Wild destination: Botswana (page 1 of 4)

It’s been almost six months since we returned from our 15-day trip to Botswana, ending in front of the majestic Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

Our itinerary: 1 night at Maun Lodge in Maun 3 nights in the Central Kalahari at Deception Valley Lodge 1 night at Maun Lodge in Maun 3 nights in the Okavango Delta at Sango Safari Camp 3 nights in Chobe National Park at Chobe Safari Lodge 2 nights at Victoria Falls at A’Zambezi River Lodge

We were on a tight budget, so we opted to rent a vehicle for the Central Kalahari and the Okavango Delta.

The lodges are expensive but all-inclusive—meals, drinks (alcohol included), laundry, and the usual two daily safaris. In short, everything.

The lodges mentioned above offer a very high-end experience, with a guide and a 4x4 for each tent. We shared a 4x4 once at Sango Safari with an English couple.

Another little tip: I’d avoid staying at Chobe Riverfront like we did. It’s extremely touristy and overpriced. I think we should’ve spent one night there for the cruise and two other nights at a lodge deeper in Chobe National Park.

We arrived in Maun after an endless flight: Paris-Frankfurt-Johannesburg-Maun. We headed to the car rental agency to pick up our 4x4, and what a surprise to learn they’d canceled our booking—no vehicle! After 6 hours of waiting, we finally received our 4x4 at our hotel, fell asleep peacefully, and were ready to head to our first destination: the Central Kalahari!

The central Kalahari:

The reception area facing the common space:





A few photos of our room:





A little bonus in the common areas at night:





And off we go for the safaris! A small sample of the thousands of photos we took:

Hello

Lovely photos. Looks promising! I’ll try to follow your story. We’re leaving in about two weeks for South Africa and, among other things, spending a few days at Victoria Falls. From here, just getting there already feels like it’ll take forever... Can’t wait to read more!

Overall, we really liked the Central Kalahari, but it's clearly not the easiest place to spot animals—the bush is dense!

Back to Maun in the morning to fly over the delta for about an hour: Takeoff! Breathtaking landscapes with the bonus of spotting animals from above.

After a night in Maun, we're back on the road heading to the Okavango Delta!



A few observations along the way:







We arrive at our lodge:







And off we go for our safaris in the delta:

Delta J2:







































To be continued in the next post...

End of the second day and start of the third:











A new day begins, full of hope (and we weren’t disappointed!)

And finally, the last day in this exceptional place:

Hi Jean-François

Great photo gallery, you were really lucky! 😎 From some of the photos, it looks like you moved between lodges in your 4x4 but did the game drives with the lodge staff? Muriel

Hi Jean-François, Thanks for this travel journal on Botswana with the great photos—the bittern with the frog 🙂

Which lodge were you staying at in the Central Kalahari? I think there are really very few. It’s a place we loved so much, but we were camping.

Hi,

Could you tell us more about where you stayed? 😛

Your photo gallery is amazing! 😎

Hi Jean-François,

As I see it, Botswana still lives up to its promises!

Hi Jean François, Wow, what amazing encounters right from the first moments on Botswanan soil! 😎. I’ll be following this travel journal with great interest because Botswana is likely our next destination in Southern Africa 😉.

Hi

What camera gear did you use (lens, etc.)?

Thanks

The 24-hour window has passed...

Yes, Botswana still seems to live up to its promises! We didn’t get lucky enough to see any African wild dogs—we missed them by just 3 days in the delta.

I’ve added the places where we stayed.

As for photo gear, I have a Canon EOS 80D with a Tamron 150-600 and a Tamron 18-400.

Thanks! 🙂

I really like this series.

End of the second day and start of the third:

The ones where you can really see the animals' eyes 😎

You had some amazing moments 😛

We’re heading back to Maun reluctantly (gotta say it) to return the car and catch a flight that’ll take us to Kasane, then transfer to Chobe Safari Lodge.

When we arrive at our hotel in Maun, we find out that Air Botswana’s flight is canceled... We look for a solution and find Macair, a company specializing in transfers. It’ll cost us $50 per person (actually cheaper than a flight with the national airline) for a transfer in a small 12-seater single-engine plane. We’ve got a meet-up the next morning for our flight.

Upon arrival, we transfer to the "lodge," which turns out to be a large hotel complex (far from the 8-tent lodges we’re used to).

We settle in, and in the afternoon, we go on a cruise on the Chobe River—a must-do! The elephants swim across the river to move between Botswana and Namibia.

The matriarch looks for the best spot on the bank to cross, then leads her herd across. Everyone crosses, including the little ones. They’re always well surrounded. Under the watchful eyes of the hippos. Then it’s mud-bath time—the sun’s beating down, gotta reapply sunscreen ;-)





We spot lots of animals on the banks:

To wrap up the day (the lodge’s well-oiled routine), the sunset over the acacias After dinner, we sorted through our photos and hit the sack early—we’ve got a 5:45 AM wake-up call for our first 4x4 safari in Chobe National Park.

We got up, headed to reception, and climbed into our 4x4, still in awe of what we’d seen the day before and super excited—until we saw the 30 people waiting... We made our way to the counter, gave our names, and were directed to a 9-seater 4x4. We squeezed in next to seven other people who were already seated. Needless to say, taking photos with a 600mm lens was going to be tricky. Off we went on this "safari" on land...

Our guide mixed up the names of the animals and, more importantly, didn’t stop to let us observe them or take photos. Still, here are the few shots I managed to get:















As you can tell, we were bitterly disappointed with this lodge. The accommodation and food were great, but the safaris felt like a factory. We should’ve done more research.

Back at the lodge, we had a long think about what to do next. Clearly, we’d made a mistake, and we couldn’t see ourselves continuing under these conditions. After some thought, we decided to book private safaris for the rest of our stay.

While we were having coffee at the lodge and mulling things over, we had some visitors: This little guy took advantage of me turning my head to swipe the pack of cigarettes I’d left on the edge of my chair and ran off with them...







We spoke to the safari organizers and booked private safaris for the remaining trips. We decided to redo the Chobe River excursion that afternoon—but just the two of us this time:















All we wanted was to do safaris with smaller groups, but the lodge’s policy is to pack the 4x4s and boats to the brim, so we didn’t have much choice. Looking back, I think we would’ve been better off staying just one night at this lodge and then moving to another one deeper inland.

Hi Jean François, What an amazing moment crossing the Elephant River. It must be both impressive and nerve-wracking to see just the trunks of the little ones above the water 😮. Too bad the Chobe Safari Lodge didn’t live up to expectations for safaris. Still, you had some great wildlife encounters ;).

The next part of our private tour:







I didn’t have time to zoom in for the next one, unfortunately...















And we’re wrapping up our boat tour with these images. Tomorrow, our first private 4x4 safari—we can’t wait!

5:45 AM, it stings a bit, but we’re excited. Cameras are out, batteries fully charged, and we’re ready! Good thing the camera was ready—after a few minutes, a lioness comes to check out all the early-morning racket! A little later, we find her with her friends:









Then, as we venture deeper into the park:

It’s a bit annoying having a 20-photo limit and only being able to upload one at a time...