The honey badger, also known as a ratel, is a relatively small animal. It weighs only about 12kg but has long claws curved like knives, powerful jaws for crushing, and a giant-sized attitude. I’ve seen documentaries in which it stands its ground against much bigger animals like lions and leopards, or is bitten by a puff adder without long-term effect.
By Roxanne Reid
The honey badger, also known as a ratel, is a relatively small animal. It weighs only about 12kg but has long claws curved like knives, powerful jaws for crushing, and a giant-sized attitude. I’ve seen documentaries in which it stands its ground against much bigger animals like lions and leopards, or is bitten by a puff adder without long-term effect.
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By Roxanne Reid Gobe Motshidisi is part of Chobe Game Lodge’s team of 16 women who are professional guides. Some people also refer to them as the Chobe Angels. How did her journey begin and what’s it like to be female in a male-dominated profession? By Roxanne Reid Getting a safari guide to ourselves means we can indulge our interest in plants and stop to watch small creatures like lizards and birds. So we punched the air in triumph when we learnt our early morning drive was going to be a safari for two at Ngoma Lodge in Chobe, Botswana. By Roxanne Reid Every safari lover worth her salt wants to spend time in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. The landscape is beautiful, with water channels, floodplains and mokolane palms. The wildlife is superb, from elephants, big cats and wild dogs to giraffe and red lechwe. And the professional guides are clued-up and enthusiastic to share the wonders of their environment. By Roxanne Reid Six o’clock, still dark on a chilly morning. We were setting out from Chobe Game Lodge for the first game drive of the day. ‘The bush can be very quiet on early morning drives, especially when it’s windy like this,’ our guide warned. So our hopes weren’t high, but we were on a mission to experience two ways to game drive in Chobe, Botswana. By Roxanne Reid We’re flying, bouncing off-road over grass, avoiding aardvark holes and driving over a small mopane bush here or round a Kalahari apple-leaf there. We’re at Selinda in the Linyanti, Botswana, and we’re following an explosion of wild dogs. By Roxanne Reid We’re puttering past a patch of water lilies, water splashing on the sides of the boat, mist spray on our arms. From a small jetty in Kasane, Botswana, we’d sped downstream to Impalila Island for immigration formalities. Now we’re going back upstream to join the Pangolin Voyager for a taste of houseboat life on the Chobe River, photography on our minds. By Roxanne Reid The night is dark, the stars and moon reflected in the Chobe River behind us. We’re in a boma overlooking the water and the smell of good food mixes with the swirl of smoke from the braai and the sound of marimba music. Food, dust, music and smiling faces – this is the meat and marrow of Botswana. By Roxanne Reid We were relaxed. The pressure was off. The day before we’d had the best sighting of our lives so now we had no expectations. Whatever our game drive brought us, we’d already experienced the wildlife wonders of Botswana’s Okavango Delta here on the Chitabe concession south-east of Chief’s Island. By Roxanne Reid Crunch, crunch, the dry salt ridges of the vast Ntwetwe Pan cracked to dust underfoot. Stop. Now only the sound of the wind as it brushed past my ears. Not a bird or insect stirred, not a tree or shrub broke the horizon. I was in the Makgadikgadi, Botswana, so vast and empty it was like being on the moon. |
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AboutI'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel. Categories
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