Arriving back in Botswana we headed straight for the Senyati Safari Camp, some 20 kms outside Kasane. It was accessible off the main highway linking Zambia and Zimbabwe with central Botswana and really was quite an isolated campsite. The bush road looked easy enough, but several meters into the road, the sand suddenly got quite deep and the Honda got stuck.


This was the cue for me to start filling our large canvas bags with sand to get us out but we were fortunately rescued by two South African 4x4s before I had started and towed to the campsite . I had been concerned about the clearance of this 4x2 Honda and this experience just reinforced my belief that it was totally unsuited to this terrain.


The campsite was fabulous if rather sandy. The facilities included a self contained camping area with private en-suite ablutions, BBQ & fire areas. It also had a bar on a raised platform overlooking a large picturesque waterhole and a photographic hide opposite the hole with underground access. We immediately settled in.


That evening under some fantastically bright moonlight we were visited by herd after herd of elephants. They would access the waterhole by entering the campground on the other side of the road next to our tents and crossing the site until they approached the creek which fed the waterhole hole. For the next few days and nights we were treated to the sight of these magnificent beasts walking past our tents (there was no fence) in both the day and the night en route to the water hole . Throughout the evening, trumpeting calls, snorts and splashing would emanate from the hole. Sometimes at night the trumpeting would wake me up in my tent, but never once did I feel threatened by the elephants close proximity to my tent. Nevertheless it was the hide that offered the best views of these beasts. At night by the strong moonlight or even during the day, the views were intimate and spectacular. Sometimes we were visited by a solitary male elephant and other times by herds of up to 30 individuals some of whom very very young.


The only downside was that this waterhole only appeared to attract elephants. On one occasion early in the morning I did see my first giraffes in the distance, but they never made it close enough. Warthogs and baboons were the only other mammals that I saw at Senyati. We also spotted a large graceful Fish Eagle one morning and a huge quantity of Red billed Hornbills and Blue Starlings.


Our other goals during our stay at Senyati included the organisation of a trip to Savuti and two Chobe Riverfront Cruises . For Savuti, we managed to find a local company called Dream Safaris and engaged them to take us off for a four day, three night safari in Savuti National Park some 200 kms away. The roads leading to Savuti were sand based and therefore not suitable for the Honda so we had no option but to use a ‘mobile safari’.


The riverfront cruise in the Chobe National Park just outside Kasane is “one of the must do things’ in North Western Botswana and I was keen to use Pangolin Tours, a photographic safari company that specialised in photographic tuition and equipment in special aluminium flat bottomed boats. We met the owner Gertz at his beautiful riverfront property in Chobe the day before we left and were very impressed. So we decided to do two trips, a dawn and sunset trip the following day.


Unfortunately the weather was not so kind to us for our early morning start . From the time of the sunrise (for the first time since leaving Cape Town) we were not greeted by blue sky but thick impenetrable cloud. This dark light shrouded the riverbanks making photography almost impossible and obscuring may of the birds that we were hoping to spot. Nevertheless we ventured out into the national park with Lynne our guide from Zimbabwe, who turned out to be an excellent birder and photography teacher.


With the sky a dark shade of grey it was difficult to get any good photographs, but we managed to see many Kingfishers including the illusive Giant and Pied variety, Bee eaters, Herons, Cormorants, Egyptian Geese plus Elephants, Hippos and Crocodiles. Most interesting was the Jacana. A small beautiful white and blue headed bird about the size of a pigeon. The most unusual thing about this bird is its immense size of its blue feet. These were some three times the size of its head and this size is so useful as it uses these big feet to ‘walk on water’ hence its nickname as the Jesus bird or “JC”, according to Lynne . It was very photogenic, but quite a challenge for the camera as the trick was to get its feet and head in focus whilst it was leaping over the lilies. It is also well known for the promiscuous nature of the female, which mates with as many males as possible, lays its eggs and leaves the males to look after the offspring whilst embarking on her search for the next sexual encounter. “I wonder what the religious fundamentalists think of that,” mused my father.


Our afternoon trip was far more productive with good sunlight and plenty of wildlife, allowing far more photos. I photographed the Woodland Kingfishers hunting, Pied Kingfishers fighting, Elephants mud bathing and swimming between reed islands. Baboons and Impalas drinking, more Jacanas, Storks, Buffalos, Fish Eagles and Spoonbills. These were two excellent trips and a huge thanks must go to Lynne who was great both times. Now I only wish we had taken the opportunity to go more times.


In the evening we started to get ready for our Savuti trip. We also returned for one last time to the local Indian Restaurant (which we had started to frequent) and was producing some of the best Indian food I had enjoyed since leaving India itself. That night in the campsite at Senyati I was treated to more Elephants coming to the waterhole underneath bright moonlight and spent a while photographing them from the hide.


In the morning Dad and I got up early, packed and waited for Dream safari’s arrival.