Happy Independence Day

Friday, September 30 is Botswana’s Independence Day. We hope to learn more about it at the evening dinner. At breakfast, we greeted everyone as they greeted us: “Happy Independence Day!”  At lunch, the main building had been decorated with flags and lanterns in the national colors: light blue, black and white. 

Our morning game drive was spent tracking a leopard and a lioness. Unfortunately we never found either one. We did see the following new animals: a Honey Badger (smaller than expected); a herd of Common waterbuck - they have a white stripe around their rump; and a Copper tailed coucal - a bird who is found only in this corner of the Okavango, and is much sought after by birders. 

Other birds included the blacksmith plover (named because its call sounds like a blacksmith striking an anvil), a yellow billed kite, a beautiful white fronted bee eater and an Egyptian goose. We saw many lilac breasted rollers - Julie’s favorite bird. 

We saw a hippo outside the water which is fairly rare. We really got a good look at its short stumpy legs. We saw lots of kudu, impala and lechwe. Of course there were ellys everywhere. We saw a heavily pregnant female with her first born. We saw a group in which most of them had no tails. Ona said they must sleep in an area frequented by hyenas. We also saw a giraffe without a tail - Ona said there were teeth or claw marks on its rump but we really couldn’t see that. There was also a pregnant giraffe and a young male with her. We saw a group of monkeys and one had robin’s egg blue testicles.  No explanation was offered by Ona for the color. We saw a fish eagle with a catfish in its claws. 

We saw a small Crocodile lazing in the sun near the crystal clear river. We saw a mother and 3 young warthogs lying in the shade. At 10 am the temperature was already 85 degrees and most of the animals and even the birds were seeking shade. We saw lots of baby elephants lying down and the onerous process of getting back up. 

Lunch was a variety of salads and bacon and eggs to order. During siesta time a mid sized elephant dug a hole along the river just a few feet from Julie’s tent porch. When it began to fill with water he lay down in it & dozed off. After a while, so did Julie. After our siesta, we were surprised at tea with a parade of camp staff singing a traditional song. They all were dressed up for Independence Day, with the women in colorful skirts and many of the men in shirts the colors of Botswana’s flag. They gathered in a large group and asked to take a photo of us with their group. They gave us Botswana flags to hold, and numerous phones were produced to snap photos. Sue passed hers to someone, so we can share a copy here. She also took one of Ona with two gorgeous staffers. 

We went to the jeep which was adorned with small flags. We took off to see if we could find the leopard or lioness. We immediately came upon some kudu near camp and then some buffalo in tall grass. Then we saw a whole herd of buffalo and got some good photos. We saw lots of knobby combretum - the white flowered bush loved by giraffes. After pollination the flowers no longer taste good to the giraffes, which is the plant’s unique self-preservation system. 

Sue asked why we haven’t seen any zebra at Linyanti and Ona replied that it’s the perfect habitat for kudu but not zebra. Ten minutes later we saw a herd of zebra. They were fairly far away and Ona explained that they are not used to vehicles so we couldn’t go closer. We saw a snake eagle and 2 young giraffe as well as a big herd of kudu. 

Ona was heading through some sand when we almost became stuck. The wheels were spinning like crazy and we weren’t moving. Finally he put the jeep in reverse and slowly backed out of the sand. Phew! 

We found a gorgeous spot on the beach for our sundowner. We saw a large herd of elephants on our way back to camp. We had a little time to freshen up and then Ona collected us for a very special dinner. We were served in a Boma which is where people gather to settle disputes, announce plowing season and hold celebrations. We watched a wonderful show of singing and dancing by the camp staff, including a short version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. We were served traditional dishes including pounded goat and beef short ribs. There was a cake with candles for dessert. Nick did the honors of blowing out the candles. During dinner, Ona gave a history of Botswana, including the fascinating story of the discovery of diamonds, just after Botswana’s independence. Various leaders have had a great deal of foresight when the country was developing and when the AIDS crisis was looming. We all enjoyed this learning experience. We also learned that we would have time for one more morning game drive before leaving for Victoria Falls.