was definitely one of the more memorable animal sightings of the trip.

We saw vervet monkeys at several locations. They are sweet, funny little things, and a joy to watch. They are dexterous, and could open our doors if we didn’t latch them. 

I always thought of Hyenas as incredibly mean, probably under the influence of The Lion King. Yet, when we saw a large family grouping, they seemed more like big puppy dogs, and were incredibly sweet to their young.

I once had a children’s book called Hippos Go Berserk!, which was a charming counting book for children. It gave the impression that they were fun and sweet animals. I learned that they’re one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They were a lot of fun to watch (from afar). One night we heard them fighting for hours – probably to the death – and I’ve never heard anything so eerie in my life. 

Mark’s parting words to me were, “Stay away from crocodiles!” It seems sensible advice, given how lightning fast and dangerous they are. Most of the time we were pretty far away from them but, once, we got up close while in a boat and you could really see how fierce they are. I particularly love the photo of a crocodile eye just above the water. Creepy, eh?

There are myriad birds in Africa, many kinds attracted to the delta, and we saw quite a few. Below are some that we saw (each row, left to right): lilac-breasted roller, carmine bee eater, white-fronted bee eater, swallow-tailed bee eater, malachite kingfisher, pearl-spotted owl, marabou stork, marabou stork, yellow-billed stork, pelican, yellow-billed stork, saddle-billed stork, African darter, jacana, lapwing, Egyptian geese (and goslings), whit-faced whistling duck, hamerkop, African fish eagle, hoopoe, bateleur eagle, tufted bearded woodpecker, kori bustard, ostrich.

And you cannot go to Botswana without mentioning the night sky. Breathtaking.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this visit to beautiful Botswana with me. It was indeed the trip of a lifetime!