Botswana 1995
When people ask my advice about where to travel in
Africa, my answer is always the same:
Botswana. This trip was
remarkable because of the experts we had in our group, but also because of the
diversity of landscape, history, peoples, wildlife. Botswana is an incredible place, and in my
opinion, it’s got everything: desert, rivers, mountains, jungle. You have the complete African experience
here, in so many ways.
This trip was outfitted by the Harvard Museum of
Natural History.
August 16 - We took an early morning flight from
Johannesburg to Maun, Botswana. We
checked into Crocodile Camp Lodge, which is outside of Maun on the Thamalakane
River.
We visited Lechwe Center, which is Maun’s first
environmental education center for Botwana’s children.
August 17- We
transferred to the airport for our charter to Xai Xai, a Bushman (San) village
in the remote Kalahari.
When we arrived at the village, we were greeted by
our tented safari camp!
Note the black bucket –this is what you’d call a
porta-potty, safari style!
We then drove 30 km (about 20 miles) over very rough
roads to the Gwehaba Caves, often called the Gcwihaba cave. It is only 8 miles from the Namibian border,
but still located within the Okavango Delta region.
From UNESCO.org: “In the northwest corner of
Botswana several related groups of dolomite hills present a striking contrast
to the surrounding sandveld. The Aha hills straddle the Botswana/Namibia border
just north of the village Xai-Xai. Some 35km east of the village, Gcwihaba
Valley with its fossil river features a cluster of 6 low-lying dolomite hills.
Further 19km southwest of the Gcwihaba Caves lies Koanaka hills, with three
hills. The Fascinating aspect is that all these hills have caves which are
collectively referred to as the Gcwihaba Caves. The Gcwihaba Caves have been part of the
Kalahari landscape for at least the entire Pleistocene epoch, some 2 million
years ago. The cave contains sediments useful for the regional paleoclimatic
reconstruction.”
At the cave, we were met by Tim Longden, who was one
of the discoverers of the new cave system.
UNESCO also notes: “The cave's most important feature is the limited
air exchange with surrounding atmosphere as it was more or less totally sealed
off from the outside world until researchers entered it for the first time in
October 1992. These caves have a very rich variety of secondary cave formations
such as stalactites and stalagmites, but also many more unusual formations such
as helictites, soda straws and cave pearls, totally untouched by man. The cave
has been resealed after each visit by researchers to safeguard the interior air
composition.
So it appears now (25 years later, in 2020, when I
am finally doing this blogpost) that our group was very fortunate to see this
system. Nonetheless, I keep forgetting
how much I dislike caves, as no matter how I try, my claustrophobia always
kicks in!
As always, our indigenous hosts in Xai Xai are as curious about
out life style as we are about theirs.
August 18- In the early morning, we left Xai Xai and
took a charter flight from Gwehaba to Tsodillo Hills. There we were joined by Alex Campbell, an
internationally-recognized scholar who spend the last 30 years charting and
exploring this spectacular Bushman rock art site (among other things…).
The Tsodillo Hills are sometimes likened to a
mini-Ayers Rock (Uluru) in that they rise abruptly from flat, red-desert
landscape. They are a surprisingly
beautiful and sacred place.
There are more than 3,500 individual rock paintings
here, some of them among the finest in southern Africa. Their history reaches back 40,000 years, and
the archaeological record is fascinating.
We are able to explore both on foot, and in our safari vehicles, guided
by Dr. Campbell.
Late that afternoon, we fly by charter to Shakawe, a
deep water camp on the Okavango River.
Here’s a look at our accommodations in Shakawe:
August 19- We spent all day at Shakawe on the
river. We explored the river in
motorized boats. The local people have a
more rough-hewn type of canoe which is in constant use.
The contrast between the Kalahari and this part
of the Okavango Delta can not be more dramatic.
The Delta is virtually a desert under water, with thousands of tiny
green islands teeming with large mammals, rare birds, insects and plants that
dot this magnificent labyrinthine water system.
This part of the Delta is home to hundreds of bird species, large
crocodiles and hippo.
The islands can also turn into the local laundromat.
As everywhere, the kids go to the laundromat with
Mom too!
August 20- We
took a morning charter flight to the XaXanaka airstrip in the Moremi Game
Reserve to join our mobile camp. We had
a delay in our commute: it seems that elephants have the right-of-way!
We had what was called in the brochure “rustic but comfortable
accommodations …. That offer an old-world style of safari camping which has
vanished from most of Africa.”
We explored the Delta from our base at Mbomo Island
by vehicle and by mokoro, which are safe and sturdy canoes.
In the Delta you can see all the big game that is
native here. Over these days, we viewed
and tracked an abundance of wildlife… lion, zebra, giraffe, cape buffalo, and
many antelope species.
And of course, we see the mighty Baobab trees.
Villages are built wherever there is shade.
And there were incredible birds to see! (In 1995, I wasn't much of a bird-watcher, but there were stunning birds everywhere...)
Have you ever seen a bird’s nest like this, clinging
to the side of reeds on the river?
Elephants are everywhere!
Looks hot, and it is!
It’s good to catch some shade and rest when you can…
Back to camp for midday lunch, and then more
touring
The most remarkable sunsets! The Delta waters are clear and reflect everything.
For more on the Okavango, this is the book to get: “Okavango: Africa’s Last Eden” by Frans Lanting.
In the evening, the temperature drops: classic Africa! In the safari camps, there is often a
campfire burning for group conversations.
Next Up: the Kalahari!
To have an armchair sense of the Kalahari in Botswana, I highly recommend the book “Kalahari: Life’s Variety in Dune and Delta” by author Michael Main. Try to find it. (Amazon has new copies, very expensive, but many good used choices). Mike was one of our guides and his understanding of the Delta and its ecosystems is unparalleled.
August 24- Jack’s Camp!
If you ever have a chance to go here, do. This is one of the most incredible travel
experiences of my lifetime, and I hope to go again someday.
We got there by another air charter in those teeny
airplanes you saw above, this flight departed Xaxanaka and went into the Gweta
airstrip. We were met by vehicle to get
to Jack’s Camp. At that time (1995) it
was the only permanent photographic camp in the whole Kalahari Desert. If you see how big the Kalahari is, you will
understand what that means!
The brochure for this trip rightly prepared us for
Jack’s Camp: “For old safari tradition and charm, Jack’s Camp is
unequaled.”
The beautiful classic safari tents feature Afghani
or animal hide rugs, and the camp sits amongst palms on the edge of the vast,
eerie emptiness of the Makgadikgadi Pans lake bed.
Look, a real bathroom!
And a separate camp room with a genuine hot shower!
And a buffet restaurant!
We spent 3 nights here at Jack’s Camp, exploring the
desert on foot and with 4-wheel desert sand vehicles.
Every day began with a lecture, but we try to get
going before it gets too hot.
Over the next few days, we visited sites where Stone
Age tools literally strew the ground, and we heard from our tour leaders about
the many theories of the civilization that lived here centuries ago.
An amazing experience was to walk with the Bushmen
(San) for a day and see how they found water and food in this desert.
We certainly were not the first “European” travelers
in these parts… here, carved into an enormous Baobab tree were the initials of
those who were on Green’s Expedition in 1858.
Can you imagine a tree so enormous that you can stand
comfortably inside its various trunks?
The Bushmen invited us to their village and houses.
The kids see the safari trucks and make their own
toy versions… this art form is often referred to as “bush toys.”
An incredible adventure is to go on the sand
vehicles, being careful to stay only on the previous tracks, and look for
evidence of Stone Age civilization.
You don’t have to look far… a foot or two off the
path, in the cracked desert sand’s skin:
arrowheads, and the tools used to make them.
It seemed a long day, but as we rounded a curve in
the tracks, there before us arose a vision of cocktails…and dinner.
After dinner, we crawled into the brass beds which
had been moved out from our tents in Jack’s Camp so we could sleep in the
Kalahari’s incredible silence, and watch the sun go down, the stars come up,
and then the sun come up again. Our
leader Mike Main played his harmonica with soothing and haunting songs as we
drifted off to sleep.
All good things must come to an end, it’s said. And as with so many of my trips, they come to
an end in a hot iron building that serves as a departure lounge.
From there, back to everyday life in
America.
It was an incredible trip, beginning with the Keck & Co work/interview visit to a fisheries plant in Namibia (and a chance to see the famous Namib desert with its incredible dunes!), a quick stop in the Paarl region of South Africa to do another interview for an article for a Keck & Co client, and then .... Botswana ... magical place that it is. Hope I can get back someday!
