Having learned our lesson about not putting too much trust in Garmin and Google Maps, we got instructions from the owner at Van Zylsrus Hotel before setting out. A brief stop in Upington for breakfast and we were on our way, carefully watching the distance and signposts in order to follow instructions.
We couldn’t stop being surprised by the green and colourful Kalahari.
Van Zylsrus Hotel is a true oasis in the desert, albeit an unusually green desert during the time of our visit. The hotel is a hub of social activity for the locals as well as a favourite stopover for hunters and sleepover for people visiting Klein Jan Restaurant at Tswalu Game Reserve. A few days before our arrival in Van Zylsrus, Klein Jan Restaurant suffered major water damage due to a flash flood and had to close down temporarily.
We arrived to find the hotel bar overflowing with locals, some of whom had traveled up to 100 km from their farms and neighboring towns to visit with friends. Through the course of the afternoon, they started heading home and the hotel quietened down.
A walk through the hotel is an interesting experience in local art
Even the toilet seat lid in our bathroom was a piece of art.
After a relaxing cold beer in the bar, we had a great supper and went to bed early. Much as I enjoy camping, the occasional night in a hotel bed is a nice break from sleeping in a rooftop tent.
This was Good Friday and we spent a peaceful day at Khamkirri, going for an early morning 5km nature walk, broken halfway by a stop for Bible reading and contemplation.
On the right, in the distance, one can see the spray rising up from the Augrabies Falls
Getting back, we had a late brunch or rather early lunch, after which we lazed around and I finally managed to start catching up with my photo editing and blog writing.
That evening was my first (and, as it later turned out last) real opportunity on the trip to do some astro photography and I managed to get a few pleasing shots by walking a few hundred meters away from the campsite.
We left Twee Rivieren early, planning to visit Augrabies Falls before moving on to our campsite at Khamkirri. Our first stop was Upington Slaghuis, where we topped up our meat supplies and had a chat with the locals, gathering good information for the rest of our trip.
Leaving Upington, we saw a road sign for Kanoniki Padstal and decided that it looked like an interesting stop for coffee. Turning off the road, we had our first view of a very full and fast flowing Orange River, crossing onto Kanon Island to the farm stall. We had excellent coffee and pancake and an entertaining chat with the owner.
Next was a fuel stop in Kakamas, with a visit to Tops in order to top up our beer supplies. On our way to Augrabies Falls, we made a stop at Marchant butchery, where we had previouly bought excellent curry beef sosaties.
At last, we were on our way to Augrabies Falls, getting there 2 hours later than planned, but still well in time to view the Falls in all their glory. I had long wished to visit the Augrabies Falls at a time of high flow, our previous visits having been at times when water levels were much lower. This time we were told the flow was just under 3000 cumec, compared to our previous visits at around 600-800 cumec.
Further below the falls, one could experience rain coming up from below, with pretty rainbows around.
Properly soaked from the falls’ spray and exhilirated, we turned for Khamkirri and learned not to trust Garmin or Google maps for navigation in these regions, since they seemed to conspire to lead us to a dead end.
After phoning Khamkirri reception for instructions, we eventually managed to get there just in time to see a magnificent sunset over the Orange river.
Once again we decided to do the transition between rest camps as a game drive. Leaving Nossob early, we soon saw a Pale Chanting Goshawk dive down to catch its breakfast in the long grass and then fly up into a dry tree to enjoy its meal. Unfortunately we could not see what prey it had caught.
A young Springbok and its mother provided a lovely picture.
The rest of this day delivered little in terms of sightings. A few times we saw raptors circling in the distance. Once again I have to rely on Merlin’s identification, since I am unsure.
More Oryx, a few giraffes and the unusually green Kalahari with flowers reminding one of Namaqualand in September, were our enterainment for the rest of the day.
We did come across a traffic jam caused by a cheetah resting close to the road, next to a recent kill, but the number of cars and their positioning precluded any photographic opportunities.
Not a particularly exciting day with relatively few opportunities for interesting photography, but nonetheless an enjoyable and relaxing day in the Kgalagadi.
We were up early, eager to get to the Kgalagadi entrance gate and start our drive to Nossob. The plan was to use the drive into the Park as our first game drive, so although only 166 km from Twee Rivieren, we were estimating that it would take us between 5 and 7 hours.
With the recent rains, the grass was lush and green and, apart from large numbers of Oryx and the occasional Black Backed Jackal, no too many four legged animals visible.
However, the birdlife did not disappoint. Since I am still a beginner in the bird identification game, I rely on my Merlin app to identify them for me. If you disagree with my ID please let me know.
Stopping at the Melkvlei picnic site, we got a nice surprise in a tree right above us
Southern White-faced Owl
We also saw many Kori Bustards walking along, but didn’t see any of them in flight.
Arriving at Nossob in the mid afternoon, we checked in and settled into our campsite. At the shop, we were informed that they had run out of Wi-fi vouchers and the new vouchers would only be arriving in two days’ time, so although there was Wi-fi available, we could not connect to it. Once more, no uploading of photos or blog posts possible.
A late afternoon drive, yielded a sighting of a very sleepy lioness lying in the road north of Cubitje Quap. Occasionally, if a car came too close, she would open her eyes or lift her head.
I got a nice photo of our Toyota Hilux reflected in her eye.
The evening was rounded off with a braai and “kuier” (no proper English word exist to encompass everything included in that Afrikaans word) around the fire.
Once again I was up before sunrise, in time to take a photo of the rising sun. The red dunes of the Kalahari were green after the recent good rain and the unique smell of Kalahari sour grass was in the air.
We decided to have a relaxing day, lazing about, reading and going for a short hike, including a brief visit to the Meerkat rehabilitation centre on site.
As always, my camera went along for the walk.
By this time we had realised that we had very limited cellular and internet connection and uploading photos and blog posts had become impossible. But this is part of the charm of traveling in these remote areas.
I was awake at 4:00 and saw that the previous evening’s clouds had departed. Quickly grabbing my camera, I went outside to photograph the moon.
As the sun was rising, I decided to take a walk to photograph the church in Britstown. It is noticeable that the church buildings seem well maintained in the small towns, even when the rest of the town is in a sad state.
Driving from Britstown, the road led us through Upington and past many small towns and settlements. Along the way, one sees many ruins.
Thanks to a leisurely driving pace and a few stops along the way, we reached our destination at Kalahari Trails/Meerkat Sanctuary quite late in the afternoon. Our rustic, yet adequately equipped, campsite was quiet and peaceful.
We set up camp and settled down for a braai as the sun was setting.
As the moon was rising, I decided to take some more moon photos.
We settled in to our rooftop camp bed early, for a good night’s rest.
Having done most of our packing the previous evening, we were nonetheless up early on our day of departure, doing the last bit of packing and getting the dogs settled. Soon we were on our way, making our first stop in Jansenville for breakfast.
Driving leisurely, we soon passed through Graaff-Reinet and set course for Murraysburg, where we stopped to photograph the church. Here we met Morris David Baadjies, who told us that the church had been recently renovated. When asked how he was, he told us that he got up that morning so was thankful to the Lord. He agreed to pose for a photo in front of the church.
Between Murraysburg and Victoria West, the R63 crosses the N1. Just after this, one sees multiple electricity transmission towers and power lines. Normally I consider these to be an irritation, preventing me from getting the landscape photos I want, but today they actually made for some interesting photos.
In Victoria West the main attraction seemed to be a soccer match between two neatly kitted out teams, but played on a pitch with hardly any grass in sight.
It appeared that the Karoo had some decent rain recently and the landscape we drove through, was beautifully green, unlike the soccer field.
In Britstown we met up with friends who would be joining us for the rest of our trip. A good meal at the Karoo Country Lodge, was rounded off with a tot of Pienaar and Son’s Tiny Batch Whiskey, before going to bed in our cells in the Old Jail.
Unfortunately, the clouds prevented me from getting a nice shot of the full moon.
On our last morning, we went for a short game drive before returning to 4 Rivers camp to pack for our flight home.
The young male leopard we had seen on a previous day, was lying out in the open on a termite mound, watching the passing giraffes, giving us ample photo opportunities, before disappearing into the trees
There was some smoke in the air from grass fires, resulting in a hazy photo of the Southern Ground Hornbill in flight.
Thus came to an end our amazing 10 days in the Okavango Delta, having achieved our main objective of seeing and photographing the Painted Wolves, but also so much more, truly an awe inspiring experience of God’s wonderful creation. It is so sad that so many of the wonderful animals we saw, are on the Vulnerable, Endangered or even Critically Endangered lists. As humans, we really should take our responsibility towards the world we live in more seriously and work harder towards protection and conservation of these wonderful animals that we are privileged to share the earth with.
Many thanks to Grant Atkinson for the invaluable input, both in the planning phase and during the trip itself. Without your input, many of the great photos and videos we got, would not have been possible.
Joanne at Biggestleaf Travel, who did our bookings, ensured that we had smooth sailing all the way with no drama and hitches.
Kwando Safaris camps where we stayed, Pom Pom, Splash and 4 Rivers, certainly lived up to their promise of delivering a “a high-quality wildlife experience”.
Our guides and trackers were awesome, going out of their way to get us the sightings and then patiently positioning and repositioning the vehicles to get us the best angles for our photos. I remain amazed at their ability to spot the animals at a distance, when often all I could see was bushes.
Ryder and Zuma at Pom PomST and SB at SplashClifford and James at 4 Rivers
Finally, a few tips for those who may be planning a similar trip:
The Okavango is a magical place and absolutely worth a visit. If you just want to get the sightings and not really interested in photography, I am sure you will get as many sightings as we did, if not more, by simply booking a trip to these awesome destinations which we visited. However, if you want to get the photos, you really should book a dedicated photography safari with someone like Grant Atkinson who knows the area, animal behaviour and photographic technique and will assist you to get the best shots possible. This will also allow you to spend enough time with the animals in order to give you the best photo opportunities. Many times we saw other vehicles arrive at a sighting, stay 10-15 minutes and then depart, while we stayed for the photos.
In order to keep the trip somewhat affordable, we went in the “Low Season” but from a photographer’s perspective this might actually be preferable because the grass is shorter, there is less water, so certain areas which are not accessible in flood season, were accessible to us, there are fewer vehicles around to ruin your shots and the occasional clouds in the sky did assist with better light for photography.
On this trip I used two Sony A1 camera bodies with respectively a 600mm f/4 lens (44% of my shots) and a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens (55%). I also had along a 24-105mm lens which I used for about 1%, mainly a few sunset photos.
For her video, Liana had two Sony A7IV camera bodies with Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 as well as a GoPro Hero 11
Setting out early, as usual, we soon found leopard tracks. While searching for the leopard, we accidentally surprised a family of elephants, who then decided to chase us off. Clifford had to know his driving to get away from them. They stood staring after us through the dust, checking that we were not going to return and bother them again.
Some promising clouds were on the horizon, but unfortunately soon disappeared, resulting in another scorching hot day
With the riches of predators to photograph, one can easily forget the beauty of the “ordinary and common” like Kudu, Impala and Tsessebe
We saw a beautiful Lappet-faced vulture, another species unfortunately listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, sitting at the water
Soon we spotted a leopard, fast asleep in a tree.
We spent the rest of the morning waiting for him to come down from the tree. He did wake up a few times to change position and look at the Zebra, Red Lechwe and Impala, but after waiting more than 2 hours, we had to accept that he was not interested in coming down. The Zebras seemed oblivious to his presence.
In the afternoon, we set of for one last search for Painted Wolves, not finding any, but seeing the most beautiful landscapes with green flood plains interspersed with woodlands. Waterbuck, Elephants and many other animals were grazing on the flood plains
We were fascinated, watching Kestrels hunt, hovering and then swooping down on their prey in the grass, flying up and eating in flight. Their main prey on this day seemed to be some juicy caterpillars
Finally, we stopped to have our sundowners, watched by a Kingfisher
Etienne's Camera 