Nata and the disappearing quad bike
Saturday 25th September, 2004[The final part of 24 in the Botswana
Safari series .... page down for more context, and previous days if you
wish]
As I've pointed out before, wildlife in Botswana is not limited to the game reserves, and on the main road down to Nata this was a typical sight. These pachyderms ambling casually across the roads ... with not a fence in sight for 100's of kilometres. This road is the equivalent to the M1 or I86 depending on where you are at home .... anyway, not exactly busy. Actually, the roads in Botswana have improved immensely over the last few years, in 1970 there were only 12 km's of tarred road. Today there are 6500 km. We still only managed to travel 900 km out of our 3500 km on tar road, the rest was serious 4x4 terrain.
Once we reached Nata Pan, we were in for a surprise. We were expecting the 100's of miles of nothingness we saw around Kubu island, but, as you can see below, this pan was still full of water, maybe only inches deep, but stretching for 100's of square miles. As a result the bird life was spread far and wide, rather than being concentrated in one little area .... not great for spectacular photography.
However there were still a few obliging birds who were scampering about on the hardened salt pans around the water.
Further way from the water we came across several very nervous Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis). This young male's horns are just beginning to turn making him about 2 year's old if I remember correctly. He was the only one who was brave enough to hang around while I took photographs. The rest of the group disappeared into the long grass faster than you can imagine.
One of the high points of Nata turned out to be a chance for the younger members of our party to go 'Quad Biking' on the salt pans. No roads, no regulations, limited rules .... no liability accepted either ! They disappeared in clouds of dust while we when animal watching. Many hours later they came back ..... filthy with mud, having had a wonderful time ..... er .... except we could only count 3 bikes! Where was the 4th ? Well, it seems that under the watchful eye of the guide, they had been ripping up an area covered in water, only to have one of them drive straight over a disused well. Just like a cartoon ... one second he was there riding ... the next moment, bike and rider had vanished under the water. The well hole was about 20 ft deep, 8 feet diameter and totally submerged. Fortunately there was no injury and just a flooded bike. We discovered that quad bikes float ... well sort of, just under the surface, and that it takes 4 people to pull the bike back onto dry land. Despite the rider not being wholly culpable, we had a great time that evening watching him explain to his Dad that the hotel bill might include the cost of a new quad bike. You should have seen his Dad's face! Luckily the long-suffering management of Nata Lodge were able to drain and dry the bike and no bad feelings (or costs) were incurred.
At dinner that evening, we were honoured by the arrival of a little 'Nag-Apie' or Night Ape .... this Lesser Bushbaby (Galago moholi) is a regular visitor at Nata Lodge enjoying his fruit feed every evening. Totally nocturnal, as you can see from the immense eyes, and massively dilated pupils, getting a good shot in the limited time available wasn't easy, so I had to settle for this, as the best of a very disappointing batch of shots I took over the 5 minutes he was there.
All too soon we were back at Johannesburg International Airport, thoughts filled with all we had experienced over the last 3 weeks and firm in our resolve to return to these magical wide open spaces in Botswana.
[Complete Safari and wildlife photo index]
As I've pointed out before, wildlife in Botswana is not limited to the game reserves, and on the main road down to Nata this was a typical sight. These pachyderms ambling casually across the roads ... with not a fence in sight for 100's of kilometres. This road is the equivalent to the M1 or I86 depending on where you are at home .... anyway, not exactly busy. Actually, the roads in Botswana have improved immensely over the last few years, in 1970 there were only 12 km's of tarred road. Today there are 6500 km. We still only managed to travel 900 km out of our 3500 km on tar road, the rest was serious 4x4 terrain.
Once we reached Nata Pan, we were in for a surprise. We were expecting the 100's of miles of nothingness we saw around Kubu island, but, as you can see below, this pan was still full of water, maybe only inches deep, but stretching for 100's of square miles. As a result the bird life was spread far and wide, rather than being concentrated in one little area .... not great for spectacular photography.
However there were still a few obliging birds who were scampering about on the hardened salt pans around the water.
Further way from the water we came across several very nervous Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis). This young male's horns are just beginning to turn making him about 2 year's old if I remember correctly. He was the only one who was brave enough to hang around while I took photographs. The rest of the group disappeared into the long grass faster than you can imagine.
One of the high points of Nata turned out to be a chance for the younger members of our party to go 'Quad Biking' on the salt pans. No roads, no regulations, limited rules .... no liability accepted either ! They disappeared in clouds of dust while we when animal watching. Many hours later they came back ..... filthy with mud, having had a wonderful time ..... er .... except we could only count 3 bikes! Where was the 4th ? Well, it seems that under the watchful eye of the guide, they had been ripping up an area covered in water, only to have one of them drive straight over a disused well. Just like a cartoon ... one second he was there riding ... the next moment, bike and rider had vanished under the water. The well hole was about 20 ft deep, 8 feet diameter and totally submerged. Fortunately there was no injury and just a flooded bike. We discovered that quad bikes float ... well sort of, just under the surface, and that it takes 4 people to pull the bike back onto dry land. Despite the rider not being wholly culpable, we had a great time that evening watching him explain to his Dad that the hotel bill might include the cost of a new quad bike. You should have seen his Dad's face! Luckily the long-suffering management of Nata Lodge were able to drain and dry the bike and no bad feelings (or costs) were incurred.
At dinner that evening, we were honoured by the arrival of a little 'Nag-Apie' or Night Ape .... this Lesser Bushbaby (Galago moholi) is a regular visitor at Nata Lodge enjoying his fruit feed every evening. Totally nocturnal, as you can see from the immense eyes, and massively dilated pupils, getting a good shot in the limited time available wasn't easy, so I had to settle for this, as the best of a very disappointing batch of shots I took over the 5 minutes he was there.
All too soon we were back at Johannesburg International Airport, thoughts filled with all we had experienced over the last 3 weeks and firm in our resolve to return to these magical wide open spaces in Botswana.
[Complete Safari and wildlife photo index]
