Stop number three of our Botswana Safari was the oh so beautiful Chitabe Lediba camp.
If you've not already, read part one and part two to catch up with our journey so far.
After two nights at Seba it was time to move on to our last camp, with very heavy hearts we said goodbye to Tsono and gave him a huge wave from the plane. I was pleased (well, as pleased as I could be) to see that the plane was slightly bigger this time, I actually felt quite relaxed! We flew through quite a lot of smoke from some raging bush fires which made me feel really sad, Botswana is such a beautiful place and from above you can really appreciate it.
This flight was quite short, about 20 minutes and we were greeted by one of the guys from the sister camp, Chitabe. Chitabe and Chitabe Lediba are basically the same camps, which I found kind of odd because you can see and hear them, but you have nothing to do with them! The drive back was around 30 minutes and we saw quite a few birds on the way. We were again greeted in the traditional African way with song and dance and had the usual orientation of the camp.
The camp - wow. Seba was a real 'bush' camp, which we loved, but this was more like being back at Duma Tau. They had boardwalks in a similar way to Duma Tau and we were in the furthest room so we really enjoyed walking through the trees to get to our tent. Just before we arrived an elephant had been searching out some berries and had knocked part of the boardwalk down. By this stage we weren't at all phased by ele's so we thought it was totally cool! Our room was probably the most amazing room we'd stayed in, it felt so luxurious! The camp was the oldest one that we'd stayed in, but it definitely didn't feel it. We had his and hers sinks and both an indoor and outdoor shower. The bed was sooooo comfy and the mosquito net was definitely the prettiest I'd ever seen.
After a quick bite to eat it was time for our first drive. As usual they'd packed our sundowner drinks (G&T for me, please!) and we were off out of camp at 4pm, slightly earlier than the other camps. Our guide was a fantastic guy called BB. I had actually read a lot about BB on TripAdvisor in the weeks leading up to the holiday so I was thrilled that we had him, although I'm sure the other guides are just as good.
On that first drive BB asked us about what we'd seen so far and what we still had to tick off. In those last three days, we ticked off every single thing except a cheetah - which I'm pretty sure he left out so that we'd have to go back one day ;) At Chitabe Lediba we were lucky enough to have BB to ourselves too and we really enjoyed having a private guide as it's so much more flexible on timings.
On our first drive we spent a good hour or so watching some baboons playing in the road. I keep saying about these favourite memories, but that really was something special. There was the full spectrum of baboons from teeny tiny babies right the way through to what looked like the Grandaddy of the group! They were fighting and rolling in the road, climbing trees and jumping out of them, biting at each other. It was like watching a family Christmas or something - they were having such a great time!
We then saw some lions who'd just had a feast. Another truck had spotted them snoozing in the grass so we went along to check it out. Two male lions who looked so cute and friendly when they were asleep. We were so close that I could literally touch them (I was quite scared if I'm honest!) and because they'd just feasted, they were a bit gassy!! A lions fart isn't something that I thought I'd ever be able to say that I'd smelt.... but I have. And it's gross. We were there for about 15 minutes before one of them rolled on the other and woke him up. They then got up and had a bit of a wander. The lighting was magical and we really enjoyed just watching them move across the grass so gracefully. One of them had a bit of a manky mane, which we were told was due to him fighting. Such amazing and beautiful creatures.
Our sundowner was spectacular, the African sunsets really are out of this world. Due to the fires in the area, the sunset was even more beautiful as it caught on the ash. I was glad that we were a few miles away from the fires as you could tell they were really raging and unfortunately there's nothing that they can do to put them out. Camps are destroyed and just think of all the vegetation that is left ruined after the fire has gone through.
There weren't as many elephants in Chitabe Lediba as the other camps. In the other two we saw huge herds of ele's. whereas here it was more single ones or small groups of 4 or 5. We were going back to our tent on the second day after the morning drive and found an ele's blocking our path, having a munch on the trees right by our outdoor shower. Part of me wishes I was outside at the time he walked past, and part of me is very glad I was nowhere near! We stood quietly and watched him for a while before retreating to the bar until he'd moved on.
The food here was amazing again, they really know how to cook in Botswana! There was so much choice and the chef made sure that there were options for me at every meal. Now I'm home, I really wish that I'd asked for some recipes from them!
Over the next two days we saw so much. Some lion cubs that were 8 weeks old and a smaller one that was 6 weeks. One mother will look after all the cubs until they're old enough to fend for themselves. Their hunting instinct is obviously strong from the day they're born, we watched three of them stalking a guinea fowl for quite some time! They were amazing, again another favourite memory.
We found the hyena den, Drew really wanted to see the hyena's so he was over the moon when we saw a whole pack of them, and a couple later on in the trip too! One searching for bones and one with a little snack that he'd stolen from a leopard! The hyena's were actually really sweet, although I expected them to be more dog-like. They came right up around the truck and gave it a good old sniff. They weren't bothered by us at all and were snoozing and playing - giving us a real show!
One day we literally bumped in to a lioness who had just killed a warthog (oh Pumba, *sadface*) about 15 minutes before we got there. BB knew there was something going on by all the vultures. We were just happy to be that close to vultures and enjoyed watching them fly - we had no idea what we were about to see! We were driving off-road when a lion just stood up in the grass infront of us, cue me "awww a pretty lion" which turned quite quickly in to "I'm going to be sick" when she lifted her kill and all of the guts fell out everywhere!! It was the first time we'd seen something feasting on actual meat and I didn't know how I'd feel, but I was actually fine just telling myself it's all part of the circle of life.
One morning it was really misty, I tried to capture it on a photo, but it just doesn't do it justice. It was absolutely stunning (and freezing) for the first 45 minutes of our drive. Seeing the animals as they're just in that wake up phase was unreal.
Whilst at Chitabe Lediba we experienced the traditional African night. The staff all do traditional African song and dance and the food was incredible. We all sat on a long table in the outdoor boma, with a fire raging and nothing but candlelight. It was so so so special. Apparently all of the Wilderness Safari camps do this on a Monday evening - so try and factor that in to your stay!!
After an absolutely blissful three nights we were on to our last day. BB kindly agreed to take us out in the morning and skip coming back to camp, so we could have as much time in the bush as possible before our flight back to Maun. We loaded our bags in and spent most of the morning driving around taking in the wonderful scenery. BB took us to the river where we saw several hippo's out of the water, which was amazingly special as you hardly ever see them out during the day. We also spotted three crocs and one was HUGE. I was really glad that we didn't get too close! We loved how the birds all sit on the animals to hitch a ride and nibble the ticks off, seeing a bird on a hippo's back was really cool!
I can't even tell you how sad I was to be leaving. We had branded this as a 'once in a lifetime' holiday, but in all honesty, I don't think I could ever get bored. The memories that we have are really really special and I'm so glad that I got to share it with Drew. I'm sure that we'll always be talking about this trip. I think that absolutely everyone should experience a safari at least once in their life. Botswana is quite pricey, but it is worth every single penny. We are already working out when our next trip will be.... that's how much we loved it!
After leaving on the most packed 12 seater plane, it was time to fly to Cape Town on what felt like our own private jet!
See you in Cape Town?
Ems xx
If you've not already, read part one and part two to catch up with our journey so far.
After two nights at Seba it was time to move on to our last camp, with very heavy hearts we said goodbye to Tsono and gave him a huge wave from the plane. I was pleased (well, as pleased as I could be) to see that the plane was slightly bigger this time, I actually felt quite relaxed! We flew through quite a lot of smoke from some raging bush fires which made me feel really sad, Botswana is such a beautiful place and from above you can really appreciate it.
This flight was quite short, about 20 minutes and we were greeted by one of the guys from the sister camp, Chitabe. Chitabe and Chitabe Lediba are basically the same camps, which I found kind of odd because you can see and hear them, but you have nothing to do with them! The drive back was around 30 minutes and we saw quite a few birds on the way. We were again greeted in the traditional African way with song and dance and had the usual orientation of the camp.
The camp - wow. Seba was a real 'bush' camp, which we loved, but this was more like being back at Duma Tau. They had boardwalks in a similar way to Duma Tau and we were in the furthest room so we really enjoyed walking through the trees to get to our tent. Just before we arrived an elephant had been searching out some berries and had knocked part of the boardwalk down. By this stage we weren't at all phased by ele's so we thought it was totally cool! Our room was probably the most amazing room we'd stayed in, it felt so luxurious! The camp was the oldest one that we'd stayed in, but it definitely didn't feel it. We had his and hers sinks and both an indoor and outdoor shower. The bed was sooooo comfy and the mosquito net was definitely the prettiest I'd ever seen.
After a quick bite to eat it was time for our first drive. As usual they'd packed our sundowner drinks (G&T for me, please!) and we were off out of camp at 4pm, slightly earlier than the other camps. Our guide was a fantastic guy called BB. I had actually read a lot about BB on TripAdvisor in the weeks leading up to the holiday so I was thrilled that we had him, although I'm sure the other guides are just as good.
 |
| Those sunsets.... I just can't get enough of them! |
On that first drive BB asked us about what we'd seen so far and what we still had to tick off. In those last three days, we ticked off every single thing except a cheetah - which I'm pretty sure he left out so that we'd have to go back one day ;) At Chitabe Lediba we were lucky enough to have BB to ourselves too and we really enjoyed having a private guide as it's so much more flexible on timings.
On our first drive we spent a good hour or so watching some baboons playing in the road. I keep saying about these favourite memories, but that really was something special. There was the full spectrum of baboons from teeny tiny babies right the way through to what looked like the Grandaddy of the group! They were fighting and rolling in the road, climbing trees and jumping out of them, biting at each other. It was like watching a family Christmas or something - they were having such a great time!
We then saw some lions who'd just had a feast. Another truck had spotted them snoozing in the grass so we went along to check it out. Two male lions who looked so cute and friendly when they were asleep. We were so close that I could literally touch them (I was quite scared if I'm honest!) and because they'd just feasted, they were a bit gassy!! A lions fart isn't something that I thought I'd ever be able to say that I'd smelt.... but I have. And it's gross. We were there for about 15 minutes before one of them rolled on the other and woke him up. They then got up and had a bit of a wander. The lighting was magical and we really enjoyed just watching them move across the grass so gracefully. One of them had a bit of a manky mane, which we were told was due to him fighting. Such amazing and beautiful creatures.
Our sundowner was spectacular, the African sunsets really are out of this world. Due to the fires in the area, the sunset was even more beautiful as it caught on the ash. I was glad that we were a few miles away from the fires as you could tell they were really raging and unfortunately there's nothing that they can do to put them out. Camps are destroyed and just think of all the vegetation that is left ruined after the fire has gone through.
 |
| The mist.... the giraffe!! |
There weren't as many elephants in Chitabe Lediba as the other camps. In the other two we saw huge herds of ele's. whereas here it was more single ones or small groups of 4 or 5. We were going back to our tent on the second day after the morning drive and found an ele's blocking our path, having a munch on the trees right by our outdoor shower. Part of me wishes I was outside at the time he walked past, and part of me is very glad I was nowhere near! We stood quietly and watched him for a while before retreating to the bar until he'd moved on.
The food here was amazing again, they really know how to cook in Botswana! There was so much choice and the chef made sure that there were options for me at every meal. Now I'm home, I really wish that I'd asked for some recipes from them!
Over the next two days we saw so much. Some lion cubs that were 8 weeks old and a smaller one that was 6 weeks. One mother will look after all the cubs until they're old enough to fend for themselves. Their hunting instinct is obviously strong from the day they're born, we watched three of them stalking a guinea fowl for quite some time! They were amazing, again another favourite memory.
We found the hyena den, Drew really wanted to see the hyena's so he was over the moon when we saw a whole pack of them, and a couple later on in the trip too! One searching for bones and one with a little snack that he'd stolen from a leopard! The hyena's were actually really sweet, although I expected them to be more dog-like. They came right up around the truck and gave it a good old sniff. They weren't bothered by us at all and were snoozing and playing - giving us a real show!
One day we literally bumped in to a lioness who had just killed a warthog (oh Pumba, *sadface*) about 15 minutes before we got there. BB knew there was something going on by all the vultures. We were just happy to be that close to vultures and enjoyed watching them fly - we had no idea what we were about to see! We were driving off-road when a lion just stood up in the grass infront of us, cue me "awww a pretty lion" which turned quite quickly in to "I'm going to be sick" when she lifted her kill and all of the guts fell out everywhere!! It was the first time we'd seen something feasting on actual meat and I didn't know how I'd feel, but I was actually fine just telling myself it's all part of the circle of life.
One morning it was really misty, I tried to capture it on a photo, but it just doesn't do it justice. It was absolutely stunning (and freezing) for the first 45 minutes of our drive. Seeing the animals as they're just in that wake up phase was unreal.
Whilst at Chitabe Lediba we experienced the traditional African night. The staff all do traditional African song and dance and the food was incredible. We all sat on a long table in the outdoor boma, with a fire raging and nothing but candlelight. It was so so so special. Apparently all of the Wilderness Safari camps do this on a Monday evening - so try and factor that in to your stay!!
After an absolutely blissful three nights we were on to our last day. BB kindly agreed to take us out in the morning and skip coming back to camp, so we could have as much time in the bush as possible before our flight back to Maun. We loaded our bags in and spent most of the morning driving around taking in the wonderful scenery. BB took us to the river where we saw several hippo's out of the water, which was amazingly special as you hardly ever see them out during the day. We also spotted three crocs and one was HUGE. I was really glad that we didn't get too close! We loved how the birds all sit on the animals to hitch a ride and nibble the ticks off, seeing a bird on a hippo's back was really cool!
I can't even tell you how sad I was to be leaving. We had branded this as a 'once in a lifetime' holiday, but in all honesty, I don't think I could ever get bored. The memories that we have are really really special and I'm so glad that I got to share it with Drew. I'm sure that we'll always be talking about this trip. I think that absolutely everyone should experience a safari at least once in their life. Botswana is quite pricey, but it is worth every single penny. We are already working out when our next trip will be.... that's how much we loved it!
After leaving on the most packed 12 seater plane, it was time to fly to Cape Town on what felt like our own private jet!
 |
| Another one of our 'sundowner' spots, giraffe just strolling by! |
See you in Cape Town?
Ems xx
2 comments:
OMG.....what an amazing adventure! The photos are literally like something David Attenborough would of taken. Well done. 💋❤️
Great photos, sounds like a wonderful trip. Chitabe Lediba was one of my favorite camps too (I was there in 2014 or 15)
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