Moremi Game Reserve: Xakanaxa

Our final destination in Botswana was the Xakanaxa region in Moremi Game Reserve, where we spent two nights wild camping.

On our first full day in the area, we were up once again at 6am and out of the camp by 6.50am for an early morning game drive.

It wasn’t long before we spotted our first signs of wildlife – two lion brothers in the grass.

We watched on in awe as the pair came together, played briefly, then went their separate ways.

Not long afterwards, we spotted an enormous flock of birds in a pool of water in the distance and as we got closer, we realised it was a huge flock of pelicans (above).

The pool seemed to be a magnet for the local birdlife and alongside the pelicans, we also came across an eagle and a pair of marabou storks (below).

The unusual looking birds are considered one of southern Africa’s ‘ugly five’, an unflatteringly named group that also includes warthogs, hyenas, wildebeest and vultures.

As we continued our tour of Xakanaxa, the wildlife kept coming, as first, a herd of elephants passed us (above).

Then we saw two lions, a male and a female, sitting on the grassy banks of the savannah (above).

They were swiftly followed by a herd of impala, an elephant stripping the bark off a tree and chewing it, and a pair of warthogs sauntering through the grass (above).

Next up, we encountered a pair of lionesses sleeping in the grass (above), some more impala and a large herd of buffalo.

Our guide then spent quite a bit of time driving through the reserve searching unsuccessfully for a leopard and her cub that another group had seen the day before.

As we were driving back towards our camp, we saw the huge flock of pelicans, which had taken to the sky, as well as the male and female lion we’d seen earlier (below).

The pair had separated from the pride because it was mating season and according to our guide, they’d be spending the next two to three days copulating every 15 minutes or so.

Sure enough around five minutes after we arrived, the amorous couple decided to put on a show for us and I was amused when almost immediately afterwards, the exhausted-looking lioness went straight back to sleep (below).

We arrived back at our camp at around 10.45am, where we spent the next few hours relaxing.

As I sat reading at a table in the middle of the campsite, I looked up to see a dazzle of zebra shyly watching us in the distance .

After two weeks gawping at and photographing the local wildlife, it seemed only fitting to find we were now the subject of their interest.

We set off for our afternoon game drive at 4pm and began our tour by pulling up at a tiny airstrip, where a small plane was taking off (below).

I was amazed to find the airport in the middle of the open game reserve, without any fences or barriers to stop the wildlife from wandering onto the runway.

Alongside the runway, there was a small hut, which I’m assuming was the arrivals/departures lounge and a shed with some fire equipment.

It was the most unusual airport I’ve ever seen and the last thing I expected to encounter on our game drive.

We spent some time roaming around the reserve’s swampy woodland, where we saw a herd of impala (above), some more elephants and some waterbuck (below).

It was very quiet as we drove around and we didn’t see much in terms of wildlife, in complete contrast to the morning, where we seemed to find signs of life around every corner.

Towards the end of our tour, we came upon the same male and female lion we’d seen earlier, who’d just finished mating (again!).

We headed back to our camp as the sun began to go down, where we spent our last evening in the bush chatting around the campfire.

It was a lovely way to end a magical couple of weeks in Botswana, getting to know the country’s national parks, its game reserves and best of all, its incredible wildlife. Farewell Botswana!