| Botswana | | | | position and slithered off. I saw the swish of the |
| Southern Africa is becoming a new long-weekend | | | | most scary tail in Africa. Quite as bracing as my |
| destination for the British. There's no time difference, | | | | pre-lunch shower. |
| the flights are overnight (both ways), and you waste | | | | MOREMI WILDLIFE RESERVE |
| no precious daylight hours travelling. | | | | The next day, I flew to Khwai River Lodge in the |
| The good news is that the aeroplanes depart around | | | | Moremi Wildlife Reserve that has a drier, harsher |
| 8pm, so dinner; sleeping and breakfast are at the | | | | environment. Moremi lies in the centre of the |
| right time in the right order. The pleasure in travelling | | | | Okavango Delta. It is undoubtedly one of the world's |
| or sleeping overnight on a plane to South Africa | | | | most beautiful wilderness areas. Moremi is a place of |
| however is that you wake-up to a different and | | | | lily-covered wetlands, grass plains and forests, where |
| dramatic landscape; fresh air and smiling warm faces | | | | even at the busiest time of year you're likely to be |
| and if you are lucky, some snarling animals as well. | | | | the only spectators at even the most dramatic |
| BEFORE YOUR GO | | | | animal sighting. |
| The best way to travel on your weekend is to pack | | | | The lion were at Khwai. Actually, the whole drama of |
| light and travel easy. The out-going flight is on | | | | life and death was at Khwai. Wild dogs are back here |
| Thursday, so carry a bag, small enough to smuggle in | | | | -- a rare treat -- and a pack drove a baby water |
| and out of your office: | | | | buck into the river. The baby made piteous juvenile |
| Hand luggage can include your binoculars, camera and | | | | water-buck noises, its mother was frantic, the wild |
| travel books you'll need on safari | | | | dog hovered at the river's edge. And the inevitable |
| Arrive at the airport well before time to have a glass | | | | happened: the arrow-like ripple in the river, the black |
| of champagne and some smoked salmon at the | | | | little eyes (nature's periscopes), the snap, the squeal, |
| Caviar House. | | | | the thrashing hooves, the closing of the waters and |
| Travel in the loose chinos or combat trousers you'll | | | | Mr Crocodile had served himself dinner. |
| wear for game drives, plus the baggy cotton or | | | | The next morning, while on a drive with our guide, |
| fleece jumper | | | | we breakfasted with the lion. We were watching |
| Take a pure down baby pillow: it squashes up small, | | | | birth of a water buck in the reeds by the river's |
| you can cosy up to it on the plane and it's invaluable | | | | edge when our guide heard the roar of a lion in the |
| in the camps where pillows are hard. | | | | distance. Just as lechwe began its precarious journey |
| JOHANNESBURG - MAUN | | | | in the wild, we drove into the wilderness. |
| Your wake-up call is a few thousand meters above | | | | The pride sat at their table without knife and fork |
| Johannesburg. You have the choice to eat on the | | | | but tidily eating their breakfast, a zebra. A few feet |
| aircraft or at the airport café that is decent | | | | away and in our Land Rover, we opened our packed |
| and above the excellent book- shop. Buy Sasol's | | | | sandwiches. The lionesses regarded the vehicles with |
| illustrated guide to the birds of southern Africa and | | | | a lack of interest bordering on contempt; were one |
| the Sasol mammal book. This is the old Africa hand's | | | | to get out, however, the time span between |
| library; your guide will be dead impressed. | | | | touching the ground and becoming a second course |
| From Johannesburg, there's a comfortable connection | | | | would be minimal. |
| to Maun in Botswana. The two hour flight allows | | | | CHOBE NATIONAL PARK |
| another opportunity for a nap or a quick introductory | | | | Our next flight hop was to Chobe, often described |
| lesson from your book. At Botswana, we change into | | | | as one of, if not the best, wildlife-viewing area in |
| another plane for the last hop to adventure. The | | | | Africa today. Savuti boasts one of the highest |
| time to go to Botswana is in our summer when the | | | | concentrations of wildlife left on the African |
| Okavango Delta swells with water from Angola. | | | | continent. Animals are present during all seasons, and |
| OKAVANGO DELTA | | | | at certain times of the year their numbers can be |
| There is mystery and romance of the Okavango's | | | | staggering. Its uniqueness in the abundance of wildlife |
| waters. Much of the fun in viewing wildlife here is by | | | | and the true African nature of the region, offers a |
| a boat. Some prefer the big boat but the sound of | | | | safari experience of a lifetime. |
| silence is so potent that I prefer the traditional | | | | The most remarkable feature of the Chobe National |
| makoro. As we glide slowly above water, Hippos pop | | | | Park is its huge concentration of elephants. But it's |
| up on each side. We paddled to a far island where | | | | not just the elephants that make this special park |
| birds chatter volubly in the reeds. On ground, there is | | | | worth visiting. It's so wild, a leopard made a kill in the |
| a herd of buffalo munching the water meadows and | | | | Car park just before I. arrived and blood stains from |
| there are tracks of lion and elephant. | | | | a wild dog kill were still visible nearby. |
| I spent my afternoon watching a fluffy, magnificent | | | | Savuti Channel, a strange waterway that seems to |
| prince among raptors - the rarest, Pel's fishing owl. He | | | | have a mind of its own, bisects the park. The channel |
| stood there contemplating us as I looked at him | | | | was dry for one hundred years, then flooded |
| through my binoculars and hurriedly reading notes in | | | | abruptly in the 1950s and remained flooded till the |
| my bird book. In the sunset, that was one of the | | | | 1980s, when shiftings of the subterranean tectonic |
| most spectacular, we could see a lion pride feeding | | | | plates caused it to dry up again. |
| on a zebra. | | | | The journey home is a sleepy crash- out, arriving |
| En route to the tent we met the mamba, rampant, | | | | back in good time in the morning. Jet lag? Ah, you |
| while I was withering along behind the camp manager. | | | | don't need to worry about that. There's nothing but |
| But when someone freezes in the bush, you shut up | | | | buzz, excitement and a heightened sense of living; |
| and freeze. The mamba dropped from its striking | | | | about going so far and seeing so much. |