TomKal foto

Finally, after three years, I have made a trip to Africa again. This time my destination was Zambia and Botswana. The visit to Zambia was limited to two days, where the highlight of our plan was Victoria Falls. Of course, the remaining time from dawn to dusk was used for bird photography. From Livingston to the Botswana border is just an hour's drive, on a comfortable paved road. The border itself is a rather unusual place. Four countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana - border each other in one place. The border is naturally marked on the Zambezi River, on which a modern, comfortable bridge has been built. I have posted a photo of the bridge in the Botswana other-link gallery. There were no problems with crossing the border except showing a passport, covid passport and asked about yellow fever inoculations. All the paperwork took us probably half an hour after which we repacked our luggage on an off-road vehicle with a trailer. The journey continued through the wilderness of Botswana, on which the Toyota Landcrusier with a 4.2 liter engine, a version built for Africa, performed sensationally. This version of Toyota differs significantly from those versions seen in Europe, not to mention the unbuilt rear of the car with four rows of seats. Regardless of the quality of the road off-road, it never failed, despite pulling a trailer weighing several hundred kilograms. It wasn't until we were "camping" that I understood why it was so big and could fit everything we needed to live in during our trip. The word camping almost always appeared in the plan of our trip. That's how it was supposed to be, because we didn't want a commercial trip, but we wanted to be as close to nature as possible. As it turned out later, sometimes I thought it was too close. But I'll come back to that. I had already been in a tent in Africa, and I knew that what falls under the term camping or hotel meanings differ from European standards. Nevertheless, some infrastructure was always there and it was rare that we pitched tents in virgin terrain. That, at least, was the case in Tanzania. Meanwhile, the opposite was true in Botswana. As a rule, we arrived at the site of our "camping" in one of the four national parks we visited, where the only product of human hands at the campground was a sign saying that this was the place to camp. Unaware of the place, a passing car might not know that it had just passed through the campground, or it might be watching the animals staying at the "campground." I will not hide the fact that at first this surprise I was surprised and dissatisfied. Especially since the trip to Botswana was the most expensive of all trips to Africa. I don't know if it's a matter of prices in the country or the resurgence of tourism after the coronavirus break, but the high price of the expedition with minimalist standards of operation did not make me happy about it. When going to Africa, it is worth every detail, detail of the expedition to discuss and clarify with the organizer, because nothing is so annoying as deviations from what you expect with the hard African reality. European standards do not apply here. This also applied to water. If we agree that water will be available during the entire expedition, everyone understands that it will be bottled water available in the car. In Botswana, water was available but in small 5-liter cans from which we poured water into small hand-held bottles. In the era of coronavirus, high daytime temperatures rarely falling below 30 degrees gives some discomfort. These were two surprises at the beginning of the expedition, which, as it turned out later, had little bearing on the success of our trip. This one depended on three factors: the weather, the animals we wanted to photograph and the organizers. I will start with them precisely. They turned out to be competent, well-organized people, knowing what to do and how to do it in order to succeed in seeing and photographing as much as possible on the expedition that had been so long awaited for several years. Knowledge is one thing, but it must be said that their commitment and positive attitude was unlimited. Brian, our driver, guide logistical organizer quickly understood what we needed for happiness, so that there was atmosphere and satisfaction throughout the trip. As photos of interesting species arise every now and then, and not in documentary quality, the rest does not matter. Brian, in addition to being an excellent driver, was also able to spot animals like few others. What's more, he understood that in order to take good photos the sun should be behind us, there should be no sky in the background and the animals themselves should be close. He always positioned the car with the trailer in such difficult terrain the way it should be, although sometimes I thought it could end badly. But he knew what he was doing. The car was like his shoes. He always performed what he expected.  In the difficult terrain we never got buried and always arrived more or less at the marked time at the next "camping". "Camping" I'll put in quotation marks, because you have to say actually to the next wooded clearing, which only Brian could find, even though he didn't use navigation. How he found the way I still wonder to this day. We drove a distance of about a thousand kilometers in the wilderness, and less than a second on a paved road (mostly a one-day return trip). Driving on sandy roads, sometimes with massive puddles, without signposts is, from a European's perspective, unimaginable to drive without navigation. Over time, it was this excellent organization, knowledge of the terrain, of the sites that resulted in each day having one, or actually several amazing photo shoots. Always at the end of the day we wondered what was the most important, most interesting thing about the day. We owed this largely to Brian, but without the skilled eye of Wouter, our bird guide, many of the photos on display would not have been taken. Wouter, not only knowledgeable, was kind, efficient and committed to observation and spotting. During the development of the photos themselves, without his help in identification, the work would still have taken several weeks and probably would have contained many errors. Wouter thanks for everything because this commitment and competence is best illustrated by the photos. Their quantity and quality is enormous. We were prepared equipment-wise, but without competent organizers we could probably capture less than half of what I present on my site. This time definitely more galleries changed their status than galleries of new species were created. But it's hardly surprising after visiting neighboring South Africa, or Tanzania and Ethiopia.  Speaking of our team, it is also impossible not to say something about our cook - Mello. What he was able to prepare in such difficult, spartan conditions inspires respect and admiration, and during the meal joy and satisfaction on our faces. Breakfasts were rather modest and quick, but lunches were sometimes downright excellent. We ate in restaurants a few times during the more than two-week expedition, but the food was not as good as our chef Mello was able to make it at the "campground". I think during the entire trip, only perhaps 3 times was there an opportunity to shop at roadside stores. How without a refrigerator, with the temperature always around 30 degrees, in the Kalahari it was certainly higher you can prepare for 7 people every day something tasty on the campfire, I do not know - you probably just need to have talent, skill, experience. Here it should be added that nothing ever harmed anyone, and despite the off-road conditions - "camping" we were busy just photographing to put it mildly. It must be admitted that the initial, temporary disappointment of what I expected with the reality after just a few days went away. This logistics and organization was consistent and suited our African trip.

Another element was the weather. We decided on late November/early December, which was the beginning of the rainy season. We were lucky and it rained probably 4 times and always helped us more than hindered us. Once, after a very hot day, there was an intense rain in the afternoon, after which the air cleared and the clouds that were still left made the light quite intense, but such a studio, shadowless. And since we were photographing white herons there was plenty to choose from after the session. Another time in the Kalahari, it was similar, except that the heat was unbearable, and the temperature in the tents probably exceeded 40 degrees. And here suddenly there was a slight precipitation, but it was enough to make it cool enough to get some sleep. In a word, despite the onset of the rainy season, the weather was our ally. And, of course, the highlight of our trip - the animals. Here perhaps the best recommendation is the species list below. Of course, much credit goes to Wouter and Brian, but even they themselves admitted that we were incredibly lucky. Once at the "campground" we were visited by a herd of elephants. This visit during the day was a beautiful sighting, and the night visit of the elephant herd I write in the information in the elephant gallery and it was not so idyllic anymore. We were able to observe a number of rare species of birds, including the long-legged plover belonging to the fauna of our country recently, after one visit to Poland in 2017. It is said that every 5 or 7 safaris are lucky enough to observe a leopard. We saw 3 and it was once two in a tree with three lions (two males and a female) underneath. There was really a lot going on and it will be an unforgettable and unexceptional trip. Concluding my souvenir notes from the trip to Botswana, it must be said that this time everything played out and Africa again showed us all its beauty, which was largely captured and will be something to return to. More than 230 galleries were created and changed on my site and this is probably the best indicator or evaluation of the whole trip. Of course, the content of the galleries varies. Sometimes it was possible to take a dozen or more photos creating or diversifying the existing gallery, and sometimes only one photo was created. Many galleries created in South Africa, after visiting Botswana, changed the quality status of the gallery. That's the way it is, photographing wild animals, that in addition to equipment, light, all the logistics accompanying it, you just have to be lucky. I believe that we had it. We were very close to African nature. Sometimes it was impossible to sleep, because overhead the eagle owl roared loudly all night. These African nocturnal sounds, of hippos, lions, hyenas gave that African vibe for which we went there. No sounds of civilization, no phone coverage, no paved roads - that's what it was supposed to be like and it worked!

This time, it was difficult to choose a species to which to assign a cover text for the trip to Botswana. There have been quite a few encounters with elephants and there have always been these amazing encounters, but, my site is mainly a bird site and I try to assign texts from expeditions to bird species. The Kori bustard we have been seeing has already lived to see a cover text after the expedition from Tanzania, and the photos that have been created only add variety to the already interesting gallery of giant drops. For these reasons, I added a guiding text to the light-winged droplet. Looking at the photos of this bird, there will always be a smile on our faces (Tadeusz, Krzysiek (names are links) - greetings to fellow expeditioners). This bird, at least the male, in the Kalahari does not need to be looked out for. He himself loudly announces his presence. And to add to its colors, which in no way help it to blend in with its surroundings. Many times the bird posed, announced its presence with quite a distinctive voice, and belongs to the bustards family, the observation of which, for me, is always a feast for the eyes. Sometimes he was so close that it was impossible to take a picture. Sometimes he suddenly took off almost vertically into the air to circle over his territory and land a few dozen meters away. There were a lot of them on the Kalahari, and every few hundred meters, another bird had its revir. It was much more difficult to observe the much quieter female. And since there were several encounters it made a lot of photos, for an interesting gallery. For these reasons, the quality of the photos, but also the behavior of this bird, the gallery was accompanied by a cover text after the return from Botswana.

Traditionally, in the information of each gallery was included a list of new galleries and those in which there have been changes after returning from Botswana. The list is also a collection of links to these galleries. If after the name of a particular species, in parentheses, there is a letter T- text is attached to the gallery, and V- the gallery has an audio recording-Voice. For a quick look at all the bird galleries created and altered after photographing in Botswana, just search in your browser for "Tags" in the tab on the right and find "Botswana-birds" there. There will be 201 thumbnail galleries of birds in eleven subpages.