Pictures of Central Kalahari Game Reserve Safari, Botswana

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We visited the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana. It was the most remote, wildest part of our safari and we loved it. We went days without seeing another human being, or even a power line.

The Tourist Office.

Our guide, Sam, holding up part of a giraffe neck. Apparently giraffes have 7 vertebrae, like people - they're just much bigger.

The Kalahari Landscape

This is the vehicle we travelled in (except for the Delta). The trailer was only towed when we were going between campsites. The rest of our equipment (the tents, food, etc.) was carried by the other 2 staff members in their LandRover.

This is our tent. The two things out front are our sinks, which they filled every morning with hot water.

This is a meerkat.

A jackal.

This is unfortunately as close as we got to a caracal.

Here is an oryx, AKA gemsbok.

Springbok.

Secretary birds.

This secretary bird was eating a snake. They are over a meter high.

Our guide Sam showing us a giraffe shin bone.

Steenbok.

A bat-eared fox.

Dinner in the evening.

The next morning, we headed out for our morning game drive (6:30 AM). Sam wanted to look for the lions that he had heard that morning. We followed lion tracks for quite a while. Sam kept reassuring us they were fresh from thar morning. Finally he announced that the lions were being followed by a large truck. Then he announced that the truck had slowed down. We came around the corner, to find a large truck pulled off to the side waving us by. and there were the lions.

After lying on the ground in front of us and roaring for a while, they walked right next to our open-air vehicle. Please keep your hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

We followed the lions for a long time that morning while they roared back and forth and hunted. They prefer walking on the road because they can walk more quietly.

We continued our drive that morning. Suddenly our guide stopped, and said "Hold on folks, wild dogs!". We took off in the LandRover chasing them. They are an endangered species, and Botswana has the largest population in the world - but that' s still only 400.

This is the group of springbok that the dogs were hunting.

The springbok took cover behind a group of Oryx. The oryx are too large for the dogs to attack.

In the course of the two week safari, we got 7 flat tires.

We gave Sam a hand in pumping up the wheel.

It was almost the only time we got out of the vehicle during the drives.

The pods of this bush (we forget the name) can be eaten. There's even a local beer that is made from them.