🙂 True wilderness. Cheeky Elephants!
🙁 Mosquitoes in tent. No Hyenas in camp. Less game than anticipated. 🙁
Friday, 30 December – Saturday 31 December 2022 Third Bridge, Moremi to Magotho, Kwai 39C
Third Bridge Campsite Layout
We were allocated to No. 1 and 2 – deffo the best of the camp sites. No. 2 had most shade.
TOP TIP: This Moremi Map Book written by the Tinkers is an absolute must to help navigate! Available at some gates. They do similar for Chobe, Kruger, Kgalagadi.
After the peaceful mokoro trip we continued on the road to Moremi. The sand was not too deep and we enjoyed the drive. The only fly in the ointment is that when travelling to any of these campsites n Botswana you require a permit with the original stamp and signature from the offices in Maun. All our paperwork had been sent through by recorded mail from Botswana Footprints who had booked all the tents sites, permits and conservation fees. Unfortunately they had actually (unknown to us) forgotten to buy our permit for the 3 of us for the 2 weeks! It was pure luck that we had got into Nxai Pan using the Whiteheads permit. The lady tried to call Botswana Footprints … this was 16h30 on a Friday afternoon before a Bank Holiday for New Year … my nerves were shot. Fortunately she let us through saying that if it was BP’s fault they would need to go and pay in Maun and if it were our fault they would send someone to tell us that we would have to go to back Maun after New Year….! Phew.
With relief we headed through the gates … we were soon greeted by several feisty little bull elephants!
Apart from the ellies it was fairly quiet on the game front with only a few giraffes, zebras and impala dotted around. We were keeping an eye out for the pride of 32 lions that had been mentioned to us which were seen at Second Bridge the day before … but we only saw a hippo running off as we crossed the rickety bridge.
We were assigned MT1 and MT2 which are adjacent to each other at the edge of the camp site. The sunset was spectacular! We selected MT2 as it was larger with a shady tree. We pitched camp and Paul cooked a delicious Babotie. In the background we could hear the grunt of hippos. Thank goodness we had an early night as the heavens opened and it poured with rain all night! The hyenas were nowhere to be seen or heard – we had been convinced we’d have them in camp and had carefully stored everything out of reach. We did however see the obligatory elephant grazing on the periphery of the camp.
Our alarms went of at 04h45 but the rain was still torrential so we all enjoyed a lie in as it is completely pointless looking for game in the rain as they are also all hunkered down! By the time we woke up (refreshed!) the rain had exhausted itself and there were relatively clear and cooler skies. Alys made delicious toasties for breakfast. A group of South Africans from Port Elizabeth pulled in at about 10h00 as they would be staying here for the next few night…the one vehicles was very high and hit a branch so Paul gave them some masking tape to repair their solar panels.
We had heard lions roaring so headed off in search of the elusive pride! At the gate a Guide gave us general directions as to where the lion sighting that morning had been. We drove round the roads as directed but to no avail… but then spotted a vehicle pulled in at an odd angle – and we found a single lioness… the sighting had been of 3 lionesses and cubs – but we were happy! Nick hit his hooter by mistake AGAIN which made us all giggle but did not appear to disturb the lioness! Another vehicle arrived about 20 minutes later and drove so aggressively towards the lioness that he did disturb the peace so we decided to move on. No photos on my phone, but this is one from Caitlyn’s that she took of her camera. She is beautiful.
She was shy but Paul got this one…
Heading back to Third Bridge we had a special sighting of warthogs just having fun … one of my fav sightings ever! A great reminder that we all need to take time out to play!
When we got back to Third Bridge we did a little shopping at the Tuck Shop which had some woven baskets and wine and Nik Naks.
Surprisingly, the actual Third Bridge is after the campsite and had been extensively repaired for an easy crossing.
The route we had chosen was to drive to Dead Tree Island… we did not have a map book so were relying on the Garmin which is tricky as you do not have an overview of the wider area … it was pretty wet from the torrential rain fallen on the night before.
Fourth Bridge was also in great condition!
Heading onwards to Dead Tree Island, we had two options to cross: the first looked fairly navigable – except that we had never done a river crossing, so we opted out… the second was far more hectic! Hippos, crocs everywhere – no way HosE!
We continued on our way … and had a race on what we thought was the old and disused Airstrip – mmm.. when we got to the end we realised that the luxury lodge were awaiting their flight arrival!! Oops!
A few minutes later we could feel that something was not right with the vehicle – a slow puncture! Luckily Paul had all his gadgets and the problem was soon rectified! We were very fortunate that this tyre did not burst because we did try to change it but the nuts were too night for us to loosen them!
We may not quite have crossed the river to get to Dead Tree Island but this peaceful haven was just perfect…
As we headed onwards we were rewarded with a chameleon sighting – but he was not impressed and puffed himself up, so we helped him into the safety of a tree… and no leopards…but at least a leopard tortoise!
Some other nice wildlife abounded…
Go Back to: Botswana
Go Back to: Maun
Go to: Magotho – Khwai
