Jo, one of the Aardvark team based in Scotland, recently spent some time in Botswana
Before I left cold and wet Edinburgh, I had visions of experiencing an outrageously hot and even wetter Botswana.I was wrong. I spent a couple of weeks in December (their summer) exploring parts of this large, under-populated country, and even though I went in the supposed rainy season, it was a magical time of year to visit.The temperature is hot but not scorching, it rains often, but just enough to clear the air, the game is outstanding and the land gloriously green. The young impala had just been born, I saw the elusive aardwolf, bat-eared foxes, wild dog and brown hyena, not to mention an abundance of lion, leopard and cheetah.
Botswana’s Okavango Delta could well be called a modern day Garden of Eden. We were well looked after in comfortable, attractive small camps, met extraordinary people, saw incredible sights, and did not have to share the joy with hordes of other people.
What about the camps?
Such quality and exclusivity usually warrants a high price, but the Aardvark team found some excellent camps
offering genuinely good value together with high standards of accommodation, excellent food and interesting activities.
African Horseback Safaris’ Macatoo Camp is such a place. We spent two days riding good horses at speed over the floodplains and through the woodlands of the Delta. We were even able to ride to the airstrip to join our flight to Maun on the day we left. Awesome.
Mokolwane Camp is a great option for those who like to ride occasionally but as part of a mix of other activities which include guided walks, game drives, fishing and boat trips, and traditional mokoro canoe excursions.
Camp Kalahari on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, offers all the activities that this area is known for including quad biking, walking with Bushmen, meerkat watching, and game drives to see the intriguing desert adapted wildlife. We spent an afternoon with a couple of knowledgeable ornithologists watching huge numbers of migrant waders and water birds in one of the temporary waterholes that arise when the rains come. It was an extraordinary feeling to see so many water birds in a desert.
Footsteps is a delightful semi-permanent camp with just three tents on the northern edge of the Moremi Game Reserve. It offers a real wilderness experience, focusing its activities on walking and learning about the bush and all that lives in it.
The little visited Central Kalahari Game Reserve is one of the largest protected areas in Africa. Year-round game includes a number of desert adapted species while the wet season brings in huge herds of migratory game.
Kalahari Plains Camp and Tau Pan Camp, both excellent new properties, offer a different perspective on Botswana’s wildlife to that of the wetland Delta areas.
The Mashatu Game Reserve on the banks of the Limpopo River in the south east of Botswana offers fantastic game viewing in a rugged and remote wilderness setting. A couple of excellent camps here provide authentic safari
accommodation, good food and great guiding. Value does not just apply to what you pay for something – it applies even more to what you get for the money. Botswana will never be a cheap destination, but it will always be great value for what it offers – the supreme safari, habitat, ecology and activity destination, providing privacy, low numbers of fellow visitors, wonderful hospitality in very small camps, and outstanding people. It’s worth every penny. available in this country make it suitable for any person of any age to visit.
I think this was the first time in Africa that I really felt emotion when taking off from the runway in Maun to leave Botswana and there is no doubt that I would jump at the chance to return.
We nervously swam in the Delta, hoping not to come face to face with a crocodile or hippo, despite the fact that our guide had assured us there was nothing to worry about.
