Welcome To Paradise – Wilderness Style!
Our 19 day safari adventure took us to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the incredible country of Botswana!
This is our tented room at the incredible Wilderness Duma Tau (which means “roar of the lion” in Setswana) – a luxury safari camp located on the banks of the Osprey Lagoon, which is the source of the famous Savuti Channel and connects to the Linyanti River.
We were in “Little” Duma Tau, which is a series of private tented connected by a raised walkway!
Our room was literally on the banks of the lagoon, and we heard and saw Hippos, Elephants and more every single day! Watch this video to see a Hippo staring at us, and then the Elephant crossing the river outside our room!
The Elephants did it all day and night, and the Hippos were plentiful and noisy as well…as cool as that was, we were about to do something even more unique!
Ready To Take A Walk?
One of the wildest aspects of our safari adventure was this “walking safari!” That’s Alex following our Guide as I trail behind – and I will tell you why I am!
This is a remote area of the preserve – and we were offered a unique – and specialized – activity that focuses on the smaller details of the Linyanti ecosystem, such as tracking animal footprints, identifying plants, and birdwatching. Unlike standard game drives, these walks allow you to “slow down” and experience the landscape at ground level.
Here’s a look at where we started, with some safety instructions from our expert guide – you will hear him giving directions while I do a 360 degree pan to show you how isolated we are in the wild:
All walks are led by a skilled, armed guide. Since DumaTau is located in a completely un-fenced area with frequent elephant and predator movement, strict safety protocols are followed.
They drove us to an area where no animals have been spotted, and then we are off on a fascinating and at times hilarious walking tour – one that we assume would be 10-15 minutes close to the Jeep – but it lasted for two full hours and we lost sight of the Jeep within minutes!
The first thing our Guide spotted were fresh Lion tracks:
As you can see in the video, our Guide carried a loaded rife – he wouldn’t load it in front of us, and said it is absolutely the last resort. While walking single file, he explained the hand signals that he would use if an animal appeared…because there was lots of evidence of animals all around us!
We were also shown wild Leopard prints in the dirt as we walked:
By the way he showed us a termite mound, and said if he told us to climb it, do so – it might make us high enough so an animal wouldn’t see us as food!
Imagine standing on that to avoid a Lion! We had no idea that we would wander far and wide – and come across so many animal tracks, bone and even dung!
As we continued on our walk, our Guide shared tons of information about hunting for survival here…and we were shown these wild Elephant tracks:
And we saw lots of birds and plants, like this wild fresh basil!
Our Guide then told us of a unique game that was played by kids growing up – using Impala dung!
Yes, it was basically “Spit the Impala dung for distance” game! Here’s how he described it to us:
While Alex didn’t play that game, she held some up to smell and feel – and next, she got VERY “hands on” during this discussion of elephant dung – which is everywhere as you can imagine!
Alex was unafraid to pick it up, open it up, and yes, smell it too!
Alex is unafraid and fascinated by our world – so much so that she already knew that you can use dried elephant dung in your fireplace – and also all about the health benefits from this Dung too – listen:
Nothing goes to waste in the dessert: here’s a Hippo bone that has been eaten by wild dogs and hyenas:
And here’s a closeup look at some Kudu horns we uncovered, followed by the animals jaw:
This entire walking tour took two hours, and at any point we could have come across a Predator…we learned so much from our Expert Guide!
It was a real “hands on” adventure to be sure! Two full hours in the wild: we came across many birds and lots of Impala in the distance as well…what a day!
The Duma Tau Preserve in Northern Botswana was a true treasure trove of wild animal sightings:
This was the same camp where I had a very close encounter with a wild Elephant the very next day – here is that story with video!
And we also did a Kalahari Desert walking tour as well…with real Desert Bushmen who showed us how to make fire!
See the entire tour, including how we found water buried in the sand!
I’ve also shared some of our other wild animal encounters as well…see an elephant tug of war and more here:
And I shared an intense Lion encounter as well…see the feeding frenzy right in front of us here!
Thanks for reading this latest story of our incredible African Safari.
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Categories: Africa, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, safari, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
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