Guides are programmed to love early mornings as it is the best time for game viewing.   It is the time of day when you get to possibly see both your nocturnal animals (who are heading back home) and the diurnal animals who wake up with sunrise to start their busy day.  Patrick spent 6 weeks on tour recently doing a Namibia Botswana accommodated tour followed by the exciting Trade Route tour.  He recounts his experience towards the end of the Trade Route tour and their great early morning game drive.

On my recent “Cape Town to Victoria Falls Grand Explorer” tour I was fortunate enough to spend one of my last days in the small town of Kasane, in the northern part of Botswana. When staying in Kasane, the afternoon is spent on a three hour river cruise on the Chobe river. This river forms the border between Botswana and the Caprivi Strip of Namibia and is a wildlife lover’s paradise. The Chobe River forms the northern boundary of the Chobe National Park which is the third largest national park in Botswana and has one of the largest concentrations of game and birdlife in Africa. On the river cruise you can see large breeding herds of Elephant, various species of birds, the odd crocodile and hippo and many other animals as well as a spectacular sunset to end off another great day in Africa. Here’s just a sneak peak of what you can see.
- Gregory Bates

“I was born in Zimbabwe, but grew up in Zululand. It was my parents who first got me interested in conservation, wildlife and the big outdoors. During my school years I was involved in our schools wildlife society. After school I decided to study Business Management but ended up working in Hospitality in various positions, one of these was a Soux Chef at a lodge in Zululand this was where I realized that been a guide was far more interesting than being in the kitchen. I left the kitchen to pursue a career in guiding and worked for my father who owned a small tour operator business. From there I got a job for a large safari operator in Johannesburg where I guided for 8 years and was eventually promoted to lodge manager at 2 separate lodges for about 2 years. I then decided to leave the safari business and try my hand at corporate life after all I had studied business, after a couple of years I realized that this was not where my heart was and took the leap and resigned from the corporate world. In January 2014 I joined Sunway Safaris as HR Manager for the guides. When not working I can be found mountain biking, fishing on the coast or following my other love of photography.”

Nicole and Kulani have just returned from a Botswana Wildside camping safari. Here they share their experience about Moremi Game Reserve

This is what they had to say:

“Moremi Game Reserve rests on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta and combines permanent water with drier areas which create some unique contrasts. During the Botswana rainy season the bush can become a magical place. Just before a thunderstorm approaches the skies turn dark with the sun trying to peak out from behind the massive rain filled clouds. The grass looks shiny and the dirt roads glisten red.