KarenLinyanti, 28 – 30 May 2021
At a time when we felt badly in need of some calm and sanity, we took a Friday off and booked a couple of nights at Linyanti campsite in Chobe National Park. Bike had to stay behind this time – this route is strictly 4×4, four wheels only. With a touch of trepidation I made some backup plans for my customers, and decided I would take myself completely off grid.
It proved as difficult as ever to cut ties with work on a month-end Friday morning, but we somehow departed fairly close to our self imposed deadline. Half an hour out of town, as the signal vanished off our phones, we already felt as if we had been away for a day!
After passing through the villages of Chobe Enclave, the tar road ends at the outer limits of Kachikau village, and the sand begins…
Just a short way in, there’s a special baobab that we love. A traditional place to stop, liberate an ice cold beverage from the cooler box, and yes, that’s me in the background hugging my old friend!
From here on, it’s such a sense of freedom – windows down and slowly driving along on the bush tracks. How absolutely stunning are these trees..
… eventually ending up driving in the iconic, deep sands of the Linyanti cutline…
We did not encounter any vehicles whatsoever along this route. Such isolation and remoteness! Our new post-covid era occasionally feels like a time warp back to the Botswana we knew 20 years ago. For this reason, our sat phone always comes along – that little piece of technological magic just gives peace of mind, in case of dire need!
A few hours later we reached the National Park gate, and after completing formalities, hit the track through the mopane forest towards the campsite. Being late afternoon, we met up with a few elephants of varying sizes heading back from the direction of the river… waited for some of them to pass, while being aware of others around us in the bush. Suddenly, without much warning or option, we found ourselves surrounded by the entire breeding herd. Gigantic mothers, tiny babies and grumpy adolescent males flowed busily around our now very vulnerable feeling blue metal box on wheels! Their actual movements and footfalls are remarkably silent in the thick sand, but their activities are punctuated with deep toned rumbles, branch breaking and sudden ear splitting trumpets! No matter how many times we’ve been in this situation, it’s a bit of an adrenaline rush, and I am always thankful when the stream of elephants continues on its way, re-closing its ranks on the other side of us, finally excluding us so we’re no longer an integral part of their herd! It is such a privilege to experience this unique type of encounter with our wild Chobe elephants. Completely humbled by nature, as ever…
Reaching the campsite, so happy be completely alone with no fellow campers whatsoever, we set up our camp looking out over the floodplain.
The campsite team were short of a vehicle, but materialised on foot, to fire up the donkey boiler for our hot water. That was the last we ever saw of them, but at least the hot water was there for the first night, and it did not bother us at all!
Safety in numbers, as the camp attendants return to their camp a considerable way along the floodplain, with a peacefully grazing elephant in the background!
As usual, the sunset was exquisite. At this time of year, as the sun dips below the horizon, the sky colours change and deepen while the chill instantly sets in…
Perfect timing for the campfire… and sunset photography…
Along with the sun’s disappearance, as if on cue, the pod of hippos concealed in the river in front of us suddenly became extremely vocal, and hippo dinner time was on, as they started slushing noisily around, grazing in the marshy floodplain!
I entertained myself for way too long in a useless attempt at iphone videography. My goal: a simple sunset video with accompanying soundtrack of hippo noises, but in reality – several boring, long, silent sunset movies were endured, only to be foiled by the hippos bursting into full chorus at the very second of tapping the stop button…. I started to consider that they were telepathic, and doing it on purpose!
Eventually after asking them very nicely, they obliged and I managed to capture the sound, however the visuals are so black that I cannot dignify it with the name Video.
Here is my Linyanti Hippo Sunset “Audio”, (complete with silly commentary) ?
The evening by the campfire was perfect. Orion’s belt just above the horizon on the east, while Scorpio rose on the opposite side, so amazing sitting out in the open, underneath these two giant constellations. Being just after full moon, we enjoyed the moonrise late in the evening, around 9pm, which was also spectacular, giant and orange. Those hippos slushed and chomped in the water around us incessantly, such energetic nocturnal feeding – I think they only finally gave it a rest at about 2am!
Next morning we did absolutely nothing, other than to move around with the shade, and enjoy being one with the nature around us. Such a beautiful spot, overlooking the floodplain, who would want to leave it…
Just spending a day under this magnificent tree canopy is something that makes me so happy!
As we chatted, created gourmet snacks and indulged in the odd glass of sherry, we watched birds and devised routes for future travels!
Some of the inhabitants of the area sneakily observed us…
… while just passing through our campsite, to and from the river..
I logged 60 species of birds here, without even trying very hard. I am sure a real birding fanatic would have found many more!
Such a colourful variety of birds, both water and forest dwellers…
All day long we enjoyed the inhabitants of the wetland just doing their thing all around us – elephants grazing, hippos submerging and resurfacing, red lechwe strolling across the floodplain.
Quite a novelty in covid times – a jet stream!!
At some point we noticed it was basking hour, as our hippos moved out of the pool to their sun loungers – the clearing on the opposite bank started to resemble a hippo parking lot!
A truly perfect day. No noise, no humans, no phonecalls or messages, just pure nature. In the evening we had more gorgeous sunset and noisy hippos in the river.
After dark we heard lions roaring, close to camp.That powerful sound while sitting outside around your campfire on a cold night, can vibrate straight through the soul.. powerful stuff!
Next morning, Sunday, after a very leisurely packing session, we left the National Park, and headed for home. En route we enjoyed our picnic lunch at a favourite waterhole. This will probably dry up later in the year, but for now, still plenty of water leftover for the animals!
I love mopane trees in all their moods. Their autumn coloured butterfly shaped leaves are so beautiful. Here I found a camouflaged real butterfly posing right next to a lookalike leaf!
Eventually it was time to take on the sand highway back towards the Chobe Enclave, and home!
Re-entry takes place right here, designated by this elegantly informative signpost at the outer edges of Kachikau!
The moment of re-entry into communications and reality after such a (relatively for me) long time off grid, can be a bit of an anxious time, as I’m usually very much constantly in touch and available, and generally I tend to prefer to know what’s going on rather than being blissfully ignorant!
Wondering what sort of surprises were in store, our wheels hit that tarred surface and my phone predictably and instantly exploded into an absolute multitude of notifications and sounds! I put it on silent until the excitement was over, then picked it up with the most positive attitude in the world, read through everything calmly and was delighted to find nothing earth shattering had happened in our absence!! Some lessons to be learned there, no doubt!
As a sort of a retreat, this trip was perfect, reconnecting with nature at this level is so good for the soul! Although a month and a half ago now, I still benefit from the experience, and will never stop feeling a sense of deep gratitude for what we are able to experience right on our own doorstep.
Wishing all reading this a peaceful weekend, in these uncertain times..
