One of our “guest of the month”, Daniele, is telling us about his dream travel to Botswana… few days of his marvellous trip.
I had a dream: to make a trip to Africa driving a jeep and being able to drive on sand roads, see the animals and enjoy the sunsets and sunrises that only some views can offer.
Therefore I joined a trip with “Avventure nel Mondo” that led me to visit Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The journey starts from South Africa, near Pretoria. We meet who will be our guide for the next 17 days: a big South African man named Daniel, policeman in his profession, that accompanies tourists on holiday around southern Africa.
First stop of the trip is Botswana; after customs formalities we drive the whole rather heavy day on paved roads.
The caravan consists of two Land Rover Defender loaded with 10 people, tents, kitchens and luggage.
Botswana is one of the least known countries and best preserved of the entire African continent.
The first stop is at Khama Rhino Sanctuary, a reserve about 300 km from the border that was created with the aim of reintroducing the rhinoceros in Botswana, which unfortunately, due to poaching, disappeared from the country.
We enter the reserve but our game drive happens at the worst time of the day, around midday: no trace of rhinos, only a few ostrichs and impalas that we eagerly start photographing.
A bit sad, we take the road towards Kubu Island: mythical place with unknown coordinates, located somewhere in the south-east of Maun, within the Makgadikgadi Pans.
The road seems endless, but we enjoy the wonderful scenery: we have no idea how long it takes to reach this place so we decide to stop from time to time to take pictures.
The scenery is unreal, kilometers and kilometers of sandy road surrounded by nothing; we often take wrong roads and darkness grips us when there are still several kilometers to the goal.
It seems to drive in fog, so great it is the dust raised by the Defender ahead of me, but I can not even stay too far because otherwise I lose sight of its lights.
We get to Kubu Island pretty late and we assemble the camp; the next morning greets us with a breathtaking view: the most exciting sunrise I have ever seen!
We continue our trip in the morning with direction Maun to the Moremi Game Reserve.
This park takes up about a third of the Okavango Delta area and is characterized by an abundance of impressive wildlife.
The Okavango Delta is one of the largest inland water systems in the world. Its springs start from the western highlands of Angola, it crosses Namibia and finally enters Botswana, where it is called the Okavango and runs out in the Kalahari.
We take a small plane departing from Maun and from there I can see the amount of animals that roam free on the delta, moving according to the flooding of the river.
We then resume our trip and we go looking for animals and with the help of an indigenous we find some lions in the bush: great emotion.
We conclude the wonderful day thanks to the vision of the lions that are a few meters from our car and did not seem bothered by the cameras.
I adore all of the wild animals! Great shots capturing each one.
Yes, Daniele did a good job!
You're right, its seldom that I read about Botswana and I've wondered about the reason behind it. I must agree with you about the sunrise, though, it is absolutely breathtaking!
It might be that is well preserved because it's not that known! 😉
Wow you were really able to get some lovely pics here, and also give good information about Botswana. I enjoyed this post and that picture of the lion is fantastic!
The pic of the lions is amazing, I agree! Thanks!
Great pics! I've always dreamed of going on a safari as well
Thank you Evanne! Hoping your dream will come true soon
This virtual tour has been overwhelming! I have this strong desire to visit Botswana now! Great captures.
Thank you Indrani!
I can totally understand why Daniele calls his trip a dream … so many amazingly beautiful animals that live in their natural environment, the only place where they belong!
Completely agree with you, Veronica. Animals are so wonderful in their natural environment!
What an amazing experience this must have been! Okavango Delta is so high on my bucket list, hope I make it there one day
I wish you could!! Daniele was so excited about it!
Africa has the best national parks and very rich landscapes. I am very eager to plan my trip to Africa sometime.
That's one of my thought too 🙂
Botswana looks beautiful and I didn't know that its such an amazing destination! You have captured Botswana very beautifully in your pictures!
Thanks Ana, it's all thanks to Daniele!
Very nice your picture, I get a lot of knowledge after reading your articles. holiday was great if we could see the animals in the wild.
I agree with you. Animals in their own environment are much more beautiful, aren't they?
I love wildlife. I had been to a sanctuary years ago as a child in India. This is one place i would love to go to. I liked your photographs as well, for I believe it is not very easy to shoot animals in their natural habitat.
Thank you! I believe the sanctuary in India shuld be very nice too
This does sound like a dream trip! I would love to visit Botswana. And I'm so glad to hear that they are working to take better care of the powerful rhinoceros!
I dream of traveling to Botswana too! I love animals and photographing them up close is my dream!
Tha wild life at it's natural habitat… what could be better to watch than that? Beautiful captures and loving your details on Bostwana.. hope to visit some day soon
Thank you very much!
This definitely sounds and looks like a dream trip! Loved all your shots, but that lion close up is my absolute favorite.
Thanks! I also love the hippos'one!
It is always so beautiful seeing the sun setting from different places in the world. What a lovely shot over the horizon, especially of the animals in the sun.
A sunset with a lion was the best matching! 🙂
I really enjoy seeing animals in the wild. Botswana is definitely a dream destination for me. To have 17 days in the continent you must have seen so much. What time of year did you go?
It was summer vacation, in August.
Amazing pictures! Now Botswana is my dream trip, too. Thanks for sharing this experience.
Thank you!! Nice to be inspiration for someone 🙂
Safari trip is one of my dream travel, and I'm so happy that you've fulfill yours! Great photos and story also 😀
Photo safari is the best one… I couldn't attend to any other kind of safari