Introduction Sumeet and I are going to Botswana in a few weeks, and for the last three or four months, that's practically been all that I've thought about. Sumeet is a wildlife photographer, he posts on sumeetmohge.com, and he's been here before, where we've spoken about the frameworks and the way one goes about planning a wildlife holiday. In this video, we'll speak specifically about our Botswana holiday, where we're going to be spending three weeks driving through different parks and camping through different parks in Botswana, and we'll also be sharing our trip costs, itinerary, the vehicles that we've hired, and the kind of choices we've made, the kind of places we're going to, the places we left out, and so on and so forth. I'll be putting a link in the video description, and we'll be going through that in our conversation as well. So, hi Sumeet, happy to have you here again. Happy to be here. So, Sumeet, you've traveled Africa from a wildlife Why Botswana? perspective quite extensively. We've both been to Mara a few times, and Mara is a typical wildlife comfort camping or glamping experience. We've then sort of roughed it out in Madagascar a bit, where we've trekked different terrains and looked for lemurs and chameleons. That apart, you've done South Africa, where you've spent about three weeks in Kruger. You've also done Namibia, where you've gone to Etosha and driven through the dunes. And you've also done Uganda, where you've trekked in rainforests for gorillas and chimpanzees. And I think with that, I've covered most of the places you've done in Africa. So, having been to all these amazing wildlife places, what is it about Botswana that excites you? I guess my answer is the same as any other wildlife enthusiast. If you enjoy wildlife, then you've probably seen documentaries, and it's very likely that one of those documentaries was in Botswana. So, why not? And probably in the voice of either Jeremy Irons or David Attenborough, so that kind of becomes even more romantic. But the other thing is, there's also a lot of these habitats in Botswana which are very different from what we've experienced. So, for example, the seasonal wetland and swamp that gets created because of the waters flowing in from Angola into the delta. That's a very different habitat, which we haven't seen before. The riverine habitat that we experience when we go through the Chobi is another of those different habitats. The pans. Yes, Etosha is a salt pan, and that I have experienced. But then the pans is an extension of the Kalahari, which is the driest desert in the whole world. That's another thing that we haven't experienced. So, there's a lot to see as a different side of Africa, which I think I'm very excited about. And then, of course, you know, you always want that tick in the box, don't you? I mean, the tick in the box for me very much includes the Okavango Delta, because I first heard about the Okavango Delta even before I heard about Botswana. I mean, I'm sure the documentary spoke of it being in Botswana, but it referred to the delta so often that that's what stayed with me when I first saw it growing up. And I've been reading up about the delta and the habitat there. And it's so amazing to sort of find out that the water just gets absorbed into the ground, which is unlike anything that we've sort of seen in India, because in India, rivers generally flow into oceans. Right here, a river originates somewhere in the highlands, and then it just gets absorbed into the vast, vast, flat desert that there is, which is really, really amazing and unique. Yeah, so that sounds amazing. And I'm looking forward to that. Could you share our itinerary, the places we'll be visiting, what we can expect to see there? Yeah, sure. So, look, first things first, you need to Where we're going, what we've left out understand, I'm sure you know, but it's worth saying that Botswana is in the southern hemisphere, right?
So, the seasons that they experience are the exact opposite of us. If we are experiencing winter, they're experiencing summer, and vice versa. And if you, for example, look at the map of Botswana, you'll see that it's a rather large country. Anroop, you had a sense of how big it really is, right? I think Africa in general, right, and we saw this in Madagascar as well, we don't, by looking at it on the map, you don't really realize how big these places are, like driving the length of Madagascar for us was pretty much like driving from Kanyakumari all the way till Gujarat. That's how big that is, right? And then when I looked at the area of Botswana, it's about close to 600,000 square kilometers, right? Which is roughly the same as the five southern states in total. So essentially Botswana is as big as South India, which is a big, big landmass. Yeah, and the landmass feels even bigger because South India is connected by mobile networks all through, right? Whereas Botswana isn't. And so, you know, those places, once they become remote, the distances feel even longer, because you have to restock, you have to resupply, you're going to very distant places that way, and often through very difficult terrain. So let's, let's actually talk the audience through the map of Botswana. There's of course, right smack dab in the center, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the driest desert in the whole world. There is a section of the Kalahari down south. It's still the Southern Kalahari, but it's called the Kgalagadi Trans Frontier National Park. Yeah, because it's shared between Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. Then when you go northwest, there is the Okavango. And part of the Okavango is actually in the Namibia as well in the Caprivi Strip. Yep. And then when you go northeast, there is Chobe, the Chobe National Park and Sabuti, which is also part of the Chobe National Park. And the beauty of that is actually the Chobe River separates Namibia and Botswana. So you can be standing on one side and looking at another country on the other side. And if you go right to the tip, then you get very close to Victoria Falls. So you've got Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and then on that side, Namibia as well, right? And then we talked about the center, which is Kalahari, right? Adjacent to the Kalahari are the world famous Makgadikgadi Pans. And then very close to the Makgadikgadi Pans, which are salt pans, are Naxi Pan. Naxi Pan is a national park as well. So there are a lot of areas to cover in Botswana. But obviously, you can't do all of them in one trip, because you will not be able to go through all of them in the best season to visit. Plus, the distances are going to be too much. You'll probably have to do like a five month trip to do them well. So we are choosing to do three major areas. We are choosing, of course, to visit a part of the Okavango Delta. We are choosing to visit the pans, the Makgadikgadi Pans and Naxi Pan. And we're also choosing to visit Chobe National Park. And that gives us a little bit of that flavor of a riverine habitat. So that's just the general overview and the choices that we are making. We're not going to the central Kalahari. We're also not going to the Kgalagadi. Let's talk a little bit more about what wildlife we can see in each place and what each place has to offer, both in Itinerary Details - Maun and the Helicopter ride over the Okavango terms of activities and the way in which we're going to see some of these animals. Yeah, that's the exciting part. So look, we can show the audience our overall trip map so that you get to see all of our pit stops through the trip. But in general, we will land at Maun. Maun is not the capital of Botswana, but it's the tourism capital of Botswana because of how close you see it is to the Okavango Delta. It's really the entry point to the Okavango Delta. So we land there, we pick up our car, do some shopping, stock up. And on that first day, we're going to do something very exciting. We're going to get into helicopters and fly over the delta. And The reason to do that aerial tour is to get perspectives that we haven't had the opportunity to shoot before. So of course, aerial perspectives of the landscape, but also aerial perspectives of animals in that landscape is what I'm hoping to get. And of course, there'll be also an opportunity to get down and do a sundowner, which seems to be a very African thing to do. But yeah, I'm not big on sundowners. So I'll probably stay in the sky and keep shooting. I don't know about you. Yeah, if it comes to the cost of shooting time, I'd much rather stay in the sky and keep photographing than sort of going down for a sundowner. I'm sure, given the long trip we have and given the nature of camping we're doing, we'll have enough and more opportunities for sundowners. After that, the next day, we will drive down southeast. And we reach this place called Kama Rhino Khama Rhino Sanctuary Sanctuary. And as the name suggests, it is a rhino sanctuary. And it's got a very healthy population of rhinos, both white and black. But the big draw, there are other places, of course, where you might be lucky enough to see a rhino. The big draw is that the rhinos here are with their horns intact. And as you know, poaching is a big threat. So seeing rhinos with their horns intact in southern Africa is a big deal. But I think we're also doing a walking safari there, right? We're going to be tracking rhinos on foot. And I'm super looking. I'm looking forward to that as well, because I've never sort of been on foot in a big park in Africa. Yeah, hopefully, the rangers are going to be able to arrange that for us. So I'm looking forward to that as well. The next morning, once we've done our two nights in Khama, we go northwest. Kubu Island And we reach our first destination in the Makgadikgadi Plains. And that is called Kubu Island. Now, it's not an island surrounded by water. It's essentially a granite rock island. And the big draw for most people is it's a really scenic place. You have these baobabs that look rather ethereal when the light is good, and nicely diffused. But you know, one of the big draws for me in Africa, and especially in these desolate places, is that it's the night sky like we don't experience in our cities, right? Yeah.
And so I'm really looking forward to photographing those rock formations, the baobabs under the Milky Way. We've taken some special pains to ensure that we are there on nights with prolonged Milky Way visibility, and also Milky Way visibility at very convenient times, like at seven o'clock in the evening. So we don't even have to spend sleepless nights photographing the Milky Way. So that's going to be pretty good. So after Kubu Island, where we'll spend two nights, we will drive through the pans. Nwetwe Pans and Meerkats And as you will see, there is no road. So we're going to have to find our way through the pans. And we will head to a place inside the General Makadikadi Pans National Park called the Nwetwe Pan. And the Nwetwe Pan is nice, because we'll be sleeping out in the pans. So that's great. But sleeping out in the pans is not the main draw for us. The main draw is these guys, the meerkats. There's this colony of meerkats that's been research subjects for many, many years. So they've become a little more comfortable with human beings, as compared to many other meerkats that you will see across Southern Africa, who just bolt the moment they see human beings. So we're hoping to get some good photographs. And if nothing, we'll have a good time just watching them, I'm hoping. I have not seen a lot of the wildlife that we're going to hopefully find in Botswana before. For example, I have not seen the African wild dogs, I have not seen a large number of the antelope that we're going to find in Botswana. But on top of that list for me is the meerkat. We've done like amazing landscape and night photography, and we're sort of winding up that part of the trip with meerkats. Right. And after this comes the big game portion of our trip. So we go up from Nwetwe Pan through Gweta, which is a town, we'll probably refuel and restock a little bit there, into Naxi Pan National Park. And Naxi Pan, again, is part of the whole Pan's ecosystem. And around this time, the time that we are going late dry season, all of the water sources would have dried up and there is only one pumped waterhole, which is near Naxi Pan South Camp, which is exactly where we are staying. So I'm hoping that, you know, there's going to be an animal traffic jam at that waterhole. And I actually don't intend to drive around, I just want to be there morning and evening, and wait for the traffic to come. There might be a few dry spells, but I expect there to be a fair amount of activity out there during the time that we are going to be in Nipan. So if that's the only waterhole around, like all animals and birds have to come there, right?
Including, say, the big cats, including elephants, including every other form of antelopes and so on and so forth. So there'll be lots to see there. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I remember Botswana also is a migratory system. So animals follow the patterns of water. A lot of the animals have actually moved northwest by this time, because that's where the water is. But there will still always be animals in this place. And the predators are territorial, so they can't move. So they will have to come back to this water source. And given the fact that we are giving ourselves time, we expect, we should actually expect to see a lot of action. This for me is like the quintessential Africa that we first saw on TV, where there'd be images of a waterhole, and you would see giraffes drinking from it, you would see elephants drinking from it, you would see sometimes cheetahs and there would be crocodiles inside. I know that this Naxi Pan waterhole does not have any crocs in it. But you know, the image of Africa, which first came into my mind, was something exactly like this, where there's one waterhole and all the animals are coming there. And this for me is the first time I'll actually get to see it after so many visits to Africa. So, so looking forward to that. And super excited about that. Yeah, it's a scene straight out of Lion King. You know, that scene where all of the animals are in one place. It's like that multiple species in one scene. Anyway, so we will spend a bit of time in Nipan. And then we'll make a long drive back to Maun using the A3. That A3 road apparently is under construction. So I don't know how long it'll take, but we'll get back to Maun. Again, there's going to be a restocking, refueling spree. We'll get a room, we'll be camping, we would have been camping until this point. So at Maun, we'll get a proper room, a little bit of creature comfort. And then the next day after we hit Maun and we've restocked, we go northeast to this place called the Khwai Community Concession. And the Khwai Community Concession, I think of it as the cheat code for the Delta, because it is technically part of the Delta, but it's not the obnoxiously expensive part of the Delta that I can't afford, right? And because it's a community concession, it's a self-policed area. And there are certain, you know, options that you have up your sleeve. If you're confident enough, you can drive out. And if you are sensible enough, you can get close to the animals without necessarily spooking them, right? So there are certain concessions that you get in that area, plus it's a very wildlife rich area. And Roofy, this is your typical Africa, right? Again, all of us have seen Okavango documentaries. So wild dogs, one of the big things that we want to take off on the trip, they'll be in attendance. All the big cats are supposedly in attendance. Elephants, dime a dozen. We would have seen a lot of elephants by now, but now elephants in a very different habitat. And then a whole bunch of different antelope that we don't otherwise get to see in other parts of Africa, right? So the sable antelope, the ruan, the lechwe, the kudu. So yeah, I'm very excited about this, especially also because we are staying at the Magoto campsite, which frequently gets many of these wild visitors. So we'll also have to stay safe. And after that, we're headed to Chobe for a couple of days. Yes. So from there, we'll again keep driving northeast and we'll go to Kasane, which is a town bordering Chobe National Park. And we will visit Chobe National Park, but we'll visit it differently. Until now, we've been game driving. So we're not going to game drive. We'll be on a boat. We've got a photographic boat for the duration of our stay. And this time, the idea is going to be to photograph animals from water level. The animals that we absolutely expect to see are elephants, buffalo, hippo, everything else. We're hoping we're going to be more lucky than that, because again, dry season, the river is the only source of water. So let's see how that goes. Any chances of getting big cats there, as well, from the boat? Yes. So I've been following sightings for the last few days, and the movement of the big cats tends to be around the river. Now, whether they stay on the shallow edges of the river or whether they go more towards the places where our boat is going to be able to access, that's going to be luck of the draw, right? But they have to come to the river to drink. So what I love about our activity, apart from every specific thing that we're doing, is the way we're absorbing the landscape of Botswana, in the sense that we start off with the Okavango, which we sort of see from a helicopter ride. And then we go far away from it, go to the deserts and the pans and the drier parts where water is really scarce. And then we come back to the delta and then we absorb the delta from the closest point of the delta, which is the water. To me, that's a really nice way of going about experiencing Botswana. And I'm looking forward to that. And I'm super excited and looking forward to that. The one thing I'm not, I wouldn't say not looking forward to it, but the one thing I'm a little bit apprehensive of is the camping experience, right? Now, in every other trip I've made to see Kenya or Madagascar, I would have a local guide with me who would know the route. So I never worried about which part of the country we're in and so on and so forth. In the Botswana trip, we're relying entirely on GPS and we also have a satellite phone for emergencies because there is no phone signal in most of the places that we're visiting. In my earlier trips to Kenya, I would be dropped off at a camp, which would be a very comfortable camp where a hot meal would be served. I take a nice warm shower in my comfortable room and sleep in a very, very cozy bed. In this trip in Botswana, the car is practically, you know, our room, our kitchen. We pitch a tent on the car's roof and we sleep there. And we're using public facilities and ablutions, which are public in the truest sense, in the sense that it's not just the other guests, but also wild animals who use them from time to time, right? So why have we planned this in this way, where we are driving by ourselves as opposed to staying in a camp or, you know, have some assistance from locals there? The way to look at it is twofold. One is that certain places are meant for self-driving and you may not get any additional advantage with a guide. Of course, you know, if you've never done Africa before, then maybe if this is your first trip, yeah, go for a guided safari. But both of us have done Africa many times. So at least from a natural history perspective, from the perspective of being able to understand animal behavior, I'd reckon our skills are up to scratch, right? So there, we won't get a lot of benefit from being with a guide because consider a few of these destinations, right? Khama Rhino Sanctuary - a very small area. When we're going on a walking safari, we are relying on the rangers who work inside the park. Otherwise, we are walking around and anyone who's photographed rhinos knows that they're generally calm. And, you know, that's one of the reasons why they're also big poaching targets. It's like shooting, you know, what do you call them? Fish in a barrel, right? So you can actually get pretty good photographs of them without having to muck around too much. Similarly, Naxi Pan, we have to go to the waterhole. We've got to wait it out. And it's not as if the presence of the guide is going to bring some big cats out there. It's luck of the draw on that particular day. So that's one part of it. Does the guide give you any additional advantage? And in our case, in some destinations, it does. The guide doesn't. The second part of it is that some places, of course, the guide gives you some advantages, right? Because they understand the routes, the backtracks, they are able to communicate with each other, they have the network and everything else. But that comes with a premium. And the premium is orders of magnitude higher. So, for example, if we had to do this as a guided safari, it could cost us anything up to $24,000 for the duration of the trip that we are doing right now. We are doing the trip in a fraction of that cost. And I'm saying $24,000 per person, right? Per person, as opposed to now, which is roughly about $4,000 or so. For three weeks, we are spending $5,500. So it's not a cheap trip by any means. But, you know, $5,500 versus $24,000, I'll take $5,500 per day. And how we come out trying to offset for our lack of experience in those areas, we're giving ourselves more time, right? And there are some places where we are still paying the premium for somebody's expertise, like on the boat. I have never driven a boat before. Of course, I'm paying for the person who drives the boat, and there will also be a guide on the boat, right? So there are some of those places where we are paying for the expertise. There are other places where we are just banking on time, our instincts, and our knowledge of animal behavior. So since I've never sort of camped in my own self-drive car before, in Africa or anywhere else, what does a day look like?
For example, let's say we're in Naxi Pan, what does an average day at Naipan look like? Well, I can only predict from my experience elsewhere. But before this, whenever I've camped out, I get up early in the morning, usually about 30-40 minutes before I intend to set out. There are standard timings when you're allowed to get out in the wilderness. So for example, in Naxi Pan, there'll be a park opening time, park closing time. I'll just get up 30-40 minutes before. I'll brew my coffee because I need that to get started. I'll probably read a little, and then I'm off to the races, right? And then you spend as much time as you need to, because the good thing about most of these African parks is you decide when you want to come back, as long as you come back before park closing time, right? Sometimes, like for example, when I used to be in the Kruger, some days I wouldn't go back at all. And some days when it felt like it was just too hot and there's no action happening, I would come back to camp. And I intend to do exactly that. I think in places like Naxi Pan, it will get a bit slow in the middle of the day. So it might be a good idea for us to just come back and rest in the shade and then go for a second outing instead of burning ourselves out. So we'll see. And then we come back to camp. By sundown, we light a fire, maybe make ourselves some dinner. And yeah, go to sleep. I have a principle though. And I hope nobody gets offended. Taking a break for food is not a great idea if you believe a good siding is coming around, right? So I will always trade a great siding for a great meal, which is why I haven't talked too much about food. I mean, completely on board on that, right? And I was going to ask you about that.
If Naxi Pan is super hot, and the expectation is that a lot of animals are going to be there in the water, it is likely that they'll continue to show up to the water, however hot it gets, right? I would like to at least maybe on one day question the hypothesis on whether staying back is worth it or not worth it. And I think the other consideration is not just returning for a meal. I think we're also in this trip conserving our energy for being prepared for a shot for the most opportune moments, right? So if you're going to spend a very hot afternoon in the field, it's unlikely that we'll have the same level of energy that we would have had we gone back and, you know, if not had a meal, maybe just sort of taken a shower and freshened up, rested a bit, etc. So I think given that we're driving by ourselves, and given that we're doing three weeks of this, coming back is not just refueling from a food point of view, it's also refueling from like an energy and rest point of view. And from what I've read, it can get as hot as 50 degrees in Naxi Pan some days. So yeah, it's worth it's worth coming back and resting under a tree or in the car itself. Yeah, the advantage we have is that we have two cars, right? So if somebody wants to go back and somebody wants to stay back, we can organize that with the trip that we've got. Absolutely. So we can we can figure that out. Speaking of heat and the temperature, what kind of season are we going to Botswana in? So we're going in what they call the late dry season, because winter begins from late, from about May onwards, April, May onwards, and then continues right up to, say, August and September. And then there is the slightly dry season as it starts to get hotter. And then the rains come around November and December, and so on and so forth, right? So we're going in the driest part of the dry season. Got it. Fair enough. It's almost like the opposite of the seasons that we have here. And that's understandable, given that it's in the southern hemisphere and sort of we're, we're in the northern hemisphere. So if I had to ask you from a photography perspective, what are like the one or two big things that you're that you're looking forward to get? What would it be from this trip? Ah, I let's just go one by one. I want to photograph meerkats. That's got to be number one in my list. Number two has to be the aerial photography experience over the delta. And then number three, if I had to force myself, I'd like to say wild dogs. I'd love to get a great sighting of wild dogs and photograph them to my heart's content. Let's see if that happens. I think the same three are true for me, but I'm not sure in which order. It's hard to pick between meerkats and the helicopter ride. And, and wild dogs for me are something I've not seen at all. You've at least seen them in Kruger a few times. I have not seen a wild dog. It's going to be an absolute lifer for me. So that's something I'm looking forward to. An additional thing that's important for me is sort of, you know, the whole, all kinds of animals, elephants, giraffes, everyone else at the Naipan waterhole during like a really, really dusty afternoon where it's almost white and not brown, you know, a little bit like what you've seen at Etosha. That's something I'm looking forward to see because I've never seen Africa like that. I mean, the parts of Africa visited, they don't have the same kind of habitat. They don't have the same kind of weather. So this, so this experience at Naipan, I'm looking forward to as well, just as much as I'm looking forward to meerkats and the helicopter ride. Yeah. And you make a great point about seeing all kinds of animals. So one of the things I've noticed with my experience in the Mara is that Mara is big cat paradise and it kind of makes you feel like you're tripping over big cats. And our guides are gun drivers, right? They are absolute weapons in the field. Your seeing big cat after big cat after big cat. You come back home and look at your images, and all you have are big cat images. You don't have images of anything else. Because you spent so much time on big cats. So one of the good things about going to Southern Africa is that of course the big cat density is no where close to East Africa - let's just put it out there. Serengeti and Mara have the highest big cat density you are going to see in parks, right? but the slow nature of South African parks kind of forces you to to focus on the other wildlife. And for us, the two of us at least, this is all exotic wildlife. It's not as if a Kudu bull that is walking around our home so I don't mind the opportunity of photographing a Kudu well. The last time I was in Mara, in fact the last two times I was in Mara, the driver I was driving with almost took offence when I asked them to stop for a Kudu, or a Topi, because I found a great shot there, right? They only, sort of, saw big cats and rhinos, and somehow rhinos made the cut for them, but they saw big cats and rhinos as being worthy of stopping to photograph, so yeah am looking forward to spending time, and spending time in a wide open scape spending time in the vast open sort of desert habitat, that I am looking forward to. And I think what you make is a good point in terms of Since we've seen and photographed big cats, and I wouldn't say 'heart's content' because there is no such thing as 'heart's content' as far as wildlife, and big cats especially, are concerned but since we've seen some amount of big cats in Mara, I feel that we are also looking forward to looking at the other things here. Even though if we do find big cats, we will sort of, going after them here as well. But yeah, having been to Mara and experience Mara a helps look forward to Botswana in a different way Thanks for this. Thanks for the full context on this. As mentioned, our itinerary, our plan the place we're renting our vehicles from, Bushlore, the places we're staying at, the camps we're staying at I'll put them all up in the video description. Anything else that you want to add to close? Any closing thoughts or comments? No no, juts drop your questions in the comments, one of us will respond. We're doing this for the first time, at least Botswana for the first time, but we've got some experience between the two of us doing wildlife in Africa so if we're able to help, we'll be more than happy. Yeah, happy to hear questions, or if people have actually been to Botswana and there are something that we are not getting right here, happy to hear about that as well. And yeah, looking forward to our trip, in a few weeks.