Botswana - Xini Camp   (9/6-8/2010)

About fifty miles out of Maun we left the paved highway as we headed northeast to Moremi and the Okavango Delta. We would not see another paved road for the next ten days 

The dirt roads to the park are pretty well maintained and we could make pretty good time. The vehicles drove with about a half mile space between each to minimize the road dust thrown up by the vehicles. The vehicles were each driven by experienced guides that had the ability to spot the sometimes very well hidden game in the bush. It did not take long to appreciate this skill because one of the drivers spotted a relatively rare group of animals on our drive into Moremi Park. Our vehicle got a call from the vehicle behind it that they had spotted a pack of African Wild Dog. As we turned around and headed to the find, we all were madly pulling out our cameras and lenses which we had covered up to keep the dust out. It was entirely possible to be out in the bush for weeks and never see these elusive creatures. We were not disappointed when we pulled up to the vehicle that had reported the sighting. A pack of about a dozen dogs was lying in the shade about 30 yards off the road. Our guides explained that they had probably made a kill the night before and were now resting. We stayed with the pack for about an hour shooting them from every possible angle. Occasionally one of them would get up and look for a shadier area so we were able to see them moving around. This opportunity clearly made us realize the advantage of a mobile safari. Because we could cover a lot of area and had four vehicles with about 20 sets of eyes searching we could spot a relatively rare sighting like the dog pack. And once we found them, we were able to stay with them for as long as it took to get great images. Another advantage of being in a vehicle also became apparent. As with many wild animals, the presence of a vehicle does not really concern them. As we sat quietly about 50 feet from the animals shooting pics, they seemed oblivious to our presence. This turned out to be the case about 99% of the time while we were out in the bush.

We continued our drive and arrived at the South Gate of Moremi National Park in the middle of the afternoon. After our guides checked us in (the company handled all the park fees) we had a picnic lunch. After lunch we started our mobile safari in earnest. The vehicles all set out on different trails through the park. The strategy was to fan out and cover as much area as possible. When one of the vehicles spotted wildlife, it would be reported to all the other vehicles by radio. In this way there was maximum coverage of an area and everyone got opportunities to shoot wildlife. We spent the rest of the afternoon spotting and shooting wildlife in the bush. We finally headed into Xini camp at sunset. As we approached camp, we spotted a group of three lions only about a quarter mile from camp. Unfortunately, there was not enough light left for photography, but our first lion sighting was exciting.

Our camp was all set up for us when we arrived. Capricorn Safaris has a large 4 WD truck that goes out ahead of the safari vehicles with the camp staff and sets up the camp on the day prior to our arrival. The camp consisted of a semicircle of 8 invidual two person canvas tents with a large mess tent and campfire circle in the middle of camp. Our two person tent was basic, but spacious. There was a rear enclosure that had a pit toilet and a bucket shower. Each tent had a steward assigned to it and our first order of business on our arrival was have a warm shower to was off the bush dust after our steward filled the bucket shower with warm water. It was very refreshing. We then had time to lounge in our tents and start downloading the images from the day to our computers. After an hour of R&R, dinner was announced and we all met in the open mess tent and sat at a long well laid out table. One of the safari traditions is for the cook and staff to announce the menu for dinner. On this first night in the bush, as well as every other night, we had a 4 course dinner that was delicious from start to finish. In addition to the great food, our guides were a wealth of wonderful stories, both true and some tall tales, about safari adventures in Botswana. We retired to the campfire after dinner for more conversation and went to bed at 10 o'clock. That however was not the end of the day. About midnight the camp was awakened by the loud roar of a lion that was obviously very close to camp. The roaring went on for about a half hour and was the perfect end to our first day in the bush. 

The next morning we were awakened at 5:30 and had a small breakfast at the campfire and were loaded up in the vehicles by six and headed out on our morning game drive. We explored the area around the camp and found three gorged lions that must have been the noisy neighbors from the night before. We continued our game drive until around 10 and then returned to camp for a real English breakfast. We relaxed during the heat of the day and then around 2 we had a snack and then headed out for our afternoon game drive. At sundown we all met up for refreshments at a "sundowner" and then headed back to camp. This routine was our standard for just about every day we were out in the bush. We stayed at Xini camp for another day and a half, which included three more game drives and we were not disappointed. Just at our first camp we saw so many animals that we all filled up our camera's memory cards on almost every drive. We saw our first leopard in Botswana and our vehicle was even charged by a female elephant, which was a little scary but definitely exciting.

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