Traveling The World: Botswana, Selinda Reserve

Botswana - Selinda Reserve

We left Victoria Falls by car and were assisted in crossing the border from Zimbabwe to Botswana. You have to change cars and drivers as they are not allowed to drive across the border. At the border we had to walk through a dip to prevent animale disease from transferring into Botswana.

The second driver took us to the Kasane Airport in Botswana to fly to the Selinda Airstrip in a small plane. This was an interesting experience as you are not sure what is actually happening and you have to put your trust in the people that are taking care of your arrangements. This was definitely a new experience for us as we are usually very independent travelers.

Our guide picked us up to drive to Zafara camp. We saw several birds and a lot of antelope that we would gradually be able to identify.

Lechwe Antelope

Zafara Camp was amazing and is a premium camp. The room was a permanent tent with two main rooms which included a bathtub, indoor and outdoor shower, and toilet. There was a sitting room in one area. Outside was a deck and a plunge pool. In the morning our guide would bring us coffee before breakfast.

You could not walk to your room without your guide at night as the hippos frequently visited the area. It was safe to walk during daylight hours. We frequently saw signs where a hippo had spent time during the night.

Sunset Elephant Encounter

With our guide 'Name', we had unbelievable animal encounters. The first sunset we watched a herd of Elephants confront a Lion. They wanted to walk through an area that he was protecting because a female lioness that was laying in the grass. The elephants approached twice and each time the Lion roared at the lead elephant. The heard decided that the confrontation was not worth it and they walked around the area.

When you are on a private reserve there are no restrictions on where the guides can drive. The animals are habituated to the vehicles so you can get very close to the wildlife. You just can't get out of the vehicles.

Just Watching

We saw numerous sightings of the following mammals; Lechwe, Elephant, Lion, Common Warthog, and Impala. In addition to Fish Eagle, Pearl-Spotted Owlet, and Hornbills we encountered a Leopard with her cub.