The Okavango and the Central Kalahari

This month - early March - I went off to the Okavango Delta again (one of my favourite places on earth) and then via Maun, flew on the Central Kalahari Game Reserve which at 5 million ha is one of the largest in the world.

I visited two fully ‘green’ camps in Botswana, first, Banoka Bush camp in the Khwai Community Concession. Situated on the northernmost finger of the legendary Khwai River, the camp is named after the River San or Banoka, the first settlers in the area. And then it was off to Kalahari Plains camp near Deception Valley in the Central Kalahari. Both camps are joint ventures between Wilderness Safaris and the local communities and it was a joy to see the commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism of the well-trained local staff.

What do I mean by both camps being ‘green’? They are both solar-powered, recycle everything, and totally self-sustaining other than some foodstuffs that have to be flown or trucked in.

Whilst in the Delta I spent a glorious two hours out on a small boat on waterlily-fringed lagoon in the mother of all thunderstorms. Lightning crashed, thunder rolled and the rain bucketed down. When the storm finally exhausted its pyrotechnics an elephant that  had been eyeing us curiously from the bank, decided he didn’t like us and charged our frail craft. Luckily, at the last moment, he changed his mind and rumbled off.

The Kalahari desert was green because of good summer rains, and huge herds of fat oryx and sleek springbok grazed the far-reaching pans towards seemingly limitless horizons. The great black-maned Kalahari lions roared round my tent every night, and in the early morning we found three lionesses drinking at a small waterhole in front of the camp.

But you can’t talk about the Kalahari without mentioning the stars - dazzling, pulsing, twinkling in the great canopy of the night sky. One night I slept out on my deck. Lions roared, jackals yipped, an owl called and the stars just blazed away.

How lucky I am to live in Africa…                       

    

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