safarhis

When we woke up, we were still relatively warm. After tea / hot chocolate and one of the famous Botswana rusks (a combination between flapjack and biscotti), we were off with Rebecca and five of her group. Three were in Ona’s vehicle and the others, including Michelle, stayed at the lodge. Michelle later told me…

Onks dropped us off at the airstrip and we boarded a light aircraft. Rhiannon, now flying for the fourth time, had asked me in Heathrow if she would be able to see the cockpit. Now, she was practically in the cockpit. She had taken to flying like a lilac-breasted roller. The flight was great. We…

At dinner on the previous night, Onks told us that the French couple was leaving early in the morning so we would be the only guests. He suggested that we might want a lie in until 7am. We replied, in unison, that we would like to be out as early as we could, 6am if…

After the hilarity of the previous night, Rhiannon and I forgot to set our alarms. The elephants woke us with a start at 5:45am and rushed around in a panic, freezing cold and flustered. Thankfully, we had learned by now to pack our bags and get our clothes ready the night before. We only kept…

It was dark when we arrived back in Mogogelo so Onks escorted us and the French couple to our tents and said he would be back to collect us at 6:55pm. Claudine snorted at him. When we approached the enclosed dining area, we could see that the tables had been removed and set up outside, near…

It was our last morning in Xaoo. Our transfer to our next camp was at 9:25am, too early to allow us to go on an early morning game drive with Tom, Siân, Brody and Nicole. They had headed off with Joe at 6am as usual. We, on the other hand, had a ‘lie in’ until…

Saturday was another 5am start. Rhiannon, who had slept for four and a half hours, was understandably less than bright eyed and bushy tailed but a mug of hot chocolate and the prospect of another game drive soon did the trick. She quickly spotted a pair of jackals, the camera whirring quietly. By now, her…

Our first full day in Botswana started abruptly at 5am when I was jolted into consciousness by a klaxon. It was only when Rhiannon leapt from her bed and fought her way through the mosquito net that I realised it was her phone alarm and we were not in danger of an imminent attack. It…

We set foot in Botswana on Thursday afternoon after travelling for almost 16 hours. After clearing immigration and securing our passport stamps, we headed to the baggage area of Maun airport where we were very pleased to be reunited with our bags.  Our travel agent, Gareth (South African despite the name), had told us that…