Safari and Guides Services Blog

Phil Zappala a Director of Safari and Guide Services has kindly donated four photos of Elephants that he has taken in Chobe

National Park to a charity called ‘a life like lily’, set up by a young boy named Jack Chapman Lanting who goal is to raise

$NZ20,000 to donate to Elephant Nature Park Chang Mai Thailand, to help save the Asian Elephant from torture and neglect.

To read more of Jack’s story take a look at http://www.elephantphotofundraiser.com, also have a look the amazing photos that are for sale to help Jack reach his goal.

The Safari and Guide Botswana Team wishes Jack all the very best.

Latest News!!!!!

We are very pleased to finally be able to write to let you know how Jack got on with his photo fundraiser.

See below the email that was sent by Jacks family on behalf of Jack.

It’s taken all this time to finish up the event, get all the money in, photos to arrive at their destinations and to reach a final total which is $7982NZ. A huge success!!!!!

Selling 5 of your trunk prints helped make up that total and we are very grateful you allowed Jack the loan of your beautiful work……thank you from all of us, but especially Jack.

It’s been a massive undertaking and a big learning curve but it has all been worth it as we are off to Thailand on the 28th of October so Jack can save his elephant and bring him or her to the safety, freedom and dignity they will have at the Elephant Nature Park .

As you can imagine Jack is a very excited young man right now. His grand total is sitting at just over $17,000NZ and in the next few weeks with a garage sale, the sale of some of his paintings and a dinner/quiz night, we are very hopeful he will get to his goal of $20,000 in time.

It was a pleasure helping out with such a worthy cause and wish you all the very best, I hope that one day you can come out here

and see the wonderful sites that Botswana has to offer. Last night I had an elephant eat my sausage tree from over my fence, but

I enjoy every minute of it. We live and work in a truly wild place and it is a pleasure to see these wonderful creatures nearly

everyday.

Phil.

Have a question about travelling in Africa?

If so then Bush Guru is your man!

Feel free to ask of Bush Guru and we will drag him into the office so that he can give you an answer.

We met our guide Frank Chikosi early in the morning, the sun was rising slowly and the air was crisp. There was an element of excitement throughout the group, more so for myself as I love elephants and I knew that Chobe is renowned for its large amount of elephants. I have travelled to Africa many times and I never get tired of seeing elephants or the smaller things in the bush.

We arrived at Sedudu gate and within a minute we were in the park, it was starting to warm up slowly. We enjoyed watching some amazing animal behaviour, that I have never seen before such as tree squirrels huddling together to stay warm, ground hornbills scratching around with one picking bark of the tree and baboons lying out flat in the morning sun. We watched the ever playful baboons for a short while; the youngsters were climbing the tree and jumping off, battling for position, then doing it over and over again. Some people look past the things that you see all the time, but for me every time I come to Africa I could stay and watch these animals all day.

We moved along and came across large groups of Impala, Kudu, Puku and Lechwe. Puku and Lechwe I have never seen before so I was very excited to see them. We then met a large bull elephant that came within a metre of the vehicle, he had a quick look at us, sniffed us, then sprayed some sand and moved on. What an amazing site, Frank filled us with confidence to sit and enjoy this experience, something that I will never forget.

Later that morning we saw two female lions watching over the valley for some food, one of them watched a herd of impala in the distance and the other kept a watchful eye on us. We thought they might start to hunt but after a final bleary look from the lioness they flopped back on the ground to sleep again so we left them in peace to enjoy there siesta!

We arrived at camp soon after, what a surprise to see such a wonderful set up in the true wilderness of the bush. The camp was very luxurious; my Morula tent was spacious, clean and very comfortable. I was very impressed with the ensuite set up, and it was a very nice to have hot water in my hand basin on arrival. The set up is a tribute to the SGS staff who obviously worked hard to ensure that my time in Chobe was enjoyable.

Then comes the food, the lunches, breakfast, the brunches, dinners and everything in between was lovely. I really enjoyed the traditional goat seswa, and the roast beef, it always amazes me what can be made on a fire in the bush. Anton the chef did a great job throughout the trip, to everyone who reads this I recommend that you get into the bush to try his food, forget about people like Ramsey and Oliver the chefs we had could beat them hands down any day. We even had a birthday on the trip and a beautiful bush oven made cake arrived at the table complete with candles and chocolate icing quite amazing.

After a siesta we headed out for an afternoon game drive there was plenty giraffe, baboons, hippos, elephants, impala, herds of buffalo, crocodiles and incredible numbers of birds of prey.

On the way back to camp we saw two male lions and followed them as they walked on the road, they were scenting and calling. The noise of two male lions calling made our whole vehicle and our bodies vibrate, what a joy to listen too. They were closely followed by a black back jackal calling, the light was fading and we headed back to camp to listen for them from our camp fire.

The camp was again a welcome site and I had the opportunity to have a hot bush shower. As I was enjoying my shower, I heard what sounded like a stampede, as I grabbed my torch and looked around and saw a giraffe running past, I thought to myself it is not everyday that your shower is interrupted by a giraffe running by it must have been surprised by those lions we had seen near by.

To retire to a lovely fire after a long day, listening to the sounds of the African bush is a treat and topped by lovely food and a glass of red wine I felt truly relaxed something that is rare in life in the UK. Each day was equalled in its new experiences, amazing sense of space and wilderness as well as kind, welcoming and knowledgeable staff.

I cannot wait until I can visit Africa again and hopefully explore more of Botswana with SGS. A huge thank you to everyone for making my trip so memorable.

A Big Thankyou

Shelagh

Angus, Scotland UK.

Take a look at some more great photos taken by Safari and Guides Services directors Jen Millar and Phil Zappala on Flickr