Discussions and what ifs at a deer camp table can turn into more than talk. In this case ... it became a trip of a lifetime and experiences that'll stick with me till I'm gone. I got the opportunity to go with 4 of my buddies to Africa for my first safari. I say first because after going, I think I'm gonna need to go again. I took way too many pictures so I'll break this out into 2 parts. This one is the first leg of the trip, a photo safari.
Getting to Africa from Texas takes some time, any way you go. We flew from DFW to London to Johannesburg. It was close to 40 hours from the time I arrived at DFW till my head hit a pillow in Africa. Lots of time in the air and lots of time in airport lounges.
The first destination was a pretty cool place. Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana is worth a trip to Africa by itself. We stayed in the tent camp and I thought it was great. There's something that makes you feel alive when you can hear hyenas outside your tent as you're trying to go to sleep.
You're gonna see some wildlife if you go to Mashatu and you're going to be close when you do. It isn't a zoo by any means, it's just a giant chunk of unspoiled country that has great habitat and unmolested wildlife. We'd take a game drive every morning and every evening. We saw something interesting on every one of them.
The game rangers and game spotters claim that you're safe as long as you're sitting down in the vehicle.
It's tough to take them at their word when you're close enough to see the lion's teeth or make solid eye contact with a big leopard and you remember it's an open air vehicle. These cats are something to see. Killing machines that are built for their environment. You don't want one of these things chasing you.
This particular leopard got my heart racing when it started sprinting towards the Landcruiser. Unbeknownst to me there was some kind of bird in between us that had the leopard feeling frisky. I was glad to see him pull up to a stop before he jumped in with us.
This guy had drug a nice male impala up in a tree. I think he'd have fought the next person who tried to take it from him. I'd bet on the leopard just based on the look in his eyes.
You definitely want to be careful here, you never know what's lurking around the next tree.
We saw plenty of elephants. There was more than once where we found ourselves surrounded by them as they grazed on mopani trees or headed towards water.
Big cats and big elephants were't the only thing we saw. Hyenas, jackals and all the things they eat were present.
Hyenas are one of my favorites. They're clever, they're cunning and they can crush anything but giraffe bones. They're just a tough looking animal.
This tree is old, hundreds of years old.
Even the birds have some crazy bits. Wild colors, big beaks, everything had something different going on.
I didn't know what to make of the baboons. The best I could tell, the locals look at them with some of the same feelings I have for raccoons. They are smart but they can tear some stuff up. This one looked like some kind of wise old baboon that might be featured in a movie about an upstart lion who is trying to rule the kingdom.
I take a lot of pictures so I carry a lot of SD cards when I travel. If I'd have stayed at Mashatu much longer, I think I could have filled all those cards up. It never got old going out and seeing such a diverse group of wildlife in their natural settings. Wild animals doing whatever it is they do.
Time doesn't stand still and after a few days, our Mashatu experience came to an end.
One last picture opportunity popped up as we were headed to the airport. I got a cool shot of some warthogs with our plane making its descent in the background. A fitting end to a good time.
I was sad to leave ... but that sadness was tempered by knowing that the next time I saw some of these animals I'd be shooting with a little more than a camera.
That'll have to be in part 2.
Getting to Africa from Texas takes some time, any way you go. We flew from DFW to London to Johannesburg. It was close to 40 hours from the time I arrived at DFW till my head hit a pillow in Africa. Lots of time in the air and lots of time in airport lounges.
The first destination was a pretty cool place. Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana is worth a trip to Africa by itself. We stayed in the tent camp and I thought it was great. There's something that makes you feel alive when you can hear hyenas outside your tent as you're trying to go to sleep.
You're gonna see some wildlife if you go to Mashatu and you're going to be close when you do. It isn't a zoo by any means, it's just a giant chunk of unspoiled country that has great habitat and unmolested wildlife. We'd take a game drive every morning and every evening. We saw something interesting on every one of them.
The game rangers and game spotters claim that you're safe as long as you're sitting down in the vehicle.
It's tough to take them at their word when you're close enough to see the lion's teeth or make solid eye contact with a big leopard and you remember it's an open air vehicle. These cats are something to see. Killing machines that are built for their environment. You don't want one of these things chasing you.
This particular leopard got my heart racing when it started sprinting towards the Landcruiser. Unbeknownst to me there was some kind of bird in between us that had the leopard feeling frisky. I was glad to see him pull up to a stop before he jumped in with us.
This guy had drug a nice male impala up in a tree. I think he'd have fought the next person who tried to take it from him. I'd bet on the leopard just based on the look in his eyes.
You definitely want to be careful here, you never know what's lurking around the next tree.
We saw plenty of elephants. There was more than once where we found ourselves surrounded by them as they grazed on mopani trees or headed towards water.
Big cats and big elephants were't the only thing we saw. Hyenas, jackals and all the things they eat were present.
Hyenas are one of my favorites. They're clever, they're cunning and they can crush anything but giraffe bones. They're just a tough looking animal.
This tree is old, hundreds of years old.
Even the birds have some crazy bits. Wild colors, big beaks, everything had something different going on.
I didn't know what to make of the baboons. The best I could tell, the locals look at them with some of the same feelings I have for raccoons. They are smart but they can tear some stuff up. This one looked like some kind of wise old baboon that might be featured in a movie about an upstart lion who is trying to rule the kingdom.
I take a lot of pictures so I carry a lot of SD cards when I travel. If I'd have stayed at Mashatu much longer, I think I could have filled all those cards up. It never got old going out and seeing such a diverse group of wildlife in their natural settings. Wild animals doing whatever it is they do.
Time doesn't stand still and after a few days, our Mashatu experience came to an end.
One last picture opportunity popped up as we were headed to the airport. I got a cool shot of some warthogs with our plane making its descent in the background. A fitting end to a good time.
I was sad to leave ... but that sadness was tempered by knowing that the next time I saw some of these animals I'd be shooting with a little more than a camera.
That'll have to be in part 2.
