It was about 7.30am when KG and Gift turned up at Senyati Safari Camp to take us to Savuti National Park for four days. I had been keen to visit Savuti and was interested to visit at least three diverse regions for Safari in Southern Africa. The sand desert and salt pan areas of Etosha (Namibia), the water wetlands of the Okavango Delta (Botswana) and dry lands of Savuti appeared to offer the right degree of diversity. I was sure that these three famous national parks would give an excellent over view of wildlife in Southern Africa.


Dream Safaris were an impressive outfit, owned and managed by a Botswana man called Mist (this in itself appeared strange, as most companies we came into contact with were owned and run by white Southern Africans) . Mist placed us with his ‘best’ team of KG (a guide with several years experience of working in a top lodge in Savuti) and Gift (a cook and camp manager). Both we met for the first time the previous morning in Kasane and they now arrived in a real 4x4 towing a large trailer at Senyati. We immediately got on well with both of them. KG and Dad sat in the front so KG could try and keep him awake, whilst Gift and I were sitting in the back.


The first part of this mobile safari involved a long 200 km drive into the Savuti National Park which was at the western edge of the Chobe. This national park was mainly accessible via notorious sandy roads that meant that many tourists did not make the journey. A small number did in their 4x4’s or with a mobile safari (like us) or a few others flew directly into their luxury lodges.


I had a pretty good idea what a mobile safari would entail, Dad didn’t . I was later to explain this to him in modern terminology - ie glamping, and glamping was exactly what it turned out to be. However, before the glamping could start, we had to negotiate this notorious road. It actually turned out to be rather tame compared with Madagascar, but it was time consuming and it took us over four hours to reach camp.


The camp itself was right in the centre of the national park underneath a small group of trees on of plenty of soft sand. Sand was becoming a major feature of this region. Soon we were to have in our clothes, our tents, the car and in our ears. We were about 50m from one of the Savuti Channels, a river network that floods on average only once each 20 years or so and just happened to be in flood now, due to the heavy rains at the beginning of this year. This exposed our campsite to may passing elephants, some wandering some 30m from our tents.


The site itself was just sand and a sign . Nothing else and Gift immediately set about erecting everything. Table, chairs, tents, beds (with linen), toilets and even a shower plus a fire to cook on. It was all impressive and I suddenly (worryingly) realised that my father would now compare our subsistence camping to this experience.


Once unpacked KG immediately took us off for our first safari and sundowner. These sundowners appear to be rather popular in this part of Africa. They are really only sunset photo ops, coupled with alcohol if one is that way inclined.


The safaris on the other hand were what we were here for and very soon, we were able to tell that Savuti was a great place. Our safaris would take place at 6.00am until 11.30 when we would return to camp for a large brunch with Gift (who had remained there). In the afternoon we did nothing whilst the animals had their siesta, but emerged around 4.00pm to safari again until the sunset had finished when we raced back to camp before the national park closed at 6.30pm.


Over the course of our next six safaris we saw huge herds of buffalo (over 100), giraffes (over 50), impala, kudu and other antelope. Many birds including Fish Eagles, Eagle eared Owls, Vultures, Secretary Birds, Storks, Kingfishers, Ibex, Hoopoe plus the usual others . The highlights from our four days included, a large pride of lions that we saw on the first full day. This pride comprised of four lionesses, two males, six cubs and one adolescent male. I thought it was odd to see two male lions with a pride, but KG assured me it was not and they would be brothers. When we came across the pride, we could only see one lioness poking her head out above the yellow grasses. That changed over the next hour as the pride started to move. Lionesses, the adolescent and the cubs were soon on the march finally followed lazily by the males.


We tracked them with some other tourists for the next two hours as they clambered over fallen trees and termite hills. The cubs were adorable and all the while were venturing closer to our vehicles. There were also some wildlife camera crews following the pack. I misheard KG when he said “filming” as I strangely thought he said “Philippines”. This lead to a big misunderstanding when I asked why nationals from the Philippines were allowed to drive off the safari roads and everyone else was not. Oh Botswana English is hard to understand sometimes!


Eventually KG pulled ahead of the other vehicles in order to get a good spot in front of the advancing pride only to realise that the lionesses were advancing on a group of wildebeest and were starting to stalk them. What followed was fascinating as the lions set out to encircle the herd and we followed the lead female to see her stalking the group. It did not take long for the wildebeest to suspect something was up, even though they were down wind. But fear and confusion quickly spread through the group of about forty as they tried to ascertain in which direction the threat was emanating. In the meantime the lead lioness had managed to circle the group and was now crawling towards the wildebeest and was soon in a position amongst the long yellow grass to charge and cause major panic in the beasts close to her sisters. With half a dozen tourist vehicles now ringing the herd, the next 40 mins was incredible exciting. Unfortunately for the lions they were sprung. Probably by their cubs at the last minute and the wildebeest fled into the bush in the only safe direction. The lionesses retreated with their cubs to a shady tree for a group siesta under the watchful gaze of the two males who had now caught up with the pack after a lazy stroll across the grassland. This was an unforgettable experience and was only enhanced by KG illumination of the cat’s tactics. We now watched the group under the tree for maybe thirty more minutes. They were only at most 5 meters from us and just ignored us as the cubs played away. What a treat!


It was difficult to imagine how we could top this experience, but in the afternoon we stumbled on a vast gathering of giraffes. Initially it appeared that there were some twenty individuals around a waterhole. However this proved a vast under estimate, as some forty plus more were lurking in the trees behind. Young giraffes and females were drinking at the waterhole, with their ungainly legs and their strangely abrupt ending to their drinking statue, they provide great photo opportunities. Later a large male appeared from the Acacia trees, hounding a lone female across the plain. We drove around looking at all these strange animals, who just starred back in a manor that reminded me of Penelope Keith in her heyday.


The following morning its was jackals and buffalo that provided the major spectacles. We stumbled on a group of Jackals playing and hunting in the same long yellow grass where we had watched the lions the day before. Having glimpsed jackals in Sri Lanka I was initially a little underwhelmed, but this changed the longer we watched. They weaved and bobbed through the grass, jumping after little mammals and other members of the group. Like the other animals we had seen, they seemed oblivious or completely unfazed by the presence of our Toyota.


Next we stumbled on a large herd of grumpy buffalos. who stood in a group with the big males on the outside for protection. They also seemed unaware of our presence, but confused by the vehicle and they allowed us to get very close. The leading males had the most amazing expressions that I spent the time trying to capture these on film. They were constantly harassed by an army of Oxbow birds. These birds were constantly on the go, flying in and around the animals faces, eating insects in their noses, mouths and ears. Sometimes they would appear to greatly annoy their hosts, just as they annoyed the giraffes the previous day. We spent a great deal of time watching these majestic animals and I have to admit that I started to revise my opinion of them. In India and Sri Lanka I did find buffalo quite uninteresting. But here in Africa, I am starting to see a new side of this one member of the Big Five.


With this fabulous concentration of wildlife on our first four safaris out from the camp, I was now excited to experience the fifth and final safari. However, for the first 90 mins of the safari we saw virtually nothing. This was unusual as we drove quite a large distance to many places we had visited before where we had seen previously many animals and birds. As the sun started to set, KG drove us back towards camp, when unexpectedly we stumbled on a vast herd of buffalos surrounding the secluded waterhole. In the deteriorating light they numbered over 100 and glared at us with their grumpy expressions as we crawled past. This was quite a sight, but as the sun was now setting and the Savuti park closed at 6.30pm, we had to return to camp. About 2 Km from our campsite we past another safari car going the opposite direction. KG soon learned that a leopard had been spotted and turned the car around and gave chase at a surprisingly fast speed.


Dad and I hung onto our seats as we backtracked over the rough sandy terrain to a small waterhole in the shade of a large Baobab tree. Here underneath was a young male Leopard. KG said he had just left his mother to fend for himself and was hungry. He was crashing around the long grasses surrounding the waterhole, chasing Guinea Fowl and Doves. In fact anything that moved and he was obviously very hungry. After some nine attempts to see a Leopard both here and in Sri Lanka, this was my first sighting and despite the fading light and the fleeting nature of the sighting it was a big thrill. The leopard suddenly climbed a tree, chasing a bird and then descended and headed off into the sunset. We reversed and sped back to our camp. The next morning the adventure was over. KG and Gift dismantled the site and we drove slowly back to Kasane. It had been a memorable trip, made special by the animal encounters, but made so memorable by the warmth and professional nature of both KG and Gift.