Tuesday, April 27, 1999 - Pom Pom Camp, Botswana
I was awakened with tea at 6:00 again, and saw the three lion cubs at the waterhole when I went down for breakfast. Claude and Edith were leaving this morning for Shinde camp, so we said our farewells. Amos drove 5 of us (excluding Samantha and Ashley) about 1/2 hour north to the larger permanent water system. Then we took mokoros - dug-out canoes poled by our guides - along the shallow water. We saw lots of birds - marabou storks, wattled cranes, herons - and herds of red lechwe, a type of antelope. The males have horns, and defend a harem of does, similar to impala. They have longer hind legs than front, so they slope up in back. They stay near the water and will run into it up to their necks to escape from the cats.

We got out and walked for a while, with my guide, Bibi, identifying different tracks and scat. After a short stretch, we got back into the mokoros and poled back. On the way, we saw a herd of 8 giraffe right in the bank. They posed nicely for us - all males, as identified by the fact that the tops of their horns were bald from using them in fights with one another. We also saw another group further away on the drive back.

Lunch was quiche, meatballs and pasta salad. After siestas, as we were preparing to go out on a game drive, Marsha came and handed me a piece of paper - it was an e-mail from Richard! He had managed to track down the Ker & Downey rep in the Maun office and sent her an e-mail to give to me - they printed it out and put it in the mail bag on the flight to Pom Pom the next day. He wrote that the fish were depressed and the cat was angry. He said he had gone to the pet psychiatrist, who prescribed Xanex for the fish and a sedative for the cat. I was pretty impressed that he found a way to send an e-mail, since I didn't even have any information on the Maun office. I figured that it was a good sign and he hadn't forgotten about me yet!

We went out again at 4:30 on a game drive and saw a herd of tsessebe, wildebeest and warthogs on the way to the back waterhole, where we found the two bull elephants again. We also saw two other lone bulls further from camp, one with a pronounced limp. On the way back we went to the back waterhole and found the lions resting in the grass, one male, three lionesses and the three cubs. The cubs started to get playful, and the lionesses got annoyed and walked off into the trees. The lion followed and then the cubs. We waited a few minutes, then Obi drove around the back in time to see the lion and lionesses settle into the grass beyond the clearing. We parked the truck and one by one the cubs crossed in front of us - no more than 10 feet away. We watched them for a while, and noticed a lone male impala coming through the reeds about 30 yards away. We thought they might have gone after him, but they studiously ignored him and went back to their naps.

We drove to a large hippo pool and saw 30 or so of them up to their ears and eyes in water. Very noisy creatures. On the way back to camp, we stopped at an island to watch the sunset - just as the sun went down, an elephant walked about 40 feet right in front of us. Hopefully the photo will show a beautiful sunset with an elephant silhouetted against it! We teased Obi about having a remote controlled elephant that he has trained to pose like that.

On the way back to camp Obi got out the spotlight and shined it in the trees. Nocturnal animals can be found when the spotlight makes their eyes shine. We hoped to find a leopard, but settled for a bushbaby - a small ferret-like animal that only comes out at night.

In camp before dinner, the kitchen staff and guides came out and sang and danced and played home-made musical instruments. They really had fun with it and all the guests were delighted. Dinner was a cold fish starter, with duck, potatoes, broccoli and a pear in honey for dessert. I called it an early night. Around 10:30 I heard a great crashing sound outside and when I went to the back door off my tent there was a bull elephant grazing. I assume it was the same one we saw the first night. He was about 40 yards away and made huge snorting sounds like a horse while ripping apart another tree. Just amazing animals.

Wednesday, April 28, 1999 - Pom Pom Camp, Botswana
Up at 6 as usual, the lion cubs made a brief appearance at the waterhole in back of camp, and the hippo had given up and gone off. One of the bull elephants had been down drinking but wandered off again. After breakfast, we were off on a game drive and as we turned the corner out of camp, we found ourselves face-to-face with the bull elephant. He snorted and trumpeted and flung dirt around, and we left him to his morning routine.

We found a big herd (50+) of zebra, mixed in with 2 dozen wildebeest and a few tsessebes. We came across two more lone bull elephants right near the road and the posed nicely for us. Elephants have a life expectancy nearly that of humans - about 65 years. Most of the bulls we've seen are probably 35-45 years old. We found two younger bulls - about 15 and 17 years old - traveling together. They were much more nervous about the vehicle than their older brethren.

We only did a 2 hour ride this morning, and I packed up my things before lunch. My laundry was back, clean and folded. We had lunch - quiche, salad, coleslaw and cheese, and I camped out at the fire pit for the afternoon. A male impala with about two dozen does in his herd was down at the waterhole. He worked the herd, making sure everyone was doing whatever it is that impala are supposed to do. There was also a troupe of baboons and a single male lechwe, all peacefully eating and drinking for a good hour or so.

At 2:30 I said goodbye to everyone and Amos drove me to the airstrip. We found a nice big giraffe right next to the road, and a cape buffalo right next to the airstrip. Apparently they'd gotten the flight time mixed up, as we sat at the "terminal" (thatched roof open air hut) for an hour. We watched a herd of zebra stroll past and the plane arrived at 4:25. The pilot was Dennis, who used to fly with Air Botswana and now flies for Northern Air, which is owned by Ker & Downey. It was a quick 25 minute flight to Shindi airstrip, and Dennis pointed out several giraffe and circled low over a herd of cape buffalo.

We landed at the grass strip at Shindi - a herd of lechwe lined the strip, completely unimpressed by the airplane. We were met by one of the Shindi camp guides, Ice, who drove me to the boat dock. There was a power boat waiting there and the driver, Bee, steered us through a maze of 8 foot papyrus reeds that smelled somewhat of cedar. He pointed out several birds - green pigeons, Maier's parrots - and a hippo in one of the larger lagoons we skirted.

After 35 minutes we reached the first Hemingway's camp, Uptree. And there at the mooring was the entire camp staff (6 people), Jim and Alexandra (2 of the other guests) and Nick Debere, the guide. They unloaded my gear and we set off in the boat again to watch the sunset. We only had to go a minute out in the water, where Nick and White (our tracker) opened a bottle of champagne and we watched the sunset. Hemingway's is a series of three camps that move every day. Each day while we walk, the camp staff will take down the tents, pack up the kitchen, load all of our bags onto the truck and move to the next camp. The number of guests is limited to six maximum.

Jim and Alexandra were both around 70, from Massachusetts. She was an environmental lawyer, and Jim was an engineer. They were at Machaba camp first and will be going on to Vic Falls after. There were two other people who were supposed to be with us, but they were delayed and joined us later.

The water is surprisingly clear here - Nick said that they drink the water straight from the stream. We went through the papyrus for about 1 1/2 hours, and were fortunate enough to see two male sitatongas - water antelopes. They have twisted long horns like kudu, and elongated hooves that spread out so they can run across the reeds. One ran off as soon as he saw us but the other stood and looked at us for a while. They are very rare and it was a good sighting!

When we came for tea at 4:00, our two other guests had joined us: Gordon and Betsy, brother and sister from Vermont and Washington DC, respectively. Gordon is about 70 and a retired attorney. Betsy is in her early 60's and has worked for the Peace Corp and spent many years in the middle east. Her husband is an Afghan and works for the World Bank and spends much of his time abroad.

At 11:00 made our way into "Nkway" or Leopard camp. It was right off the flood plain, about 200 meters to a lagoon. There was an old hyena skull right in front of camp - it was interesting to see its bone structure and teeth. We had meatballs and several salads for lunch. There were two hooded vultures hovering around camp - White said that when the hover they are not probably hovering over a kill, but are using the thermals in the air to look for kills in the distance. If they find a kill, they usually perch in the trees nearby to wait for the predators to leave.

There were baboons feeding in the grass in front of the camp, along with a lone male lechwe. We came to find out that he had been tossed out of his herd and never strayed far from the "front lawn" of camp. There was also a single tsessebe with a limp that hung around the area as well. Shindi means "ground squirrel" in the regional dialect. The camp has been open about 12 years, but was refurbished at the beginning of last season. Paul and Jill Wood are the managers - they're British and came to Botswana five years ago and stayed. They managed Pom Pom for two years, so this is their first season at Shindi.