Discover Botswana

ImprInt Botswana

Preceding pages: Rain clouds gather in a panoply of colour over the great African wilderness.

Following pages: Three-metre tall giraffes are dwarfed against a vast expanse of watery wilderness in northern Botswana .

published by Imprint Botswana Head office Botswana: p.o. Box 601891, Gaborone, Botswana E: imprint@botsnet.bw or DBCtB@discover-botswana.com UK office: Imprint International 8 wolsey road, Esher surrey Kt10 8nX E: Bt@discover-botswana.com online sales: www.discoverbotswanathebook.com publisher: Bhupendra taylor new Business Development Director: susie paylor managing Editor: Linda pfotenhauer principal writer: paul melenhorst Contributing photographers: Fabio Chironi, robyn Daley ( steve rufus), Vincent Grafhorst, Beverly Joubert, Frans Lanting, June Liversedge, paul melenhorst, richard du toit, shin Yoshino. First published in Botswana in 2010 by Imprint Botswana Designed by: Carlo nicolaou www.cnicolaou.com all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form; this includes photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means, without the written permission of the copyright holder. request for the copyright holders permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers. In accordance with the International Copyright act of 1956 and the Botswana Copyright law of 2007 68:02. Concerning Copyrights and neighbouring rights, any person acting in contravention of this will be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. Imprint Botswana 2010. IsBn: 978-99912-0-917-3

Where desert clouds beckon 10 The Okavango 44 The Chobe National Park 68 The Makgadikgadi Pans 100 The Kgalagadi 132 Tsodilo Hills 164 The Northern Tuli Game Reserve 170 Culture and the Arts 184 Acknowledgements 198
7

Where desert clouds beckon

We had a heavy, unexpected shower of rain today. It lasted so long that the hard, sun-dried earth softened. Only on its fragrance of earth-wetness rising up were there traces of the smell of dry dust. The brooding rain clouds, scattered apart, had no time to gather together and flee away. They were trapped in the sunset. Bessie Head, Earth and Everything, 1964 pula! the word is used to describe the thunderous rains that pound dust and grit into submission after months of withering heat. It is the name of the continents most successful currency. and it is employed in spirited exaltation to toast an important occasion. attend any event personal or official in this fair country, and you will note that cries of pula are often deemed the most fitting beginning, or ending, to any gathering. pula is possibly the most significant word in the setswana language, one to be wielded with achievement, and a sense of arrival, as you travel across the broad expanses of Botswana. plough deep into the sands of the Kgalagadi, following desiccated riverbeds, and enduring the blinding midday sun to eventually find a salt pan of exquisite beauty, dotted with zebra, springbok, gemsbok and the deserts mighty Black-maned lion. pula! Lie back cocooned in a wooden dugout, and slide on the languid, crystalline waters of the largest inland delta on the planet the okavango. Gaze heavenward at an african fish eagle as it swoops low to catch its breakfast, whilst the comical grunts of fat river horses keep you chuckling, the endless chatter of birds keeps you entertained, and the lazy lounging of crocs on the riverbank keeps you wondering. pula! scale precipitous gorges decorated with rock art and littered with the pottery shards of humanitys forefathers. Hike to the summit of the mountain of the Gods. Gaze a hundred miles out across the vast desert to admire a russet sunset, a palette 10

of stunning colours streaked across the endless sky. pula! sit on a squat bench, in a reed enclosure sand below your feet, amazingly clear, azure sky above and chat with loquacious, wizened basadi bagolo (old women). watch them create, with quiet confidence and ease, masterpieces basketry woven from palm fronds, vegetable dyes and, most critically, the import of time. pula! Visit the seven sisters gentle, giant baobabs standing in the same repose today as they stood when explorers painted them from oxcarts, as they passed through the worlds largest salt expanse 150 years ago. pula! watch mesmerised as leather tassles fly, cocoon rattles clatter and the tail of a buffalo flywhisk flicks in time to the sinuous, syncopated pounding of traditional dancers and drummers. pula! Dig under the stainless steel facades and neon shopping centres of africas fastest growing city, Gaborone, and uncover a hotspot of afrocentric creativity. sculptural installations fashioned from leadwood and rusted metal. tswana hip-hop and street poetry wafting from coffee houses and street corners. Bold, bright, nave, paintings of people, and places, and problems, and pleasures. pula! all this and much, much more is Botswana. the choice is yours!

Right: As the sunset paints the sky and water with stunning pastels, a lone elephant wanders the banks of the Chobe River . 11

Below: With 12,000 cheetah left in the entire world conservationists are focussing on finding ways to protect and grow their populations. The fastest predaor is also one of the quickest in the race to extinction. Right: What appears to be a suspicious smile is, in fact, the Nile crocodiles method of controlling body temperature. Growing up to 5.5 metres and weighing up to 900 kgs, this ancient saurian is common across the Okavango and Chobe waterways.

12

13

Left: Led by the herd matriarch, elephants hold communal knowledge of ancient water sources, passed on from one generation to the next. Below: Springbok will often exhibit repeated and very high bouncing, known as pronking. This continuous leaping, with bowed back and white fan tail lifted, usually occurs when the herd is excited or nervous, and may deflect predators attention away from the herd. Following pages: A sublime underwater scene depicts water lilies, tethered to the Okavango sands, floating skyward towards the sun.

14

15

16

17

Following pages: The centrepiece of Botswana's natural heritage, the Okavango is a pristine wonderland of wet and dry habitats. Below left, Red Billed Quelea flock together in numbers of over millions swirling and dancing in the sky like one unified organism. Below right: As the sun softens each noght and our senses relax from the searing heat, zebras and other prey wait for night and tense against the nocturnal predators that will inevitably come hunting.

18

19

20

21

Below: The beautiful marbled coat of the African wild dog fits like a jigsaw piece into the dappled woodlands of the Kgalagadi. They are superb team hunters, with an 80 per cent success rate. Right: Disturbed from her daily drink, a female elephant mockcharges, with an egret along for the ride.

22

23

Left: Lion cubs freeze and curl up when the nerves in their necks are pinched in soft mouths of a mother, the same mouth capable of holding down a struggling buffalo. Below: Silhouetted against a russet sunset, this tower of giraffes may only sleep for a single hour during the night, one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal. Following pages: Almost gone from Botswanas savannas, the Southern white rhinoceros has been successfully bred and reintroduced into several of the countrys reserves and sanctuaries.

24

25

27

Below left: To the west of Savute is the Linyanti system, a direct outflow from the Kwando River in Namibia, and seasonally a venue for great herds of Cape buffalo. Below right: Elephants have many means of communicating: through their prehensile trunks, through vocalisations such as their bone-chilling trumpet, and through rumblings subsonic frequencies beyond the range of human hearing.

28

29

30

31

Preceding pages: Caught between the setting sun and rising moon, baobabs stand as thousand-year-old sentinels on the surreal Makgadikgadi Pans. Below: The Chobe covers an impressive 11,700 square kilometres, and includes a range of habitats, home to an incredible diversity of wildlife. Right: Zebra male stallions jostle for harems and access to females on the dappled Makgadikgadi Pans.

32

33

Left: A mother giraffe stoops low to comfort her newborn baby. Below: Baboons spend a good deal of time grooming one another. Living in social groups numbering up to 80, they have highly evolved and complex social dynamics. Following pages: An attentive mother impala watches over her day-old babys first wobbly, urgent steps. Most herbivore offspring can walk almost immediately after birth.

34

35

36

37

Below: The re-introduction of rhinos in the Okavango is one of Botswanas many conservation success stories. Right: The carrion-eating Marabou stork is aptly called the undertaker bird for its black overcoat and pale, spindly legs.

38

39

Left: A juvenile leopard scans the surrounding bush for dinner. Leopards are known for their stealth, adaptability and outstanding capacity for climbing, even when towing a heavy antelope carcass. Below: Elephants have prodigious water requirements, drinking anywhere from 70 to 200 litres per day. Following pages: Hidden under hundreds of metres of Kgalagadi sands are the remnants of Botswanas geological past; this basin of baked, arid earth stretches over 2 million square kilometres.

40

41

42

43

The Okavango

"The marsh, to him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and stagnation, melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of Nature undisturbed by man." Charles William Beebe, 1906 During the late winter months, a journey through Botswana is a travail through arid and dusty country. the Kalahari sun has burnt the terrain to a cinder. the earth is a dust bowl the very colour of the sky bleached to a pale, insipid cyan. winds sear the soil; but, gradually travelling northwest, amongst the enervating greys and ochres of this desert landscape, hints of green vegetation appear. sedges with fluffy heads burst forth from the dusty ground. stands of deciduous trees are proudly promenaded and, even more surprisingly, tropical palm trees, unseen in the vast Kalahari veldt, stretch heavenward, teetering over lush grasslands on their toothpick trunks. It is here, journeying through this changing terrain, still far from the okavangos fantastic watercourses, that you realise you are approaching what is truly the greatest of all river basins. what other wetland but the okavango could tackle the desiccating Kalahari sands and irrigate 15,000 square kilometres of desert, supplying a lifeline for water lilies and fan palms, jacanas and bee-eaters, impalas and elephants entire biosystems. It is here that a visit to the okavango becomes a personal pilgrimage. For this is not a garden variety watercourse. Every stream you take will be a different experience, every waterway a liberation of the spirit. It is here that you will forgo your mobile phone and It paraphernalia and glimpse the rare sitatunga antelope. Here that you will overlook the affectations of work and leisure and glide on listing wooden canoes, hypnotised by the gentle repetition of pole bubbling through water. 44

It is here that you will catch the dawn cry of the african fish eagle and rediscover your innate ability for respite, resonance and reconnection with Gaia, Modimo a le Fatshe, mother Earth. the okavango Delta is the centrepiece of Botswanas natural heritage. It is southern africas third largest river system, after the Zambezi and orange rivers. But whereas these two other watercourses flow through more verdant territory, finally meeting the atlantic and Indian oceans, the okavango defies its preordained destiny and pushes its way into the Great thirstland. spreading out into an enormous fan-shaped Delta, it is a wonderland of wet and dry habitats that consist of endless islands ringed with tsaro palms, deep clear lagoons, shallow channels and archipelagos, reed-choked sluices and gently floating papyrus beds. running the end of its course, it finally melds with salt and sand in central Botswana. the Delta lies at the southernmost area of the Great rift system that extends 6,000 kilometres all the way to Lebanon. Beginning in the angolan Highlands with the Kavango and Kuito rivers, this thousand kilometre long river cuts a course into the far northwest of Botswana and delivers eleven cubic kilometres of water every year into one of the worlds greatest continuous stretches of sand, the Kalahari Basin. In prehistoric times, the rivers course drained further east into the makgadikgadi depression, creating an 80,000 square kilometre superlake that, at its prime, was larger than Lake Victoria. Despite a gradient of less than two metres across its 15,000 square kilometres, the Delta slowly transforms the landscape as it travels. three overlapping but distinct riparian systems thrive in dynamic equilibrium. In the far northwest, where the okavango enters Botswana, around mohembo, shakawe and seronga, the perennial waters of the river run deep and clear. this permanent panhandle is free

flowing, with languorous tributaries that lap permanent wooded islands. Inhabiting these waters are 71 species of fish, a source of sustenance to rural people whose villages line the panhandle. Here is where the razor-toothed tigerfish breaks the reflected last light of evening in search of hapless bream. Houseboats navigate the rivers course, plotting the perfect bend to put up for the night. Hambukushu women collect the fronds of the mokolwane palm, splice them into perfectly even strips, dye them brown with the bark of the motsinsila tree and hand-weave breathtaking baskets with patterns seeped in their natural environment the Forehead of the Zebra, the Flight of the swallow and the Urine trail of the Bull. as the mighty okavango river heads downstream, however, it breaks the confines of its riverine boundaries and transmogrifies completely. It becomes sandy, rather than muddy, and without this glue propping up its levees and banks, the collapsing river fans out into its famous delta configuration. From above, the lower Deltas vascular nature is very apparent. this is the unknowable okavango a swamp of tendrilled islets and grasslands bounding with crocodiles and hippos endless, winding channels and lagoons, watery arterioles that majestically snake their way through paths of least resistance, finally losing momentum in the Boteti and thamalakane rivers further south. Here, on their night-time food binges, hippos squash paths through the papyrus; and in turn, during the sunny hours, endemic sitatunga and red lechwe take advantage of these same paths to range on their daily wanderings. During times of great flooding the 1960s, 1980s and just recently in 2009 the okavango has surged further still, spilling into the nwako pan through the Xudum and nhabe tributaries,

to recharge Lake ngami, a brackish lake that teems when filled with water with tens of thousands of flamingos, egrets, storks, ibis, cormorants, eagles and many other kinds of aquatic birds. the great waterway flows further along the Boteti river into Lake Xau, near mopipi, and to the western end of the makgadikgadi pans. the third region surrounding this exceedingly beautiful waterworld is a riverine open savanna that supports massive numbers of grazing and browsing herbivores, as well as the big predators lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog and hyaena. In these fringe areas, the mighty elephant, giraffe, buffalo, kudu, wildebeest, roan and sable antelope, and the fastest of the african antelopes the tsessebe are abundant. one of the best ways to experience all three distinct habitats of the okavango is to visit moremi Game reserve, situated in the northeastern section of the Delta. Covering an area of 5,000 square kilometres, this big game country is a microcosm of the okavangos diversity, holding riverine grasslands, swampy wetlands and forested mophane and acacia woodlands. moremi is the first sanctuary in southern africa to have been established by local communities who, with great foresight in the 1960s, realised that uncontrolled hunting would threaten their most valuable resource their wildlife. a spectacular oasis for the senses and the spirit, the okavango is a delicate and tenuous biosphere that still manages to flourish in the blinding conditions of the Kalahari, and despite the incessant pressures of modern expansion. Here is a world of pristine beauty and untrammelled wilderness that offers infinite opportunities for heady adventure and quiet reflection all contained within the personal pilgrimage it almost certainly will become. 45

46

47

Preceding pages: Like a strange Escher illusion, the Okavangos water encompasses three realities: the surface of the water resplendent with night blooming water lilies, reflections of the clouded, stormy world above, and glimpses of a secret world below. Below: Whilst lions are alpha-predators on the Okavango floodplains, the size and ferocity of an adult Cape buffalo will make any big cat wary. Add to this the herds ability to mob predators a siege of angry buffalo is truly one of Africas most formidable sights. Right: Despite an intimidating set of incisors, the hippopotamus is almost exclusively herbivorous, emerging at dusk to graze on grasses. The incisors are rather used as a display of dental indignation when a hippo feels threatened, or when jostling with other males for territories and access to females.

48

49

Left: Despite a reputation for indifference, the Nile crocodile often demonstrates exemplary parenting. When a newborn hatchling breaks the confines of its egg, it calls to its mother with high-pitched squeaks. She quickly responds by digging out the nest, breaking open any trapped babies, and ever so delicately transporting them in her mouth to the rivers edge and to safety. Below: The baboon is an opportunistic omnivore, eating leaves, grass, seeds, acacia tree pods, roots and flowers, as well as insects, small animals and the occasional tasty mushroom. Following pages: An African bullfrog emerges from a shallow summer pond. Weighing up to 2 kgs, this bullfrog has a rapacious appetite, eating other amphibians and insects, rodents, reptiles and even small birds that carelessly alight too close.

50

51

52

53

Below left: Close, tender bonds develop between mother and baby it will accompany its mother in the hunt at about three months of age, and will remain with her until about two years of age. Below right: The Noga River winds a fickle path through the dense Okavango vegetation. Following pages: Although appearing ungainly as a result of shoulders higher than withers, the Common tsessebe is capable of speeds of up to 60 kms per hour.

54

55

56

57

Below left: One of the most unforgettable night sounds of the Okavango is the tinkling of the painted African reed frog. Below right: Named after its distinctive wattled bill, the Wattled crane is the tallest crane in Africa and resides in its largest numbers in the Okavango. Following pages: Intense, deep blue skies are reflected in the pure, lucid Okavango waters, dotted with palm-littered islands and termitaria.

58

59

60

61

Below: Crocodiles are common throughout the Okavango, with the largest cruising the fast flowing waters of the Panhandle. Right: Real fan palms are made miniature by the overpowering African sky; common in the Okavango, they often form communities that cover entire islets.

62

63

Left: Leopards typically hunt nocturnally, stalking prey silently, rather than in a high profile chase. Below: The traditional, and most efficient, way of traversing the Okavangos endless waterways is by mokoro, or dugout canoe. Under the agile command of a master poler, it is fast and silent, able to move through thick and tangled vegetation with ease. Following pages: Attracted by the purest of filtered waters the Okavango flows over sand, not mud a herd of elephants can travel hundreds of kilometres to find water and food.

64

65

66

67

The Chobe National Park

"At night, the broad brow of the colossus, its trunk, tusks, tower, huge hindquarters, and four pillar-like legs stood out, astonishing and awesome against the starry sky." Les Miserables, 1862 the Chobe District is the gateway to one of the worlds most unusual confluences. Here in the far northwest of the country, the borders of four countries conjoin in a mere few hundred metres. the Chobe and Zambezi rivers flow from the west, along the Caprivi strip, a narrow shard of land that abuts with Botswanas magnificent Chobe national park. as well, there is the curious spout of Zimbabwes teapot that pours verdant greenery into this riverine forest system. But there is another border that almost doesnt exist. For the briefest of gambols, the forceful Zambezi river bumps into the mighty Chobe river, before rushing off northward. the distance of this meeting is a minuscule 170 metres, and it is here that the shortest international border in the world can be found between Botswana and Zambia. Its no more than a quick stroll, and just wide enough for a river ferry to ply its trade. this confusing collection of borders and rivers looks rather like a giant-sized intersection for some thunderous creature, and in the Chobe District this mammoth abounds. It has made this entire riverine system its home, regularly traversing international borders and natural environments in its eternal quest to fuel its gigantic body. this pachyderm pads over rollicking tracks and deep sand trials. It wades through deltas, rivers and manoeuvres flooded pans and baked plains. It moves almost silently through forests and scrubland, each step cushioned by elastic, spongy pads that mute cracking branches and crunching leaves underfoot. It has spinnaker sail-ears, like solar panels, that beat into the 68

afternoon breeze, cooling its body, its incessantly moving prehensile trunk catching the scents of the surrounding bush, its low rumblings sending a semaphore message to other unseen giants. there are recognisable trails of musth flowing from hidden glands on its temporal lobes, mixed to a dark paste with the dust and grit that has become caked on its coarse skin. the kaleidoscope of landscapes that exists in the Chobe District is the territory of the real king of the african bush Loxodonta africana the african Elephant. the Chobe national park is Botswanas classic safari experience. It holds some of the highest concentrations of big game animals in africa. and the variety of game viewing is breathtaking. take a river cruise at dusk on the Chobe and spot pods of hippo grunting and gumming each other in the setting sun. or follow a riverine track from Kasane that winds through forests to surprise a herd of elegant sable or roan antelope. or head deep into the savute grasslands, crossing flooded salts pans that are flattened even more, if possible, by hundreds of tonnes of elephants. Comparable to any of the great african game reserves, such as Kruger national park in south africa, the serengeti in tanzania, or namibias Etosha national park, the Chobe covers an impressive 11,700 square kilometres, and includes a diverse range of landscapes, such as Kgalagadi desert, riverine forest, savannas, seasonally flooded salt pans as well as dense mophane forests and acacia scrubland. the park is bordered to the northwest by the Caprivi strip and Zambia, and to the east by Zimbabwe. although there are three names to the river the Kwando, Linyanti and Chobe these are, in fact, the same river, changing name as it cuts a course through the north of Botswana. this wild, sprawling, beautiful park consists of four main areas the Chobe riverine, savute, Linyanti, and the hot and dry

woodlands of the ngwezumba pans (including nogatsau). Each of these areas is distinct, holding differing terrains and ecosystems, thus offering great variety in the safari experience. the most well-known, most accessible, and highly touristed area is the Chobe riverfront. It forms the northernmost boundary of the park and a portion of Botswanas international boundary. the deep blue river enters the Caprivi as the Kwando river, and, when blocked by Kgalagadi sands, heads eastward to join the Zambezi upstream of Victoria Falls. the riverfront is, in fact, the essence of the Chobe permanent riverine floodplains and rich teak forests that are lush and verdant, home to great pods of galumphing hippos, cambrian crocodiles, aquatic red lechwe, rare pukus, and timid bushbuck. During the dry season, elephant, buffalo, zebra and antelope in their thousands appear from desert regions further south to feed on the fertile floodplains. and this is when the park earns its reputation as having some of the best game-viewing on the continent. the savute area of the park is an immense, barren plain that bisects the park through the capricious savute Channel. Like the makgadikgadi superlake, savute is a relic of a large inland oxbow that dried up millennia ago, still flooding occasionally and unpredictably. It is, even today, curiously fickle in its watery ways, often drying up when rainfall is plentiful and then flooding unexpectedly. wildlife is profuse in the savute, and is particularly dynamic after good rains when sweeping herds of zebra, as well as buffalo, wildebeest, impala, tsessebe, kudu, giraffe and warthog, arrive to feed on the tender, young sedges. Following close behind are the predators lion, leopard, cheetah, hyaena and wild dog ready to gorge on the savute smorgasbord. to the west of savute is the Linyanti swamps; this is a direct outflow from the Kwando river in namibia and an area that is renowned for its predators, particularly lion. Linyanti has been

the familiar backdrop for wildlife documentaries that explore the interactions between predators, such as lions and hyaenas, and their prey. In addition to the small wedged area of Linyanti that is part of the Chobe national park, there is the Linyanti wildlife reserve, a 100,000 hectare unfenced wildlife concession that allows free wildlife migration and offers a rich safari experience. approximately 70 kilometres south of the Chobe river spreads another network the ngwezumba pans, a remote and infrequently visited area of the park. the more than ten pans are not salt but rather clay; and they act as natural bowls, holding life-giving water after rains, attracting animals that move from the permanent riverine and swamp systems of the Chobe and Linyanti areas. the most exciting project that will potentially change the face of the Chobe is the Kavango-Zambezi trans-Frontier Conservation area (KaZa tFCa park) a massive park that represents the combined efforts of Zambia, Zimbabwe, namibia, angola and Botswana, its memorandum of Understanding (moU) signed in 2006. when officially opened (scheduled for later this year), the KaZa tFCa park will be the largest conservation area in the world (280,000 square kilometres), incorporating the okavango, Chobe, Victoria Falls, Hwange, Kafue and a dozen other national parks. the Chobe national park is the epitome of the african bush unbelievably prolific in wildlife, sustained by a river of untold beauty, untamed and untameable a place that awakens the adventurer in all of us.

69

70

71

Preceding pages: The opportunity to see large numbers of elephants in the Chobe National Park is one of its principal attractions. Below left: Lionesses are typically the hunters in the pride; and those of Savute have developed very unusual eating habits. During lean times, they have reportedly targeted juvenile and even fully grown elephants. Below right: Cape buffalo seasonally frequent the floodplains of the Chobe River.

72

73

74

75

Preceding pages: With distinctive parenthetic horns and an ornery, bristling appearance, the Blue wildebeest uses the security of the herd as its main defence against predators . Below: A baby baboon clings on for dear life as its mother forages for food . Right: Cheetah can be spotted in the wide open terrain of Savute, in the Chobe National Park.

76

77

Left: During the dry season, elephants in their thousands, as well as buffalo and a variety of antelope, frequent the Chobe floodplains for water and food resources. This is when the park earns its reputation as having some of the best game viewing on the continent. Below: A newborn elephant calf comfortingly suckles with an average weight of 100 kgs at birth, elephant calves are able to walk with the herd just a few days after birth. Elephant herds are matrilineal and relations between members are very complex and intimate. Following pages: Widespread across Botswana, the Yellow-billed hornbill is known for its comical demeanour and dextrous bill, which is used for devouring insects, fruits and small reptiles .

78

79

80

81

Below left: The pride lion is the king of beasts, but it is typically a team of lionesses that work together during a hunt, enclosing the target from different positions, then often relinquishing the carcass to the male to feed first. Below right: When startled, an impala herd will start leaping to confuse predators, jumping more than ten metres in length and three metres high. Following pages: Dramatic skies over the Chobe. Botswana is prone to highly localised, violent, thunder and rain storms.

82

83

84

85

Below: The Chobe Riverfront is the essence of the national park. Permanent riverine floodplains are home to large pods of galumphing hippos. Right: At Savute, wildlife is particularly dynamic after good rains, when sweeping herds of zebra, buffalo, wildebeest and other antelope arrive to feed on the new growth; following close behind are the predators.

86

87

Left: The distinctive plume of a Crested barbet. With over 450 species of birds, the Chobe National Park is rightfully regarded as a bird-lovers paradise. Below: The large Ground hornbill spends most of its time on the ground, flushing out insects, amphibians and snakes. Following pages: During a Chobe River cruise, the park and animals are viewed from a completely different perspective.

88

89

90

91

Below left: Usually preferring acacia trees for nesting, the White-backed vulture will often mob an animal kill through sheer numbers, driving off other scavengers. Below right: A lone zebra feeds during a magical sunset; along with all the megafauna of this wildlife rich park, it will soon become part of the massive Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Park. Following pages: Oxpeckers hitch a ride on a Cape buffalo, picking off insects from its thick hide.

92

93

94

95

Below left and right: At the waterhole, species can compete. A Spotted hyaena wishes to have a drink, but wildebeest on watch, and an elephant menacingly moving forward, force it to slink away, its thirst unslaked. Following pages: Crocodiles use the suns heat to regulate body temperature. During chilly mornings and winter days, they can be seen sunning themselves along the banks of the Chobe River.

96

97

98

99

The Makgadikgadi Pans

"The mirage on these salinas was marvellous. It is never, I believe, seen in perfection, except over such saline incrustations. Here not a particle of imagination was necessary for realising the exact picture of large collections of water; the waves danced along above, and the shadows of the trees were vividly reflected beneath the surface in such an admirable manner." David Livingstone, Missionary Travels and Research in South Africa, 1857 the okavango looms large on any map of Botswana. But from high above, it is not the Delta, but rather a collection of conspicuous pure white patches that truly jumps from a satellite image. Contrasted incongruously against the mute greys and browns of the Kgalagadi is what looks like a strange, organic patchwork colourless chalky plates fringed with delicate-laced greenery and, occasionally, flecked with shimmering highlights that reflect the aquamarine sky. these are the remnants of Botswanas super-lake, the makgadikgadi Basin an 80,000 square kilometre brackish behemoth that at one time sucked water from the okavango, Chobe, Kwando and even the mighty Zambezi into its belly. It must have been a wondrous sight, this inland sea. ancient paleolithic people, from 100,000 years ago, congregated around its coastline, fishing from the rich waters and hunting the endless herds of plains animals that migrated to this mega-mare to breed and slake their collective thirst. Even today, the stone tools of these ancient peoples knapped to razor-sharpness, some 30 centimetres long, the largest flint tools ever found can be found littering the pans. But, as capricious africa is wont to be, the great continent shifted its geological heft and severed these watery arteries many millennia ago. Cutting off the makgadikgadis lifeblood, the sea, slowly 100

but inevitably dehydrated the mega-lake over aeons. It became the barren lunarscape that greets visitors today. the makgadikgadi comprises the largest complex of salt pans in the world. they are not technically a single entity, but a collection of three major and countless smaller pans, lying like polished pancakes amongst the Kgalagadi sands. the most prominent pans include ntwetwe, nxai and sowa, the last of which is the largest (5,000 sq kms). two national parks have been demarcated in this great salt pan complex the makgadikgadi pans national park (16,000 sq kms) and the nxai pan national park (2,500 sq kms). Visit the pans during most months of the year and you will be assaulted by bone-frying heat. Distant, lonely baobabs long for respite from the blinding glare. walk out onto the thin crust of crystalline dirt floating on a deep muddy blancmange, and a perfect trail of footprints will follow you just like neil armstrong stepping from the lunar module into the sea of tranquility. Lungs sear. the air positively sizzles with agitation. the pans are at their starkest and harshest; and with little imagination it feels like you are taking those first steps on the moon. But, despite these seemingly alien conditions, standing on the edge of a salt flat and gazing out towards the expanse of horizon, there seems to be some subtle, primordial resonance with our long extinct limbic ancestors. It feels familiar, and somehow almost like going home. the earths gentle curve is noticeable just like looking out across the sea; but, unlike the sea, these pans are unmoving perfectly still, perfectly silent. Zoologist and anthropologist Desmond morris believed that, from our african genesis, we retain a collective instinct from the time we lived the life of a desert nomad. It is for this reason that, as children, we are happily rocked to sleep and, even as adults, rest soundly during train or car travel. It is as though we are once

again on the back of a giant ungulate crossing a salt flat. standing on a pan, free from the artificial confinement of modern life, the makgadikgadi seduces us to regain our lost roots. But despite their oppressive heat, the pans are not tinder dry all year round. During the summer months, rain, as well as water from the nata river (coming across the border from the amanzamyana river in southern Zimbabwe) and the okavango (through the Boteti river), can inundate the pans, and miraculously a powder-blue, shallow sea appears. this is when the makgadikgadi truly comes alive. then, perhaps a hundred thousand Greater and Lesser flamingos migrate to the pans to nest, and to feed on tiny crustaceans and the blue-green algae that bloom in summer. this is a major breeding colony in southern africa; and the chicks, each an only child a single offspring from the only egg the mother will lay must quickly learn to fly, before the fickle waters dry and they are left anchored to the flats by balls of encrusted salt, at the mercy of predators. Larger plains animals also move in for the summer months, when the surrounding savanna is replete with mineral-rich grasses. some of the greatest herds of zebra in africa are found on the makgadikgadi, as are wildebeest and giraffe. the zebra migration between the Boteti river and the pans is the second largest migration of its kind left in africa a spectacle of epic proportions. nxai pan national park also has salt pans; but, surprisingly, more of the park is a broad grassy steppe where plains animals congregate, perused by the resident pride of lions and a fifty-strong tower of giraffes. Here is one of the few habitats in africa where both the desert springbok and woodland impala co-inhabit. there are many truly unique sites on the makgadikgadi, but one of the most stunning is Lekhubu Island on sowa pan. rising twenty

metres above the surrounding salt flats, this national monument is a family of bloated baobab trees that are enclosed within the remnants of dry stone walls dating from 1200aD, when the Great Zimbabwe empire stretched 1,000 kilometres from masvingo. It is possible to follow the line of an ancient beach littered with fossilised flotsam and weathered quartz pebbles. From this vantage point, it is easy to imagine the vast inland sea that would have lapped this island, making these old trees bush castaways in the middle of a continent. Even more curious is the unusual clustering of baobabs at Kudiakam pan, to the south of nxai pan national park. named after the 19th century explorer and artist, Baines Baobabs (also called the seven sisters) is a gnarly collection of fallen and fat succulents that stand sentinel over the white, flat, empty pan. they were documented and painted by thomas Baines in 1862, whilst he was on an expedition from south west africa to Victoria Falls. Comparing the trees as they appear today with Baines original paintings, done over 140 years ago, they have hardly changed an indication of how remote and untouched the area still remains. the nata sanctuary is another makgadikgadi highlight. situated near the mouth of the nata river, on the extreme northeast of sowa pan, it is fringed with clusters of mokolwane (date) palms probably the eastern-most, naturally occurring palms in the country. Comprising an area of 230 sq kms, half of which is salt flat and half scrubland, this small but interesting reserve is home to 165 species of birds, including flamingos, pelicans, ducks and teals. the makgadikgadi pans are an anomaly flat, hot tundra, tinder grasslands and salty, crystalline desert that magically transform into a sea of life and hope. Visitors who make the trek to this otherworldly destination often claim to have been transformed by this most amazing journeys end. 101

102

103

Preceding pages: People and animals are intimately linked in Botswana, and cultural representations of wildlife are common, the most familiar undoubtedly being the zebra, featured on Botswanas coat of arms and serving as the mascot for the national football team. Below: As rains come to the Makgadikgadi, large herds of zebra move from the Boteti River to the full-of-water pans, often meeting wildebeest along the way.

104

105

106

107

Preceding pages: With such a front-heavy appearance, great blunt muzzle and spindly stick legs, it is surprising that the Blue wildebeest can stride with grace and near silence. Below left: Though part of the Makgadikgadi salt pan complex, Nxai Pan National Park is characterised more by broad grassy steppes where plains animals as well as predators congregate. Below right: From the air, zebras and their deep shadows make interesting configurations on the barren salt pans.

108

109

110

111

Preceding pages: Walking slowly to avoid detection, the peculiar swaying gait and constantly swivelling turret-eyes can only belong to one of Botswanas most amazing creatures, the Flapnecked chameleon . Below left and right: Botswanas zebra migration between the Boteti River and the Makgadikgadi Pans once they have filled with water following good rains is the second largest migration on the African continent.

112

113

114

115

Preceding pages: Todays Makgadikgadi is merely the remnants of a prehistoric super-lake of truly gargantuan proportions. Larger than Lake Victoria, it must been a wondrous site buoyed up on the Kgalagadi sands. Below left: The bold stripes of zebras as they stand closely together in a herd, appearing as one moving entity, may serve to disorient and confuse predators. Below right: Zebras come to the harsh Makgadikgadi because of its mineral-rich grasses, as well as for water.

116

117

118

119

Preceding pages: Despite this lone ostrich's solitude, during the wet summer months, approximately 165 species of birds, including flamingos, pelicans, ducks and teals, geese, steppe eagles, Carmine bee-eaters and rare Crowned cranes, make the journey to the pans to feed and breed a cacophony of excitement and activity. Left: Female ostriches lay their fertilised eggs in a communal nest; the dominant female lays her eggs first, then discards extra eggs from weaker females before covering them for incubation. This task takes between 35 and 45 days and is shared between the males and females. Below: Perhaps 100,000 Greater and Lesser flamingos migrate to the water-filled areas of the Makgadikgadi Pans to nest and feed. The Pans are the most important flamingo breeding area in southern Africa.

120

121

122

123

Preceding pages: The Southern warthog is common across the breadth of Botswana. Although widespread in the Makgadikgadi area, it prefers dense vegetation in which to forage. Female warthogs are fearless in defence of their piglets and can inflict severe wounds on any size of predator, including lion. Below left: At Nxai Pan, the chase begins, with one strong swat of the lioness catching the swift-footed springbok. Below right: The springbok hasnt got a chance against this intelligent, muscular predator.

124

125

126

127

Preceding pages: Endemic to the Kgalagadi, meerkats occur widely on the Pans. This highly sociable animal is notable for its sentry duty; one or several members of the clan stand watch for predators whilst others forage for food, or look after the young . Below left and right: Aerial photography reveals just how inhospitable the Pans are for the water dependent zebras . Following pages: Zebras move to fresh grazing in the cooler hours of the early morning or late afternoon.

128

129

130

131

The Kgalagadi

In the desert a fountain is springing, In the wide waste there still is a tree, And a bird in the solitude singing, Which speaks to my spirit of thee. Lord Byron (1788 1824) on moonless winter nights, the great astral dome of the Kgalagadi (Kalahari Desert) blankets its visitors perched around a glowing campfire with infinite, brilliant stars. with shadows dancing on khaki canvas tents, the constellations of Crux the southern Cross, scorpius, sagittarius the Centaur, and the sweep of the milky way, fire both conversation and the imagination. It is surprising how vibrant and luminous the Kgalagadi night sky is. with little ambient light pollution, the heavens are ablaze with wandering planets and comets, stellar sprays and the dust from far off magellanic Clouds. In contrast to this celestial canvas is the surrounding desert sable black and undetectable even strangely silent. the campfires radiance is absorbed like Indian ink spilt onto parchment. the only indication of a horizon is where the familiar line of stars abruptly stops. Even a torch is of little use. Its penetrating beam reflects clearly off bushes close by, but shine a finger of light further out into the darkness and the photons scatter and dissipate in the pitchy ether. this is part of the unique excitement of a safari in the desert. senses are lapped to razor acuity; eyes scan for the smallest ghostly detail. another flick of the torch into the inky darkness reveals nothing again. and then something appears to move and shift way off in the distance. a pair of reflected yellow eyes! Further afield, another pair and then another pair again! It is only when the first set of luminescent points begins a deep, 132

soul-vibrating bellow that a primeval fear is triggered. passed down from our african ancestors through shared mitochondrial Dna, this instinctual fear has been buried under layers of civilisation. But now, confronted with the King of the Kgalagadi, the Blackmaned lion, a long forgotten natural response to danger resurfaces. the roar sends shivers up and down the spine, and makes the hair at the back of the neck stand at attention. In the Kgalagadi, for just one night, you have become part of one of the worlds greatest wildernesses. only a thin sliver of eastern Botswana escapes the Great thirstland the engulfing Kgalagadi. this basin of baked, arid earth stretches 2,500,000 square kilometres, from the midlands of south africa to the plains of angola and Zambia from its desert neighbour, the namib, bordering the atlantic in namibia, to the western tip of Zimbabwe, further north to Gabon and the Democratic republic of Congo. much of the Kgalagadi lies fairly across the central plateau of Botswana covering the country with a wilderness of dry scrubby tundra and red sands, scattered with animals that have become masters of this extreme environment. with almost no permanent water (except for the anomalous okavango Delta), very few natural springs, unreliable precipitation, poor soils and hardy desert vegetation, the Kgalagadi is almost universally referred to as a desert. But it is not strictly one, with annual rainfalls often reaching 200 mms. this allows the semiarid ecosystem to occasionally bloom into renewed life. typical Kgalagadi scenery gently undulates with mega-dunes that are sparsely covered with grasses, sedges and scraggly bush. occasionally, larger knob-thorn, purple-pod and camelthorn acacias break the horizon with their characteristic umbrella silhouettes. Just when it seems that the flat, featureless african savanna will never end, a baobab appears far away on

the skyline, seemingly presenting its tortured roots to the sky. Despite these desert conditions, the Kgalagadi is full of life and opportunity. many areas still show remnants from long ago when the entire plateau was wetter and greener. the makgadikgadi pans are the most obvious example, as they partially fill with water during seasons of good rains. But, venture into the Central Kalahari Game reserve (CKGr) from the north, and you will discover fossilised riverbeds that probably last flowed around 15,000 years ago. CKGrs beautiful Deception Valley, made famous by Delia and mark owens in their book Cry of the Kalahari, is covered in cropped grass and sprinkled with sporadic islands of buffalo thorn acacia. there are a number of pans in this valley, including sunday pan and the lovely piper pan, where you settle under the shade of an acacia and wait for the occasional lion to show itself, trying to hide from the days extravagant heat. the Kgalagadis ability to instantly rejuvenate itself, following good rains, with succulent grasslands and water-filled pans along with its foreboding remoteness allows it to sustain surprisingly diverse and healthy populations of wildlife. Besides the spectacular Black-maned lion, the CKGr is home to a variety of other predators, including the tenacious leopard, cheetah, hyaena, Black-backed jackal and the endangered wild dog. many desert antelope, such as the majestic gemsbok, the mighty eland, the hartebeest, kudu, springbok, as well as the diminutive steenbok and duiker, are so well adapted to the desert environment that they are able to do without direct sources of water for extended periods, particularly during the dry season. Instead, they satiate their thirst by drinking from succulent aloes, bitter tsama melons and horned cucumbers, or lapping early morning dew from leaves. the gemsbok has a thermo-regulatory feature in its body, a maze of fine blood vessels that act as a heat exchange unit.

as the rainy season approaches in november, the eastern skies darken to the colour of old lead and the surrounding pale yellow grasses begin to sway in unison, taking on the scent of freshly laundered clothes. and just when the Earth threatens to melt from the incessant, relentless heat, droplets of rain the size of grapes fall. Very soon the pans and desiccated waterways begin to fill, attracting the thirsty animals that gather for water and nourishment. the Kgalagadi has a long heritage of human habitation, having been home to populations of itinerant san as far back as the middle stone age. Independent groups with their own languages and customs, such as the naro from the Gantsi area, the Ju/hoansi from the northwest, and the Khomani from the south, have successfully lived in the Kgalagadi for thousands of years. their connection with nature and knowledge of the desert were legendary; these ancient peoples were masters at exploiting the food and water resources of the desert, and sustaining themselves in an extremely harsh environment. although some san are now involved in the tourism and craft sectors, their ancient way of life has been immutably changed through the compulsion of modern civilisation. three reserves have been set aside in Botswanas vast share of the Kgalagadi. these include the Central Kalahari Game reserve (CKGr), established in 1961, the worlds second largest game reserve (53,000 square kilometres), the Khutse Game reserve (adjoining the CKGr in the south) and, in the extreme southwest, the immense Kgalagadi transfrontier park (Ktp), a cross-border collaboration between Botswana and south africa that is the first of its kind on the continent. travelling any of Botswanas great desert wildernesses will bring you gradually or perhaps abruptly back to a time when human beings respected, and held deep understanding of, all Earths creatures. surely the Kgalagadi will signal a return albeit briefly to your original self. 133

134

135

Preceding pages: With almost no permanent water, very few natural springs, unreliable precipitation, poor soils and typical hardy desert vegetation, the Kgalagadi is a foreboding place. But when summer lightning crackles over the savanna and rainstorms begin, the desert blooms into life. Below: One of the Kgalagadis smaller inhabitants, the Striped mouse is most active during the day, unlike many other rodents. Right: The Kgalagadi has been home to humans as far back as the Middle Stone Age. Independent groups of people, with their own languages and customs, have developed a knowledge of the desert and a connection with Nature that are unsurpassed.

136

137

Left: The desert scorpion is formidable in its venomous sting, but tasty to meerkats, which hunt and eat it with gusto. Below: The springbok is a familiar Kgalagadi resident, surviving without water through an entire dry season, or even for years in drought. One means of gaining moisture is by eating vegetation in the early morning hours when dew accumulates. Following pages: Though often labelled as a cowardly opportunist, the Spotted hyaena is an aggressive and highly intelligent predator, often clashing over kills with lion, their main competitors. When undisturbed, a pack of 35 hyaenas can consume an adult zebra in less than 40 minutes.

138

139

140

141

Left: The concentrated stare of this lioness partially obscured by desert scrub bush indicates her determination as a predator. Below: Many desert antelope are so well adapted to their habitat that they can survive without direct sources of water, satiating their thirsts from succulent aloes, bitter tsama melons and horned cucumbers. Following pages: As storm clouds gather in huge, threatening stacks, often giving way to violent downpours, thirsty giraffes come to the desert pans to drink.

142

143

144

145

Below: Leopards are common across much of Botswana. The Kgalagadi leopard, an extremely shy and secretive animal, is uniquely adapted to this treeless terrain and difficult to see. Right: A Pygmy falcon peers from deep within her rented nest. This smallest of Africas raptors usually occupies the vacant chambers of the Sociable weaver nest, even if the weaver colony is still present.

146

147

Left: The San (Bushmen) traditionally hunted with bow and poison arrow. This was an arduous task, because the poison did not kill the prey outright, thus requiring that the hunters who were superb trackers pursued the dying animal, sometimes for days. Below: A duiker standing in amongst the golden Kgalagadi grasses seeks reprieve from the scorching sun . Following pages: The Kalahari lion, although not a separate sub-species, is noticeably different from its northern cousins; it is slenderer and lighter in colour an excellent camouflage against the Kgalagadi sands. It is well adapted to this extreme environment, able to go without drinking water for weeks, gaining moisture from its prey.

148

149

150

151

Below left and right: San (Bushmen) re-enact the hunt, making their way through desert grasslands and inspecting the sand for animal tracks. They typically carry a range of weapons: bows and arrows, snares, knives and spears. Following pages: Scores of sandgrouse are scattered from the waterhole by an unseen intruder.

152

153

154

155

Below left: Most of the Kgalagadi lies fairly across the central plateau of Botswana, covering the country with a wilderness of dry, scrubby tundra. Below right: A springbok ewe suckles against a backdrop of extreme, arid habitat. Following pages: Lions technique for hunting giraffe is highly specialised; it can only be a group hunt, and the lanky prey has to be tripped over, whilst the lions dodge the powerful front feet one kick can kill them.

156

157

158

159

Below: A pair of dozy lion cubs bask in mothers warmth and protection. Right: The steenbok is a small, solitary antelope that inhabits the fringes of the Kgalagadi. At the first sign of a predator, the steenbok will leap away, crossing in a zig-zag route to confuse and lose the pursuer. Following pages: The African wild cat is probably the ancestor of todays domesticated cat, having been first tamed in the Middle East approximately 10,000 years ago. Despite its docile appearance, it is a fierce predator, hunting primarily mice, rats and other small mammals.

160

161

162

163

Tsodilo Hills

"Every great work of art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity." Daniel Barenboim most of Botswana lies on a flat plateau part of the Great african plateau that rises 5,000 kilometres to the north in the sahara, and extends from that great desert all the way to the equally great Kgalagadi. the Kgalagadi sands are hundreds of metres thick; and, viewed from high above, ridge after ridge of mega-dunes wash diagonally across Botswana, breaking where they meet the okavango Delta, like surf on a beach. there is almost no other distinguishing feature here in the Great thirstland, as the Kgalagadi is called. Endless tracts of camelthorn acacia predominate, with the occasional monna mogolo (old man) of the bush the baobab disturbing the soporific sweep of wilderness. Uninterrupted by mountain range, gorge or canyon, it is therefore startling to see four steep, craggy monoliths thrust skyward through the veldt thirty kilometres west of the Delta, in the far northwest of the country. these hills are the enigmatic tsodilo, defying their location in the Kgalagadi. From the main north-south shakawe road at nxamsere, the hills appear over the horizon like a beacon. slowly, millennia upon millennia, the billion year-old rocks of tsodilo have been revealed, as the surrounding terrain has subsided through weathering and erosion. the tallest of the hills, the male, at 1,390 metres, is the highest point in Botswana. tsodilo has been at various stages fortress and refuge, trading hub and cathedral, attracting a continuous, uninterrupted procession of people, from the very earliest of our sapien ancestors 100,000 years ago. probably one of the longest inhabited places on Earth, it 164

is little wonder tsodilo is so magnetic an anachronism perched defiantly in the bleached desert landscape, shining with primary pigments that stream from the rocks interior. there are three main hills male, Female and Child as well as a fourth smaller hill further to the north. why these names? the Ju/hoansi (the local san community) say that Long ago, the Hills were people. male Hill took the little northern hill to be his wife, but soon took Female Hill as a second wife. north Hill fought with her husband and ran away. after she left, male and Female Hills had a child. that is why male, Female and Child Hills are close together and First wife lives apart. Botswana has only recently begun the process of nominating sites for inscription on the UnEsCos world Heritage List. tsodilo is currently the countrys first and only world Heritage site. Inscribed on the register in 2001 for its universal cultural value, tsodilo was the obvious first choice for world Heritage nomination, primarily because of its astounding rock art. the Hills probably have the highest concentration of rock art in the world, with over 4,500 individual paintings or inscriptions documented across 450 sites. Located in an area of just 10 square kilometres, this is a prodigious output by the long legion of peoples who inhabited tsodilo, many ancestors of the san. the best way to see the Hills is to walk. tsodilo is a hikers delight, with numerous trails that can take from a few hours to overnight. the better known include rhino, Cliff and Lion trails. many paintings are splendidly beautiful; most depict animals in profile and abstract geometric designs. they are painted with pigments from haematite, a mineral ore found in the rocks that would have been heated in a fire to bring out the bright red hues; calcrete, a chalky white substance, has also been used. the red paintings were probably done between 800 and 1200aD and the white paintings a few hundred years later. In the gentle, early

morning light, the masterpieces seem to glow as though they were painted only last week. Van der posts panel (named after Laurens van der post, the author who visited the site in the 1950s) is one of the best known and most spectacular rock art panels in the world. situated on the southwest side of the Female Hill, 25 metres above the surrounding grasslands, it is a beautiful example of the idiosyncratic nature of tsodilos paintings. most rock art for example, the bison paintings in the French caves of Lascaux, the aborigine paintings of australias Kakadu and the south oran petraglyphs in algeria is hidden away in caves and crannies, secretive shrines to deities and ancestors. But van der posts panel, a giant curved surface of rock arching out over the desert like a crashing wave, is a glorious celebration for all to see anything but secretive. a trail climbs over a rubble of rocks, up to the panel where delicate ochre pictographs of giraffes and eland, as well as direct impressions of the artists small hands (maybe a signature or maybe from across the eons a message about our connectedness as humans), can be admired in detail. there are cryptic pieces too. one panel on the east side of Female Hill looks surprisingly like a penguin and two whales, one with a froth of water vapour spouting from a blowhole. tsodilo was a nexus of cross-continental activity 1,000 years ago, so it is possible that the artist saw these animals first-hand 1,000 kilometres away on the atlantic coast; or it is possible that the paintings depict something else locally that we have yet to imagine. Besides the rock art, there are other secrets to be discovered at tsodilo. partway along the rhino trail, there are a number of indentations in the rock that look exactly like the cloven hooves of a large kudu, or maybe an eland. the Ju/hoansi believed that this was where nyambe (God) lowered all the wild

animals and people from, when the earth was still fresh and soft. Higher along this trail, shards of pottery fragments litter what was the ancient village of nqoma where stunning blue glass beads and cowry shells from the Indian ocean, elaborate ivory, iron and copper ornaments, along with iron tools, have been found. on Lion trail, part way up an incline, the spectacular rhino Cave can be visited. Displayed inside this roomy chamber is a dazzlingly patterned six-metre rock that has hundreds of deep vertical grooves carved into the surface. It looks like a random pattern, until you stand back from the wall, and the shape of a python appears with the eye and mouth formed from features in the stone. the notorious, other-worldly winds that visit tsodilo most evenings howl dolefully along the cliff faces, like the warning breaths of people long since passed. these are the ancestors of tsodilo, believed to still reside in these mysterious hills. modern wanderlusts, out on a morning jaunt to explore this grand Louvre of the Desert, may in the silence and the isolation feel their presence still.

165

166

167

Preceding pages: Tsodilos van der Posts Panel is an imposing sweep of rock 25 metres above the surrounding savanna painted with images of eland, giraffe and the artists handprints. Referred to as the Louvre of the desert, Tsodilo probably has the highest concentration of rock art in the world. Left: San maiden the Ju/'hoansi have mostly shifted away from their traditional foraging/hunting culture to agrarian and contemporary activities, such as craft production and tourism. With such a rapid transition, many still grapple with issues of self-empowerment, autonomy and identity. Below: Historian, archaeologist and African rock art expert, Dr. Alec Campbell surveys some of Tsodilos stunning rock art.

168

169

The Northern Tuli Game Reserve

"By and by, when that was finished, he came upon Kolokolo Bird sitting in the middle of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush, and he said, My father has spanked me for my satiable curiosity; and still I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner! Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fevertrees, and find out." Rudyard Kipling, The Elephants Child, 1902 the recent history of Botswana is enmeshed in the criss-crossing peregrinations of early explorers and missionaries, such as robert moffat and David Livingstone of the London missionary society. It is entwined in the mercantile conniving of Cecil rhodes, and the British south africa Company, to rule africa from the Limpopo river to Lake Victoria. It is fashioned by the diligence and farsightedness of tribal chiefs and contemporary leaders. In the past, this aspect of Botswanas tourism product has been understandably downplayed, for the natural heritage of the country is overwhelmingly spectacular. However, as well as a backdrop for the greatest animal show on earth, this land has been the stage for pivotal periods in the social evolution of africas people firstly in the uncharted territory of the Kgalagadi, then in the colony known as Bechuanaland, and finally as the modern, independent, democratic country of Botswana. now, in contemporary Botswana, cultural tourism is being promoted, and this hidden northeast corner of the country is one of the best venues to experience the history and traditional ways of life of Batswana. the northern tuli Game reserve, the tuli Block, and, in fact, the larger eastern portion of Botswana, comprise some of the countrys most exciting destinations. this is a rich physical, but also temporal, landscape of geological, 170

archaeological and human timescales that has witnessed the coursing of one of africas great rivers, the endless migrations of its mega-fauna, the nomadic wanderings of its first people, the immigration of Bantu people, its conquest by makgoa ghostly white people vomited from the ocean the return of the land to the people of Botswana, and the subsequent initiatives of the Botswana Government and the private tourism sector to promote and sustain this rich and diverse heritage. this is tuli Botswanas unique blend of people and wilderness a place to intensely experience the marvels of mother nature with the historical fascinations of the fatherland. Dramatic, breathtaking landscapes comprise the northern tuli Game reserve (ntGr), situated in the far northeast, at the confluence of the shashe, motloutse and Limpopo rivers. Covering approximately 71,000 hectares, the ntGr is famed for some of southern africas premier private game reserves: tuli Game reserve, mashatu Game reserve and nitani Game reserve. the ntGrs terrain is markedly different to the rest of the country, consisting of stark craggy outcrops and impressive sandstone hills and ridges, marshes and riverine bushland, as well as savanna, grasslands and long desiccated riverbeds. the nyala berry tree a massive, domed giant that covers the expansive open plains with its greenery actually gives its name to mashatu. africa can lay claim to many of the worlds largest natural phenomena, and the ntGr is resplendent with the best of the best. It is home to the african elephant, the leviathan of the savanna, as well as the largest private population of Loxodonta in the world over 1,400 beasts of Limpopo genetic stock, almost completely exterminated at the turn of the 20th century, due to uncontrolled hunting and poaching. the reserve is also home to impressive herds of eland, africas largest and most majestic antelope, with big males weighing over 1,000 kilogrammes.

the Kori bustard, a grey, black-crested colossus that can weigh up to 25 kilogrammes, is found in abundance in this sanctuary. this intriguing avian much prefers to dwell on the ground, where it can forage for small reptiles, insects and seeds. and with good reason as the worlds heaviest flying bird, its flight can be cumbersome and requires a good deal of energy. Healthy populations of the emperor of avifauna, the ostrich, also live here. standing at over 2.5 metres and weighing in at 150 kilogrammes, this massive, flightless bird is capable of running over 70 kilometres an hour. once hunted for its outstanding plumage to decorate the hats and fans of Victorian society it now lives undisturbed in many parts of the county. some of the most massive baobabs in Botswana are found in Limpopo terrain. affectionately referred to as the upsidedown tree, because its roots appear to be protruding into the air, Adonsonia digitata, can have girths in excess of 40 metres, and heights up to 30 metres the most unusual vital statistics of any tree. Baobabs are also the plant worlds super-pensioners, with some aged several thousand years old. the ntGr can lay claim to one of africas great rivers, the Limpopo. Flowing in a huge arc along the border between Botswana and south africa, it is the second largest river in africa that drains into the Indian ocean, after the Zambezi. resplendent with birds, the ntGr boasts almost 350 species, with such important and endangered birds as the Cape vulture, the Black eagle, the Black stork, the red-winged starling, the rock bunting and the meyers parrot. additionally, there are over 100 butterfly species, and, surprisingly, a flaming-red, freshwater crab (Potamonautes bayonianus) that inhabits the streams and rivulets of the surrounding hills. Villages adjacent to the ntGr are becoming increasingly involved in community-based tourism projects. a village tour

serves as an interesting counterpoint to exploration of the natural world; and guests are invited to talk to a village headman, watch schoolchildren perform traditional dances, and have a go at basket-weaving. southwest of ntGr lies the tswapong Hills, Botswanas other water-world. Laced with beautiful waterfalls and lagoons and lush in vegetation, these imposing hills are approximately 60 kms long and 20 kms across, and rise almost 400 metres above the surrounding landscape. Estimated to be over a billion years old, they are comprised of sandstone, ironstone and quartzite, which give them their characteristic rich, dense hues. But, tswapongs true enchantment is its water. the hills are, in effect, a giant sponge absorbing water from aquifers and precipitation, and releasing it in the many natural springs that form throughout the hills. these springs, in turn, form perennial brooks and, at times, waterfalls that collect in exquisite fern-fringed lagoons. a popular weekend getaway from Gaborone or Francistown, tswapongs lovely moremi Gorge has a series of permanent waterfalls that fan out into large waterholes. the top waterfall is an impressive ten metres high, cascading down from the rocky outcrops far above. this virgin water collects in a pristine, mirror-like lagoon that alluringly invites the intrepid swimmer. the ntGr and adjacent areas are important for their archaeological records. they are littered with rock paintings, often hidden under rocky overhangs, many executed by ancestors of the san, and uncountable fragments of iron-age pottery. artefacts from the mapungubwe Kingdom (1220-1290aD) reveal the glory and sophistication of african kingdoms long passed, and their links with trade networks spanning parts of the african and asian continents. For its unique natural beauty, its abundant stock of wild animals and birds, its historical and cultural heritage, exploring this hidden corner of Botswana is as informative as it is thrilling. 171

172

173

Preceding pages: The terrain of the Northern Tuli Game Reserve is very different from the rest of the country, consisting of stark, craggy outcrops, impressive sandstone hills and ridges, marshes, as well as savanna and grasslands, perfect for swift-footed cheetah. Below: Glorious sunset in the reserve. The Northern Tuli Game Reserve borders the Limpopo, the continents second largest river, which drains into the Indian Ocean.

174

175

176

177

Preceding pages: Traditional dancers, dressed in leather aprons and leg rattles, perform for tourists who visit their village and school. Many dances reflect Tswana cultural rituals, such as rainmaking and initiation. For the children, its also just good fun. Below: The Giant Eagle Owl is Africas largest owl. Full grown birds hunt in the early evening, feeding on hares, mongoose and other small game; they are one of the very few birds who feed on the Southern African hedgehog. Right: The Tuli Safari Lodge choir performs for guests. Song is an integral part of Batswanas lives, featuring in small and major milestones and celebrations, virtually from the cradle to the grave. Local and national choirs thus abound. This choir has produced an album, the sales of which go to a health care fund for lodge staff and their families.

178

179

Left and below: Visits to the Tuli are not only about wildlife viewing. The area is immensely rich in historical and archaeological sites, as well as unique terrain that can be explored on horseback. Following pages: The Northern Tuli Game Reserve is a cornucopia of natural and cultural heritage that includes spectacular physical landscapes, as well as temporal landscapes of geological, archaeological and human timescales.

180

181

182

183

Culture and the Arts

We should write our own history books, to prove that we did have a past, and that it was a past that was just as worth writing and learning about as any other. We must do this for the simple reason that a nation without a past is a lost nation, and a people without a past is a people without a soul. Sir Seretse Khama, founding father and first president of Botswana (1921-1980) Beyond the diversity and grandness of Botswanas animal realms, the ruggedness and pristine beauty of its landscapes, and the ancient artefacts of its peoples, there is another voyage to be made in this remarkable country. this is not a journey through rough and wild places, but rather through the creative touchstones that have helped define Botswana, and that will shape the countrys future far beyond its diamonds and wildlife. Rock art Begin this cultural journey with tsodilo, in the extreme northwest of the country. with its status as a world Heritage site, tsodilo is the obvious starting point to uncover the nations earliest and most formidable artistic traditions. tsodilos rock paintings and engravings have little to equal them, with thousands of individual works of art displayed in a unique natural gallery an indication that these artists, many ancestors of the san, were not just offering missives to unseen gods, but actively demonstrating their talent. other sites across the country also feature paintings, petroglyphs and etchings; these include the Bakalanga rock paintings on Kgangawe Hill (near Francistown), the ochre paintings on the photophoto Falls trail at tswapong (near palapaye) and the matsieng Footprints in Kgatleng District, near mochudi. the last is a unique creation site where a series of footprints is etched into the rock surface near a sinkhole. matsieng was believed to be the 184

original ancestor of the tswana people, emerging from this hole, followed by his people and animals. the earth was young and soft, and supposedly their feet left impressions in the rock that can be seen even today. another early artwork, a singular carving, was discovered deep in a cave in the Goha Hills, in Chobe District. this carved wooden buffalo, now housed in the national museums collection, was probably fashioned by early Basubiya in the 1800s and clearly shows buffalo features. It is also a carving of great emotion and empathy, capturing the artists relationship with his or her environment. Careful examination will reveal an apparent common thread between these early works and contemporary arts and crafts in Botswana. pottery, tapestries, wood-carvings, leather-works and basketry all demonstrate this continuum. Basket-making Basketry is probably the most well known and internationally recognised of the modern crafts. Baskets have been an integral part of utilitarian domestic life in Botswana for a thousand years, and are still used today for storing sorghum, maize and, if the weave is very tight, traditional fermented beer or sour milk. whilst traditional tswana baskets are plain in design, the Hambukushu and Bayei women of ngamiland have honed their weaving skills to a high art, and now produce some of the most intricate, beautiful and sought after baskets in the region. a quality basket requires weeks, sometimes months, of fulltime work. Fronds from the date palm (Hyphaene petersiana) are harvested and the roots and barks of other plants and trees are used to create contrasting colours. patterns are built up by weaving different coloured fronds together, the most conventional inspired by the natural environment. Increasingly, however, basket-makers are experimenting with new patterns, themes and designs.

Contemporary painting modern-day artists have drawn upon traditional basket designs, rock art schemata, and stone and wood carvings to develop their unique themes and styles. some of Botswanas better known artists include steve mogotsi, phillip segola, neo matome, Velius ndaba, anne Gollifer and Keme mosinyi. a centre of artistic activity is the thapong Visual arts Centre in Gaborone a dynamic collective that offers studio space to painters, sculptors and print-makers, as well as holding exhibitions and workshops. Kuru Art Project one internationally recognised group of artists hails from DKar, in the Kgalagadi. through the Kuru art project, these naro (san) artists have steadily developed and expanded their skills, to the point that they have exhibited in the americas, across Europe and australia. their paintings, etchings and prints tell the story of their rich natural heritage, drawing inspiration from the Kgalagadis animals, birds, veldt food, as well as their traditional clothing, beadwork and jewellery. In 1998, British airways solicited art from across the world to decorate the tailfins of some of their 747 jumbos. probably the most popular was the tail that featured a painting by one Kuru artist, Cgoise a jackal in the bush. typical of Cgoise, this work of art is vibrant, full of strong, flat planes of bright colour, highlighted with broad, geometric strokes and strengthened by graphic repetition. Dada, one of the first and most well known Kuru artists, who died in 2008, summed up the sentiment of her colleagues: the main reason for me to paint is to show the world the things that my people and I love. It is a way of making a living, but more than that it is to show other people who we are and how we live. It is also a way of learning."

Performing arts Lively, infectious music, song, dance and theatre permeate town and city living in Botswana. some performing arts draw on the influence of the kgotla traditional meeting place, customary court and stage where all have the opportunity to speak or perform. traditional instruments are still widely used; these include the setinkane, a tin thumb piano, and the segaba, a one-string, bowed instrument that has an other-worldly whine, and, of course, the soul-stirring african drum. Group performances are integral to the performing arts. Dikhwaere, traditional choirs, have managed to fuse hymns of praise with eclectic outfits, upbeat african rhythms and choreographed dancing. a plethora of traditional dance troupes, dressed in the leather aprons and headdresses of their forefathers, perform rain-making, harvesting and initiation (bogwera and bojale) rituals. and the inventive story-telling of folk guitarists such as stampore, with their humorous puns and coarse language, are loved countrywide. Global culture the influence of the traditional is paralleled by the effects of the new global culture, particularly with younger artists. the fusion of hip-hop and tswana sub-cultures sees performance poets reinterpreting traditional praise poetry, artists spraying textural stencils on concrete surfaces uncannily similar to the earliest rock art and musicians combining folkloric setswana lyrics with the beat of kwaito. and while this contemporary urban movement has permeated modern Botswana, it hasnt been entirely one-way traffic. Botswana is increasingly contributing to the eclectic pot of international culture, with more and more exports raising the Botswana cultural flag on foreign soils. 185

186

187

Preceding pages: The influence of the kgotla the traditional meeting place, courtroom and stage where all have the opportunity to speak or perform is not lost on Botswanas contemporary performing artists who reinterpret traditional praise poetry, song and speech with hip-hop and modern beats. Below: There has been a resurgence of traditional culture in recent years, with numerous dance troupes dressed in skins and adorned with ostrich eggshell jewellery and leg rattles perfecting their skills to perform locally, regionally and internationally. Right: My African Dream is one of the biggest talent shows, giving stage to often brilliant young singers and dancers from all over the country.

188

189

Left: Naro (San) artists from Ghanzi, such as Nxabe from DKars Kuru Art Project, are now internationally recognised, having exhibited in the Americas, across Europe and Australia. Their paintings, etchings and prints tell the story of their rich cultural heritage and gain inspiration from the Kgalagadi's flora and fauna, as well as their own traditional clothing, beadwork and jewellery. Below: Traditional houses in Botswana are mostly made from a mixture of mud, termite mound and cow dung; the roof is fabricated from thatching grass and wooden poles. Some women have retained the tradition of painting the facade of their houses with colourful designs, such as this floral emblem. Following pages: Religious belief and musical expression fuse, creating group performances that are upbeat and uplifting. Dikhwaere, traditional choirs, combine hymns of praise with African rhythms, choreographed dancing and eclectic costumes.

190

191

192

193

Below left: The traditional hand-made jewellery of the San is fashioned from ostrich eggshell, metals and seeds, and is now exported internationally. Below right: Flight of the Swallow a traditional basket design that depicts the natural world. Following pages: The annual Kuru Dance Festival in DKar, western Botswana, showcases the soul-stirring dances of San peoples from across Botswana and the region.

194

195

196

197

Acknowledgements

the publisher would like to thank all the photographers who supplied their memorable images for this book. a thank you also goes to Botswana tourism without whose encouragement and support the publication of this book would not have been possible. www.botswanatourism.co.bw

Index of photographers Page 4/5 8/9 11 12 13 14 15 16/17 18 19 20/21 22 23 24 25 26/27 28 29 198 Photographer Fabio Chironi Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Frans Lanting richard du toit Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Grassland safari Lodge Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert

30/31 32 33 34 35 36/37 38 39 40 41 42/43 46/47 48 49 50 51 52/53 54

Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert

55 56/57 58 59 60/61 62 63 64 65 66/67 70/71 72 73 74/75 76 77 78 79 80/81 82 83 84/85 86 87 88 89 90/91 92 93 94/95 96 97

Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting David Clift Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert steve stockhall Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Fabio Chironi Fabio Chironi Frans Lanting steve stockhall Beverly Joubert steve stockhall steve stockhall steve stockhall

steve stockhall Beverly Joubert June Liversedge Beverly Joubert June Liversedge Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Beverly Joubert June Liversedge June Liversedge Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert Beverly Joubert s. Yoshino Vincent Grafhorst Grassland safari Lodge Frans Lanting michael and patricia Fogden 140/141 Vincent Grafhorst 142 Vincent Grafhorst 143 Vincent Grafhorst 144/145 Vincent Grafhorst

98/99 102/103 104/105 106/107 108 109 110/111 112 113 114/115 116 117 118/119 120 121 122/123 124 125 126/127 128 129 130/131 134/135 136 137 138 139

146 147 148 149 150/151 152 153 154/155 156 157 158/159 160 161 162/163 166/167 168 169 172/173 174/175 176/177 178 179 180 181 182/183 186/187 188 189 190 191 192/193 194

Vincent Grafhorst Vincent Grafhorst Grassland safari Lodge richard du toit Vincent Grafhorst Grassland safari Lodge Grassland safari Lodge Christophe Courteau Vincent Grafhorst Vincent Grafhorst Vincent Grafhorst Beverly Joubert Vincent Grafhorst richard du toit Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Frans Lanting Fabio Chironi Fabio Chironi tuli safari Lodge Fabio Chironi tuli safari Lodge tuli safari Lodge robyn Daley (s. rufus) tuli safari Lodge Vincent Grafhorst Vincent Grafhorst Vincent Grafhorst paul melenhorst paul melenhorst ?????????? paul melenhorst

195 paul melenhorst 196/197 Fabio Chironi

199