The 2025 Botswana Journals, Ch. 23: Goofy Zebra, Eye-Level Giraffes, and a Braii

        Late afternoon and we are off on our game drive, with Bashi as our guide and driver.   The other half of our group is going to the Lala Limpopo overnight hide, and I hope they have more luck than we did.

        

        Almost first thing out of camp, I find myself looking straight into the eyes of a giraffe.   Not looking up, just straight and horizontal.   Not often that happens.

        Bashi drives around some bushes and into the dry stream bed.   The giraffes are nibbling from the top and from the bottom.

        A peanut gallery of chacma baboons watches from on high.   

        And then!!   Today's drama.   These zebra are playing, Bashi says, but it could get serious if it goes on much longer.

 

Note the little impala, completely serene, in the left foreground.

        Okay, I don't think kicking another zebra in the teeth counts as play.!

        A final lookback and the zebra wander off, apparently still friends.

        Suddenly, we are on a Ferrari Safari!   When something great is spotted, we rush cross-country to it.   Hang onto your hats and cameras!

The leopard known as Mohoyo

        We spend a lot of time with Mohoyo, and evening draws nigh,   I look around and like the cloud formations.   The leopard is at lower right.

        Mohoyo moves to a different location.   We follow.

    It's getting very late, and night is fast approaching.   I wonder why we are still out and not heading back to camp, but I'm enjoying the sunset.

The wonderfully enchanting baobab tree.

        Now it is dark, and our spotter shines a spotlight on the surroundings, in search of the night critters.   

Video :

        I have no photos, but we see springhare, a genet, and BEST OF ALL, an African wild cat.   A LIFER FOR ME!

        Seeing an African wildcat is considered insanely rare.   They are nocturnal, elusive, and their numbers are scarce.   In size, they are somewhat larger than a domestic cat.

        I don't know what I was trying to capture here, but this gives you an idea of what it's like.

        I don't know how to explain what happened next, except to say that everyone else seemed to know something I didn't.   Remember, I came late to this trip after a lady had to cancel, so I guess it was discussed before I joined the pre-trip conversations.

        On the other hand, sometimes they will throw in surprises.

        The vehicle stops, and the others start getting out.   Assuming we were back at the camp, though things looked a bit different, I hand my heavy camera down to someone.

        "You can leave it.   You don't need it,"  that someone said.    I'm confused.   What?   I wasn't going to leave my expensive camera in the safari vehicle overnight!!!

        I get out, holding onto my camera bag.   "No, you don't need it.   Leave it all in the truck."

        Then I look around.    Oh, my.   An outdoor dinner.   It's called a braii n the southern part of Africa, and it was spectacular.   What we call a barbecue, they call a braii.

 

The beverage bar.

Getting the fire ready.

There are kettles sitting on four-legged stands over some hot coals.   Kettles like Dutch Ovens.

Sausage, chicken, steak, corn on the cob!

Our table.

Shelly, left, Virginia, and Bashi.   The tea candles in paper bags are a nice touch.

                        Cory, Shelly, Virginia, Bashi, and Randy.

        And would you look at this!!!   We are dining next to a baobab tree, and it is in bloom!  It blooms only once a year, and always at night. By morning, the flowers have faded and turned brown.

From the Internet:    Baobab trees bloom, producing large, white, crinkled flowers that typically open at night and last for only about 15 to 24 hours. These flowers bloom annually, usually at the end of the dry season, and are primarily pollinated by fruit bats, moths, and sometimes mouse lemurs. 

What a special occasion Tuli Lodge arranged for us.

My plate:

My plate.   The largest piece in upper right is a chicken thigh.    That was enough for me, but the servers couldn't believe I didn't want sausage (2 inch piece) and a piece of steak to the left of the chicken.   (Uh, steak is very tough in Botswana.).  Then, a wee bit of salad, lovely creamed spinach, a bit of pap*, and 2 baked potato slices.   I would have been content with just the chicken and more spinach!

*Pap:   A staple food in African countries, pap is made from ground maize with water and salt.   It resembles porridge or polenta, but stiffer.   Africans often take a couple of fingerfuls of pap and use it to scoop up any stew-like food.

THE OBLIGATORY BIRDS!

Here are two very, very bad photos.  I did what I could with them, but they are hopeless.   They are also LIFERS, so here's the proof.

Green-backed hoopoe.

Marisco flycatcher