ART OF SAFARI MAGAZINE Safari-and-Beach Holidays | Page 38

Three nights at Kalahari Plains Camp

Like a magician’s hat, the area around Kalahari Plains Camp proved to contain far more than we could see at first. Our guide explained that while the green flush from the first summer rains had started to fade, more life-giving rain was expected and the massed herds of springbok and oryx were lingering in the hope of more fresh green shoots. The predators waited with them, and we were astonished and delighted to see the most impressive of them, a black-maned Kalahari lion, panting in the shade of a low bush during the drive from the airstrip to the lodge. It was enough for us to relax the rest of the day.

Having read Cry of the Kalahari we wanted to visit Deception Valley, and our guide was just as keen to take us there the next day. We made a full day of it, and realised that we’d perhaps been deceived as to the true nature of the Kalahari, as we spotted more and more species. The day’s highlight was undoubtedly a female cheetah and her three cubs. Full bellies indicated that they’d fed well and recently, but they still kept half an eye on some nearby springbok. A shady picnic and siesta under some stunted acacia trees was a new experience, and one we really enjoyed.

The next day, we stayed rather closer to home – our new home, that is. Two of the San staff took us on an interpretative walk along the fringes of the immense pan in front of the lodge. We only walked 2km, but travelled far in terms of our understanding of the fascinating Kalahari and the skills required to survive it. We saw how to trap birds using only twisted grass stems and tasted tsamma melons. Our fire-lighting efforts were unspectacular, and my partner, impressed at the San’s almost instant fire, commented that we would have made very cold and hungry desert dwellers.

Three nights at Kings Pool

The relatively short length of our light-aircraft flight from the Kalahari to Linyanti belied the complete change in landscape and wildlife we found on landing – our Botswanan safari was to be a tale of two contrasting regions.

The Linyanti region was geographically and scenically closer to the Okavango Delta than to the Kalahari, but just as wonderful as either. The mopane woodlands were green again, and the many pans had filled with water. While the elephant had dispersed, a number of the older bulls remained around the lodge, and we saw a wealth of other wildlife on every game drive. We spent our first afternoon in the sunken hide, a specially-modified shipping container buried next to a popular pan from which we could easily take pictures of elephant eyelashes and feet, given our unique vantage point.

With a borrowed pair of Swarovski binoculars in hand, we wanted to work on our birding skills the next day, and our guide, Khan, was the right man for the job. From patient herons among the

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PHOTOGRAPHY: WILDERNESS SAFARIS

Combining a luxury Botswanan safari with time in the Mozambique islands permits rewarding exploration of pristine ecosystems ranging from the arid to the rather wet. While safari and beach experiences are of course quite different, they complement each other perfectly and can both be enjoyed from a succession of luxury lodges.

BUSH and BEACH

bliss in MOZAMBIQUE

and BOTSWANA

by Nick Galpine