Kalahari Desert, Deception Valles Lodge     Date:                       11.-13.10.2007   Assessment Criteria Satisfaction  in % Comments Pool 80   Tent/ Room 90   Restaurant atmosphere 90   Food 90   Management & Staff 100   Camp/ Lodge 90   Originality of reserve 80 bore holes to support the normal water holes Diversity of reserve 50   Vehicle 90 hard seats but empty, that was good Guide - communication 100   Guide - information 100   Guide - cust. orientation 100   Wildlife - quantity  40   Wildlife - diversity 70   Wildlife - extraordinary occurrences 80 baby leopard, owls, lion on our walk from restaurant to the tent, residential porcupines     The deception valley is a private concession in the northern part of the Kalahari desert. We were told that about 85% of Botswana looks exactly like the Kalahari even though most tourists travel to Chobe and the Okavango Delta and remember Botswana like that. The deception valley received its name from the first settlers who came over the hill seeing water in the valley - a deception in that harsh wildness. The area has a lot of dry bushes, acacias and trees where the weaver birds build their nests in. Except for some water holes there is no water in that area, certainly one of the reasons why the bush men were nomads. The animals behaved similar and followed the water, in some seasons even all the way to the Okavango Delta. That was before the fence was put up that is supposed to limit the migration of the cattles and keep the foot and mouth disease to the north (the cattle from the Kalahari is exported to the EU). Today some of the water holes are supported by water from the man-made bore holes to keep the animals from migrating.   The vehicles of the camp are very spacious but have hard benches to sit on. We really enjoyed that there were no more than four people in a jeep.   Our guide for the game drives was a guy from South Africa who also was the sun of the owner who did an excellent job!! He really was the best guide we had on our entire tour: He was very literate, explained everything about the history, about geology, about the animals, and plants. We really learned a lot in those two days. The tracker of the game drives are of bush men origin and therefor offer the traditional bushmen walk as well. To spot the animals and to get to them was a lot harder than at any of the other camps: There was no area were all animals crowded and the dry bush made it not only difficult to spot the animals but also to get to them. Our guide Jaburgis managed to get us close to the animals anyhow: We saw leopards, a cub waiting underneath a bush as if forgotten, and the mother, we saw lots and lots of giraffes, we saw lions that obviously were not as used to jeeps as the ones in the Okavango since they took off when we got close. We also saw a lot of birds, three different kind of owls (great and spotted eagle owl, great grey owl), a birds nest made out of spider web, and a horn full of larva to nourish from.   We also joined the bush men walk. It wasn't much of a walk but a truly fascinating experience: The bush men explained the different kind of bush to us and showed us which tool was made from what kind of a twig. They showed us how to make a fire with sticks and bush men grass and how to trap a chicken with a rope and a twig. It was a truly fascinating experience. We also had a sip of a root that bush men and animals take as a source of water during dry season - it is pretty bitter.   The camp was really nice one. The pool area was big enough that lying out with 6 people one would not get into eachother ways. There was constantly a wind going which made sitting by the pool or on the patio really comfortable. The houses we stayed at were really spacious: The bathroom - separating the bedroom from the living room.- had a bath tub inside and a shower outside. Unfortunately, this shower also worked in turns - needing at least 3 turns of heating up water, mixing cold water to it before all of the soap was rinsed from the hair. Dinner was either being served outside close to the fire place or inside in the dining area. There were building a roof for the patio, so that dinner could always be outside, even when fearing rain.   The food was really delicious. We had some kind of antilope for dinner that did not taste of wild at all. As a matter of fact, we thought it was a really good feef filet. The snacks for afternoon tea and on the game drives were made with finesse. click here: BACK TO Botswana 2007-START-PAGE