2025 – Africa

We took a late (10:30pm) flight out of Austin, non-stop to London on British Airways. We were delighted to find that we were seated in Premium Economy which was actually very nice and comfy. Due to the late hour and seats that actually reclined a ways we got a good night’s sleep – an absolute…

We arrived in Johannesburg at around 7:30 in the morning. We had booked a hotel at the Jo’burg airport for the preceding night and so we’re able to get into our room immediately. The InterContinental Airport Hotel was very nice and super convenient, a 2 minute walk from the terminal. It took us much longer…

A “far ninente” day of reading, eating, a little exercising.

Flew from Jo’burg to Maun, Botswana and met up with Tricia and Don and were whisked onto a small prop plane for the flight to Chitabe Camp. Our plane was met by a camp representative who took us to meet our evening game drive already in progress. We saw a leopard, elephants, impalas, a hyena,…

Typical camp day: Wake up at 5:30, communal breakfast at 6:00, game drive #1 from 6:30 to 11 with a coffee and snack break about half way through. See ALL. THE. ANIMALS! Lunch at 11:15. Down time until 3:30 when it’s time for high tea/cocktails and sweets. Game drive #2 (see MORE animals) from 4:00…

An amazing day! We followed the “typical” agenda outlined in yesterday’s Summary. On our game drives we saw baboons, hyenas, elephants, wildebeest, giraffes, zebras, wild dogs, impalas, hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, kudus, ostriches, leopards (one with a warthog it had killed secured up in a tree), bush bucks, monkeys and probably some I’m missing. Lots and…

Our last morning at the wonderful Chitabe Camp. On our morning drive we saw a pack of wild dogs running with hyenas, a steenbok, secretary birds, elephants and lions. Late morning we flew to Tubu Tree Camp which was great – big, luxurious rooms off an elevated boardwalk in the trees. We dropped our bags,…

A great day! We started with a game drive back to see the leopard and her cubs and the now only skeletal remains of the impala had she stashed up in the tree. Also saw more lions. Tubu Tree Camp is in a very wet area of the Okavango delta so we took an amazing…

A final breakfast and game drive at Tubu. Our sweet lion cubs have dined overnight on zebra. We (happily) missed that sight but do get to watch them in their well-fed splendor. We also catch up to the leopard and her two cubs playing with their antelope’s hind leg. Another 12-seater plane hop to Savute…

Followed the typical camp routine (see 8/2 Summary). Saw a leopard, wilde beest, and giraffes. Again, much less than our previous camps but had we come here first, we’d have been thrilled with what we saw. For lunch they set us up in blind above the watering holes but not much was going on at…