July 22^nd, 2024

We arrived in Johannesburg 4 days ago and have had a wonderful time staying with friends and visiting with family, but today is the day that we leave them all behind and fly to Maun to start our Okavango adventure.

James, the son of Iain Allen who founded Tropical Ice, is leading our safari. I don’t think he has led a safari before, so this will be a first for all of us. James will be our leader, but the actual logistics of the safari are being handled by a local company, so I feel a bit reassured by that.

James met us at the airport, and we were whisked away to Thamo Telele lodge where we spent the night. Maun used to be a very sleepy little frontier town, but now it is a bustling city, the tourist hub from where safaris fan out all over the country.

It was a 15-minute ride to the lodge, crossing the dry Maun riverbed. In a few weeks the waters of the Okavango River will reach here as the water moves ever southward, but today it is a dry sandy passage, a shortcut to the lodge.

Maun was hot, and we welcomed a glass of cold lemonade as we checked in our tent.

The lodge owns a wildlife reserve which is populated by a variety of animals, but has no predators, so you can walk around the grounds safely with your only concern being bumping into resting impala.

It is also a giraffe research center. Thamo Telele means long neck, and they have a large healthy population of those beautiful animals. When I had read all about this on the lodge’s website, I was hoping that we would get a chance for some up close and personal giraffe encounters, and we were not disappointed.

After tea we had the opportunity to see the giraffes at the reserve water hole, so we eagerly climbed into the safari vehicle and the giraffe researcher, Emma, drove us there.

It was totally magical. Due to a diminished availability of food in the reserve, they are having to buy food for the animals, so a good selection of their animals was feeding at the waterhole when we arrived there. We were able to sit and watch them while Emma talked about her research, and giraffes in general. Each giraffe has individual markings, kind of like fingerprints, so she was able to name them all and talk about their life history and behaviors.

Although their focus is on the giraffes. There is also a healthy population of zebras, some with little oxpeckers on their backs

Ostriches

Beautiful oryx

And eland and wildebeest

We really enjoyed sitting there, having sundowners, listening to the birds and watching the beautiful sight. We had been in Africa for 4 days, but this was the first time I really felt that I was back home. This was what I wanted to experience.

When we returned to the lodge the rest of the group had arrived. Their plane from Johannesburg had problems with pressurization so they had to return to Johannesburg. They had missed out on the wonderful waterhole experience unfortunately.

Over dinner we all became aquatinted with each other. Most are from the US, but there is an Australian couple and a couple from the Bahamas. All are very seasoned safari goers, and well versed in Tropical Ice adventures. I was somewhat relieved as I think that this type of trip is enough of a challenge for me, but it could be very daunting for someone who is not used to camping in the bush.

We had a fun evening hearing about the others adventures and travels. We are quite a mixed bunch, but we all have one thing in common. The love of wildlife.

When we returned to our tent, the mosquito net had been drawn around our bed, and I was ready to drift off into a sound sleep, looking forward to what tomorrow will bring.