‘I’ll just go and grab your pilot, I think he’s having a fag.” So spake the Moremi Air representative while transferring me to my next aerial roller-coaster ride — yet another tiny Cessna — that would wing me to Kwando Safaris’s Kwara camp in a private concession north of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta’s seasonal flood plains.
My pilot, a Kiwi like 30% of all charter pilots in Maun, was having a smoke while watching the dying seconds of the rugby World Cup final.
He greeted me minutes later, informing me with a sly grin that Australia had just been deprived of victory via the boot of England’s Jonny Wilkinson. I moaned, in true South African fashion, that the Poms would be even more insufferable than usual, completely ignoring my birth and upbringing in Cambridge.
In truth the rugby World Cup seemed a million miles away, as did every other intrusive accoutrement of the modern era. Where I was headed, they meant nothing.
Kwara is one of four camps that make up Kwando Safaris’s circuit, which includes the Lagoon and Lebala camps in the Kwando Private Game Reserve, on the edge of the Linyanti swamps and close to the Caprivi Strip; Kwara camp, which is in the Delta itself and Songwe Village just outside Livingstone in neighbouring Zambia. All of these camps are included as options in Safariplans’s Five Rivers Safari, which I was sampling.
Kwara is situated north of, and adjacent to, the Moremi Game Reserve. It is in the centre of the 175 000ha Kwara concession, which fronts the permanent water of the 1,6-million hectare delta and is backed by bush and open seasonal flood plains.
The camp consists of eight tents sleeping 16 guests and is run by the affable Peter Gordon and his bubbly wife Anita Els.
Arrival at the camp offers much needed respite from the sun, with the overhanging trees providing excellent shade. Welcomes are made in the lounge area overlooking the seasonal flood plains in front of the camp. To one side is a bar where guests are invited to help themselves if no one is around to cater for their needs.
Indeed, this is an attitude prevalent in all of the camps — make yourself at home and help yourself! It makes for a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere.
But if there is something you want that you can’t find yourself, there is always one of the camp staffers to help.
Alongside the lounge and bar area is a spacious dining room overlooking a small plunge pool — visited regularly by the paradise flycatchers that nest overhead.
The tents are set among the trees to the other side of the lounge and consist of two comfortable single beds, side tables and drawers and a small wardrobe. There is a flushing toilet and twin basins in a separate bathroom to the rear of the tent and an outside shower. A small stoep with deck chairs and tables makes the perfect place to sit, binoculars in hand, while scanning the countryside for animal activity.
The real activity takes place while out on the early morning and late afternoon game drives. Our forays into the bush netted some excellent sightings, including an over-ambitious night adder trying to eat an over-inflated bullfrog, wild dog, lions that were bringing down a female giraffe and a young male leopard who thought he’d first take on a water monitor, which was bigger than he was, and then a herd of tessebe who looked at him as if he was joking.
The lion kill was a double-edged sword. A pride of lionesses had made the kill with two small cubs at heel. When we first sighted them they were feasting happily — watched from afar by two curious, and hungry males who were not part of the pride. Later that afternoon the males attacked the pride and killed the cubs, stealing the kill for themselves. We found the cubs’ pitiful little bodies that evening.
Dinners were spent discussing the days’ sightings while contending with sumptuous home-cooked meals and some excellent wine.
Alternatives to the game drives are just as exciting for those who love the bush. I tried a bush walk and we ended up tracking some lions. Little did we know that they were watching us from the long grass a mere 40m away with as much interest as we had in their tracks.
The bush walk brought us to the mokoro (canoe) station, deep in the bush on one of the myriad small channels that eventually join the Godikwe lagoon system. A mokoro ride is an absolute must for anyone visiting the Okavango. Poled gently through the small, reed-lined channels, a mokoro gives visitors a hippo-eye view of the swamps and is a tranquil and relaxing way to experience the Delta.
At Kwara there is the option of a river safari on a sort of double-decker boat with an upstairs viewing platform affording endless views of the waterways and surrounding bush. The river ride takes in several islands where marabou and yellow-billed storks nest, and where, at sunset, you can marvel as birds from every corner of the Delta come home to roost.
It’s a hard life this safari business and days melt seamlessly into one another. For the first time in ages I felt the thrill of true relaxation and actually forgot what day it was.
Communication in the bush is done by radio, and certain camps have bush mail — a kind of e-mail over radio waves, but apart from that isolation rules. For some it may be a worry, but in reality it only takes an hour for a plane to be dispatched in an emergency, and the camps all have emergency medical evacuation cover for guests in the event of something untoward happening.
After two leisurely nights at Kwara, I bade farewell to my hosts and once more enjoyed the pleasures of low flying during the 25-minute transfer north from Kwara to Lebala camp, virtually on the Namibian border of the Caprivi Strip.
Kwando Lebala and its sister camp, Kwando Lagoon, are situated inside the original 232 000ha Kwando concession.
Kwando Safaris is the brainchild of Botswanan John Mynhardt and is run by MD and president Kevin Leo-Smith. Leo-Smith was one of founders of Phinda Resource Reserve, which grew into Conservation Corporation Africa. He is very much a hands-on leader and lives in Maun with his wife, former tennis star Greer Stevens.
The terrain around Lebala is completely different to Kwara, providing an awesome contrast. Dry dusty plains give way to lush vegetation and sweeping lagoons and river systems on the edge of the Linyanti swamps lead down to what was the Selinda spillway.
Lebala camp is a 25-minute drive from the airstrip and in the heat and dust of noon it was a trip that left me determined not to wear shorts on an open vehicle again as I could feel my knees frying. The guide and tracker didn’t seem to notice the heat, but pointed out that anything with half a brain game-wise would be under cover of shade. I agreed and wondered about mad dogs and Englishmen as the temperature soared past the 40°C mark.
The drive was over quickly enough and we were soon enjoying cold beers in Lebala’s shady open-air bar in the company of Lebala camp manager Gareth Flemix.
There are eight tents at Lebala, although calling them tents is a bit of an understatement. They are huge with an enormous double bedroom-cum-sitting room with two large divans, a raised deck overlooking the dusty plain, a separate dressing area that doubles as a study, a bathroom with twin basins, flushing loo and a pedestal bath complemented by an outside shower.
Within half an hour of my settling in by the plunge pool I was treated to the sight of a large breeding herd of elephants filing past not 100m away. Indeed, some of the experiences at Lebala will go down as legendary in my personal records. For example, on my first afternoon a dust storm built up on the plains. I watched as twisters pulled the dust into the atmosphere and began to drive towards the camp.
As it approached I heard wild trumpeting and excited yells to the rear of my tent. I went to the door and was greeted by the sight of a rampaging bull elephant within a couple of metres of me closely followed by Flemix madly clapping his hands and making almost as much noise.
The afternoon drive was amazing, with us witnessing the first, faltering steps of a newborn wildebeest and having sundowners within a couple of metres of some very garrulous hippos, who treated us to a water ballet par excellence. Darkness brought with it what seemed to be Africa’s entire population of spring hares and my first wild African rock python.
Our return to the camp was accompanied by the local hyena clan, who promptly chased an African wild cat through the bar as we were downing a few pre-dinner drinks.
Dawn the following day brought a pack of wild dogs who were chased through camp by the hyenas. They ran to the airstrip where they caught and ate five young impala.
The dogs of Lebala are becoming legends in their own lunchtimes and have become a passion for Flemix and his head guide, who have been recording their activities for the past few years.
In spite of its remote position, Lebala is a slice of paradise. Even if the game viewing is slow, it is a marvellous place to unwind and reflect.
But sadly, all good things must end, and this portion of my safari had, all too quickly. A 50-minute flight in the ubiquitous Cessna back to Maun put me on Air Botswana for the flight to Johannesburg via Gaborone. In the words of the Terminator, “I’ll be back”.
Lebala Camp is a 25-minute drive from the airstrip and in the heat and dust of noon it was a trip that left me determined not to wear shorts on an open vehicle again as I could feel my knees frying. The guide and tracker didn’t seem to notice the heat, but pointed out that anything with half a brain game-wise would be under cover of shade. I agreed and wondered about mad dogs and Englishmen as the temperature soared past the 40 mark.
The drive was over quickly enough and we were soon enjoying cold beers in Lebala’s shady open-air bar while enjoying the company of Lebala Camp manager Gareth Flemix.
There are eight tents at Lebala. Actually, calling them tents is a bit of an understatement. They are huge with an enormous double bedroom-cum-sitting room with two large divans, a raised deck overlooking the dusty plain, a separate dressing area that doubles as a study and a bathroom with twin basins, flushing loo and a pedestal bath complemented by an outside shower.
Within half an hour of my settling in by the plunge pool I was treated to the sight of a large breeding herd of elephants filing past not 100 metres away. Indeed, some of the experiences at Lebala will go down as legendary in my personal records. For example, on my first afternoon a dust-storm built up on the plains. I watched as twisters pulled the dust up into the atmosphere and began to drive towards the camp.
As it approached I heard wild trumpeting and excited yells to the rear of my tent. I went to the door and was greeted by the sight of a rampaging and bull elephant within a couple of metres of me closely followed by Flemix madly clapping his hands and making almost as much noise.
The afternoon drive was amazing, with us witnessing the first, faltering steps of a newborn wildebeest and having sundowners within a couple of metres of some very garrulous hippos, who treated us to a water ballet par excellence. Darkness brought with it what seemed to be Africa’s entire population of spring hares and my first wild African rock python.
Our return to the camp was accompanied by the local hyena clan, who promptly chased an African wild cat through the bar as we were downing a few pre-dinner drinks.
Dawn the following day brought a pack of wild dogs who were chased through camp by the hyenas. They ran to the airstrip where they caught and ate five young impala.
The dogs of Lebala are becoming legends in their own lunchtimes and have become a passion for Flemix and his head guide, who have been recording their activities for the past few years.
In spite of its remote position, Lebala is a slice of paradise. Even if the game viewing is slow, it is a marvellous place to unwind and reflect.
But sadly, all good things must end, and this portion of my safari had, all too quickly. A 50-minute flight in the ubiquitous Cessna back to Maun put me back on Air Botswana for the flight back to Johannesburg via Gaborone. But, in the words of the Terminator, “I’ll be back”.
A warm welcome
Safariplans, marketer of the Five Rivers Safari, is part of a highly regarded tourism company — Welcome Tourism Services. The company has become synonymous with creating life experiences rather than just holidays. A member of the Tourvest Holdings Group, a major listed consortium that exists to service the needs of travellers across Southern Africa, Welcome Tourism Services has managed to retain high levels of service.
As part of the company structure, Safariplans operates along the lines of a small business unit dedicated to opening doors in Southern Africa for discerning travellers.
The Five Rivers Safari specials currently available to South Africans are part of a drive to open new travelling territory with affordable, value- for-money holiday packages. Safariplans’s comprehensive brochure offers destinations from as far afield as the Seychelles and Mauritius to popular South African holiday hot spots like Cape Town. Holidays can be tailored to suit budgets and areas of interest. Safariplans has offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Hoedspruit and Hazyview. Visit www.safariplans.co.za for details.
The lowdown
South Africans can pick and choose from nine participating camps on the Five Rivers Safari and assemble a trip to suit budget and interest.
These specials are valid until March 31 2004, except from December 20 to January 2, and are available through Safariplans, a branch of Welcome Tourism Services, one of South Africa’s top tourism companies.
Packages to Kwando Kwara Camp and Kwando Lebala or Lagoon camps start with a four- day package to Kwara for R5 493 a person and a four-day trip to either Lebala or Lagoon for R6 703 a person.
Alternatively you can opt for two nights each at Kwara and either Lebala or Lagoon for R9 876 a person.
The rates are valid for South African residents only and include return flights from Maun or Kasane, depending on which package you select, all transfers between the airstrip and camp or lodge, all game viewing activities, meals and drinks (excluding premium brands) and, of course, accommodation. Scheduled flights to Maun and Kasane are not included in the rate, but can be arranged on request as can longer or shorter stays and different combinations. Contact Safariplans for more details and to make a reservation on (011) 328 8140 or visit www.safariplans.co.za
Sharon van Wyk will continue her Five Rivers Safari next year