Interesting Birding and Lions on Our First Safari in Botswana

Last you saw, we were in Granada. Getting to our next adventure in Botswana would take a few days and flights. Botswana was where we left off our trip last year when I broke my leg.

Getting There

First, we drove back to Madrid to drop off the car and hop a flight to London Heathrow Airport. Mike had found a well-priced nonstop red-eye flight to Johannesburg the next evening. In all, it took 5 hours of driving, 3 nights and 4 flights to get from Granada to Botswana.

Storing Our Stuff

For our Africa trip, we were told that we had to have soft sided luggage without wheels. So we bought duffle bags in Spain. There are tight limits on weight for flights around Africa as well, so we had to divest ourselves of some of our stuff. Before our departure from, Spain I started researching where we could store our suitcase for our 3 week safari and the prices were pretty bad.

We already planned to spend the night at the Renaissance in London and they said they would store a bag for up to three months for free if we stayed on the back end. We were already planning to pick up a car and drive out of London on our return. So, I canceled that reservation and we made another reservation at the Renaissance for our return to London. Storage solved.

While in London for the one night, we had to do laundry and then sort through all of our stuff and decide what to take to Africa, not so easy. After packing our duffels and putting everything else in the stored luggage, we were ready to head to Africa.

A Night in Johannesburg

In order to catch our flight and account for any luggage issues we needed to spend a night in Johannesburg. Our tour guide suggested a hotel in the airport, which sounded pretty good. But the hotel turned out to be at least a half a mile from arrivals. On the plus side, the food was decent and we got a good night’s sleep. The next morning there was a porter with a cart waiting to walk back to departures with us. Yeah, our duffels were really heavy.

Heading to Botswana

We boarded a small plane for our first flight of the day to the northern city of Maun. Our tour included greeters at each airport, so we were ushered to the Mack Air check-in for our next flight. When that was done, we were taken across the street to a restaurant and told to wait there until our next flight.

Our next flight was on an even smaller plane to Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta. It turned out to be the first of many flights on the Cessna Caravan 12 passenger light aircraft that are flown all over Africa. They seem to have the same routine each time. You identify your bags on the tarmac before they are loaded on the plane. Then you board and find a seat on the very compact plane.

Flooded Airstrip

When we arrived at the next airstrip our driver was there to pick us up, that was good. The bad news was that we would have a two and a half hour drive over dirt roads in a safari vehicle to reach our lodge. Also, the little airstrip was quite crowded. We were told that because of late rains and flooding in the delta the regular airstrip couldn’t be used, hence the very long ride.

We did see some animals on the way but with driver trying to go as fast as he could my eyeballs were vibrating. Finally we arrived at our lodge in time for dinner.

The Nokanyana Lodge

Our hosts told us that the lodge was completely open to the preserve and we couldn’t walk around at night without a guide. The same thing turned out to be the case at a few of our other lodges on this trip. We couldn’t see much when we arrived but we were surprised that there was no canvas on the entire front of the tent cabin, just insect netting. We also learned the next day that the cabin faced the river, which was only about 15 yards away. That would explain the bellowing noises we heard at night and early in the morning. I thought I was hearing warthogs when I was actually listening to the hippos in the river.

While the tent was nice, it was freezing at night. Our hosts put “bush babies” hot water bottles in the bed for us but it was incredibly cold at 5:30 am when we got up for our first game drive. That continued through our entire stay.

The lodge provided all our meals, starting with breakfast during our morning game drive. Lunch and dinner were served in the dining area and there was swimming pool, but it was too cold. After dinner one evening we had a special treat of the staff singing and dancing for us.

The most interesting part of this lodge was its proximity to the river. We heard lots of loud animal noises at night that turned out to be the hippos in the river right in front of the lodge. We saw them every day after in roughly the same place. During the day, other animals came to the river to graze or drink.

Cold, Cold Mornings

As I mentioned, it was really cold in the cabin in the morning. It was truly unpleasant every morning to get out of a warm bed and put on cold clothes and lots of them. But the game viewing during the day made up for it. Also, I am sure that canvas on the front of the tent would have helped, too.

We thought after being so cold in Namibia the year before that we had brought enough warm clothes this time. We were wrong. The earmuffs helped considerably but a sweater and two jackets just didn’t cut it. Fortunately, our guide provided us with lined ponchos and bush babies for our laps once we got to the vehicle.

Game Drives in Botswana

The entire reason we were there was for the game drives. The morning drive started before sunrise at about 6am. I must admit I’m usually not up at sunrise and it was really very pretty but it didn’t make up for the bone chilling cold. We would typically stop at about 8:30 for a standing breakfast somewhere in the bush. Then return to the lodge around 11 to enjoy lunch and the afternoon off.

The pace of the game drive is typically fairly slow so your eyeballs don’t bounce. With frequent stops for animal viewing.

Our afternoon game drives started at about 4 pm. By this time, it was usually warm but we knew it would get cold as soon as the sunset, so we brought lots of clothes with us. Our guide would find a nice place to stop to watch the sunset with drinks and snacks. It always had to be an area there we could get out of the vehicle without encountering any animals. This practice is called a “sundowner” and we were usually asked what we wanted to drink. Our choices were usually beer wine or this new drink called “gintonic”, one word. Of course it is what we call a gin and tonic, but not in Africa.

We would return to our lodge in the dark and have dinner. Rinse and repeat.

Animals in Botswana

I thought we would see a lot of elephants in Botswana because the pictures always show elephants but there is really quite a variety of animals in the delta. Starting from my animal list from previous trips to Africa, I started marking off the animals we saw.

We love the animals and our time in Botswana was highlighted by the lions. On the first game drive we saw a male lion with four lionesses. They seemed to be traveling somewhere, probably to hunt. The guide said that the cubs were stashed somewhere while the adults looked for food.

The next day we saw two lionesses with four cubs of different ages. We watched the lions for a long time because they are so beautiful and special. We also saw a very rare African Painted Dog that I thought was a hyena because of its markings. They are endangered and very difficult to view.

Birding in Botswana

In addition to the mammals in Botswana, there are lots of interesting birds. In fact, our experience showed us that we were actually quite interested in birding. So, I started keeping a bird sighting list. It was also helpful that our guide knew a lot about birds and he had a book where he could show us pictures. We really enjoyed the birds far more than we thought we would.

Cancelled Canoe

As part of our package at Nokanyana Lodge, we were supposed to go on an hour long canoe trip. However, when we started asking about it we learned that the canoe ride started at a place near the airstrip. So we would have had a five hour ride roundtrip for a one hour canoe trip. While we really like canoeing, we didn’t like the drive so we told them to cancel canoeing.

Camera Issues

Mike speaking now: Prior to launching into retirement with Our Big Trip in 2019 (wow, so much has happened since then), I purchased a Sony RX100 VI Digital Camera because I wanted a good, small camera for our planned safari. Five years later, that camera was basically worn out and needed to be replaced for our safari in 2025.

After looking at options, I chose to go back to the Sony line and get the latest version, the Mark VII. Overall, I was happy with the prior one and I must say I’m quite happy with this one. I don’t use it as much as before, primarily because the phone cameras have improved so much in the past few years. I get better colors with my Pixel 9 Pro than I get with the Sony. Still, the zoom and auto-focus on the Sony make it better for me for the demands of safari photography. Unless…

Unfortunately, it had been a while since I had played with the camera when we started in Botswana. I has having a devil of a time getting my focus to work. It wasn’t until the end of our time in Botswana that I was able to stabilize the setup. Not good for Botswana, but at lease the rest of our Africa travels would yield better shots. Bottomline: spend a little time with your gear, new or old, prior to heading to Africa to ensure you have the right equipment properly setup so you get the most out of your precious time on safari.

Impressions of Botswana

Botswana is definitely worth a visit to see a variety animals and birds. I just wish it hadn’t been so cold. The animal sightings almost made up for that. But, the cold really stuck with me.

Does Botswana look like a place you would like to visit?