Elena Theodosiou in Botswana – 2024
Day 01 – Arrived in Maun. Botswana early afternoon and we transferred out to Elephant Havens. This was awesome – and an interesting comparison to Sheldrick in Nairobi. The facility is smaller and more intimate, and you really get to experience the elephants. We met with Debra and Boago which was wonderful hearing how it all started https://elephanthavens.org/. Visit is by donation.
Spent the overnight at Thamo Telele, meaning ‘long neck’ in Setswana, the lodge is named after the youngest of its resident giraffe who wander the grounds. Good to celebrate “World Giraffe Week” with the great staff.
Day 02 – First day on safari and already blown away! I forget how much I love being out in the bush and seeing new properties to share with our safariers.
Mma Dinare in the Okavango Delta sits with beautiful views of the water and when we arrived we saw elephants, buffalo, impala and red lechwe from the deck! Afternoon game drive was amazing with lions, elephants and a shy leopard and so much more!
And some photos of our guide “Brooks on Safari“ who is making this so special!
Day 03 – Another morning on safari! Started with the most Spectacular sunrise! Cold this morning but it warms up beautifully. Besides the 9 species of plains game, we counted 26 species of birds on the flood plains in one spot! Love to watch the birds as well as the bigger animals!
We also found the cheetah brothers again and a beautiful female leopard….more adventures this afternoon!
Enjoying our African gondola through the Delta waterways!
Kwando’s Mma Dinare has been a wonderful hidden gem!
Ended our time at MMA Dinare with some hippos and fantastic sundowners! It has been the most amazing 3 days. I have discovered birding on this trip!
Sad to say goodbye to the fantastic team here but PomPom is waiting for us…. Let us see what Brooks can find us!
Day 04-06 – I understand now why our guide Brooks loves to include Pom Pom is his privately guided safaris. On the first morning drive on the concession we started off with a bang! As we left camp a beautiful male cheetah at sunrise! Followed by just about everything one could want – lion, wild dogs and a huge elephant. We saw two ‘river crossings’ a lion and elephant. The game viewing has been incredible!
And yesterday afternoon ended with one of the most incredible sightings ever. The Pom Pom pride had killed a buffalo in the water and we found them feeding. Some of the pride were already out of the water and trying to get comfortable with enormously full bellies while six of them were still in the water squabbling over the last bits of meat. A rustling in the palm trees and out comes a big bull elephant not pleased with the presence of the lions …. After a couple of charges he drank and went back into the bush leaving the lions to continue working on the kill.
To top it off we then saw a big male leopard. What a day – experience overload!
Enjoying a late brunch in camp at Pom Pom – the backdrop the beautiful Okavango
Day 07+08 – Arrived at Kasane Airport Botswana where Big Boy, our Wilderness driver was waiting for us to take us across the border/immigration into Zimbabwe – Victoria Falls.
Enroute stopped to meet up with Sara Gardiner, owner of Matetsi River Lodge. What a fabulous setting on the Zambezi River on their own private concession above the Falls.
We then checked into the magnificent Palm River Hotel situated right on the Zambezi River and what a treat this is … it gets better and better every day.
Today was a jam-packed day of sightseeing starting with the Mighty Falls.
Met up with our two wonderful ladies from AAC (Precious & Cynthia) giving us a guided tour of the 2-kilometer-long Vic Falls. I love the falls! The falls were incredible – the water was not as high as normal so we only got half wet!! Stopped at the LookOut Café overlooking the gorge below the falls.
After completing our hotel inspections, we went and walked around the market and elephant walk this afternoon It is still the diamond in the rough but has grown and polished and has so much more to offer!
Continued doing many hotel site inspections. Both evenings we had two incredible dinners, one at the new Baines and the second at Pioneer and share in a few of the menu items below. We also went to visit Dusty Road, which is a great experience!
Dinner at the Baines Restaurant also overlooking the river. The restaurant has a short menu but Top-class food.
All these lodges, Pioneer above, have the most lush gardens and the weather has been fantastic!
Thank you AAC, I’m forever grateful for this opportunity!
