Trips with Friends - Jacy & Brad

Our dear friends from Madison, WI came to visit in September. They only had a week in Botswana, so we hit the ground running when they arrived. We had such a great time on our first over-land trip. Over-land trips are essentially self-sufficient 4x4 trips in the bush. They are full of adventure! We drove from Gabs to Maun in a long day. They got to see the vastness of this awesome country on our way up. From Maun, we drove to Savuti Marsh. This was our first day of adventure. We were told that it only takes 4 ½ hours to get to Savuti from Maun. They. Were. Wrong. We had a nice relaxed drive. We saw lots of elephants, including a very stressed mother and young baby. We hope they made it to the water…We also totally nerded out when we saw a secretary bird. This bird was one of the top birds we wanted to see. The drive was sandy, but fine. We only got nervous when the sun started to set. We had no idea how much longer it would take to get to the campsite and lots of animals come out to play at night. We were lucky and got to see a spotted hyena. We stopped to look at it and it sniffed the air and was very clearly curious about us. Finally we got to our camp and they gave our campsite away! They were angry that we arrived at night (sorry, we were told it took 4 ½ hours and it took over 6!). They did allow us to camp near the bathrooms, so at least we had a place to sleep.

The next day, we went on a full day game drive around Savuti Marsh. We saw a massive herd of buffalo, lots of elephants, tons of birds, wildebeest and lions! The lions were definitely the highlight. There was a pride of about 7 lions – 1 male, 4 females and 3 cubs! We watched them slink toward a big shade tree, stopping to look at the wildebeest and impala on the other side of us. Two even started to hunt! The others were less interested, so they all just went under the tree and slept. We also got to see the cubs nursing! This is a big deal since I (Bridgette) have been trying to see as many animals nursing as possible. So far, I have donkeys, cows, goats, sheep, cats, dogs, elephant, giraffe, zebra, baboons, monkeys, wildebeest and warthogs! We had such a great time watching the wildlife and seeing where our vehicle could go. Our motto for the trip was – “You can take this thing anywhere!”

We went back to camp for a nice lunch. There was an elephant eating in the camp next to us. We watched him cautiously and when we started walking in our direction, we packed up our food and planned to get in the car. As we were doing that, another bull elephant snuck up behind us. We were surrounded! Luckily, neither of them seemed interested in us. It is amazing that the largest land animal can sneak up on 4 people! They are surprisingly quiet. We went on another game drive and returned for dinner. Our campsite was beautiful, right next to the river so lots of animals came for water. At night, we started hearing some animals about 30 feet away. We shined our flashlights and saw some green eye-shine. It was too dark to tell what they were. They sounded like warthogs but were big. We were all on edge, so we packed our stuff up and went to bed. The instant we started for our tents, a hyena came into camp. S/he sniffed around and left. Brad was not yet up his ladder, so that made things interesting! Once we were all in bed, the big animals started walking past our camp. It was a herd of buffalo! We could see them in the moonlight. It was so crazy.

The next day we drove to Kasane. It was a fun drive that included getting stuck in the deep sand. We got out and had a great day. That evening we went on a boat ride and saw lots of great animals. The Chobe waterfront never disappoints. The next day, Jacy and Brad went to Victoria Falls and we did a drive in the park. We saw tons of animals including our first leopard! It was a great day.

On our way down south, we stayed in the Nata Bird Sanctuary. I really loved this place, so vast and peaceful. We had a great sunset and full moonrise. We left our friends there. We hitch-hiked up to Shakawe and they made their way back down to South Africa. It was a great trip! It was so nice to share this awesome country with our friends. This trip was our first vacation with friends and we couldn’t have asked for better travel buddies.

Lastly, we have to thank Jacy and Brad for bringing over 100 Days for Girls kits. These kits took up 2 ½ large suitcases. Our friends are the best!