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Images
from the Interior - Livingstone
to Wilderness
Gill Staden
Wilderness Safaris owns or
markets many lodges in Africa.
The company has grown from small
beginnings in Botswana to a large
organization which operates in
many countries. They have an
ethos of working with the
environment and not against it.In
March I went to see three of
their lodges in Botswana: Dumatau
in Linyanti;Duba Plains and Jaoin
the Okavango. It was an amazing
experience so I have plenty of
stories. Our journey started from
Livingstone where we boarded a
light aircraft, Cessna 206. The
aircraft was one of the Sefofane
fleet, a partner of Wilderness
Safaris. The flight to Kasane,
Botswana, took 25 minutes; a
flight along the Zambezi River.
The Zambezi was in flood so it
was interesting to see where the
water had infiltrated inland.
All the flood plains were
inundated with water; the Zambezi
was bursting at the seams. At
Kasanewe we checked in at
Immigration and Customs,a very
friendly process. We then boarded
a Cessna Caravan for our flight
to Selinda Airstrip near Dumatau,
our first lodge. Againthe flight
was great fun, seeing where the
waterhad spread inland fromthe
Chobe River.
Arriving at Selinda, the land
was so flooded that we had to be
taken by helicopter from the
airstrip to Dumatau. Dumatau,
meaning'roar of the lion',is ona
backwater to the LinyantiRiver.
Itisa10-roomed lodge;the
tentedroomsreachedbyraised timber
walkways. All the rooms overlook
the lagoon in front. The main
area,with its various decks and
rooms,arealsoraisedupofftheground.
Theloungehada librarywith
manybooksabout Botswana,the
Okavangoand
wildlife;lotsofcomfysetteesand
chairs tooon which torelaxand
read. But wedidn't gothere to
read;we wentthere tosee the
animals,birds andlandscape.
Ourdriver/guidewasTheba,knownas'Mr.T'.
Mr.ThasbeenwithWildernessSafaris
for as long as anyone can
remember. He let it be known in
2001 that he was going to retire;
since
thenhehasbeengoingtoretireeveryyear…heisstillretiringin2010.
Mr T, an entertaining,dryol'
stick,informedus
ofeverythingthere was to
knowabout the Linyanti region. Mr
T found us lions,wild dog,and
much more. He knows the name of
every bird; hetold us about the
Savute Channel and the Selinda
Spilllway; he is a mine of
information. He also kept us well
fed and watered as we journeyed
around. These stories will have
to wait until the next time.
gill@livingstonian.com
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