When it comes to experiencing Africa’s nature and wildlife from close by on a safari, there are none, or very few places, that are comparable to Savuti, northern Botswana. Wouter just returned from Botswana and had the following to share with us. The wilderness of Savuti is best witnessed when doing a guided camping trip and staying overnight. Having worked for Sunway Safaris for over 4 years now, I (Wouter) have spent many nights camping in wildlife areas with no fences or protection around, and I always really enjoy that.
Out of all those places, Savuti is the one I enjoy the most but also the place I respect the most. There is something mythical about Savuti that is very hard to explain, but there is something in the air there that you can feel when you breathe. There is something going on that makes you feel very… vulnerable. You realize you are part of nature and the ecosystem. It is just such a wild environment, with very high concentrations of predators and other iconic African animals. At night, it is like nature takes over and you have lost all control of what is going to happen. And usually, exciting things happen at night while you are asleep. On numerous occasions I have woken up in the morning to find fresh Elephant tracks half a meter away from my tent. The Elephant was probably curiously touching the tent and smelled me inside as well. Another time here, I woke up in the middle of the night because a Hyena was sniffing my tent and it was bumping me with its nose! Or the time I was just in bed for 5 minutes when a Leopard came stalking into our campsite and tried to hunt the Guinea fowls who were sleeping in the tree above my tent.
My last tour was a BPac09 ‘classic’ tour and we were going to go camping in Savuti again for two nights, so I was just waiting to see what kinds of exciting things were going to happen this time. The first night, we heard Leopard roaring close by, and Lions throughout the whole night, also less then 1km away. That evening, I drank about three cups of tea before sleeping which made me have to go out of my tent twice that night! With Lions and Leopard around, it is not so funny to do this in the dark! I decided to not have any tea the next day, and this proved to be a good call. The second night nature was very alive and there were a lot of animals close to our camp. I woke up around 1 o’clock that evening with some animal walking in the bushes behind my tent. An extremely deep and loud roaring followed and that’s when I immediately realised it was a Leopard!! It is very hard to describe the feeling, but if there is a Leopard roaring within meters of you, and you are lying in a tent and there is only a thin layer of canvas separating you and the animal, it will raise all the hairs on your body. It roared about 3 times before it moved on and all this time I was lying on my back trying to be as quiet as possible, while experiencing a feeling that must be a combination of pure excitement and fear.
A little while later, my heart still pumping from the encounter with the Leopard and not asleep yet, footsteps again next to my tent and now it is a very curious Hyena. It just came to inspect me I guess, and it started walking around and smelling the tent in places. Curious as they can be sometimes, I didn’t worry too much and just let it do its thing. Still very nice though to get a Hyena and a Leopard in such a short time!
But it wasn’t over yet. Still while I was having difficulties falling asleep again, another animal kept me awake by roaring and walking past. This time it was a male Lion who was busy patrolling its territory and just walked by very close to our tents. I couldn’t believe my luck (or was I unlucky) with all their experiences so close by and in such a short time!
Savuti is the wildest place of all, and I am sure many of my colleagues or people who have been there can agree with me. I can’t wait for the next visit and the next surprises!
