Mosetlha Bush Camp With Lisa and Heather

 

Our daughters, Lisa and Heather, visited us in Botswana 4 to 11 March. On the second day we took them to Mosetlha Bush Camp at Madikwe for a two-day African wildlife adventure. We had a wonderful time getting the "dust of Africa on our feet".

It was a much different experience than when we went with Richard and Brenda. It was much warmer but not hot. It was also much greener. The game drives were very different because you never know what you will see.

On the way to the camp we saw a giraffe. Lisa and Heather were excited to take a picture of it but we told them we would see many giraffes and that this one was in among trees. We did not see one giraffe on the first three game drives that we could photograph, and the girls were wondering if they were actually going to get a picture of a giraffe even though they had seen some.

  

 

When we arrived at camp, we were shown around the camp and had the shower and toilet usage explained to us. On our evening game drive we saw seventy to eighty elephants and a rhinoceros at a water hole. It was fun to see the elephants playing in the water, particularly the little ones. We also saw wildebeest, kudu, impala, zebra, and dwarf mongoose before dark. After dark we saw an owl, two rhinoceros, two giraffe, and a brown hyena. We had a nice dinner when we got back to camp. We were the only guests at the camp for the first day. The next day a family from France and a couple from the Netherlands came to the camp.

On our morning drive the second day, we watched nine lion cubs frolicking by a water hole. There were two lionesses with them. We went looking for cheetahs and with help from other guides found a group of four. Both the lions and cheetahs were active which made it even more exciting to see them and they were very close to the safari truck. We saw many other animals.

 

On the evening drive we also saw jackals, rhinos, and elephants. We were watching elephants when two rhinos came up behind the truck. We also saw the cheetahs again which were lying beside a paved road. After dark we went back to the water hole to watch the eleven lions again. We also saw kudu, warthogs, wildebeest, zebras, impala, etc. Back in camp we had a traditional African braai (barbecue) for dinner. We visited around the campfire until bedtime.

 

Each day we got up at 5:30 am to be on the game drive at six o'clock. On the last day, the girls were hopeful to finally get to photograph a giraffe. The first animals we saw were several giraffe up close and we saw many more on the drive. What they wanted to see next was a Cape Buffalo which are shy and that is exactly what we saw. They were really sniffing the air and checking us out before they returned to the brush. We had now seen all of the Big Five except for a leopard, Guess what! The next animal we saw was a leopard. It was a ways away but we could see it pretty well with binoculars and we got to watch it for quite awhile. Next we saw many elephants and other animals with young. We then packed up to leave.

On the way back to our car the field guide learned that there was a new lion kill so he took us there. We watched the lions feeding on a wildebeest from less than twenty feet away. The smallest cub had a belly so big it was hard to believe it could eat that much. What a way to end our stay at Madikwe!