“Pic of the Week”. November 16, 2012 — Leopard resting in tree, Okavango Delta, Botswana

November 16, 2012

I enjoy all my travels but there’s something truly extraordinary about going on safari in Africa.  The opportunity to see large numbers and a huge diversity of animals is unparalleled and completely captivates me.  The best game viewing opportunities are, in my experience, available at private concessions as the drivers and guides are not limited to traveling on roads and can provide close viewing of the animals.

Such was the case with this leopard in Sandibe, a private concession in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.  Our game spotter saw her at a great distance.  We drove to within 20 meters of her and saw this beauty resting on a branch, taking a nap.  The photo captures her the …

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.All Trips / Africa / South Africa

Sojourn in Johannesburg

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Jo’burg (aka Jozi) is South Africa’s corporate capitol and a megapolis of at least 7 million. Like many enormous cities, there are islands of beauty and grand architecture, but to a large extent this is a dirty and uninspiring travel destination. Of all our stops in Southern Africa, this was my least favorite in part because I’m not a big fan of sprawling mega-cities.

Johannesburg was founded as a gold boom town some 125 years ago and you’ll still find active mines scattered throughout the city. Jo’burg has evolved over the years as a financial and business hub. It is the gateway to Southern Africa as most international flights travel through Jo’burg before taking you to your final destination, including …

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.All Trips / Africa / Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls: The Zimbabwe Side

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After our introduction to the Falls in Zambia, we wanted to venture to Zimbabwe to see how the Victoria Falls experience in that country compared. We were visiting during the dry season and, as outlined in my prior blog post, the falls in the Eastern Cataract were all but completely dry, though the gorge was still very dramatic. Our first inclination was to travel via guided tour arranged by the Activities desk of the Royal Livingstone Hotel until we found out how corrupt and unfair their pricing mechanism is, so we decided to go by ourselves. I’m glad we did it this way. We were a little concerned about visiting Zimbabwe by ourselves because …

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.All Trips / Africa / Zambia

Victoria Falls: The Zambian Side

Victoria Falls —  The Zambian Side

Our journey took us from the magical place that is Chobe National Park, across the Chobe River and into Zambia.  This journey required a boat ride, a rather lengthy wait (and a sizable visa fee) at Zambian immigration, and a bus ride to our next destination, The Royal Livingstone Hotel at Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls is included in most trip itineraries to the region and with good reason.  The Seventh Natural Wonder of the World and a World Heritage Site, Victoria Falls represents a 100 meter drop of the Zambezi River — that drop stretching over a kilometer in width.  And the drop is into a very narrow and …

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.All Trips / Africa / Botswana

Chobe National Park: “In Chobe We Trust”

Chobe National Park — ‘In Chobe We Trust’

Having completed five great days on safari in the Okavango Delta, we caught a tiny bush plane (Safari Air) on an almost non-existent sand strip and spent two hours flying to Kasane, a small town in northern Botswana near the entrance to Chobe National Park.  The flight took us over the myriad of small pools and channels in the Delta, the Kalahari desert and finally towards the forested northern part of the country where we could, in the distance, see the Chobe River.  We were greeted at the airport by our guide, Disho, from ‘And Beyond‘, our safari company.  Our gear was sequestered into …

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.All Trips / Africa / Botswana

The Best of the Okavango Delta: Sandibe Lodge

The Best of the Okavango Delta — Sandibe Lodge

The three days we spent at Sandibe are among the most memorable travel days I’ve ever experienced!   In my prior post I’ve discussed an overview of the Okavango Delta and our stay at the Xudum Delta Lodge.  As great as that experience was our stay at Sandibe (pronounced San-dee-bee) was even more wonderful.

Like Xudum, Sandibe is situated in the Okavango Delta just south of the Moremi Game Reserve.  It’s a large private concession — a former game hunting preserve, but now a photo-safari destination — in a much drier part of the delta than Xudum.  While there are still …

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.All Trips / Africa / Botswana

The Remarkable Okavango Delta: Xudum Delta Lodge

The Remarkable Okavango Delta — Xudum Delta Lodge

After 2 years of planning, dozens of hours of traveling (literally to the other side of the world), the four of us were finally there.  Our small Safari Air plane was taking your humble narrator, lovely wife Sylvia, and dear friends Greg and Oscar over the Okavango Delta.  We took in the sights of channels of water, branches of the Okavango River, with interspersed ponds and marshes.  There were islands of dry land and sand, and — yes, there they were — our first animals sightings; hippos bobbing in the water, herds of elephants working their way through the brush, and buffalo on the plains.  It is the water of the delta that provides its life …

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.All Trips / Africa / South Africa

Cape Point: Peninsula, Penguins & Protea

Cape Point —  Peninsula, Penguins & Protea

There are many day trips you can take from Cape Town, one of the of the best being a drive down the Cape Point Peninsula to it’s tip. The day will provide you with beautiful scenery, wonderful beaches, small harbor towns, dramatic cliffs, a lighthouse, ostriches, and brilliantly colorful protea. Perhaps the greatest fun of the day is to visit the colony of African penguins that live on the Peninsula.

From Cape Town there’s a winding road of good quality that hugs the coast and takes you mostly through the wilderness preserve of Table Mountain Nature preserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our first stop was at Hout Bay, a small town …

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