Public vs Private

As I mentioned last posting, our first safari treks took place in a private game reserve. Here in Botswana they are in a huge national park. Pretty much the same animals to see, so what's the difference? Well, there are a lot of differences. Let's look from the perspective of we human visitors. In the private game reserve (PGR) there is only one tour operator. In the national park (NP) there are many. In the PGR the the guides cooperated. They also competed. Which tracker or guide was first to track and sight the elusive leopard? Which guide was responsible for discovering a new lion's den? Once discovered they would excitedly communicate the location to the other guides in the area. In the NP there are many tour companies. They certainly compete and we did not see much cooperation.

In both the PGR & the NP the number of vehicles are controlled. In the PGR the guides deliberately space themselves out and as a result we were alone exploring and encountering the animals the great majority of the time. Only rarely did we encounter another vehicle and I think the most we saw at any one game sighting was four. In the NP the number of vehicles are also controlled, but there is a much higher volume of vehicles to begin with. Because there is no cooperation there is no attempt to space things out. As a result there seemed to be a lot of traffic on the roads as all the guides head for the well known and close in animal hang outs. There was a serious leopard jam we became snarled in. The road was blocked by all the vehicles jockeying for the best position to view the leopard. If you were there first, then the rest be damned. You didn't need to understand the language to know that the banter among the guides was not pleasant. Something like 'Get the f**k out of the way' was the voice intonation I think I detected.



In the PGR the guides stuck to the roads the great majority of the time, but, on several occasions we plunged off-road pursuing something or other, allowing us to get very close to the animals to observe and photograph them. These chases were very exciting. In the NP going off-road was strictly verboten upon penalty of losing access to the park - not for us, for the tour operator - disaster! This stay on the road requirement not only helped create the traffic jams, it also meant that many sightings were far, far, away making observation &/or photography difficult without good binoculars and high powered telephoto lenses. Here is the cat responsible for the traffic jam. I needed maximum magnification to get this close.


I like the shot because the leopard is up in the tree, but the quality of the image is low as a result of the extreme magnification. If I had used the same magnification for this leopard shot from our Kapama safari we would be able to examine his ear wax.



In the PGR there were many, narrow roads cut more or less in a wide grid pattern. Thus once the tracker detected fresh tracks and determined the direction of travel, the driver and the tracker could utilize the grid system so determine if the animals had exited on one of the other sides of the grid. If not then they had narrowed the search to a relatively small area. If we were tracking a single leopard, the skill of the tracker mattered. This process, tracking the animal, was exciting in itself and when the sighting was finally made, wow! It was a real thrill. Even if it didn't end in a successful sighting it was still an interesting process to observe, as was the communication between guide and tracker.

In the NP there is no such grid system and the was no tracker perched on a seat above the front bumper. If you couldn't see it from the road, you just drove on. The skill of the guide seemed to be about knowing where the different animals like to hang out at various times and during different conditions and then driving us there to have a look. I guess this is not too difficult in the dry season as all of the big animals hang out by the river. As was explained on our first trek in Chobe, the rains had begun and so the animals were moving deeper into the park as water became more accessible there. Now the guide's job becomes more difficult as the animals are no longer concentrated (sometimes by the thousands) close to the river. Not only that, he has to cover more distance as the animals can basically spread out more. In the PGR we spent most of our time crawling along at 5 - 10 km/hr or stopped for extended periods just observing. Sometimes we would speed along up to a thrilling 30 or 40 if called to a rare sighting some distance away. In the NP it seems we rarely slowed down from 30 - 40 and we frequently endured extended periods jouncing and bouncing along the roads. Woe to the three at the back as we would be launched from the seat by the frequent unexpected bumps. A bit like riding a horse that's trotting and receiving spine jarring impact as the saddle rises to meet your descending butt if you are out of sync with your mount.

But enough! There were aspects of the Chobe National Park experience that were awesome and impossible to duplicate and our guide Tony was terrific. Maybe we were spoiled by our experiences and the comfort of the Kapama Private Game Reserve. Same animals yet as different as night and day.

Location:Chobe National Park, Botswana