Nxai, Khama, The Makgadikgadi Pans, and Lekhubu Island

We couldn't make it to Namibia due to time constraints, but we did tour the central part of Botswana north of the Kalahari and south of the Okavango Delta. We made it to Khama Rhino Sanctuary in one easy drive. The light was beautiful and the animals were cooperative.This Rhino male just walked right up to the car.

We got out of our vehicle and stalked this mother and calf. She didn't appear aggressive. They have poor eye sight and she probably couldn't pinpoint us. The wind was in our favor. We didn't hang around any longer than it took to get the photos. Take a look at the size of the horn on this lady!

From the front,"head on" she looked like a tank.

 We pushed on to Lekhubu Island. This is an Island in the middle of a vast pan. The pan is filled with water during the rainy season, but dries out and looks similar to the great salt flats in Nevada USA. We had no idea that we were a little early. The water had just dried up. However, the mud just under the crust has swallowed entire vehicles. We learned about this from a professional tour operator we met on our last day there. Luck was on our side. We had no problems. The Island is famous for it's ancient Baobob trees. These trees are several thousand years old, and they are this big!

They are beautiful. The sunsets are stunning. We camped right under the stars and slept like the dead.

 This tree was just begging to be made into a photo.

Water buck are fairly common in this area of Africa. We see them all the time. The light and pose on this one made for a special photo opportunity.

We pushed on north to the Makgadikgadi Pans. This area is famous for its Suricates. Not far from the town of Gweta are a couple of colonies of these animals. Now I've been taking wildlife photos for more than 40 years. I am going to give you some tips that will help you if you want to try your luck. First- Where camo clothing. It will make the animals think you are just a short fat tree stump.

Second- Don't make a sound
Third- be patient. It may take hours, days or even weeks.
Fourth- Don't move a muscle. They can spot movement miles away.

He went into that hole right over there. I'll just sit here until he sticks his head out, then "click" I've got my photo.----OK, So I'm not really a wildlife photographer, but I did fool this one into thinking I was a short fat tree trunk. These guys are very smart and have habituated people into following them into the bush to protect them from Jackals, eagles and snakes. They really enjoy the company and wait for people to show up. We spent the whole day with them. It was a great experience.

I don't know how Pepi managed to get so accepted into the group, but they were climbing all over her every chance they got.

These little guys have all the personality in the world. They are the most social animals on the planet. They all preform their own duties without hesitation. Sharing food with the babies, baby sitting. sentry duty. It is really amazing.

This was a peaceful sight. I can watch them for hours.

The great migration was taking place while we were there. It is the second largest migration of Zebra and wildebeest in the world. Only the Serengeti tops it.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. We will make it to Namibia next time, I promise. Take care.