Safari at the Moremi Game Reserve at the Savuti at the Chobe National Park

We are at the Okavango Delta in Botswana, we are on a mobile safari and today we move from the Moremi Game Reserve area to the Chobe National Park, and more precisely to the Savuti area.

We get up at 5:30 am, this is now the time set on our alarm during this trip, we put all our things in our suitcases and go to breakfast; while we eat and drink coffee, the staff members start to take our bags and dismantle the camp.

We leave immediately after breakfast and start to go on safari while the staff boys will dismantle the whole camp, load everything on the service car and precede us to tonight's camp at Savuti where they will mount everything again; when we arrive we will find the camp ready again.

We head to the Khwai Gate, we go out and head to the riverfront, the landscape here is beautiful and very green thanks to the presence of water; here and there there are a few self drive cars that are camping, the scenery is definitely spectacular even if the proximity to the water would not make me feel very safe, as it surely attracts elephants and many other animals.

We drive along the riverfront where there are many water birds but we are here with two very specific objectives: the wild dogs, this is in fact one of the areas of the Okavango Delta where there is the possibility of seeing them, and a leopard with a puppy, that have been sighted in recent days by some guides and therefore it is worth trying to look for them.

But this morning we were not lucky, we saw giraffes, different species of antelope and waterfowls but we don't see any wild dogs or leopards, but we really enjoyed this loop on the riverfront.

From here in a short time we reach the main road that leads us to the Mababe Gate from which we enter the Chobe National Park.

Finally we are back at the Chobe, we have been here more than 10 years ago, in the past few years we have returned to Botswana several times but we never returned to the Chobe, so we are thrilled, we will stay two nights at Savuti and two nights along the Chobe River.

From the entrance of Mababe to the Savuti area there is the Depression of Mababe, that during the dry season is a dry and dusty expanse, and a straight and sandy trackthat passes in a semi-arid and shrubby area; in reality there would also be another track but, from what they told us, this year is not in good condition and there is much more sand.

Before continuing our journey, however, we make a stop for coffee, at this time of the morning we need it!

We also take advantage of going for a walk but without going too far, you never know what can be hidden behind a tree or a bush or in a hole in the ground; better to always ask the guide or someone from the staff before venturing somewhere.

We leave and proceed towards Savuti, in this area we do not see many animals since it is a transfer zone, particularly at this time of the year, during the dry season; during the rainy season here the landscape changes completely and in this area you can find many herbivores.

Since we don't have much to photograph, we start talking, laughing and joking; we have a lot of fun.

Today we could meet our friends Anna and Alberto, today they are transferring from Chobe to Moremi and we hope so much to cross their car; it is not certain that we will succeed because the tracks are two, moreover we do not know their position and their times, we cannot even use the telephone because here there is no coverage.

At one point we stop where a big tree is, we decided to have lunch here, so our guide prepares the table while we give him a hand.

Here there is also another car with two guests and a guide, the two boys are Italian and ask us for different information about the roads to go and where they can see the animals; they started their journey in Namibia, their guide is Namibian and here he does not know the roads and parks.

They tell us that they have not yet seen a lion and ask us if they can follow us because they hope we can show them at least one lion; they also fear getting lost.

They will not stop at Savuti tonight like us, but they will have to leave the gate from which one goes towards the Riverfront of the Chobe River; this is pure madness because not only in that area there is nothing to see, but to get there they have to travel too many kilometers and just skip the most interesting area.

The adventure of these guys makes us think:sometimes, when you have to choose which trip to book, some people choose based on price, but Africa is not Europe and if you end up in incompetent hands you risk ruining your journey if not worse; this aspect should be better taken into consideration.

After lunch we leave and our new friends follow us, we have promised them that we will bring them to the lions once we arrive at Savuti.

We, for the whole time of the lunch and as we proceed along the road, look at every car that passes because we hope to see Anna and Alberto's car even if the possibility is remote; moreover we have never seen their car live, but we have only one photograph to recognize it.

We proceed along the track and at a certain point we see a car coming from the opposite direction, when it sees us it goes out of the road to let us pass, we watch them and the car looks like theirs, we look inside the car and ... they are them!

It is incredible but we made it to meet Anna and Alberto in the middle of nowhere!

We get out of the car and go to greet them and hug them! It's really amazing!

We take some selfies together, just to capture this moment and then present them to our traveling companions; we also take the opportunity to admire their car that we had not yet seen and it is really very beautiful and perfect for traveling on any type of terrain.

We exchange 2 words but then each of us must continue on our own way: see you in Milan!

It is amazing how we can meet them around Africa with these spot meetings, like when we had breakfast together in Johannesburg; sooner or later we will also be able to share a journey or part of the itinerary with them.

We continue our journey and when the roadside shrubs thin out and the landscape becomes wider and more arid, it is the sign that we have finally arrived at Savuti!

We will spend the next two nights here doing safaris in this little paradise.