Moremi Wildlife Reserve, Botswana Xakanaxa Camp/ Lodge     Date:                       07.-09.10.2007   Assessment Criteria Satisfaction  in % Comments Pool 70   Tent/ Room 90 mosquito net beneath the wooden floor  - excellent! Restaurant atmosphere 80   Food 80   Management & Staff 90   Camp/ Lodge 90   Originality of reserve 90 National park, therefore some roads for public Diversity of reserve 100   Vehicle 90 hard seating on a bench but not to crowded Guide - communication 60   Guide - information 70   Guide - cust. orientation 80   Wildlife - quantity  70   Wildlife - diversity 90   Wildlife - extraordinary occurrences 90 mating lions, leopard incl. cub     The Moremi Wildlife reserve is a National Park with all the restrictions mentioned before like staying on the roads, no game drive after sunset, and officially no walking safaris. However, we encountered on our game drives that the rangers were okay with us having our sundowners off road and when we encountered a herd of buffalos on our mokoro trip we also went for a short walking safari. The reserve is very diverse: There are areas that are lush green with lots of water, like the waterhole or the delta itself, then again there is the dry bush, and there are certain islands that are spoilt with salt so all trees have died.    The vehicles used for game drives are jeeps with three rows of benches. The jeep would have easily hosted 10 tourists but fortunately the camp only arranged game drives with a maximum of 6 guests when we were around.   On our game drives we were once again very lucky: We saw a female leopard lying on a tree and just when we had finished the photo shooting with her, two male leopards crossed our path. Later on we saw a lion couple in the distance mating. Our guide Montsou did not hesitate to leave the road, cross the water and drove us directly to the lions. We learned that lions mate for about two days every 15 minutes - what a benchmark! We stopped for our sundowners on a perfect islande surrounded by the mating lions on one side, hippos on the other, and a crocodile on the third side. On the way back to the resort we saw a large group of baboons with babys. The next morning we even saw bits and pieces of the little cubs of the leopard but there were too small and too shy to actually get out from underneath the logs where they were hiding.   The next day we took a boat trip throught the Okavango Delta where we did not see that many animals but enjoyed the scenery nonetheless. We stopped the boat ride to take a trip with the traditional mokoro boats and there we were lucky again and saw a huge herd of buffalos. Montsou steered the mokoro to a place where we could go on land and we prowled our way closer to the buffalos. Being out in the open by foot is something different to the jeep. The two guides told us to walk in a line, one of them leading one of them finishing our little trail, however, neither one of them hat a rifle or any other sort of gun with them.   The lodge was very professional. We stayed in tents again but these were probably the most luxurious with beautiful furniture and continous working showers (in some other camps it took up to three times heating up the water and mixing it with cold before getting all of the soap out of the hair). The best part was that underneath the wooden floor the tents were covered with mosquito nets. That way we didn't even make use of our own mosquito net that we hung up in some of the other camps. The atmosphere at the restaurant was really nice as well, it was directly at one channel of the delta and  the huge table was set for all guests with candle chandeliers. The coffee area was really nice as well, with sun chairs on a patio overlooking the channel or with leather couches covered with a roof.   The food was delicious. In the morning we were not only offered muffins but a full selection of cereals, fruits, and yoghurts as well. The brunch after the game drive did not only offer hot English/ American breakfast but also traditional lunch such as pasta. . click here: BACK TO Botswana 2007-START-PAGE