Safari schedule is something I hadn't ever experienced before. It is very much organized around two factors:

1) Wildlife is most active in the early morning and in the late afternoon - evening

2) For part of the year, it's hot as hell in the middle of the day

That means that most days are organized as follows:

Up between 5-5:30 AM …

I have to be honest -- I haven't ever faced flights this long. The severity of the flight pattern for this trip to Botswana is weighing on me. I have been a bit wedded to Latin America since first heading to Ecuador in 2002. Apart from a foray to Finland, I haven't taken a trans-Atlantic flight since 2000. Central and South America take …

People love to hate Maun. When I inquired with friends in the travel industry, they all recommended I stay over in Johannesburg and use Maun as a quick stopover. But I like to get where I'm going and THEN rest. After my punishing flight schedule, I just wanted to know that I was where I was supposed to be. So I opted for a night in Maun and …

The first thing I notice about Abu is elephants, baby elephants. Flying low over the airstrip, I feel as if we are going to land on a family gathered around a watering hole. We are hundreds of feet above them and they don't seem to even notice us coming in over their heads. After deplaning, my guide Tebla spares no time in getting us up close …

Every day in Botswana seems to get better and better. And then Vumbura happens. I get so lucky at Vumbura, that as we are leaving, my guide asks me to high five all of the new guests arriving off the plane, in hopes that my luck will transfer to them. Let us back up a bit ....

I arrive on the airstrip at Vumbura Concession and deplane to meet my …

Last stop on the Wilderness Safaris train was Savuti Camp. Savuti Camp is located in the Linyanti Concession along the Savute Channel. The Savute Channel has a lot of lore surrounding. The channel dries up for years and years and years before coming back to life (seemingly at random) and then it flows for years again before disappearing. The ghost …

Savute Safari Lodge is located in a far off corner of Chobe National Park between the Savuti and Linyanti Private Concessions. This was my first lodge in a publicly protected area and the experience was quite a bit different than in a private concession. In private concessions, local communities actually own the land and give companies 15 year …

What is it they say, "go big or go home"? I went big on my first night on safari. Mombo Camp is one of the most luxurious lodges in Botswana. Rates for high season in 2019 are running over $3,500 per person per night. And while the accommodations are perfectly appointed in every way and the hosts are beyond gracious, the wildlife is what …

Camp Moremi is situated in a beautiful landscape -- with mature forests, water channels and grasslands. The variety in habitat yields a fantastic variety of wildlife. Moremi Game Reserve is within the Okavango Delta -- the only public protected area in the Delta. This part of the Delta has year round water, so you have access to a wider range of …