<![CDATA[patsenojexpedition - News Feed]]> /patsenoj/index.rss Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:41:50 UTC last report--from victoria falls /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/24/20-last-report-from-victoria-falls short report today.  we arrived at the town of victoria falls (vic falls in local parlance) and stayed at the victoria falls hotel last night.  and are off to the vic falls  airport for the long trip back home----vic falls, j'berg, frankfurt, sfo, carmel---will beback around noon on the 25th oct.
 
the victoria falls hotel is a really  nice old british colonial hotel----lots of brits here as well, and a 10 minute walk to the victoria falls . the hotel is really charming, like the raffles hotel in singapore, and quite spacious with lots of open spaces with ceiling fans, afternoon tea, and lots of old photos and animal heads on the walls (the animals are stuffed).  the train from j'berg stops nearby--this was a hotel made a long time go for the people of the region to come visit the falls.
 
the falls themselves are quite spectatular---very very wide and cover the whole horizon.  lots of mist.  maybe looks a little like niagra (spelling) falls.  we went in the early afternoon, so was very hot---and the mist made it quite humid---in fact the area is a microclimate of a tropical setting with palms and ferns etc. took lots of pictures from a number of spots, and is really a highly recommended spot if you are into "best sights" kinds of things>
 
everything here demands hard currency,  the park fee at the matetsi lodge required 30 dollars,  the entry into victoria falls, required 20 dollas per person, the visa to enter zimbabwe was 30 dollars a person, the internet lounge in the
hotel requires 20 dollars an hour etc.  credit cards are discouraged, because the government needs the foreign currency.
 
at dinner last night we were surprised there was no bottled water ("the supplies ran out".  we inquired about this and in fact in zimbabwe there are shortages of everything---bread, vegetables, bottled water, even there are rolling blackouts to preserve electricity.  food was pretty good nevertheless, but we did have soda water and lemonade instead of water......but eventually found a sympathetic room service person who gave us 3 pirated bottles of water.
 
we are now dashing off to the airport---great trip overall.
 
that's all folks!

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]]> Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:41:50 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/24/20-last-report-from-victoria-falls (@author) oct 23 report /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/22/19-oct-23-report
short report today.  today is the last day of game drives on the trip--i think we have been on around 28 game drives this trip....and went on another 30 or so 4 years ago, so we have seen a lot of african wildlife!
 
sightings the last day and a half include bat-eared fox, pair of bataleur eagles, and lots of the standard zebras, sable antelopes, giraffes,
warthogs, waterbocks, impala, elephant , kudu, tons of assorted eagles, etc.  at lunch today, along the banks of the zambesi at camp, susan
spotted an africal hawk eagle in an island in the middle of the river, so that became a major lunchtime research project. since there are so many eagles in this part of the world.  also saw a large crocodile sitting on a rock in the middle of the river (crock on a rock).
 
saw at a little pond 4 lions on one side and about 8 zebras on the other side, neither group particularly concerned about the other.  pond was only about 20 feet across, but the zebra knew exactly how much margin of room they need to escape safely.
 
also saw a site full of vultures and african painted dogs which were near an impala carcass killed the previous night, probably by hyenas that had picked it over pretty well.  the dogs work in packs and must have had puppies not too far away, since they have been sighted in the area several times.  note that these are not your little cuddly fru fru pet dogs----these
are more like wolves in behavior.
 
from the babboon hot line, a couple of incidents to report.  susan caught glimpse of a little baboon hand reaching into the bathroom, so that became an interesting exchange with each of them hooting and yelling at each other.  then at lunch on our deck, susan went in to get her book and came back out to find a babboon at the table ready to snitch something so again there was a hooting and snarling and
one scared baboon running off into the jungle because susan sounded worse than any other predator in the bush.
 
from 4:30-7:30 last night took a boat cruise down the zambesi---little pontoon boat with 9 people.  saw two monitor lizards (one calmly eating a crayfish), and a honey badger (kind of like a regular badger, but black).  susan saw a large crocodile slip into the water just ahead of us.  susan's spotting skills have improved to the point where she pointed out several eagles (eagles are her specialty) before anyone else in the group , including the guide,did.
 
from the sports department, our guides and local staff stayed up late and were happy to report the next morning that south africa had beaten england in the semifinals of the world rugby competition (remember that zimbabwe was formerly rhodesia, a british colony)
 
and from the police report, we spotted some human footprints in the middle of the bush area.  the guides were so good that they could tell when the prints were made (one day ago) and the manufacturer of each pair of boots these people were wearing,  it was determined that since they left a zigzagging trail, they were most likely poachers looking for elephants.  the guides said that most poachers in this area come from zambia, just across the river, and that when they are armed, and found by the national park service people, there is a shootout that usually leaves the poachers going to a poacher graveyard.
 
this afternoon is the last game drive, then we
pack up tomorrow morning and go for an hour drive to victoria falls, where we are staying at the very old colonial victoria falls hotel, about a 10 minutes walk from the victoria falls itself.
 
victoria falls report tomorrow---
 
 
 
 
]]> Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:39:03 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/22/19-oct-23-report (@author) zimbabwe october 20 /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/20/18-zimbabwe-october-20
yesterday was a travel day from chiefs camp in botswana to matetsi water lodge in zimbabwe. took a little 12 passenger plane in the morning from chiefs camp airstrip (after all the baboons and warthogs were cleared off the field,)and flew for one hour and fifteen minutes to the kisane airport in botswana at the zimbabwe border.  the landscape from chiefs to
kisane airport is compelete wasteland, with scrub bushes, no roads, no water, and few animals.  but at kisane, this is where the zambesi river is very wide and where
the countries of botswana, zambia, namibia, and zimbabwe all meet in the corner. and that area is where the huge national parks are.
 
after landing in kinsane, took a little van to the botswana border where stood in line with a bunch of other safari camp arrivers.  little place, disorganized, but non-event to get passport stamped leaving botswana.  then went down the road 50 yards for the zimbabwe immigration formalities.  zimbabwe is not a friendly government to either its people or to the usa, so was always going to be a bit iffy (rember that mugabe is the president).  in fact i was taking a little photo of the little immigration building (size of a one car garage, but full of people and officials), and was told to put the camera away or it would be confiscated because i was taking pictures of a government building.  amazing, because the building was just a run down garage .  and each person entering has to pay a 30 dollar visa fee, in a hard currency, which is how they make a lot of hard currency reserves.  total trip from kinsane to matsetsi lodge was around 90 minutes, passing a lot of really third world villages, with hand painted signs, then through miles and miles of bush territory.  on the way, saw the government billboards with messages to control aids, exhorting the populace to follow a policy of abstinence as a safe practice.  somehow i think that policy probably will not be very popular in this part of the world/
 
at matetsi, arrived to find a nice litte camp with 6 chalets along the river bank all nested among a lot of large trees, right on the zambesi river, and overlooking the  opposite shore which is zambia.  was delighted to find that the bedroom was airconditioned since the midday temperatures are over 95 degrees here.  accomodations are quite nice with a nice large but no airconb'room and a little private pool in front of a raised deck,  i suppose this is nice thing to do, but that is the same area where baboons, monkeys, hyenas, warthogs and bushboks play----the latter being a type of antelope that has both stripes and spots.
 
the daytime temperature is so hot, that they bring lunch to the little chalet, but you must be careful or the monkeys will steal your grub. heard a hippo snorting while having lunch, which is interesting since we are in the trees next to the river and the hippo could very will be 20 feet away ready to eat us and the grub stealing monkeys at the same time.
 
went on a game drive, and are pretty jaded by this time---zebras are getting boring, as are impala, kudu, cape buffalo, giraffes etc, but whenever we start thinking we have seen it all something else pops up interesting.  for example, as we returned from the game drive, saw at least 30 elephants just after sun set all walking to and through a pond---sounded like a train, and all the elephants were marching purposefully in the same direction like british soldiers, not stopping, just drinking and walking into the water and out the other side and just kept walking.  also a male lion cut short our evening "sundowners cocktail time" when the guides stop the vehicle near the end of the game drive at some nice place that has a
convenient termite mound or big tree where guests can "mark their territory" .  but the tracker (who accompanies the guide on the land rover) told us all to scurry back on to the land rover since he saw this male lion advancing on out little party.   so we then packed up and followed the lion as he went in search of his dinner.
 
perhaps the most interesting species discovered during the whole trip was discovered right in our own camp.  there was this lady from dallas, who was probably at least
130 years old, who was probably a texas socialite around the time the alamo was being attacked.  she had bleached blond hair, owl-like sunglasses, lots of garrish jewelry,
hot pink lipstick and fingernail polish, and wearing a shiny white llamay (spelling) shirt. looked totally out of place, and kept calling baboons "apes" and asked the guide where the
"prairie dogs" were. she was much more scary and bewildering than any warthog we have ever seen.
 
perhaps you recall from your school days some poet or writer (i was not concentrating very hard on poets in school as you can tell), who wrote about the "mightly baobabs">
well i can report to you that the baobabs are truly mighty.  they often reach over 500 years old to even 1000 years old and are virtually indestructible.  elephants try to pull the bark off and fail.  fire does not faze them.  drought does not fase them (huge trunks, little foliage normally, deep roots) and they look like trees turned upside down when the leaves are off (like now, before the rainy season)----with the branches with no leaves looking like a huge root system and the huge trunk looking like it is pointing into the ground.
 
today, game drive left camp at 6am and we returned for breakfast at 9am.  had to shoosh away 7 warthogs that wanted to dine with us and are not only quite ugly but also bold.
only guests in our little camp today are a young russian couple (he 33, she 26) from moscow that had spentthe last week all over south africa.  he is an attorney, with very broken english, but nice people.  they lost their camera in south africa, so i took a couple of photos and got their email address to send to them later.   they are taking a side trip this afternoon to go to victoria falls (we are going there oct 23/24), which apparently includes bungee jumping.  had an interesting conversation with them last night in totally broken english about thier commute in moscow (2-3 hours each way) and also about the risks of bungee jumping over victoria falls.
 
no pc or internet connections here, so am sending this via satellite phone again.  but i think that there is cellphone reception (zimtel)at the reception area(very aptly named location), which is quite a hike in the hot afternoon sun, so will check it out later in the day.
 
 
]]> Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:52:25 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/20/18-zimbabwe-october-20 (@author) zimbabwe location 17.58S , 25.52E /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/19/16-zimbabwe-location-17-58s-25-52e
 
]]> Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:20:25 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/19/16-zimbabwe-location-17-58s-25-52e (@author) zimbabwe location 17.58S , 25.52E /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/19/17-zimbabwe-location-17-58s-25-52e
 
]]> Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:20:25 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/19/17-zimbabwe-location-17-58s-25-52e (@author) wednesday oct 17 /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/17/14-wednesday-oct-17
sightings included several white rhino.  the white rhino is not white, but the color of an elephant.
the dutch were misunderstood when they spoke of the rhino, so the name white rhino stuck.  they were eradicated in this area , but were reintroduced several years ago.  there are only 34 in the okavango delta, and only 4 in chiefs camp (the former is about 500 square kilometers).

also saw a white impala (albino) with all the normal black racing stripes but white everywhere else---also the first in okavango delta area. then the list goes on to include a large monitor lizard (long darting tongue), 2 crocodiles snapping at birds flying low over a little stream, a couple of lionesses, one of whom (is a lion a whom or a which?) was nursing 3 very young cubs.  also saw a young zebra nursing as well. found a hippo in a small marshy pond that decided to wait out the day there rather than go back to the much larger marsh area with the rest of his buddies.  we annoyed him so much that he got out of the water and stood in the grasses, so we got a photo of a hippo in the daylignt which is not common.  saw a bunch of mongeese (probably 20-30) that looked literally like a small
river of single file rats running furiously along a path----.

on the injury report, i may have mentioned that i took a tumble a couple of days ago wheni tripped over an invisible rope over a boardwalk that was tying two little boats together.  my camera went flying almost into the water, my camera bag flew into one of the boats and i went splat on the boardwalk.   damage was just a bit of pride as well as a nice looking bloody finger that is still a nice shade of purple.   susan had her turn today----the vehicle always is going through brush and thorn trees, and while she was organizing something in her bird book a random thistle branch attacked her...leading to some drama and a scratch on the scalp that healed quickly after an outpouring of sympathy from the guests on the vehicle.

susan also got scowled at by a couple of lions today after she accidentally dropped something in the vehicle---they had been sleeping in the sun and were generally oblivious to the vehicles, but the dropping sound was like a gun i imagine, so they were immediately alert and looking to go after the offender.  this was ok, but the guide also made a crack about "dont do that" and we both were ready to smack him because it was not something that was intentional. 

it is amazing the damage that is done by the elephants.  often the countryside looks like a war zone with all the trees pushed over, which they do to eat the tasty roots or the tasty bark of certain trees. so there are a lot of horizontal trees that have survived and the branches that remain become little tree-lets growing upward that the smaller animals can feed on.

the okavango delta floods in august or so, and dries out over the coming months, so at this time, there are a number of ever-decreasing little ponds full of fish.  this tends to attrach lots of fish eating birds, highly concentrated around the little ponds shoulder to shoulder, all fighting for frogs and little fish.  today we saw a flock of probably 30 maribou storks (huge birds with large wattles) all congregated around a little pond--even the guide was impressed.

for those of you that are geopolitically inclined, take a look at the strip of land that separates botswana from angola.  it is just a little strip of namibia all the way across the top, which was put there by a deal with a german colonialist and the namibian government to allow him access for his beef cattle from namibia to zambia---across the top of botswana.

tomorrow (thursday) is the last full day, and leave friday for matetsi game lodge in zimbabwe.
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]]> Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:19:29 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/17/14-wednesday-oct-17 (@author) tuesday (i think) oct 16 (i think) /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/16/13-tuesday-i-think-oct-16-i-think-
was really hot today---i suspect it was 35 C or more in the early afternoon.  no wonder lions sleep during the day.

this morning we started out as usual at 6:30 and i was once again convinced that we would see nothing special.  and lo and behold we found a sleepy lion just next to the roadside, who was too sleepy to even open his eyes as we almost ran over him.  he looked hungry (not a swollen stomach, nor breathing rapidly, signs of just having eaten a big meal).  i can see why he looked hungry, because he probably slept at night too.  this was probably a low IQ lion.

then we moved on and again by surprise found two leopards in a tree overhanging the road, one of which snarled at the 4x4 i suspect for making noise while he was looking for breakfast.  one then dropped to the ground and went to another tree vantage point and kept up a vigil for 30 minutes. once discovering a lone impala not too far away, we followed 40 feet behind him as he stalked the impala.  the impala was also a low IQ specimen because she just kept chewing her cud as the leopard inch by inch crept forward. leopards are only successful 2-3 times out of 5, so he was trying to make this one count.  we waited and watched for about an hour, and could see the leopard crouching in the grass behind a tree and the clueless impala chewing her cud only maybe 50 feet from the lion.   but then the impala got some allies:  the birds started making warning sounds and the squirrels strarted chattering so the whole world was telling the impala to get the co bwebs out and pay more attention.  soon, several more impalas showed up on the scene and the leopard clearly was spotted (clever choice of words, eh?).  so the leopard finally did what he only could do at that time and place---he took a nap and gave up.

yesterday afternoon we had spend about 90 minutes trying to find rhino. normally you would think that this would be an easy project, since all you do is look for tracks in the road, and follow the freshest dung balls (another soundbite for daniel).  but very quickly we found ourselves offroad and it was like being in a vegematic--after 90 minutes of this everything in your body is homogenized
together---spleen, stomach, liver and other related parts all get stirred and shaken well, especially in the raised rear seat of the 4x4 (which by the way is a land cruiser, and not a land rover, in case anyone wants to know).  didn't find any rhino, but did see 1, 583  dung balls of various agings.

sent a couple of pictures, but not sure that it actually worked.  too difficult (slow) to send pictures on this pc, but will try again for the blog.
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]]> Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:58:43 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/16/13-tuesday-i-think-oct-16-i-think- (@author) monday oct 15---lions! /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/15/12-monday-oct-15-lions- get up at 5:30am and eat a light breakfast at 6 and then leave for the
game drive at 6:30 to 11am. baines camp started at 7:15, but it is better
to leave earlier since that is when the animals are eating each other for
breakfast.

today started out fairly routine, and we are jaded anyway since we have
now been on something like 60 game drivs in total by including the south
africa trip 4 years ago. so, i was just watching passively as things
started picking up. among the interesting things we found is hyena dung
(a throwaway for daniel who has interest in such things). hyena dung is
white since they eat so many animal bones (calcium). then we ran across
literally dozens of vultures circling and seated on trees in a grove of
trees and bushes. getting more intresting now, says i. turns out that
there was a camel all torn apart in the bush and had already been picked
over by whatever other animals were around (hyena and lions) and the last
parts were being eaten by the vultures.......was a lot like a hitchcock
movie of similar but different plot. then we moved away and found another
large flock of vultures flying around and sitting in the open
field.....turns out to be the remains of a zebra. all that was left was
the skeleton, even though the kill would have happened just last
night.....these carnivores are very efficient.

so, after now being totally awake, we hotfooted it across very open and
bumpy roads in the 4x 4 to reach several lionesses and some cubs that
another guide radioed to our guide. arrived on the scend and found that
they were hidden behind a large bushy area in the marsh. turns out to be
about 5 lionesses and 3 cubs, one of which was probably only 5 months old.
since we could not see them behind the bushes, our intrepid guide decided
to venture out into the marsh (after all we had a 4x4) and get a better
look so we could take pictures. so here we are in the middle of the
marsh, maybe 15 feet from a bunch of lions, all by ourselves, and got
stuck in the mud. this was not a particularly brilliant move by the guide
and also seemed like it might interfere with our lunch plans (as well as
perhaps our evening plans if we indeed even survived being eaten by a
bunch of lions. but the guide (lower IQ) radioed the other guide who was
staying out of the marsh (higher IQ) and we were towed out. much more
excitement for the morning than i had anticipated!

then we moved on to return back to the lodge and saw a giraffe skeleton
with the head and horns displayed...quite interesting.

other things we saw during the morning would include a bunch of herons,
geese, egrets, vultures (as mentioned), colorful birds (including a parrot
or two), baboons, monkeys, jackals, all sorts of antelope related things,
hippos, giraffes, elephantsand several crocodiles. the water levels in
the river were low, so all the birds were congregated at a couple of
deeper sections where the fish were hiding out, and so it was like an
aviary with dozens of fish eating birds all lined up on the banks just
shooting fish in a barrell (or whatever metaphor works).

ran across a herd of breeding elephants (a family) that would not move
from the middle of the road since they were much occupied eating the bark
off a tasty tree that they had just toppled. finally, after a long wait
being stuck in the road waiting for them to move, the driver started the
vehicle to shoosh them away. in return, 3 of them flapped their ears and
also trumpeted their great annoyance at our interruption of their
breakfast. we had been vaccinated against trumpeting since yesterday,
when a lone bull fake-charged the vehicle, trumpeting and charging and
making a lot of dust----he was just posturing to show that he was braver
than the 4x4 but the little newlywed from ohio just behind me was
terrified and was sure she was going to die. i rather enjoyed the whole
thing but susan was rapidlyjoining the union of the newlywed lady.

so, a pretty interesting morning overall. game drive this afternoon
starts at 4pm and we return at 6:30pm. more later, since we are here
for 4 more nights.

temperature during the day gets quite hot, but mornings are cool enough to
wear a jacket. evenings cool off too (late), and we must be escorted to
our little bungalow since there are hyenas and lions and elephants and
hippos that wander about the camp all throughout the night.

this place is nicer than baines camp---rooms are bigger and more refined.
there are 12 bungalows instead of 5 at baines camp, although smaller
setting was intimate and nice too. susan would say goodbye for now but
she has discovered the place has a spa/massage place-----not bad for the
middle of the okavango delta..]]> Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:57:32 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/15/12-monday-oct-15-lions- (@author) chief's camp location 19.18.44S ,022.54.34E /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/14/11-chief-s-camp-location-19-18-44s-022-54-34e Sun, 14 Oct 2007 13:33:42 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/14/11-chief-s-camp-location-19-18-44s-022-54-34e (@author) chief's camp location19.18.44S 022.54.34E /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/14/15-chief-s-camp-location19-18-44s-022-54-34e
 
]]> Sun, 14 Oct 2007 09:02:59 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/14/15-chief-s-camp-location19-18-44s-022-54-34e (@author) saturday october 13---incl leopard's success! /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/13/10-saturday-october-13-incl-leopard-s-success-
over the past two days, there have been some interesting developements.  yesterday, what started out to be an ordinary game drive, turned into something a bit more exciting.  we started out finding some jackals, some owls (huge) and the regular gang of impala, zebras,
giraffes, antelope, cranes, and birds.  then, as we were returning at sunset we saw a leopard sleeping in a tree (all four legs dangling down astraddle the tree branch) surveying a large field.  we parked just under the tree, and each of us (leopard and the 4x4 people) just lazily stared at each other for a while.
 
then, as dusk grew more pronounced, the leopard got up, down from the tree, and flushed three antelope from the grass in the field and chased them nearer to the edge of the field near some brush.  then the leopard went back to the tree for more shuteye.
 
the 3 antelopes really hunkered down in the grass, trying to hide from the leopard, and both
parties knew each other's whereabouts.  the antelope can outrun the leopard, so the leopard cound not just chase the antelopes and expect any success.  so the leopard got out of the tree, and slowly stealthily slinked (slunk?) through the grass circling the field and coming back around behind the antelopes.  this took maybe 45 minutes, so there was a lot of energy in the air, and the hunkered down antelopes were hunkering down even more, trying to be obscure in the grass. 
 
then all of a sudden, the leopard leapt into the air and pounced on the biggest antelope (around 150 pounds of him) and immediately grabbed his neck and suffocated him, quickly.  we arrived in the 4x4 as the leopard was still struggling with the antelope and the antelope was still struggling to get away,  it was really getting very deep into the dusk at this point so cameras were not very good at all, which was a shame.  then, when the leopard was sure the antelope was really dead, started dining on it, ( hindquarters first).  we were right there on the spot!
 
the leopard was quite wary of hyenas that might steal her dinner.  eventually she walked away looking for a place to hide her dinner, and so we left to go back to the lodge.
 
today, we went on an elephant walk/orientation with three semi-habituated elephants.  an american came here 19 years ago and adopted two orphan elephants that are now 21 years old (a huge male and a female).  later another orphan elephant was added (she was already 13 when was adopted , and is now about 30 years old). so we spent the morning having an orientation, a longish walk with them (including watching them in the mudbath, where one mud small mud projectile was flung
50 feet and caught susan on the shirt) and then went to a nice picnic lunch in the bush---with them).  lots of very interesting photos. the male was huge (about 5 tons) and still growing, and all three were very intelligent, and could perform little parlor tricks (like taking off someone's hat and putting it on the elephant's head and then replacing it back on the guest;s head----properly.  at lunch, we were treated to the variety of sounds elephants make---all recorded on the camcorder:  deep rumbles, trumpeting, inhaling from the nose squeals, etc.
all quite interesting.......took many photos including susan getting an affectionate kiss by the trunk of the elephant (slobbery, whiskery, and smelly was the first descriptive words from that experience).
 
this afternoon we are going on another boat ride in the marshes, maybe to see more eagles and hippos and elephants bathing. the boat experience has the redeeming feature of being
smoother than riding in a bumpy 4x4 as well.
 
tomorrow at around noon we leave baines camp and fly for 10 minutes to chief's camp where we will stay for 5 nights.
 
trip is now one week gone,, two more to go.
 
 
]]> Sat, 13 Oct 2007 15:10:24 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/13/10-saturday-october-13-incl-leopard-s-success- (@author) baines camp, botswana, october 11 /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/11/7-baines-camp-botswana-october-11- maun to stanley's airfield, a 15 minute flight away. the flight to maun was supposed to be straightforward, but we went on air botswana, which was more interesting that we thought. left the johannesburg airport terminal in a bus to get to the plane, where we discovered plane was not operable. excuses ranged from no fuel, toilets not working, crew not all there, gas caps were airlocked, personnel to open gas caps were not there, and even that the plane had not come in yet from wherever it was coming from (when in fact we could see it in front of us). so we returned in the bus back to the terminal, where we were told to get back in the bus immediately to go back to the plane. got back on the plane, which was immediately put on hold for takeoff for an hour due to fog. finally got to maun about 2 hours late.

maun airport is teeny, but immigration took way too long, and bags took 30 minutes (one baggage handler). finally got on the charter plane to stanley, and was dropped off 15 minutes later.

once off the plane took a land cruiser (6 passenger, tarp top, 4wd) to baines camp, over dirt roads that were still inundated in places from the annual flooding of the okavango river in august. the whole area we are in is the okavango river delta, so is quite lush most of the year. baines camp is about 45 minutes from the airport, and we saw animals immediately (see below). we spent the first afternoon doing a game drive followed by a great dinner overlooking a marshy area where a family of hippos hangs out, so we heard their bleats and whooshes as they surfaced to breathe, just in front of us. there are only 5 chalets at baines camp, plus a common area where there is a dining room and a large open lounge area/library. meals are great. in the evenings the canopied bed(complete with mosquito netting) is wheeled out onto the deck of our chalet where we can sleep essentially outdoors with all the night sounds......pleasant but somewhat annoying as some unknown animal or other decides to be musical in the middle of the night. being under the stars is quite nice nevertheless.

susan has been deep into birdwatching and has been organizing her sightings with her bird book. the area is rich in birds, as there are birds as big as
eagles and vultures, water birds like egrets and cranes, weavers, and all kinds of birds with a variety of songs, quite fun to identify names with sounds with pictures, and i have been semi successful taking pictures of them with my long (heavy) 500mm lens that i brought.

today is thursday october 11 and the second full day of being here. could not write before because we were totally booked up with activities and not time to write or download or fool around with satellite phone (the place has no phones, no faxes, no internet, no nothing except a lot of flora and fauna and some interesting people)

so far, we have seen elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, a great assortment of antelope (like impala, sprinkbok, others), kudu, lions, warthogs, wildebeest, baboons,
zebras, wild dogs (like a camoflaged dingo), spotted hyena, guinea fowl, and a baby squirrel adopted by the staff (2 weeks old). perhaps the highlight so far was finding and following a leopard who had just woken up and was drinking water after a kill, and then went for a leisurely walk over about 200 meters and climbed a tree to go to sleep. i got all this on camera, and is quite interesting.

i will try to send some of the more interesting photos by satellite, but not sure if i will be successful (large pics and slow upload may not mix). i look like a real japanese tourist since around my neck i have a small camera, camcorder, binocs, and am holding a large camera with a huge lens on a monopod. kind of like an
indiana jones or doctor livingstone (who actually was not far from here but over near victoria falls).

went on a game drive this morning ,and are going in a motorboat later this afternoon in the marshes to see waterbirds and fish eagles and hopefully some hippos out of the water. more photo opps.

we are going for a walk tomorrow morning with 3 elephants that are semi -habituated to people, which should be interesting. we will be here until sunday , whenwe go to chief's camp which is a 10 minute air trip away from here. they have internet capability i am told , so may be able to do a better job with sending pics.

to be continued...... ]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:03:32 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/11/7-baines-camp-botswana-october-11- (@author) baines camp, botswana, october 11 /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/11/8-baines-camp-botswana-october-11- maun to stanley's airfield, a 15 minute flight away. the flight to maun was supposed to be straightforward, but we went on air botswana, which was more interesting that we thought. left the johannesburg airport terminal in a bus to get to the plane, where we discovered plane was not operable. excuses ranged from no fuel, toilets not working, crew not all there, gas caps were airlocked, personnel to open gas caps were not there, and even that the plane had not come in yet from wherever it was coming from (when in fact we could see it in front of us). so we returned in the bus back to the terminal, where we were told to get back in the bus immediately to go back to the plane. got back on the plane, which was immediately put on hold for takeoff for an hour due to fog. finally got to maun about 2 hours late.

maun airport is teeny, but immigration took way too long, and bags took 30 minutes (one baggage handler). finally got on the charter plane to stanley, and was dropped off 15 minutes later.

once off the plane took a land cruiser (6 passenger, tarp top, 4wd) to baines camp, over dirt roads that were still inundated in places from the annual flooding of the okavango river in august. the whole area we are in is the okavango river delta, so is quite lush most of the year. baines camp is about 45 minutes from the airport, and we saw animals immediately (see below). we spent the first afternoon doing a game drive followed by a great dinner overlooking a marshy area where a family of hippos hangs out, so we heard their bleats and whooshes as they surfaced to breathe, just in front of us. there are only 5 chalets at baines camp, plus a common area where there is a dining room and a large open lounge area/library. meals are great. in the evenings the canopied bed(complete with mosquito netting) is wheeled out onto the deck of our chalet where we can sleep essentially outdoors with all the night sounds......pleasant but somewhat annoying as some unknown animal or other decides to be musical in the middle of the night. being under the stars is quite nice nevertheless.

susan has been deep into birdwatching and has been organizing her sightings with her bird book. the area is rich in birds, as there are birds as big as
eagles and vultures, water birds like egrets and cranes, weavers, and all kinds of birds with a variety of songs, quite fun to identify names with sounds with pictures, and i have been semi successful taking pictures of them with my long (heavy) 500mm lens that i brought.

today is thursday october 11 and the second full day of being here. could not write before because we were totally booked up with activities and not time to write or download or fool around with satellite phone (the place has no phones, no faxes, no internet, no nothing except a lot of flora and fauna and some interesting people)

so far, we have seen elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, a great assortment of antelope (like impala, sprinkbok, others), kudu, lions, warthogs, wildebeest, baboons,
zebras, wild dogs (like a camoflaged dingo), spotted hyena, guinea fowl, and a baby squirrel adopted by the staff (2 weeks old). perhaps the highlight so far was finding and following a leopard who had just woken up and was drinking water after a kill, and then went for a leisurely walk over about 200 meters and climbed a tree to go to sleep. i got all this on camera, and is quite interesting.

i will try to send some of the more interesting photos by satellite, but not sure if i will be successful (large pics and slow upload may not mix). i look like a real japanese tourist since around my neck i have a small camera, camcorder, binocs, and am holding a large camera with a huge lens on a monopod. kind of like an
indiana jones or doctor livingstone (who actually was not far from here but over near victoria falls).

went on a game drive this morning ,and are going in a motorboat later this afternoon in the marshes to see waterbirds and fish eagles and hopefully some hippos out of the water. more photo opps.

we are going for a walk tomorrow morning with 3 elephants that are semi -habituated to people, which should be interesting. we will be here until sunday , whenwe go to chief's camp which is a 10 minute air trip away from here. they have internet capability i am told , so may be able to do a better job with sending pics.

to be continued...... ]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:03:32 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/11/8-baines-camp-botswana-october-11- (@author) baines camp, botswana, october 11 /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/11/9-baines-camp-botswana-october-11- maun to stanley's airfield, a 15 minute flight away. the flight to maun was supposed to be straightforward, but we went on air botswana, which was more interesting that we thought. left the johannesburg airport terminal in a bus to get to the plane, where we discovered plane was not operable. excuses ranged from no fuel, toilets not working, crew not all there, gas caps were airlocked, personnel to open gas caps were not there, and even that the plane had not come in yet from wherever it was coming from (when in fact we could see it in front of us). so we returned in the bus back to the terminal, where we were told to get back in the bus immediately to go back to the plane. got back on the plane, which was immediately put on hold for takeoff for an hour due to fog. finally got to maun about 2 hours late.

maun airport is teeny, but immigration took way too long, and bags took 30 minutes (one baggage handler). finally got on the charter plane to stanley, and was dropped off 15 minutes later.

once off the plane took a land cruiser (6 passenger, tarp top, 4wd) to baines camp, over dirt roads that were still inundated in places from the annual flooding of the okavango river in august. the whole area we are in is the okavango river delta, so is quite lush most of the year. baines camp is about 45 minutes from the airport, and we saw animals immediately (see below). we spent the first afternoon doing a game drive followed by a great dinner overlooking a marshy area where a family of hippos hangs out, so we heard their bleats and whooshes as they surfaced to breathe, just in front of us. there are only 5 chalets at baines camp, plus a common area where there is a dining room and a large open lounge area/library. meals are great. in the evenings the canopied bed(complete with mosquito netting) is wheeled out onto the deck of our chalet where we can sleep essentially outdoors with all the night sounds......pleasant but somewhat annoying as some unknown animal or other decides to be musical in the middle of the night. being under the stars is quite nice nevertheless.

susan has been deep into birdwatching and has been organizing her sightings with her bird book. the area is rich in birds, as there are birds as big as
eagles and vultures, water birds like egrets and cranes, weavers, and all kinds of birds with a variety of songs, quite fun to identify names with sounds with pictures, and i have been semi successful taking pictures of them with my long (heavy) 500mm lens that i brought.

today is thursday october 11 and the second full day of being here. could not write before because we were totally booked up with activities and not time to write or download or fool around with satellite phone (the place has no phones, no faxes, no internet, no nothing except a lot of flora and fauna and some interesting people)

so far, we have seen elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, a great assortment of antelope (like impala, sprinkbok, others), kudu, lions, warthogs, wildebeest, baboons,
zebras, wild dogs (like a camoflaged dingo), spotted hyena, guinea fowl, and a baby squirrel adopted by the staff (2 weeks old). perhaps the highlight so far was finding and following a leopard who had just woken up and was drinking water after a kill, and then went for a leisurely walk over about 200 meters and climbed a tree to go to sleep. i got all this on camera, and is quite interesting.

i will try to send some of the more interesting photos by satellite, but not sure if i will be successful (large pics and slow upload may not mix). i look like a real japanese tourist since around my neck i have a small camera, camcorder, binocs, and am holding a large camera with a huge lens on a monopod. kind of like an
indiana jones or doctor livingstone (who actually was not far from here but over near victoria falls).

went on a game drive this morning ,and are going in a motorboat later this afternoon in the marshes to see waterbirds and fish eagles and hopefully some hippos out of the water. more photo opps.

we are going for a walk tomorrow morning with 3 elephants that are semi -habituated to people, which should be interesting. we will be here until sunday , whenwe go to chief's camp which is a 10 minute air trip away from here. they have internet capability i am told , so may be able to do a better job with sending pics.

to be continued...... ]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:03:32 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/11/9-baines-camp-botswana-october-11- (@author) baines camp location /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/8/6-baines-camp-location Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:26:00 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/8/6-baines-camp-location (@author) monday oct 8 (johannesburg) /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/8/5-monday-oct-8-johannesburg- hours to get to san fran airport, 2 hours before board plane, 11 hours to
frankfurt, 7 hours layover, 10 hours flight to johannesberg, 1.5 hours
getting luggage (immigration was a snap, but bags took an hour to pop out)
and another hour to get to the mount grace hotel in the suburb of
johannesburg called rosebank. we are completely exhausted, but have 24
hours here to recharge.

johannesburg is much greener and less dense than i had thought. the "bad"
parts are in the city itself near soweto (south) and the hotel, where we
are now, is about an hour north. still lots of private houses (some very
nice from the dutch and english days), but many (most) with high fences
with razor wire at the top.

hazy today, but temperature is actually quite nice---not hot, and has been
raining the past week per the person who drove us to the hotel.

susanis using the spa this afternoon, and then we leave tomorrow morning
for a commercial flight from johannesburg to maun, botswana, then take a
little charter plane for 40 minutes to stanley's
airstrip (yes, i think it is named for the guy that was with livingstone,
who was famous for doing something cosmic around victoria falls as i
recall), then on to our first camp, which is chief's camp on chief's
island in the okavango delta area (northern botswana).

more tomorrow]]> Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:48:00 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/8/5-monday-oct-8-johannesburg- (@author) day 2 frankfurt airport picture /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/7/4-day-2-frankfurt-airport-picture ‰íz{SÊ—­{†Ù¥r«±ë

image/pjpeg

]]> Sun, 07 Oct 2007 16:20:20 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/7/4-day-2-frankfurt-airport-picture (@author) day 2 -frankfurt layover /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/7/3-day-2-frankfurt-layover was directed to a first class lounge like i have never seen
before---carved meat, waitresses with menus, pretty fancy. just a small
place, so
is not like being in grand central station. getting to johannesburg is
just the same amount of flying as flying back and forth from san francisco
to frankfurt the same day.]]> Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:20:00 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/7/3-day-2-frankfurt-layover (@author) day 1 (oct 6) /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/6/2-day-1-oct-6- frankfurt. will arrive frankfurt at 3pm sunday oct 7, and depart for
johannesburg 10:40pm oct 7. will arrive in johannesburg oct 8 at
9am. will spend the day in rosebank , which is an hour from johannesburg
at the mount grace hotel. will depart for maun, botswana early in the
morning
of oct 9 and then take a chartered plane to Stanley's airport (Baines Camp)
in the Okavango Delta where we will stay for 5 days. then on to Chief's
camp, then on to Matetsi Water Lodge, then on to Victoria Hotel at
Victoria falls.

will give day by day location, pictures, and diary entries as the trip
unfolds.]]> Sat, 06 Oct 2007 19:35:00 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/6/2-day-1-oct-6- (@author) day minus 2 (oct 4) /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/4/1-day-minus-2-oct-4- on Oct 6, then down to johannesburg, where we will arrive at 6am and spend
the day and leave very early to go to johannesburg, then a plane to maun,
botswana. this diary posting is essentially a test to see if it all
works.]]> Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:45:56 UTC /patsenoj/posts/2007/10/4/1-day-minus-2-oct-4- (@author)