Fishing Haven on the Kavango
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Shakawe, North-West, Botswana
Firstly to put your minds at rest, the Kellys had their passports and our food stored in our trailers while we were away, was 100% . Terry of course had to rush to a Sports shop to replace his zooty red mirrored "Bali" sunglasses which were his pride and joy ! This was one of the items left behind in Kwetsani! While on our first game drive, our vehicle took on a huge branch which got caught up in the chassis and no amount of pulling by the 3 strong males could dislodge this branch and in the process, the sunglasses fell off Terry's hat and were never to be seen again - probably trampled into the soft sand by an Ellie! Did he have a spare pair - no. So for 3 days he had to suffer in silence, especially as his dear sweetie pie had just warned him of the dangers of leaving glasses perched on a hat !! Do men take advice from their wives - not likely!!
Drotskys Cabins & Campsite is located on the Kavango River just 10 kms south of Shakawe and is close to the Mohembo Border Post into Namibia. The fast flowing river has a variety of 17 species of fish and the riverine forests attract many migratory birds including the famous but elusive Pel's Fishing Owl and so the happy campers were keen to experience a new venue and hopefully a dinner of freshly cooked Bream! Peter was leading the stakes in the fishing count and Terry was very keen to level the playing fields!! Yours truly also loves fishing but had some catching up to do .
Campsite 14 was just up our alley - lots of trees with plenty of shade and on water with prolific bird life and a territorial Fish Eagle who perched in the same spot every morning and let us know he was there. Drotskys has been around for 30 years and is owned and managed by a Botswana family. For those not wanting to camp, there are fully equipped log cabins and A-frame bungalows situated in the main grounds of Drotskys with beautifully maintained gardens and lush green lawns and a lovely buffet restaurant and bar. Boats can be hired with a skipper to show you the best fishing spots on the river.
We started our trip with 4 fishing rods, one got snapped in half at Kwetsani and on opening our rod holder on our first fishing stint on the Kavango, we were left with 2 and a half rods!!! Go figure !! Yes, sadly, this was the other item Terry left behind on the boat in Kwetsani! The top half of my fishing rod was missing so I would have to do battle and beg for the use of a rod when and if the fish started biting. Were we lucky with the fishing ? The tally of 2 tigers and 2 barbels over 3 days is not what I would call lucky but we did get lucky to see and photograph the elusive Pel's Fishing Owl in broad daylight high up in a Jackal-berry tree while on the river, thanks to our Skipper, Zebra . The bush telegraph was alive and well on the river and as this bird is on every twitchers priority list, Zebra was well aware that Carol would grease his palm with some well deserved Pula. Carmine Bee-Eaters gave Terry another good reason to haul out his Nikon D610 and get some wonderful shots of these colorful birds.
What would a campsite be without the conniving and entertaining vervet monkeys? The Kellys' were thankful that there were no baboons to rip open tents and take revenge on the human species for invading their space - we were remembering Chilojo Cliffs in Gonarezhou in 2014 - surely after that experience I could easily deal with these little buggers!! Haha - forget it!! Turn your back for one second and they pounce into your kitchen and grab whatever food is to their liking and if you leave your vegetables on your trailer shelf to reach for yr fridge, they fly down from the trees where they have been quietly watching you and grab your prized avo before you can blink, then scuttle up the closest tree to enjoy their treat while quietly smirking at your stupidity! So our lunch of crayfish was minus the avo and no apples for our fruit salad !! Cheeky and irritating but entertaining none the less . Before long they will be opening our car doors and unzipping our tents!! Monkey see monkey do must be their motto!
Night skies with trillions of stars, some wildlife and quiet evenings around the campfire are some reasons why seasoned campers leave the big cities and head to the bush and believe it or not there is etiquette when visiting any campsite around the world. Not so for some brethren who piled onto campsite 17 - our guess was that they were workers on a contract in Botswana looking at their one man tents and not much else. They arrived with souped up car engines around 10pm each night, music blaring from their cars, shouted to each other in the communal ablutions as if they were 2kms away and then laughed so loud that they gave the Hippos a run for their money. Next up was an 'all men team' on campsite 12 - they left their campsite lit up like a hospital ward and after numerous bottles crash landing in an empty bin, they chatted like irritating monkeys well into our last night . Eventually they ran out of conversation and kept saying "so what should we talk about now?" Thank goodness they had just arrived that night so did not spoil our overall stay at Drotskys.
We tasted some tiger fish which Terry caught and Peter cooked and consensus was that it's quite an oily fish but very boney so we won't be rushing to eat it again but Bream is another story entirely and guess who caught one - a young lady from Swakopmund, who won a two night stay for two donated by owners of Drotskys and boy were we envious to see this 2 kg fish being hauled out by a novice.
Will have to do more homework on fishing the waters of Botswana!
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2025-02-12
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Lilian East
2016-09-02
Loving all the posts and pics Lizzie. Tried to mess previously but it did not work.
Love to both of you.
L
Cliff Kelly
2016-09-02
Great photography Brother and superb blog Lizzy! Ipi lo legaan ka wena bruru? Yena funa dubula le nkow. Aih asi jonja futi!! "Legaan" refers to your trusty "ketti for pest control! " Love from us both. Got the paint order I quoted on this morning! !
Cliff Kelly
2016-09-02
Tell you what Lizzy, I'll settle for that crayfish meal!! No worries about the avo! !
mnandi_in_oz
2016-09-03
Shakawe ?..........Is that anywhere near that remote place, Fakawe.. you know where the pygmies of the Fakawe tribe come from ? Very reclusive people. To find them you have to stand on a large anthill and say "Where the Fakawe ?". Have fun guys - Skoen Boet
Dassie D'Assonville
2016-09-04
Great blog Liz Sounds like you having a great time Safe travels Hope to see you guys in Clan
Ingrid and Leish
2016-09-04
loving your blogs - I feel as if I am there with you smelling the dust, feeling the heat, thrilling at the good sightings, enjoying the camp fires and starlit nights and enjoying a cold G & T!