Botswana - Mombo camp

After an excellent if ,comparatively, basic start at Meno A Kweno we moved on to a camp at the other end of the scale at Mombo*. This involved a short flight in a 6 seater plane or it would have been short if the plane had not had to make a couple of stops first to drop off guests at other camps in the local area – This gave the flight a feeling of being on a bus journey, all be it one with  the alarming prospect of losing your last meal as you got buffeted around by the turbulence. This time we made it intact, unlike my luggage which was still missing in action. The latest news I had on it was that  neither Air Botswana nor British Airways had the foggiest idea where it was. Apparently not a good sign and so the prospects of ever seeing it again started to fade like the orange tan on a low rent wag….

* To describe our room at Mombo as a tent is a bit like describing Buckingham Palace as that cottage at the end of the Mall.  

Possibly the most fantastic day of my life

It started off with your average  everyday lions frolicking in front of the camera – like it was an everyday occurrence down Bishop’s Stortford high street



The queen of all she can see

Next we ran into a leopard - the first one we had seen in the wild.  My excitement levels went through the roof. Our guide spotted him and told me to get a shot in, in case it was the young male which is quite shy. As it turned out  it was the older male (nicknamed Killer, for his habit  of eradicating any leopard offspring who were not his progeny) who allowed us to not only trail him through the bush but didn’t bat an eyelid when Doc (our guide) got ahead of him and just padded towards us and then passed us as if we weren’t there… simply a magical experience. 

I just hope that's not Killer eating
 someone else's  offspring...

Still floating on cloud nine we went off in search of crocodiles and came across two groups of rival hippos squaring off against each other over a water pool. Doc asked us if we wanted to get off the vehicle, to get some better shots.  My feet hit the ground before Doc had finished asking the question and before I had thought through whether being around 10 metres from some rather aggressive hippos was actually sensible. Mrs B was a bit more hesitant and it took Doc to explain to her that while hippos are one of the most dangerous animals when you meet them out of the water, once immersed they feel secure and while happy to attempt to kill each other can’t be bothered to get out and trample innocent bystanders to death.  This makes them sound like pensioners, lethal if you get between them and  their packet of  Garibaldi biscuits but relatively safe once they are ensconced in a Parker Knoll  chair, with a cup of cocoa and the Daily Mail. You’ll be fine as long as you don’t succumb to the smell of lavender, extra strong mints and cat pee (probably not cat but out of respect I wanted to give the elderly and incontinent  the benefit of the doubt).

 

This is my pool and don't you forget it...

Thunder and lightning – Is it meant to be frightening….I was loving it…

 

To finish off the day as the light faded we ran into a huge storm – We seemed to be at the centre of it all as  lightening flashed from all different directions and then our guide got excited as we found ourselves being pelted with hailstones (he had only experienced this once before and it was probably the highlight of his day).  I managed to amuse Mrs B and Doc as I chased the lightening around the sky with the camera, desperately trying to capture the perfect flash… It was only after I returned to our room and sorted through the day's shots did I realise what I had captured:

 

You can imagine how stoked I am with this shot....

– And for the icing on the cake, my bag had finally had got fed up on its solo travel  and turned up totally intact….

 

Has anyone else got a contender for a better day???

To Quote Mrs B

This is the only type of holiday I want to do in the future….

 

Next week it is off to Kingspool but until then I'll leave you with a few more shots

 

A big thanks to Edward at Africa odyssey for sorting our booking out.

Photo Finish

Some pictures to end with,  if you want to see some more check out my photo page . BlackLOG & The Beast

 

If you missed our first camp Meno A Kweno

Hyena - enjoying the midday sun

"Just a bit of sunscreen on my shoulders please..."

Not a bad sight to wake up to...

"Please don't move - it's taken ages to find this shade..."

Nothing to see here leopard on a mission

The rather beautiful lilac breasted roller 

Yellow billed stalk - fishing for supper...

Doc - keeping an eye on Mrs B

Just a little word in your shell like....

 

Classic Delta shot
confusingly this is the dry season when you get  rain while
during the wet season there is little chance of rain??? 

Mrs B in the co-pilot seat

I just hope her non-flying skills are not required....