PanicVantura to Hot-lanta to Jo'BurgWelcome to South AfricaVictoria FallsFirst SafariMicrolightsChobe Safari LodgeChobe Game DrivesMoremi Game ReserveCape Town, South Africa
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Moremi, Botswana
We left the Chobe area and headed to the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango delta. We made the transfer on a cool GA8 Skyvan 7 seat cargo plane. We flew low over the river for the first bit of the trip, and it was cool to see the Chobe river and park from the air at about 100 feet. We landed at a tiny bush airstrip halfway to Moremi and picked up two additional passengers. The strip was literally a dirt patch in the forest about 20m wide by 500m long. We made the next hour long flight leg at about 120 knots at 500 feet up. Elephant herds were pretty easy to spot from the air. Seeing the Okavango from the air was very cool. It looked like there were a lot of vehicle tracks that went through high water areas. Our guide later confirmed that the area had much higher waters than usual and a lot of the roads were flooded. We landed at the Moremi airstrip (another tiny dirt patch) where we were greeted by our guide Oaitse (pronounced Oats) in an open top Land Rover Defender 110 diesel. We threw our crap in the back and headed into the park towards our camp.
Along the way we stopped for lunch at a small lake. Oaitse whipped out a picnic table (with tablecloth), chairs, set the table with enamelware dishes, and then laid out tupperware containers with potato salad, green salad, pasta, fruit, cookies, and biltong (totally awesome dried meat…different from jerkey…biltong is marinated in salt and vinegar, then sliced thin and hung to dry in the air for a few days). He also brought out a cooler full of drinks including things like canned sparkling water and “liquid fruit” cranberry juice. While we enjoyed our picnic by the lake, a herd of elephants cruised by to check out the spread. A big bull elephant got a little too close (about 5 meters), so Oaitse manned up and chased the thing away by clapping, shouting, and stomping at it which was kind of crazy to watch. After chowing down, we repacked the Landy and drove the rest of the way to camp. It took about 3 hours to make the rest of the journey.
11 June-13 June Moremi
The camp setup was totally over the top. Nic and I had our own tent with twin elevated memory foam beds, two chairs, and a small table with a paraffin lamp, a whistle to call the staff in case of trouble, tissues, insect repellent, etc. The tent had an attached bathroom structure with two folding camp sinks, a hanging shower, a table with soaps, lotions, water jugs, lamps, and towels, and a dugout pit toilet with a seat box and bucket of ash with a trowel to “flush”. Robin had her own identical setup. The rest of camp consisted of a bar area with a tarp floor and 3 tables around a camp fire, a dining room tent, and staff tents (for the chef, mechanic, helper, and two “tent ladies”). This was all set up for just Robin, Nicci and me. Talk about crazy. Each morning, the tent ladies would come by and wake us up at around 5:15 “nok nok...time to wake up”. They would bring hot water jugs for the bathroom, and a hot shower bag if requested. The cook would prepare breakfast (cereals, fresh baked bread, yoghurt), lunch (picnic salads like the first day), and dinner which was usually 3 courses of something awesome like a soup or salad followed by a roasted meat with a vegetable medley, followed by a something like a poached pear in wine sauce. The really wild part is that the chef made all of this over a camp fire!
Our time in Moremi was occupied by game drives and boat rides. We saw all sorts of wildlife, and we learned a tremendous amount about animal habits and behaviors, tracking, plants, and life in rural Botswana from Oaitse. He was a fantastic guide who had loads of stories and incredible life experiences. Our truck also broke down…in the middle of nowhere…at night…with only one flashlight…and a broken radio…with a truckload of mechanics that we had rescued…while surrounded by Hippos and Hyenas.
Our camp had two vehicles including the Land Rover Defender 110 which we used for the game drives, and a Land Cruiser FJ75 which was the camp support truck. The transmission in the cruiser had been damaged on the way into camp and would grind like hell in first and second gear. Our mechanic had radioed for some mechanics to drive into the park (about 6 hours from the nearest town) with some spare parts to try and fix the cruiser (although they had somehow convinced him that it was a damaged flywheel, and not the transmission…wtf!?). On the way to our camp with the tools and parts, the mechanics drowned their old Nissan SUV in one of the river crossings. Somebody had pulled them out of the river, but left them on the side of the road. We transferred the mechanic team (3 guys and 2 kids) and some of the tools and parts to the Landy on the way back from one of our game drives. These dudes had to leave all of their camping gear in their disabled vehicle. By the time we had picked up the people and gear, it had gotten dark. About 3 km from camp, we spotted something off in the bush with our spotlight. Oaitse stopped and shut off the vehicle so that we could all listen. Of course, the Landy wouldn’t start. We tried to radio the camp, but they did not answer. The only real flashlight we had was my Petzl headlight, which I spent the next 45 minutes holding for the mechanics as they tried to beat the crap out of the starter motor with a box wrench in an effort to get it to work. Plan A failed (radio for help). Plan B failed (beat the hell out of starter motor with a wrench). Plan C failed (hotwire the starter motor with stripped cable from the spotlight). Plan D failed (9 people trying to push the truck through the sand).
Plan E…GO! Oaitse and one of the mechanics took my headlight and a dull machete and decided to walk back to camp to get help. The rest of us were to stay in the Landy in the dark and not move under pain of death until they got back. They headed out down the road to camp, and as soon as they left, we were able to hear Hyenas laughing and Hippos grunting (sounds like Jabba the Hutt) all around us. About 5 minutes later, the cruiser came grinding around the corner with Oaitse, the mechanic, and Madume (our mechanic who had come out looking for us). Robin, Nic, and I piled into the back of the cruiser and lugged back to camp in 3rd gear, leaving the mechanic team to face the darkness. As soon as we were back at camp, the cruiser went back and rescued the mechanics and pull started the Landy. Fortunately, disaster was averted.
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Cool Elephants!
Written by drjill 36 months ago
What a neat tour. Sorry about the truck drama... but hey, that's bush life I imagine. Not a real hospitable place for anything mechanical i imagine! :) Looking forward to WC pics!