Zarafa Camp

The setting of Zarafa Camp overlooks the Zibadianja Lagoon in the Selinda Reserve near Chobe Camp in northern Botswana. We slept in a canvas zippered tent under mosquito netting but our tent had a wooden floor fashioned from old railway timbers, leather furniture, a decanter of sherry and a copper bathtub. During the night, we could hear a hyaena snarling and an elephant hooting. In the morning, we discovered that the hyaena had attacked a baby elephant. Later we came upon the agitated mother thrashing in the water while she tried to clean her bloody baby with its chewed tail and ears. Our guide assured me that the little elephant would survive and these altercations are part of the cycle of the jungle.

We sipped coffee around the fire and scooped porridge from a pot resting above the coals. As we got ready for our daybreak drive, the flaming orb of the sun began to burn off the morning mist. We saw groups of impala leaping. Their hind quarters go up as they leap. While the baboons jumped around with them, the scene evoked a field day from elementary school. We tracked a leopard for almost an hour. She must have been very hungry to be looking for food so actively in the daylight. Leopards are usually solitary and secretive animals that can be difficult to find. At noon we enjoyed a surprise lunch on a riverboat. We tasted vegetable pie, grilled beef kabobs with homemade chutney, a tossed green salad with artichokes, sunflower seeds and tomato, and sliced papaya with prickly pear. An elephant peered at us through the reeds while a waterbuck couple waited nearby.

In the afternoon, we drank red roobuis tea and munched on mango cake and passion fruit. The air in the bush has a particularly pleasing scent as the sun goes down: a blend of wild basil and sage and amber grass. On a sunset drive, we listened to the symphony of bell frogs while we watched hippos leaving the water and creating walkways through the thick under brush. The new moon was a sliver of silver. A lioness suckled her three cubs. We saw an owl gyrating on a tree branch, sparkling fireflies and the eyes of the impala glistening.

When one shakes hands in Botswana, the custom is to hold the opposite hand on the shaking forearm. This motion conveys extra warmth. The management team at Zarafa were an African husband and wife, Alex and Onay. Together with Stephen, our guide, they welcomed us into their home and shared their sense of fun. They were excited to point out a pelican looking for fish, a dwarf mongoose scuttling, baboons scavenging and a leopard lurking. During our last dinner when the whole staff performed for us, they sang and danced with feeling.