November 2007 Botswana, Africa Trip Report Part 3 Footsteps Camp At Footsteps camp airstrip we are greeted by our guide Alberto and the camp manager Paul and do a short game drive to HQ. At the camp all of the staff are waiting for us in the driveway. One of the women puts our suitcase on her head and takes it to our tent. We learn that we will be the only guests at the tiny camp for the duration of our stay! Our new tent is a little pup tent with two cots. It connects to a pit toilet with a canvas wall leading the way. A much more primitive setup then the other camps but we knew that when we booked it so it is no problem. Footsteps Camp is the only true walking camp in Moremi Game Reserve within the Okavango Delta. It is a small semi-permanent camp with only 3 tents for guests! It is located in the northern reaches of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana, near Namibia. The camp is built in the Shinde concession and run by Ker & Downey. Staff at Footsteps Camp, Botswana They had a nice collection of skulls at Footsteps Camp, Botswana. This one is a crocodile. Tent at Footsteps Camp, Botswana "> In the afternoon we relax by the fire pit as many types of birds fly in the trees over us. The Grey Lourie makes its trademark "Go Away!" cry. At 4pm our guide loads his rifle and leads us on a walking tour. He leads the way, we follow him and the camp manager takes the rear (good to have an extra set of eyes behind you). Alberto stops to show us how to identify animal tracks and droppings. He has us feel some elephant dung in our hands and tells of how as a child his friend made him eat a white "bush cake" once (it turned out to be hyena droppings, white from all the calcium in the bones they consume). He also does this neat trick where he rubs some grass with his fingers and sticks a blade of it down a termite hole. They do not like the smell and immediately push it back out. Funny stuff. We see some dung beetles rolling balls on the ground and I wish I had not left my macro lens back at home! We hear the cool deep grunts of the African Ground Hornbills calling to each other as they hunt in the grass. African Ground Hornbill near Footsteps Camp, Botswana It is very interesting to note how all of the animals out in the bush seem to be able to spot us from miles away, shows how observant they are. Back at the game we have a drink at the campfire and I tell the manager about clapping your hands to avoid running into Grizzly Bears in Montana's Glacier Park. Dinner is served outside and quite tasty. I'm a vegetarian and I really appreciate the effort the staff made in creating vegetarian food for us, especially since vegetarianism is a foreign concept in their culture. Back at the tent I look at the can of "Doom" bug spray they have left for us. There are couple of large spiders on the ceiling of our tent, I think I will let them go after any smaller bugs that might be lurking around instead of spraying this poison. At night in our tiny tent we can hear creatures moving all around us. A hyena calls nearby and I shine my flashlight around but see nothing. What sounds like a large hippo passes on the other side of our tent. Creepy but in a cool way.... Inside our tiny tent at night @ Footsteps Camp, Botswana We are awoken at 5:30am by one of the staff woman saying "Knock Knock" outside our tent. We take a marvelous long hike after breakfast. Lots of waterfowl are seen including the Pink-Backed Pelican and lovely colored Saddle Billed Stork. Tiny Blue Waxbills hunt for grubs on the ground. Impalas, Zebra and Tesabee's curiously check us out from afar. On the way back to camp we run into the unexpected: a group of 22 wild dogs. They are too dangerous to approach on foot so the guide radios the car to come pick us up and we get in to check them out. We learn they actually ran into Footsteps camp that morning while chasing an impala and killed it near the staff quarters. These dogs look meaner and better fed than the dogs we saw at Lagoon. They growl at us as our car pulls near them. We watch them visit the waterhole and then leave them in peace. Wilddog near Footsteps Camp, Botswana Sleepy Wilddog near Footsteps Camp, Botswana Saddle-billed Stork, Okavango Delta, Botswana Walking tour near Footsteps Camp, Botswana In the afternoon some baboons come into the camp to feast on the fruit from the trees on the ground and some hippos fight in the water nearby. The staff brings some buckets of hot water for me to take an outdoor shower. Unlike the other camps where there is fridge full of drinks, here they have a cooler by the dining table. The dining area @ Footsteps Camp, Botswana We go on a game drive in the afternoon, see some elephants, giraffes, and some lazy female lions. A reedbuck screams an alarm at the sight of the lions. A male baboon struts around with a dead Guienafowl in his mouth, these monkeys will eat meat if the opportunity presents itself. We have our sundowner by a hippo wallow. As we are chatting to our guides, one of them hears the Giant Eagle Owl calling. We pack up quickly and drive to find it. It is in some thick woods and by the time we spot it the light has faded. We watch as it flies off into the distance, not really a very good view. Hopefully we have another chance to see one at our next camp. At dinner that night the camp manager Paul tells me how his favorite creatures out here are the birds, probably because they are most challenging to identify. He takes us on a very interesting tour of the camp kitchen, most of it is set up in a trailer as the location changes from season to season. The cakes and other baked goods are actually cooked in a metal container covered in coals and the placed deep in the ground. Sundowners near Footsteps Camp, Botswana Nov 22 Thurs Today is the United States holiday Thanksgiving we realize. We take my favorite hike of the trip. The route takes us through marsh and open grasslands. There are giraffes watching us everywhere. The guide shows us the tracks of the hyena that has been coming into the camp every night. Immature Marshall Eagles look for prey atop dead trees. We flush out an African Wildcat as we walk through some bush; it may have stalking some nearby Guinea Fowl. Sadly we see a Tesabee that appears to have a broken leg, he may soon end up as "dog food" (wild dog food that is). The guides constantly consult our "Guide to the Birds of Southern Africa" when an odd specimen flies by. We walk through some very tall reeds and I can't help but think of the baby lions playing the reeds back at Lebala Camp, hopefully that is not the case here! Paul and Alberto consulting the text near Footsteps Camp, Botswana We take a very wide detour around a Bull Elephant feeding in the marsh and check out a HUGE Hamerkop nest. Some Africans think this bird has magic powers due to the large, impregnable and therefore mysterious nest it builds. Back at Footsteps we pack up and the entire staff waves goodbye to us. I loved staying at Footsteps because you got a completely different perspective of the Delta while walking and it was nice to exercise at bit after a week in car. On the way to the runway we see a Warthog family, the mother has six little babies with her. Our guide has to get out of the car and chase the Zebra off the airstrip so that the plane can land to pick us up. Our next stop is Kwara Camp, about a 5 minute flight. This is another thing that annoyed us about our travel agent. He insisted that the flight (which is quite expensive) was the only way to get to the next camp. However the Footsteps staff told us they drive guests all the time to Kwara camp as it is so close. We board the plane and as usual the pilot looks like he is 18 years old. On to Part 4 Kwara Camp Back to Part 2 Lagoon Camp Trip Report Index