When Edwin heard he was doing a Botswana Baobabs BPac09 he was very excited as he had done one before and really enjoyed this style of travel. He had the following to write about.

It all started on a wet Monday morning driving to Khwai Batoka airstrip to meet our clients who were arriving by plane from Maun. For myself and Jami the Botswana guide it was a usual day at the office, but for our lovely clients it was the beginning of a well-planned African excursion throughout Botswana’s wilderness in search of the pristine abundance of game found in this part of southern hemisphere.

We were right on time for our bush air transfer to our place of stay Sable Alley Lodge located in Khwai Private Community land on the boundaries of the famous Moremi Game Reserve. The Moremi covers much of the eastern side of the Okavango Delta and combines permanent water with drier areas, which create some startling and unexpected contrasts. Only about 30% of the Reserve is mainland, with the bulk being within the Okavango Delta itself. Home to a number of fauna and flora it is home to nearly 500 species of birds and a wide variety of animals including the big 5, wild dog and Cheetah.

Our first sighting as we left the airstrip on route to our lodge was a solitary elephant bull enjoying the fresh mopane leaves blooming from the dominating vegetation on the concession. Just before reaching our beautiful camp my colleague spotted some lions tracks on the narrow bush track heading in the direction of the lodge. Concentrating really hard so not to lose the tracks we followed them to just a few yards short of the parking lot where we spotted them, a mating pair having their quality but brief copulation.

For our guest it was an amazing welcome to the wilds of Botswana, 2 of the big 5 before even checking in. Being the first sighting of these huge cats it must have been bit scary for the clients seeing them so close to the place we called home for the next two nights. After our stay at Sable Alley it was time to head north to the Savuti and Sunway’s mobile serviced camp. Set up amongst the Mopane trees we arrived to a magic welcome from the team looking after the camp.

The next 2 days were spent exploring the wonders of the Savuti. Lastly a short stay in Kasane on the banks of the Chobe River and a night in Vic Falls to finish off the trip. It was a trip to remember especially for some of our clients visiting our lovely continent for the first time.