On Safari

We flew over Botswana's legendary Okavango Delta in a six-seater plane. Below us was a verdant flood plain covered with blankets of bright green duckweed. We caught glimpses of stately giraffes and lumbering elephants. After landing on Mombo Camp's sandy airstrip within the Moremi Game Reserve, we climbed inside a waiting Land Rover. The air was pungent with the scent of wild sage. We heard the calls of African cuckoos and the snorts of a female impala herd. Was there a leopard slinking around in the brush? The snort is the alarm call as impala are low on the food chain. We passed a family of warthogs strutting with their self-important stride. They almost look like women wearing high heels.

At the camp, we sipped ginger tea while we learned about the daily schedule. Our wake up knock would be at 5:30 a.m. so we could be out of our tent by 6:00 a.m. to view the emerging sun, hear an elderly male lion calling for his pride and watch as the early morning mist evaporated in the distance while a pod of hippo bathed in a pond. A baobab tree can be as much as three thousand years old. Acacias are also prevalent. Giraffes enjoy munching on the greens. Their long eyelashes protect their eyes as their thick tongues grab breakfast in between the thorns. Their necks are so long and their hearts are so large that they never totally lie down with their heads on the ground.

A group of zebra is called a dazzle and they are dazzling. Their stripes shimmer in the rosy morning glow. No two zebras have identical stripes, but a baby zebra can always pick out his mother. Wondering if he will lead us to his pride, we stalk a male lion. He wanders along with a powerful gait but the sun starts to bake the earth. Seeking shade, he retreats inside a bush that is like a cave. We move on to a wild dog frolicking with two jackals and a male kudu with giant antlers.

After a few hours of driving around, I wondered if we could stretch our legs and walk. We ambled single file behind our guide who led us with a loaded rifle. He claimed that he had never used his gun, but liked to have it just in case. The animals are not interested in humans unless they are startled or provoked. We could touch the thick mud of an abandoned termite mound, pick up a porcupine quill and collect kingfisher feathers. Standing near a giraffe, we realized just how small we are in the world.