Today we woke up early for a morning boat cruise on the Okavango hoping to see Hippo and Crocodile, while we did see some hippos, it was not that successful as all of the local females swam down the river to the dominant male, so we couldn’t get very close. The rest of the cruise was lovely, with some nice bird life and enjoyable views of the river, unfortunately there were no crocodiles. We then made the short drive to Npegi camp, further down on the Okavango. Instead of going straight to camp we headed to the Mahango area of the Bwabwatwa national park for a lunchtime self drive. We knew we were really too late, but were very happy to see the wildlife we had seen, and then we found a herd of elephants who were washing in the river, wonderful. After our safari we went to camp, where we sat on the deck watching Hippos in the river while drinking a beer, before going on an evening boat cruise.
- Start: n’Kwazi Lodge
- Destination: Ngepi Camp
- Distance: 215km
- Planned Duration: 2h15min
- Actual Duration: 2h10min
- Animals Seen: Hippo, Southern Masked Weaver, African Darter, Zebra, Springbok, Southern Cordonbleu, Greater blue-eared starling, Warthog, Red Lechwe, Elephant, Rock Monitor Lizard, Kudu (female), Ververt Monkey, Egret, Fish Eagle, Pied Kingfisher, Crocodile, Ostrich, Baboon, Grey Heron
Morning Boat Cruse
As we arrived for the morning boat cruise we were informed that just 3 min before a pod of 6 hippos had swum downstream, as this was all of the hippos in the area, the guide carefully took us downstream, as that is where the dominant male has his territory. We saw the hippos, and the male, but kept a very safe distance, which meant that photographic opportunities were very limited. Nonetheless, It was great to see a new animal. We then headed back upstream with lots of wonderful birdlife, hoping to see a crocodile, however this was also unsuccessful. Despite the poor wildlife viewing it was still an enjoyable cruise up the river on the border with Angola.
The Drive
The drive was really quick and easy down a great tarmac road, in fact we beat the planned driving time for the first time. But other than this it was fairly unremarkable.
Self-Drive Safari in the Bwabwatwa National Park
Instead of going straight to camp, we headed to the Mahango area of the Bwabwatwa National Park for a self drive safari. We had not found a huge amount about this park online, but we knew a self drive was possible.
As we arrived at 11am our hopes were not too high, but our plan was to do a short lunchtime safari, head to camp and then head back for sunset. It started off very well with lots of zebra and then our first Warthog and then hundreds of Red Lechwe, along with lots of wonderful, beautifully coloured, birds.
As we were driving down the river, Becky saw an elephant in the distance which was very exciting, so we drove as fast as we could, down a very rough track and arrived at the single elephant. As we were watching him, a herd of 9 other elephants also headed down to the river, some of which were young elephants. It was really wonderful to watch them all drinking, having a mud bath, and the young ones were definitely playing in the water. At one point the baby kept running into the water, back out, trumpeting and then running back in.
On our way back out of the park we then saw another few elephants, which was a wonderful end to our self drive.
Afternoon at camp
When we got to camp our plans changed, as we decided to go for an evening cruise and head back to the park for a sunrise self drive. So we sat on the terrace overlooking the river drinking a beer, and to our great excitement we suddenly saw a hippo. With some further searching with our binoculars we then spotted a lot more and watched a pod swim down the river, get out, get back in, have a yawn and eat some grass, wonderful.
Evening Boat Cruise
The start of the evening boat cruise was a bit ominous, as it was very windy due to a nearby thunderstorm, it was raining, and I was very worried we were going to get soaked. Thankfully this did not happen, and we enjoyed a lovely boat cruise on the Okavango, where we saw hippos, crocodiles and lots of birdlife. It was just a shame that the storm clouds blocked the setting sun, so it wasn’t so great for photography.
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