Qorokwe: Wow! – Going Places

Wednesday, July 24, 21:00

Just “Wow!”

I don’t know how to write about the extraordinary moments of today. I just know it was extraordinary.

And this was just day one, and we didn’t even arrive at camp until almost 4pm. Just what we saw on the drive from the airstrip to Qorokwe Camp was extraordinary. Just seven minutes after landing, we came across an elephant mom and baby (photo above).

Our second encounter on the way from the airstrip was these impalas (with the elephants in the background). Impalas quickly became our “ho-hum” animals, because they were ubiquitous. But here, at this moment, I was pretty excited to see them.

A termite nest. These were also ubiquitous around Qorokwe. The mounds are made from clay brought from beneath ground level and mixed with termite saliva, resulting in their concrete nature.

This is what it was like driving through the Botswana bush. Not the smoothest ride…

Steenboks, one of the smallest African antelopes, and the smallest in Botswana

A male ostrich. (Everything so far is what we saw just on the way from the airstrip to camp. Do you have any idea how exciting this was?)

Southern yellow-billed hornbill, also known as a flying banana. (The red-billed hornbill is called a flying chili.)

After we got to camp and got settled in, we met our guide, Brave, and he took us out on a late afternoon drive. I continued to be awestruck.

And then this, just a few minutes later.

There were two of them. They were pretty lethargic.

One of them finally went for a short walk.

The other one continued in his lethargic ways.

Before returning to camp, we stopped to stretch our legs and enjoy the sunset.

Breaks came with refreshments. Mary Ann was enjoying her wine alongside our trusty LandRover.

The camp is also extraordinary. (I keep writing “extraordinary,” but it’s not the right word. Really, “wow” is the right word.) Our “tent” is so luxurious. The food and wine are great!

Just wow!

Thursday, July 25, 13:15

Brave (our guide for our three days at Qorokwe) came to get us at 6am for breakfast and 6:30 departure. His goal today was to show us leopards and cheetahs.

It was very cold this morning. I had four layers: a t‑shirt, two long-sleeved knit shirts, and a jacket, and I was so grateful when we got in our vehicle that we each had a blanket and a hot water bottle to warm up our seat.

The list of animals we saw is too long to write about, but it’s just phenomenal (extraordinary?) to get to observe them whether they are active or sedentary.

We looked out all morning for the cats. We did come across a group of four female lions, but no leopards or cheetahs.

Then, just as we were starting back to camp, Brave got a message on radio from another guide: they found a cheetah.

So we turned around and went back, and we got to see her lying in the shade of a large termite nest.

I really can’t believe how many animals I’ve seen, and it’s only day one!

By the time we returned to camp for lunch, I had removed all the layers but the t‑shirt. It warms up a lot.

Lunch was ready when we got back to camp. Assemble-yourself pizza with lots of different toppings. Mary Ann decided to skip lunch (the meals are huge and all we did between breakfast and lunch was it in a LandRover for four hours). A very nice couple from New York invited me to join them. They’re actually supposed to be part of our group going out with Brave and us, but they have been on the go for 17 days and are enjoying some down time in camp. So Mary Ann and I have Brave all to ourselves.

We go out again at 16:00.

Thursday, July 25, 22:00

I asked Brave before our afternoon drive if he had any specific plan. He said his only plan was to keep the sun at our backs. So I asked him if we could focus on birds, as I hadn’t yet gotten a lot of bird photos. He suggested we drive along the river, where we would probably find a lot of birds.

Red-billed oxpecker on the back of a cape buffalo

Southern red-billed hornbill (aka flying chili)

It was spectacular (phenomenal? extraordinary?)!

I am so loving this experience! Why did I wait so long to do it?

Ann and Elliot (the New York couple) invited Mary Ann and me to join them for dinner, which was fun. We shared lots of travel stories (worst travel experiences, best trips, and such).

About this post

I didn’t blog during this trip, but I kept a journal. All my posts consist of journal entries I wrote during the trip and transcribed into this blog after I got home, with some editing and embellishing.

I got behind in my journaling at Qorokwe. What you see above is all I wrote while I was there. But it was hard to keep finding adjectives. So the pictures and videos will have to suffice.

More pics from Qorokwe

Friday, July 26, morning drive

Kori bustard, the National Bird of Botswana. It’s also the heaviest flying bird in Africa.

Most of the lions we saw (I saw a total of 22 at Qorokwe) we went looking for. This one we just stumbled across. We think she was waiting to hunt impalas, a herd of which was milling about nearby. They took off when we drove up. So she settled for water.

Friday, July 26, in camp

At lunch and in the early afternoon I enjoyed watching some avian visitors using the swimming pool as their birdbath.

Jameson’s firefinches (male left, female right)

This warthog wandered into camp. They’re one of the “African Ugly 5,” but I think there’s something kind of cute about this fellow.

Friday, July 26, afternoon drive

I have tons of photos of elephants. I will try to limit how many I post in the blog. But I love how they reflect in the water in this pic.

This is an African wild cat. It really looks just like a house cat to me.

Friday, July 26, Night Drive

Brave took me out on a night drive tonight. (Mary Ann decided to skip it.) We didn’t actually see too many animals, and it was very hard to get decent photos of the ones we saw.

Brave would shine a bright light around while he was driving, and he’d look for reflections of eyes.

This is a springhare. It’s actually a rodent, not related to rabbits and hares. It’s commonly known as the African kangaroo, because it hops just like a kangaroo.

Saturday, July 27

This was departure day. We left camp for the airstrip around 09:00.

This bushbuck was hanging around outside our cabin in the morning.

We passed this watering hole on the way to the airstrip. The bigger antelopes are kudus; the smaller ones are impalas.

Here’s a male kudu. The scientific name is *Tragelaphus strepsiceros*. *Trag-* (Greek) denotes a goat and *elaphos* (Greek) a deer. *Strepho* (Greek) means ‘twist’, and *strepsis* is ‘twisting’. *Keras* (Greek) refers to the horn of the animal. So this is a goat-deer with twisting horns. It’s one of the largest antelope species. Only the eland and the bongo are larger.

This giraffe was hanging out on the runway at the airstrip. Brave had to chase it away before our plane came in for a landing.

This is probably enough, but if you want to see all the photos and videos I took at Qorokwe, here they are.

4 Responses

Maureen

August 20, 2024 | Reply

Just now enjoying some of your “journal/blog”.…LOVED the video guided tour of your luxurious camp!!!!
Yes, I’m with you–the animal sightings are just so OUTRAGEOUS!!! WOW indeed!! Will savor the rest of your journey–I started at the end and going back to beginning!
- Lane
  
  August 21, 2024 | Reply
  
  Thank Maureen! So glad you’re enjoying it almost as much as I did!
Tammy Vig

August 20, 2024 | Reply

You got some good shots! Yay!
- Lane
  
  August 21, 2024 | Reply
  
  I did manage to get a few. I was just using a Canon point-and-shoot camera, but it has 40x optical zoom, so many of the shots came out well. But not all…