{"id":9697,"date":"2020-04-03T04:05:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T03:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alphamen.asia\/?p=9697"},"modified":"2020-05-20T14:15:10","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T13:15:10","slug":"wilderness-safaris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alphamen.asia\/wilderness-safaris\/","title":{"rendered":"Bless the Rains Down in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nick Walton<\/strong> explores the spectacular landscapes of Botswana and Zimbabwe through four of the region\u2019s leading Wilderness Safaris game camps.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lioness is living under the bridge at the moment,\u201d says our guide as he slowly maneuvers the grumbling four-wheel-drive onto an expanse of interconnected logs designed to span a sizeable lagoon. At first, I think he\u2019s joking and notions of a lion replacing the proverbial troll come to mind. However, a moment later, there\u2019s a flash of golden fur in the early morning light and a huge lioness elegantly leaps through a gap in the logs onto the bridge. She pauses for a moment to survey our vehicle, the light catching her yellow eyes and white teeth, before leaping down the other side and quickly returning to the shadows beneath us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not only is this a pretty amazing way to start a day here in Okavango Delta, but it\u2019s also an especially rare one; where the lioness and her cubs have made a temporary den is usually a deep, expansive lagoon, but today, as Botswana eagerly waits for the rainy season, it\u2019s gently swaying grasslands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wilderness<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Okavango is best known for its complex network of pools, lakes, lagoons, streams, and canals, replenished each year by seasonal rains, which make their way to the expansive delta via the Cuito and Cubango Rivers. However, the rains are late this year, very late, and the sun beats down relentlessly on a landscape that is rarely revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My visit to four vastly different Wilderness Safari camps in Botswana and neighbouring Zimbabwe as the guest of Lightfoot Travel<\/a>, a global specialist in experiential travel, started the day before at Chitabe<\/a>, a beautiful little retreat set on a forested private island concession in the southeast of the delta. Here, around a roaring fire on our first night, the sky a breathtaking kaleidoscope of purples, pinks and reds, game guide \u201cOD\u201d Modikwa, a 15 year Wilderness Safaris veteran, tells us about the importance of the seasonal rains on the delta\u2019s landscape and its residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n