Lions resting under a shade tree in
the Selinda Reserve in Botswana.
Photo by Ginna Royce.
Enchanted by Africa
It took three full days to travel from Kanha to Delhi to
Johannesburg via Dubai to Botswana, and it was worth every
security line, delay and crowded gate. My pulse, I believe,
gained a beat once I touched the African continent.
A bush plane took us from Maun Airport in the capital of
Botswana to our first safari camp. Our destination was the
Okavango Delta, and it was the dry season. The ground below
us had given up most of the water that pours into the Selinda
Spillway from Angola. What was left were small, round
islands that were bright green—vegetation squeezing the
last of the moisture from the earth. The water that surrounds
the islands had turned brackish, creating a complementary
contrast in color.
This was our fourth visit to Zarafa, an outstanding luxury
safari camp owned by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, award-
winning filmmakers, conservationists, National Geographic
explorers-in-residence and inimitable hosts.
Through their Great Plains Conservation and Great Plains
Foundation organizations, the Jouberts launched Rhinos
Without Borders, an attempt to save endangered rhinos by
translocating 100 of them from South Africa to Botswana
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
Ginna and Delbert take in the
sites with a doors-off helicopter
flight over the Okavango Delta.
in order to protect them from the tragic rise in poaching. We
were fortunate enough to see all of the rhinos transported to
the Selinda area, including the juvenile that travelled in utero,
unbeknownst to the project.
Again, we were up before sunrise each morning to catch
the nocturnal animals trading places with the mammals and
birds that thrive in the daylight. Herds of impala, towers of
giraffes, pods of hippos, parades of elephants and dazzles of
zebra filled our lenses, and a pride of lions always seemed to
create drama worthy of a screenplay. The roar of a male lion
is said to be 25 times that of a gas-powered lawn mower. That
morning, our male was approaching a family of three adult
females and eight juveniles. He roared for more than two min-
utes. The sound echoed across the savannah while resonating
in my chest.