At Savute Safari Lodge we are very blessed to regularly dine with the elephants in front of the lodge but today was an extra special brunch as not only was there a small breeding herd of elephants enjoying the channel but a small herd of male buffalos which are known to us as ‘Dagga Boys’ also came to have a drink and graze on the edge of the channel.

It is incredible to be able to share two of the “Big Five” with our guests as they enjoyed a traditional African meal of Babotie!

Besides the wildlife that we are luck enough to see from the lodge we are also able to enjoy spectacular African sunsets. Nothing in the world can beat a sunset over the Savute Channel or even out in the Chobe National Park. There is something quite magical in the air as the sun sets in Botswana. This is what I always miss while I am on holiday and away from this wonderful place.

By: Mc Odumetse

The beginning of July was mild in temperature averaging highs of 21 degrees and lows of 13 degrees, but towards the middle of the month the temperatures dropped, averaging maximum temperatures of 17 degrees and minimum of 2 degrees.

The water level in the beginning of July was at 2.7 metres and the river is currently at 3.5 metres. As per our daily meter readings the water level has stabilised and has only risen 6cm in the last week. The Department of Water Affairs has been paying regular visits to observe the water levels, and they brought us an extended water meter that reads a maximum of 4 metres.

The vegetation has not changed much since the month of June. It is still very dry. We have had quite a bit of wind in the last couple of days.

Sightings and Wildlife Experiences

Birdlife in general has been amazing with sightings of the following species:

Buffalo Weavers, Mayor’s Parrots, Crimson Breasted Shrikes, Osprey, White throated Bee-eaters, 2 resident Fish Eagles, Secretary Birds, Pearl Spotted Owls (seen on night drives)… this is just to mention a few.

Birders have really enjoyed the sunset cruises we have been offering, and these have given them a different perspective of Leroo La Tau. Instead of just doing the ordinary game drives they get to see the park from the river, where many big herds of Zebra and Wildebeest congregate to drink water. With the abundance of water we have seen a lot more of the crocodiles in the Boteti: one measures at least 2.5 metres!

We have experienced a few sightings of African wild cats in camp, and a leopard has been heard in and around the lodge on a few occasions. We have two resident Bushbucks that are not shy at all, grazing midday between rooms. There are 4 elephant bulls that have been lost in our concession for the last week; it seems that they cannot get their way back to the Park! They have decided to make your average trip to the airstrip an obstacle course, whereby they have pushed three trees onto the road.

We had guests in camp that experienced a great sighting whereby lions killed a wildebeest right in front of them. Another interesting sighting we had was a group of at least 20 vultures that “sun-bathed” and drank water on the opposite bank of the Boteti River (in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park). They gave hours of entertainment to guests during their siesta in camp. We were also fortunate enough to have seen the new male rhino that was introduced into the Makgadikgadi National Park during the month of June.

We have noticed that the zebras and wildebeest have developed a pattern whereby the come down to the river to drink on a daily basis. They usually come down to drink in the afternoons, especially when new guests arrive in the camp… very convenient.

Our People

We have welcomed Thsepho Tsito into camp. He is currently training to be a Manager and has been a great asset to our team. He is always willing to please and not afraid of learning. We did not have any staff birthdays in the beginning of the month, but will be celebrating two staff member’s birthdays at the end of the month, Phatsimo on the 27th July and Mokgosi on the 30th July.

FRED KARAPO

Fred Karapo is the Camp Manager at Leroo La Tau and he has been working in this lodge on and off since 1988. From 1988 to 1989 he was employed as a gardener. From 1989 to 1990 he was a tracker, based at Camp Okavango. From 1990 to 1992 he was a trainee guide before working as a Guide at Camp Moremi from 1992 to 2004, during which time he received the Best Guide Award (2003) and served on the Staff Member Committee.

In 2004 Fred left guiding to take a role as Assistant Manager, and was promoted to Relief Manager in 2007, rotating through the lodges while the permanent managers were on leave. In 2008 Fred was promoted to Manager and he has remained at Leroo La Tau ever since. A warm and friendly person, Fred is the father figure of the lodge.

The following key staff members were in camp during the month of July:

Managers: Juan, Priscilla, Tshepho and Molemi
Guides: Captain, Patrick and Lance

Our Guests

On the 22^nd of July we offered a tree planting ceremony to our honeymoon couple in camp, Fabian and Priska Huwyler.

Other Information

Leroo La Tau’s choir has been entertaining the guests on a regular basis – see attached a video of the choir in full throttle.

We launched bush walks for the first time in Leroo La Tau and the guests have really been enjoying it! We have taken guests on Nxai Pan day trips, as well as trips to Baines Baobabs.

We had a mystery guest in camp – Elise Shaw. She was a pleasant lady, and gave quite a few of us Yoga lessons. Patrick (the guide) tried the different positions, but soon realised that guiding is a lot easier!

Excerpts from Guest Questionnaires

“Juan & Priscilla are a fantastic couple, they are lovely, the staff appear to be happy. 5 star service… actually 6 star. Gladys kept my room beautiful, I love her creativity. Captain tries hard to keep his guests happy, I enjoyed all the activities. Molemi and Kay show so much enthusiasm. LLT is a lovely lodge in a magical setting with lovely staff. Tshepho, I wish him a great career, he is delightful”
Elise Shaw (Australia)

“Thank you very much. We enjoyed our stay. It’s beautiful here!!”
Patrick & Kathrin Wyttenbach (Switzerland)

Camp Okavango is a tranquil place. The water level has been dropping in some areas, especially in already shallow areas, but generally speaking the level is still high which means the fishing is not at its best. 

We usually have access to three islands on which we conduct our walking safaris. The water levels are so high that Buffalo Island is half submerged and Mojei Island is fully covered with water! We have created a wooden bridge so we can still cross to Lopis Island so that this wonderful and serene activity can continue.

Temperatures are still wintery but we are now experiencing moderate daytime temperatures, cool evening temperatures and very cold nights. 

Sightings and wildlife experiences

The sightings for this month have been fascinating with special and interesting viewings of elephants, hippos, lonely buffalos and warthogs.

Birdlife has been beautiful with the colourful little bee-eaters lining up and posing for the cameras as they displayed their plumage for our astonished guests. This sighting was seen during a walking safari on Lopis Island.

Breeding herds of elephants have been seen on bush walks and our guests and guides were amazed to discover a dead hippo in the water where we usually park our boats prior to a walking safari. This time of year many hippos fight over territories and this poor hippo clearly lost the battle. 

Our people

As most of our staff are in camp for three months at a time, we allow them to have family stay from time to time. During July our groundsman Dirang invited his brother Alona to the camp. Alona said he really enjoyed his stay and that it was a dream come true for him so we were happy to be able to welcome him to our camp.

Meanwhile another of our team was celebrating – on 15th July Sikiri turned 62 so we’d like to wish him a very happy birthday.

Staff profile

Full name:  Dirang Thabano ‘aka’ Chiko dance Nare.

How did you get your nickname? I am a big fan of the national Under-23 football team, and apparently I look like their coach Chiko dance Nare.

Home village: Born in Zoroga and grew up in Palapye, in the central part of Botswana.

Role: Groundsman; I take care of the grounds, mow the lawn, water plants, prune, take care of the swimming pool and generally make sure that our environment looks its best. I sometimes help out with Mokoros and tracking. Every day is different which makes my job more interesting.

Time spent with Desert & Delta: I was hired in February 2008, and have only worked at Camp Okavango.

Any interesting stories to share?  Once I was doing wake up calls and found a hippo on the pathway. It didn’t see  me and just continued walking in the same direction that I was going. It made me laugh as I must have looked like my old neighbours on a Sunday afternoon, walking their dog, Scoobydoo!

Where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years?: Work wise I would like to be one of the camp’s maintenance crew or a poler/guide, which I am working on. And personally I would to have established my own family, have children, a house to call my own and a wife.

Key staff during July

Managers: Erny, Lydia, Kelly and Nelson
Guides: John, Moffat, Robert, Obed and Toffee and team

Special guests

We welcomed seven honeymoon couples, most of whom were Italian. We also had the Nemscoks who were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary - the choir performed especially for them that night with some songs and dancing. 

Excerpts from the guest questionnaires

“Everything was superb, we are very pleased with everything, couldn’t ask for more - great! Obed was very informative, we commend the camp for the friendliness of staff, knowledge, additional service. We will recommend this camp to everyone through Trip Advisor”. Dylan & Shirley (USA)

01-07 July  : 03–33 degrees. Bright sunny days (one cloudy day with light rain) with a slight breeze.
08-14 July  : 04–25 degrees. Bright sunny days, stronger breeze.
15-23 July  : 05–33 degrees. Definitely warming up, later in the week nights warmer, calm conditions.

Water levels

Water levels have varied over the month but it has risen from the beginning of the month making some areas more difficult to access. The main road from Xakanaxa Gate near the Acacia Plain up to Fourth Bridge is flooded, making access to game viewing and driving more difficult.

Vegetation around camp

As the days are warming the new growth is appearing on the trees and grass is greener. Spring has sprung early!

Animal and bird sightings in camp

Our resident hippo took a stroll from the waters’ edge via the Boma along the path towards the office. Guests in the upstairs lounge had a fabulous photo opportunity. His afternoon and evening siesta is spent on the grass area behind the office.

Leopards in camp around 4am and then when the guests were on the morning drive they witnessed them mating! A breeding herd of elephants interrupted this special sighting but the guests were just as excited as infant elephants were in the group.

Animals seen on game drives

Elephants, lion, leopard, cheetah, pangolin, wild dog, wildebeest, buffalo, hippo, giraffe, kudu, impala, zebras, water buck, bush buck, red lechwe, mongoose, squirrels, jackel, genet cat, warthog, baboons, vervet monkeys.

Birds seen on game drives

Wattle crane, ground hornbills, starling, blue waxbills, babblers.

Special sightings

A pack of seven African wild dogs were seen hunting around Xakanaxa Airstrip. What a magical start to the morning for the guests!

A cheetah was seen over at the Third Bridge area which is approximately 15 kms from camp. He was a beautiful, healthy looking animal and quite at peace with us viewing.

One male lion, two lionesses and a young lion were viewed feeding on a baby buffalo. Guests were delighted to view this great sighting.

Our resident baboons have taken to drinking in the early afternoon. They were last seen running away with a bottle of Shiraz with a staff member chasing them!

Staff profile

Action - Camp Moremi Relief Manager
Action began with Desert & Delta Safaris in 2004 at Savute Safari Lodge on an internship. He had many varied roles such as Front of House, Waiter and Kitchen Assistant which gave him a good general overview of guest services. He has completed and achieved his Certificate in Hospitality Operations at Maun Technical College, Botswana.

His role is now Relief Manager, Camp Moremi. His tasks are to ensure all guests have a memorable experience whilst in camp and on activities. He also oversees the general day-to-day running of the camp, ensuring it is run efficiently, without incident and the general staff are enjoying their work.

Action was born in Shorobe Village which is located 40 kilometres north east of Maun, gateway to the Moremi.

Key Staff during July

Managers: Action, Ollie, Kay and John
Guides: Mod, Salani, Frank, Banda, Lets and Kitso

Special guests

Honeymooners Virginia and Rahul (USA) had a memorable stay at Camp Moremi with bottle of champagne on arrival, a choir performance around the campfire on their last evening in camp and great animal sightings of leopard, wild dog and herd of buffalo.

Trish and Paul were guests from Australia. Trish was celebrating her half century birthday whilst on safari and was treated to a bottle of red sparkling wine, a choir performance and lions, cheetah, wild dogs, zebras, elephant, hippo. What better way to celebrate the special day!

Excerpts from the guest questionnaires

‘’It was a great pleasure being your guests. Never been welcomed so warmly. Unusually professional and friendly staff. Thanks a lot.’’ Kurt and Ilona (Germany)

John Sandenbergh, Chris MacIntyre and Richmond MacIntyre, all experienced outdoorsmen, had been paddling kayaks and making their way towards their home base of Maun from the northern part of the Okavango Delta. For three days they had seen no other boat or no other person.

Wednesday proved different.

They came around a bend in the channel near Xugana Lagoon when a crocodile of about three and half metres long shot off the bank toward Sandenbergh’s right hand side. It attacked.

The crocodile which attacked John Sandenbergh

Sandenbergh says he jammed his paddle down the croc’s throat, which happened to be yellow in colour, like his paddle. The paddle broke in the crocodile’s mouth. In the melee Sandenbergh’s kayak flipped and he found himself under water, scrambling to get his head into the forward compartment and waiting for what seemed forever for the crocodile to attack again.

“I saw my life flash before my eyes”, he said.

The next thing he knew he was flipped right side up. He was sure the croc flipped him again. But it was his rescuer, Coca (Kangura) Dikoma, a Desert & Delta Safaris guide who was on his way back to Xugana Island Lodge with guests when Sandenbergh’s mates flagged him down.

“He shouted to us… Come here!!!…There is a man under the water!” Coca said. Coca flipped the kayak. “I told him to hold one side of the boat and I pulled his other hand.”

Later Sandenbergh would say he could only remember being in the water and suddenly on the boat.

Coca’s guests, Fabian Huwyler and Priska Williman from Switzerland, credit Coca with saving him. They had taken photos of the crocodile, which, as Xugana Island Lodge Manager Obie Magunga says, “parks there on the corner of the river all the time.”

Coca welcomed the kayakers on board, gave a shivering Sandenbergh blankets and pulled the kayaks behind the Desert & Delta Safaris boat back to the lodge. The unexpected guests were given brunch, warm drinks and a charter flight organised to get them back to Maun. Sandenbergh even got clean and folded laundry.

“To me, if we were not on time, something would have happened,” Coca said with understatement.

The MacIntyres and Sandenbergh all marvelled at the good fortune of the boat’s arrival at just the right moment. That Desert & Delta Safaris boat was indeed on time.

For his part, Coca, a native of Etsha 6 (an area to the north west of Xugana Island Lodge in the Okavango Delta) who is accustomed to the Delta, has no desire to kayak the channels near Xugana. He prefers the mokoro, which he launches for guests where “it is very, very shallow (and) where you will not find crocodiles.”

Coca, the guide who arrived in the nick of time

But the three buddies planned to resume their kayak trip once their kayaks could be transported by truck to Maun. Despite his hands shaking and his pursuit of cigarette after cigarette on Wednesday afternoon, Sandenbergh said, perhaps a bit unconvincingly, “You have to get back on the horse.” In his case, it is mandatory to jump back in his kayak and paddle. He owns a kayak adventure company after all. He will need a new paddle. The other one, part of it anyway, was the crocodile’s lunch.

-Written by Maria Henson, guest at Xugana Island Lodge and old friend of Desert & Delta Safaris.

I try not to become complacent with what there is to see each and every day, but the amazing thing about living in the bush is that each there is something different to experience. It might be the same elephant drinking at the water hole but it is always incredibly interesting to watch their behaviour. As always Savute provides many moments to enjoy and I am most grateful for them.

The highlights for June for me would have to be…

The 3 breeding herds that came down to the front of the lodge the other day while we were enjoying tea. There must have been at least 90 elephants or more in front of the lodge. Their behaviour was incredible to watch and I gained great joy out of one baby elephant. It could have only been a month or two old and it just made me giggle to watch it. It had not yet realised what its trunk was for and for over half an hour we got to watch it dunk its whole head into the channel, splash the water wildly with its trunk and just play like it had never had this experience before. I overheard one guests telling another that this was a dream come to true to witness so many elephant together at one time and that this had to be one of the best days of her life. I realised how lucky I was to call Savute home and to get to enjoy these moments with others.

Another highlight would have to be watching the porcupine waddle across the front lawn at the lodge. They are such peculiar creatures and at Savute we are lucky to see them regularly during dinner or later on in the evening while we enjoy the fire. Then a few days later we got to see the baby porcupine sleeping just outside the bar.

Cats are always a highlight and for June we have been lucky to see some remarkable leopard sightings in and around the lodge and our guests have also had a number of excellent sightings out on the game drives. Sometimes it is hard to believe when guests come back from the morning game drive telling us that they have not only seen one but two leopards.

A few evenings ago after all the guests had gone to bed, BK and I were closing down the lodge for the night when we spotted a leopard out in front of the lodge with a guinea fowl kill. I felt so blessed to see this leopard but in a way sad that we were the only ones to witness it. In the morning at breakfast we shared our leopard sighting with the guests and I think they found it hard to believe what we had seen but that evening they were able to believe what we had seen because as they enjoyed a night cap of Amarula round the open fire one guest jokingly asked me if I could change the Savute TV to the leopard channel and after about 5 minutes of asking another guest asked me what is that animal walking in front of the channel? I turned my head around to be blown away by an excellent view of the leopard again. It walked right in front of us, stopped to smell the channel water and gracefully carried on out of our sight. The guests and I were ecstatic.

My last highlight of the month had to have been the full Lunar Eclipse that we were able to enjoy right from the camp. There were fears that the weather would not be great but the night sky was perfect for an eclipse. After dinner we got all the guests to come to the entrance of the lodge and we turned off all the lights in the lodge so we could experience the eclipse without any light pollution, which is hard to find these days when most of us live in busy towns or cities. As the guests sipped Amarula we were able to soak up and enjoy an often once in a life time experience. I will not forget that night for many years to come.

June has been an amazing month and one in which I have realised how truly blessed I am to live in Savute and to be able to call Botswana my home. I may be biased but I would say that this is one of the best places in the world and one experience that should be on the top of everyone’s ‘bucket list’.

At one time or another – even during the finest sightings – we’ve all found ourselves annoyed by the roof or perturbed by the pole of the game vehicle. As much as we’ve appreciated the roof’s ability to shade us from the sun, protect us from the rain and generally keep us comfortable, sometimes we just wish it wasn’t there. Yes, we can crop our photographs and yes, the person sitting next to us is always more than happy to move a couple of centimetres to provide the perfect shot, but sometimes we just wish we could stand up for a better view.

Chobe Game Lodge takes all aspects of guest comfort very seriously and has recently been looking at additional ways to improve our guests’ experience. That’s why Chobe Game Lodge is the only safari operator in Chobe National Park to have introduced these new weather proofed and sky roofed game viewers.

Each vehicle has been fitted with a new canvas roof which rolls back to give each row of seats its own sunroof. For the perfect 360 degree view the guests simply stand on the seats – which come complete with roll-up seat protectors to keep the seat clean – and enjoy Chobe National Park from an entirely different perspective. This adds a whole new dimension to the game viewing experience, and, of course, allows for better photographic positioning, especially for birdlife.

When the vehicle is on the move and all three sun roofs are rolled back, our guests can enjoy the beautiful sunshine as well as a sense of being open to the environment. On the other hand, when the rainclouds roll in or the winds get up, the guests get to enjoy the beauty of this African paradise through the protective and crystal clear rain shields which roll down from the roof.

Our new closed STP (sewerage treatment plant) is up and running – it was fired up on Monday 20th June and this morning at 8am the clock was standing on 384,000 litres of processed grey water, so we have been averaging 38,400 litres per day – it is quite amazing to see and smell the processed water, clear and smelling of ozone (bleach).

The performance of this unit will only be at optimum levels in about the next 2 weeks, but it’s already producing incredible results. Each 10,000 litre processing tank produces 10 litres of clean water per minute (40 litres between the 4 per minute).

We will also do a monthly spread sheet in future whereby we can get an accurate water consumption/sewerage footprint per bed night. We will then look at ways reducing this sewerage footprint… All the processed water is used in our irrigation system.

Our “sky walk” and deck project is also coming on well. Hopefully all material will be on site this coming week, an interesting fact is that we will be using 1.5 million used plastic shopping bags (nearly 12 tons) for our decking and walkways.

During Friday’s siesta, some of our guests were enjoying a panoramic view of the lagoon from our viewing deck. Suddenly the peace was shattered as a bushbuck came hurtling through the grounds, running at full speed across the grass.

The guests were a little surprised as the bushbucks at Camp Moremi tend to favour tiptoeing across the grass rather than bolting over it. Just as they were wondering what was up, the camp managers called them across to the parking area where a pack of Wild Dogs had just passed. Unfortunately, by the time the guests made their way across the lawn the dogs had vanished.

Not wanting our guests to miss the opportunity of seeing these beautiful and endangered creatures, the camp managers quickly organised vehicles and the guests left on an early game drive. They caught up with the Wild Dogs almost immediately, and had an incredible experience as they followed them while they weaved in and out of the bush.

It was quite clear that the dogs were following a scent, and it wasn’t long before a startled impala leapt out from behind a bush. The Wild Dogs then did what Wild Dogs do best, bringing down the impala in a heartbeat and making short work of it; an astonishing end to an unbelievable day.

However, Mother Nature had more in store for our guests on this sunny Monday morning, and she decided to factor a leopard into the mix. Imagine our guests’ surprise – and delight – as the leopard stalked out from behind a termite mound, determined to take home some buffalo for breakfast. Unfortunately the leopard was to go hungry that day, as the anxious buffalo provided plenty of incredible footage for our guests by chasing her away.

Later that day – after much excited lunchtime chattering about their wonderful sighting – our guests eagerly set off on their afternoon activity. Mother Nature was clearly still in a superb mood as she provided not one, but two further leopard sightings!

The first leopard was eating a mongoose, a far less ambitious meal than buffalo, it has to be said. At the end of the drive, just as our guides were about to pull in to the lodge, our guests were amazed once more, discovering a leopard in the middle of an impala kill.

Not only did our guests get to watch this remarkable event, but they then got to witness a classic leopard activity as it scaled a tree for safety from the inevitable scavengers who were soon to arrive.