Richter Safari
Richter Safari Chobe to Moremi end in Maun.
The first day I picked my clients up from the Kazungula Border, it was a Sunday and it was very busy with people crossing through the border, we drove straight from the border post to Chobe National Park gate (Sedudu gate) approx 18kms.
We drive through Kazungula and Kasane to reach the National Park. Along the way there are opportunities of seeing wildlife in and around the town as they border the National Park and Forest Reserve. Residents here often see animals and have them strolling through the streets Elephants, buffalo, warthogs and baboons are common to see however people have seen Leopard, Serval, Hyeana and Wild dogs. So you never know what you may see on the way to the park.
After a short registration at the park gate, our first sighting was a large warthog with large warts and tusks. We drove down into Sedudu valley and we had a brief encounter with a Lioness with tiny cubs, obviously very shy and protective she moved back into the thick bush, my clients were very happy to see this, not bad and only 5 minutes into the park.
On the drive to our camp we saw hundreds of Elephants and Buffalo, again something that Chobe is famous for. We made it into camp and it was set up ready to go by Jerry and Shakka. That night we had a great sighting of a civet as he wondered into camp looking for food. We turned in early that night looking forward to the adventure that was ahead of us. We heard hyena, lion and Jackal calling that night and they were not far away.
We awoke early the next morning and set out to see what we could find, it was very crisp early in the morning. We drove only for a short period of time and came across wild dogs chasing impalas, but they missed. There was lots of birdlife around trying to warm up in the early morning sun. The doves look bigger than they actually are as they are puffed up to keep themselves warm.
The afternoon game drive was also very pleasant with all the usual suspects out and about, we also saw a large herd of zebra, which is very nice but slightly unusual to see at this time of year. We had our sun downer close to the riverfront, there is something magical about the sunset and it provides beautiful photographic opportunities.
The next day we got up fairly early and drove to Savute, the marsh is flowing the area looks great and there was plenty of game around. We saw lots of Tssebe, Ostriches, Steenboks a first for my clients. Steenboks are small antelopes that often are preyed upon by predators, they tend to blend into their environment and can move quickly through the thick bush if need be. They also can live without water for long periods of time, another interesting survival technique that this small and agile antelope will do to avoid predation, is that they will dig a hole and cover their urine/droppings to avoid any other animal picking up on the scent.
That night was action packed, well for Jerry one of SGS members of staff, he was sleeping, or trying to sleep in his tent when a lioness with cubs lay down next to his tent. They later settled 200 metres away from camp and called to other members of the pride. In the morning brave Jerry retold the story ‘The lion was breathing and making noises, pretty much right next to my head as I was lying there, I was lying still and not make any noises I didn’t even want to scratch my itchy nose, what a night have a look at the spoor’ Sure enough next to the tent was spoor of a large lioness and possibly two cubs, an exciting night for Jerry.
After the excitement of the night, we moved on our way to Moremi, which yielded a even more exciting river crossing in the Khwai area. After our water crossing we drove along and came across one huge bull elephant who walked around our land cruiser, we sat there in complete silence, the bull decided to sniff the bonnet and under the front of the vehicle, what an amazing spectacle, the sheer size and weight of this animal so relaxed next to our car. He stayed for a while and later walked away gently. The guy’s sets up camp for us when we arrived to Moremi, we then decided to go for our afternoon game drive; we came across lions mating which excited my guests. During a mating session the couple copulates twenty to forty times a day for about 3- 4 days, during this time the male wont let her out of his sight. Gestation period for a lion is approx 110 days.
That night was quiet in camp and everybody retired to bed early. We awoke that morning and headed out on a morning game drive, we were approx 2kms away from camp when we saw a pack of wild dogs, I would say 20 strong that appeared from every direction busy hunting an impala, we watched them for a while and they moved on, the speed and the tenacity of these beautiful animals always amazes me. We did a short game drive and saw plenty of kudu, elephants and a big pod of hippo. Our safari was coming to an end and one of the last things that we saw on our way back to camp to get our trailer to move onto the airport was that the pack of wild dogs that we had seen earlier had killed an impala and almost finished it.
What a great sight and what a great Safari, the company and the sightings were great. Along the way we had met many people that were in Southern Africa for the World Cup and the vibe was great, we arrived in Maun and said our goodbyes.
Thankyou very much for a great trip and safe onward travels.
Frank Chikosi.