MAY 24 to 27–MOMBO–A PLACE OF PLENTY

The current Mombo camp opened only in 2000, and there is a plaque close to the parking area for Mombo, signed by the then Vice President of Botswana, which proclaims Mombo “A Place of Plenty”. Mombo truly IS a “place of plenty”, even abundance...
Abundance of game, abundance of luxury, abundance of the good life....

When we booked our trip to Botswana, we told our travel agent two things–number two, we want to see the most animals possible, and number one, we HAVE to go to Mombo! Mombo has the best reputation of any safari camp in Botswana. That reputation is built on two things–one, it is one of the few 6 paw Wilderness camps in Botswana (signifying their most deluxe camps) and two, Chief’s Island, where Mombo is located, has the reputation of being one of the best places in the WORLD for animal viewing, particularly big cats. Mombo did not disappoint. Mombo costs a LOT of money per night, but we felt the entire package–the facilities, the people, and most of all, the game viewing, made it worth every penny!

We found out about 15 minutes before we left Little Vumbura, our previous camp, that we would be going by helicopter to Mombo. We were stoked already with the prospect of finally arriving at Mombo, after basically two years of planning and dreaming, but the idea of arriving by helicopter just put the icing on the cake!!! We did hear that there is a new program with Wilderness, that if you are transferring between 6 paw camps, that somewhere within the transfers, you get a helicopter ride. That policy did not apply to us, because this was our only 6 paw camp, but we figured that we got the helicopter because of the screw up with our transfer to Savuti. Still, in all, we weren’t too upset! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Apparently, the helicopter transfers to Mombo is a new concept as of about April 1, 2005.

We thoroughly enjoyed our (private) helicopter ride from LV to Mombo, skimming over the earth, generally no more than 500 feet or so above the ground. Eric took video and I took at least this one nice shot of elephants at a water hole from the helicopter.
Our helicopter pilot told us that he always knew when he was getting close to Mombo, as the ground was brown and kind of dead, until one got close to Mombo, where the plains turned to a rich lovely shade of green! Welcome to Mombo–a place of plenty!!!

We arrived at Mombo, and in what was a departure from previous camps, the driver who met us at the airport proved NOT to be our guide for the stay at Mombo. He was actually a guide a Little Mombo and we saw him several times on game drives, over the course of the next 3 days. Eric seemed happy to have finally arrived at Mombo, though, huh?? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />


As at all Wilderness camps, we were greeted at Mombo by a group of ladies singing a song of welcome. An additional nice touch at Mombo, however, was that, this time and every other time, when we alighted from the jeep, the ladies who greeted us also brought a cool towel to wash our faces. Mombo was the only 6 paw camp that we stayed at, so I really don’t know how other 6 paw camps compare to Mombo. I will have to say that Mombo blew us away, compared to the other camps, in terms of services, people, facilities, etc—oh, and the animals were fairly impressive also. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Mombo is situated on the northwestern tip of Chief’s Island, in the Moremi Game Reserve, and consists of 9 tents, in addition to Little Mombo, right next door, consisting of 3 tents. The tents at Mombo are HUGE, easily three times the size of our tents for the other camps, with huge decks surrounding them, all with views out toward a stunning green plains dotted with animals of all kinds.


OH MY GOD!!!!
When we arrived the manager, Brandon, took us to our room. He gave us a few bits of instruction, showed us where some things were and left. As we closed the door behind him, I said to Eric “OH MY GOD!!!!!!” I figure that Brandon probably heard me as he walked away. I’m also fairly sure that we were not the first people to utter those words, seeing the rooms at Mombo for the first time. The room at Mombo is HUGE!! You walk forever just to get from the bedroom to the bathroom!!!
We have a bedroom, and then a sofa and then the chest of drawers and the double shower and double vanity, and then the toilet area. There is a HUGE deck, with a table and chairs, a chaise lounge, an outside shower with light inside, and an outside sala area with a mattress where you can lay and watch the passing show of animals.
The mattress had a cover over it–to protect from monkey poop, I suspect–which I didn’t figure out for a minute that you are supposed to take cover off the mattress. I went to lay down on the mattress and thought–“wow, this is kind of tacky, a plastic mattress cover on the sala... Duh, take the cover off!!!! “ Compared to the other places we had stayed, I didn’t expect the room to be nearly so big and didn’t expect the deck to be so big either. Inside, there were tons of huge fluffy towels, and the bathroom was amazing, with full windows with views out to the plains. This place is amazing!!!
The shower was HOT, of course, any time we chose to take a shower. I think I read somewhere that they actually have the geyser hot water source at Mombo, not solar hot water heaters, which makes sense.

Mombo has Mombo brand insect repellent and sunscreen, unlike anywhere else, plus the standard Wilderness lotion, shampoo, accessories, etc. They have also have a shoeshine kit in the bathroom... ?? Uhmn, OK, who is going to bring shoes to the bush that need to be shined?????? They also had stationery with Mombo imprinted on it, which no other place does that we visited, which I found strange.. Even your standard hotel around the corner has stationery with the name of the hotel printed on it, and we were just surprised that there was none anyplace except at Mombo.

I guess for the prices that they charge for Mombo, you can say that the people and the facilities BETTER be good, huh? I have to say, though, we were blown away. Every single person, from the first time they introduced themselves to you, and EVERY time they talked to you, they called you by name. Considering guests change over here on average every three days, I found that absolutely astounding! “No” was just not a word that was in their vocabulary. If you wanted something and it was at all in their ability to do it, they would do it. If the request was somewhat unusual, the response was “I’ll check on that for you”. At one point, I wanted a bottle of red wine to have in the room. I went by the bar to request it, and planned to take it with me. The bartender seemed a little flummoxed by my request. He said he would deliver it to the room. I figured out later that I think he was flummoxed because he normally expected people to just order it delivered to the room to begin with. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> He showed up at our tent in about 2 minutes with an open bottle of merlot and two glasses. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />


I was particularly impressed with the manager, Brandon. He was a hands-on manager, from making toast in the mornings, to manning the bar when the bartender was off doing something, to being involved in what the guests were seeing on game drives, etc. He gave a very interesting talk during the afternoon siesta period, talking about Botswana, conservation and Wilderness, etc. He spoke to us, and inquired how our day was going, ANY time he saw us, and generally made sure that all went well during our stay. BTW, Brandon used to be a guide, so he really understands what people expect and want on game drives and from the rest of their holiday. Brandon is a huge asset to Mombo.

6 PAW CAMPS..
Wilderness has a ratings system for their camps, although I heard that possibly they were going to be doing away with it?? Anyway, their most deluxe camps are 6 paw camps, and there are only 4 or 5 of such 6 paw camps in Botswana, including Mombo. The other camps that we stayed on for this trip were all 5 paw+ camps, so they were a step below Mombo, but I submit, it was a pretty LARGE step! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />


It was very interesting over the course of the three days, talking to our camp mates at Mombo, most all of whom apparently only booked 6 paw camps. Most of them seemed fairly surprised that we didn’t do likewise. Behind our backs, they may have been calling us trailer park trash for booking other than 6 paw camps, but if they did, we didn’t know it! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Overall, most of them were very nice, although we could tell that virtually all of them had a whole hell of a lot more money than we do, based on their conversations about it being their 2nd time to Africa this YEAR, private planes, etc., etc.. One older gentleman–who was actually quite nice, by the way–was by himself. We assumed that he had to pay a substantial single supplement, although he appeared to not be the type to be too concerned about that, as apparently he had been to Mombo several times before. Thankfully, most of our fellow guests at Mombo didn’t really have an attitude problem, that we observed, anyway. I guess they just assumed-wrongly! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> –that we had as much money as they did. I also did not really note any people that overdressed for dinner in the bush, as the dress at dinner at Mombo seemed to be very comparable to what we saw at other camps. The only really bad note of the three days was our last full day when a new arrival came in at the tent next to ours and proceeded to get on his satellite phone, out on the sala, for about an hour. I get enough of listening to other people’s conversations in the line at the grocery store, I don’t need to come 10,000 miles to listen to them!!! We complained to the staff and found out that he had been instructed that he was not supposed to use the phone at his tent, but only away from the tents, in the common area between Mombo and Little Mombo. We didn’t hear him again after that first afternoon.

The newest 6 paw camp for Wilderness is Vumbura Plains, which apparently has just been completely redone. Some of the guests at Mombo had just come from Vumbura Plains and they said that it was NOT ready to open. They said that there were many things that just plain weren’t finished, supplies not there, etc. They made a point of saying that there was only one salt and pepper shaker for the whole camp, like that was a big deal, and said that the food was just not up to snuff, but also reported things like their shower in their room not being finished. They reported the decor as being very different, very modern and sparse appearing, kind of an acquired taste, as it were.. The rooms apparently all have private plunge pools, etc., and the fare is supposed to be even more than Mombo. Personally, for me, I don’t think those rooms could have been nice enough to justify a fare close to Mombo. We went to Africa to see animals, not to have a resort with a plunge pool. We loved Mombo because it was deluxe and ALSO because of the game...

All right, so the camp was great! How were the game drives???????? Magnificent!!!!

Our guide at Mombo was Alex, who was a lot more quiet than Thuto, our favorite guide so far at Savuti. He was an excellent guide, however, in terms of his knowledge of the animals, and skill in tracking them. He had a quiet kind of humor that we enjoyed also, and we enjoyed his work very much. Alex did have a bit of an accent which made him a bit difficult to understand sometimes, especially when we were further away from him. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed Alex and respected what an excellent tracker he was, and learned to really enjoy his somewhat laid back sense of humor.

Our first evening game drive at Mombo started off with a leopard, which was really nice. It would be the first of MANY cats we would see at Mombo. Thereafter it was kind of quiet, with (only <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />) seeing impala, giraffe, monkey, red leche, until we went to see the lions eating a giraffe kill. One very large pride had taken down a full size giraffe! The pride consists of 4 males, 7 females, and 19 cubs!!! That night we saw (only) 2 males, 5 females and 17 cubs, how disappointing. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> The giraffe carcass was fairly smelly and I wasn’t that excited with watching the pride munching away on it. However, at one point, the lionesses decided they wanted to go down to the water hole to get something to drink, so they proceeded to call the cubs, and we were treated to a lion parade!!!!
It was an amazing sight, which Eric got some fairly nice video of, as the lionesses and the cubs were traversing the road, with the cubs making huge amounts of noise!!! It was just an amazing experience, sitting in the jeep, as the parade of lions of all sizes passed 5 feet in front of the jeep! The male lions were fairly lazy, just laying about, [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo12-a.jpg[/img]
and the lionesses and the cubs were much more active. Here, as everywhere else, the cats generally just ignored the jeep, only paying attention to it when they literally had to walk out of their way to go around us! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> Sometimes when they did that, you would catch the lions fixing their eyes on you for about 10 seconds, which was a really disconcerting experience!!! Then they focused their attention away from you again and one could start breathing again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> It was interesting, the difference between the cats and the ‘prey’ animals (giraffe, wildebeast, zebra, warthog, etc), as they generally paid a heck of a lot more attention to us than the cats, and the prey animals generally would run off when we got fairly close. That night we missed our sundowners drinks and taking sunset pictures because we were spending so much time with the lions. No one in our jeep complained. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Our first dinner at Mombo was wonderful, with a choice for entre--chicken or vegetarian--a pasta appetizer, and crepe suzette for dessert. I found out that they had served dinner outside by the campfire the previous night, so we wouldn’t get to enjoy that particular pleasure at Mombo–one of my few disappointments of the 3 days. Oh, and by the way, after dinner I DID find something at Mombo that sucked–they had some sherry in the room, along with a couple of glasses. It was god awful! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" /> If you wanted a nightcap in your room before turning in, you needed to think of it before and bring it with you from the main part of camp, as there are no phones in the rooms and you are not supposed to go out walking alone after dark.

We found out that night that our tent–number 4, by the way–was “buffalo central” for Mombo. That night, and every other night, there were buffalo under our tent as we went to dinner, and they stayed the night. I’m not sure whether it was the second or third night, but one night we were awoken at about 3 AM by this very LOUD noise under our tent. It scared the cr*p out of me, so as I was laying there with my heart pounding, I asked Eric “Are you awake?” “Yes.” “What was that?????” “I don’t know” “it sounded like a LION to me!!!!!” “Sounded like a lion to me too!!!”... At which point, Eric got out of bed and started peering out through the tent flaps!!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> I sat straight up in the bed and said “DON”T YOU GO OUTSIDE!!” “I’m not going outside..” “Are you sure??” “Yes, I’m sure, I’m not going outside.” At that point, we heard another huge BELLOW, and Eric spied a water buffalo moving off in the grass toward the water. Apparently our loud 3 AM visitor had only been two water buffalo arguing over the primo bedroom under our tent!!! The next night we also had an elephant pay an “up close and personal” visit to our tent, chomping on the trees right beside our outside shower. After that, I decided that any evening showering would be done in the shower INSIDE the tent. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

When we checked in at Mombo, I had made a special request for hard boiled eggs at breakfast. I’m on a low carb diet and most everything else they serve for breakfast is loaded with carbs. Brandon had assured me that there would be no problem, that there would automatically be hard boiled eggs there. The next morning, I approached the table, to see NO hard boiled eggs! I asked Brandon what was up and he personally went over to Little Mombo and got some more hard boiled eggs. That’s it--if you want something at Mombo, you ask for it, and in all likelihood, they will get it for you, deliver it to you, call you by name and apologize that it took two minutes to bring it! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo11-a.jpg[/img]


On our first full day, we found out that we would have a private game drive because the other people in our jeep from the day before had requested one. Ostensibly, according to Alex, they had requested it in advance before they arrived at Mombo. So apparently it wasn’t our company that they objected to! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> I’m not entirely sure, but I think the cost for a private game drive–that is, no one in your jeep except your party–is $600.00 per day. That seems kind of excessive to me, on top of the regular fare for Mombo. We were not excessively unhappy to see them go anyway, as it was a father and daughter, and the father paid NO attention whatsoever to anything that Alex said. He kept asking him questions for information that Alex had just given us. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" /> And the daughter–maybe 20 years old ??–was dressed in bright blue (a no-no for game drives) and I happened to notice her reapplying makeup at one point during the drive the day before, so I wasn’t really sure how much she was really in to it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

That morning, since we left the camp first, we arrived first at the site where the lions were still chowing down on the giraffe. Arriving first, we were able to scope out a spot where the stench from the giraffe didn’t bother us, and we hung out there for quite a while. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo13-a.jpg[/img]
Alex knew that we wanted to try to find rhino, so he decided then to try to find some rhino. Rhino were extinct in the wild in Botswana before a re-introduction program started a few years ago. Now they have about 34 rhinos in the Chief’s Island area, not a large amount, considering the size of the reserve. I think that theoretically they are not supposed to go off the road in search of rhino and they had not seen rhino I think for 3 weeks prior to our trip. Alex saw new rhino spoor and tracks and we were OFF! Alex followed the tracks for a LONG way off the road, and finally, EUREKA, we found them!!!! And there were four of them... Wow, these guys are chunky!!! (Did anyone ever tell them about the South Beach Diet???? Maybe it would be a good idea!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />[img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo14-a.jpg[/img]


We happily took pictures for a while and then were kind of ready to go, when we kind of got caught by one of the cardinal rules of the bush–if there is a great, unusual siting, you have to share it with the other visitors! [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo15-a.jpg[/img]
We really had no problem sharing. It just was that we were SO far off the road, that it was very difficult for the other jeeps to find us, to know where to go to find the rhino! The area where we were had very thick brush, with some scattered clearings, but the area was mostly fairly thickly forested. Alex was trying to help Thompson (another guide at Mombo) find where we were, and I heard Thompson say on the radio to Alex “Give me some encouragement here, I’m about ready to give up, help me find where you are!!” Alex turned on the jeep, and revved the motor to try to help Thompson find where we were. Then Alex would turn off the jeep, and we would sit and listen for their engine noise. They did this several times, and FINALLY they appeared to our rear!

Finally, after Thompson arrived, we were able to leave and headed out. Then Thompson took over the task of directing the NEXT jeep to the site of where the rhino were, and so on. The area where we eventually found the rhino was very far from the normal game drive area for Mombo and Alex, as well as we, enjoyed the area which was a very diverse area, with a large variety of lots of animals. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo16-a.jpg[/img]
Eventually, we left that area and traveled back closer to the Mombo camp, and found the Steroid Boys!!. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo17-a.jpg[/img]
The Steroid Boys are two cheetah brothers that have been in the Mombo area for a few years. They were given the name of the Steroid Boys because they have the reputation of bringing down game that cheetah are usually unable to do. We thought for a while that they were going to hunt, and then they laid down and rested instead, [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo18-a.jpg[/img]
so we headed back to camp.

Lunch here at Mombo consists of a few selections off a menu, pre printed with today’s date, with a menu which is individual to the particular day. Eric and I both enjoyed ostrich burgers, and some salads, Eric has an omelette, I have nuts and cheese. We then went back to the room to enjoy our huge room, and spend time out on the outdoor sala. We took a bottle of merlot back to the room to us to enjoy, as we enjoyed views of hippos and water buffalo and a huge variety of birds. We took some pictures and some video, all from the comfort of our sala. God, this place is amazing!!!!!!!

Our evening game drive that night was somewhat disappointing to begin with, as while we saw the regular abundance of game for Mombo, we didn’t see any cats. How spoiled are we becoming!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> It does go to remind you, though–this is NOT a zoo! The guides cannot promise anything on any particular drive, and if you have your heart set on one particular thing–“I HAVE to see a leopard this evening!”, you may see it and you may not. If you don’t, you will be disappointed and you will miss the magic and the beauty and the magnificence of Africa, her landscapes, her sunsets, her animals, her peoples. Let her come to you–don’t DEMAND things which can’t be demanded, or you will miss the magic....

By that evening, the lions had left the giraffe kill to the hyena and the buzzards and there was almost nothing left of it and hyena were also gone. We did have one of our highlights of the trip though, as we stopped for sundowners. Sundowners are where you stop around sundown to stretch your legs, have a drink or two and take pictures of the sunset. As we were standing around the jeep, enjoying our sundowner snacks of chicken fingers, Alex drew our attention to a single female hyena that had appeared on the road about twenty feet in front of our jeep. She seemed to have her eye glued to our table which contained the remaining chicken fingers that we hadn’t scarfed down. Alex told us “this is a very brave hyena”. I thought “Very brave hyena, my a$$!!!” <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> I keep recalling Alex’s ranking of the predators–1) Lion 2) HYENA!!! 3) Who cares???? There’s a hyena 20 feet away from us and we’re standing outside the truck!! Alex told us to stand still, which isn’t too difficult, as I’m frozen in place, trying to remember that movie where the hyena carried off the people’s baby?? At that point, I decided, OK, Alex is maybe 6 feet 5 and this is only one hyena. I think I will stand BEHIND Alex. Presumably the hyena will only eat him, and will be full by the time she gets done with him!!! According to Alex, hyena actually are kind of chickens, especially if they are by themselves, but this one didn’t seem too afraid of us at all. She walked right past the jeep, on the opposite side of the jeep from where we were standing. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo19-a.jpg[/img]
Ultimately she walked away and left us the remainder of our chicken fingers after all. She also left us with a very vivid memory!!!

At that point, we got back into the jeep to head back to camp and the jeep won’t start!!! The starter had been giving Alex a bit of trouble that night, but had been starting after about two tries. Eric and the other fellow in the jeep with us got out and pushed the jeep and Alex jump started it. At that point, I was REALLY glad that it had only been a “chicken” hyena who had appeared on the road and not a lion!!! We all had a good laugh about our “deluxe” vacation where we had to jumpstart the vehicle!!! When we got back to camp, we were still laughing and I told Brandon we wanted a night free to repay us for the labor on the jumpstart! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> Alex assured us that the starter on the jeep would be worked on before we left for our morning game drive, and sure enough, it was! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> That night at dinner, I joked with Alex that all the cats must have been at a cat convention out of town that evening, as I couldn’t believe, after the number of cats we had seen before that, that we didn’t see a single cat during that game drive.

The morning game drive on our second full day more than made up for a slightly off drive the night before!!!!!! Oh my god---THIS is why we paid $1000 per night for this place!!!! As we came out of camp, I heard the guides talking on the radio, saying the word “Tao” (I guess that’s how it’s spelled). Tao is the word for lion that they use–not sure what language it is. We were literally TWO minutes out of camp and we came upon 6 juvenile lions stalking a herd of water buffalo. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo20-a.jpg[/img]
Alex could tell they were juveniles, as they did not have their manes in place yet, which male lions do not get until they are maybe 4 or 5 years old. The huge male water buffalo trailed behind and kept the lions at bay. Three hyenas are also trailing the lions and the buffalos, hoping the lions will be successful and hoping to get in on the spoils!!! We saw a couple of assorted jackals hanging out too, following the action. We spent an exhilarating hour following the lions following the buffalo! The lions would herd the buffalo off, and the buffalo would run through the brush in a dense pack, with the lions following closely behind! Then the buffalo would stop, bunch up further and the large buffalos would turn and face the lions, holding them off with their massive horns. It was fantastic!! And, personally, I was just as happy NOT to see a kill..

After about an hour, Alex noticed two of the lions break off the chase and head back the way that they came, which we thought was kind of odd. We continued to follow the four remaining lions and the buffalo. At that point, Alex pointed out two HUGE male lions off in the distance, who were coming to investigate why this herd of buffalo is stampeding into THEIR territory!!! I had heard that big cats did not like water. However, these two had no problem with crossing some fairly deep water. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo21-a.jpg[/img]
At that point, the 4 juveniles figured out they were in some deep doo-doo for coming out of their territory, and they decided to beat a quick retreat! At one point, one of the four was standing right behind another one, looking out toward where one of the two older male lions was standing, looking at them. I laughed and told Alex “Hey, that’s me last night, standing behind you when the hyena was approaching!!!” <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> At that point, the four young lions figured out they’d better get the heck back to their own territory, and so they ran back the way they had come. I don’t know if they were also thinking at the time of the two other lions who had broken off the chase earlier and thinking “Well, thanks for telling us guys, that we were getting out of our territory!!! We’re going to get our a$$es kicked!!!!” <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> As they ran, they were scattering all kinds of prey animals in their paths–wildebeast, impalas, zebra, warthog–everybody, who didn’t seem to know that the lions were currently too worried about their own rears to bother with them!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> We continued to follow the four lions for a long while, as they were continually looking over their shoulders, although they weren’t worried that WE were following them! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

As we were headed back the way we came, all of a SUDDEN, we saw a warthog beating FEET, with the four lions in hot pursuit. As I stated earlier, for some reason, I took a major shine to warthogs, ALL warthogs, and I was seriously rooting for the wartie! I called, “Run, wartie, RUN!!!” It all happened so FAST, that we weren’t exactly sure what happened, but Alex said that the wartie had been getting away when he stumbled over a log and went down in front of the lions. One of them went to grab the wartie in the back and the wartie then stabbed one of the lions in the leg. The other lions abandoned the chase and the 4th lion limped off with blood running down his leg. God, things happen so FAST in the bush, you just felt like, OH, I’d like to see that in instant replay to see what happened!!!! I didn’t get my camera up in time to get any pictures and all I got was a cloud of dust! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" /> We did watch the one lion limp off and hoped he would be OK. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo22-a.jpg[/img]


After such excitement, Alex decided to head off in search of the large lion pride from the day before. We found them relaxing, and enjoyed them for a while, before heading off. Today was apparently our day for excitement, as we came upon two warthog males engaging in a round of WWF World Finals!!!! [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo23-a.jpg[/img]
We watched them squaring off for about 10 minutes before one of them finally decided he would leave the field before anyone got really hurt. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> Then, five minutes later, we came upon two male impalas fighting!!!! And all of this action was before our before morning tea!!!! We were totally spent and headed back toward Mombo for lunch and some rest. Wow, amazing.....

After a couple of drinks to celebrate a fantastic morning and enjoying a nice lunch, we took a walk over to check out Little Mombo, which is right next door to Mombo and connected by the same series of raised platforms. I have heard that LM is the preferred camp, as between the two, but I am not really sure why. I know that many people talk that they like the smaller camp, but unless you reserve the whole camp for your group, if you don’t like somebody else in the camp, there’s no way to get away from them, at meals anyway, with such a small group. The tents looked about the same, and frankly, they didn’t seem to have nearly as good a view from the tents on the LM side, as on the Mombo side, at least when we were there. There may be a difference during different seasons of the year, based on how much water is in front of the two camps. One thing we did notice, whenever we saw the jeep for LM, there were always two guides in the jeep, along with six people. It could be that the six people staying at LM were all together so that’s why they were all together in one jeep.

We also went by the shop again and decided to buy the book about Mombo that they sell there in the shop. This book is not a coffee table BOOK, it’s a coffee TABLE. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> And costs about the same amount. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> The thing is heavy as a son of a gun, and they will mail it home for you for $12 shipping, but since this was our last camp, we just lugged it ourselves. We also pre-ordered and paid for the book which is supposed to be coming out any day, written by the chef at Mombo, which has pictures by the Jouberts as well as recipes and tales of Mombo. We’re still waiting for the book to arrive. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Up to that point, at ALL our camps, we had seriously lucked out, and had been thoroughly spoiled, that for all of our drives up to this point, we had only had 4 guests in the jeep. Unfortunately, that would change for the afternoon drive, and we ended up with six guests in the jeep for our last two game drives. That did make a big difference, as far as our comfort. The other two couples were both over 65 years old and basically both couples refused to sit in the 3rd seat, so we ended up in the high seat for our last two drives. The third seat is much more bouncy than the other two and I found it more difficult to get in and out of also. The one fellow from the couple who joined that afternoon was also kind of a PITA, as he had a habit of telling Alex “Can you back up six inches?” so he could take a better picture.

During the afternoon game drive that day we found the four lions from this morning, including the one with the injured paw from the altercation with the wartie. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo24-a.jpg[/img]
His paw was bloody but it seemed to have stopped bleeding and Alex thought he would be OK. Who knows about the wartie, I kind of expect he was not long for this world, if the lion got a claw really into him. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" /> We then went off in search of the large lion pride, and were able to find about 10 of the cubs by themselves. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo25-a.jpg[/img]
It seems odd to us, but the lionesses go off and leave them alone, Alex said, without any adults to protect them. We had our last sundowners in the bush in the jeep, sitting watching the cubs until it got way too dark to even really see them. It was a nice, kind of calm last sunset in the bush. And, of course, for our final icing on the game drive, we came upon a leopard RIGHT outside of camp, right in the middle of the road. It was very dark, so we didn’t get terribly good pictures of it.

That night we arrived back at our room after our game drive and discover there are candles ALL OVER the balcony. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo26-a.jpg[/img]
A lady sings a little song for us and we see the invitation to a enjoy a private dinner in our room. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo27-a.jpg[/img]
It is a lovely, lovely surprise and I was practically speechless. She asks what time she should come back to serve us our dinner, and leaves us to take our showers and dress and enjoy the bottle of wine she has brought for us. For dinner, we have a king clip starter (an African fish–tasty and not strong at all), then lamb main course, vegetables and a lovely chocolate dessert, along with wine and champagne. Eating by candlelight, looking out over the beautiful floodplain at Mombo, listening to all the sounds of the bush—WOW, how could our last night in Africa be any better??????? It was truly spectacular. We figured that Bert told them about our anniversary, as we didn’t, I don’t think.

After dinner, we didn’t really want the evening to end, so we asked the lady who served our meal to escort us back down to the fire. We enjoyed a nightcap by the fire and said goodbye to the wonderful bush African night, and toasted marshmallows. Mombo truly outdid herself this day....

The next morning was to be our last waking up in the bush. Truthfully I can’t really say that I was THAT sorry to get that last “Good Morning”, uttered outside our tent at 5:45 AM, as I am just not much of a morning person. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> There are no clocks or phones in the room, so they send one of the guides to each tent each morning to wake everyone up. They call to you from outside the tent, and wait for you to acknowledge their presence by speaking back to them. I wondered whether the replies sometimes were of the “unprintable” variety! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

On our last game drive, I was very distressed to see a lion eating a wartie almost out front of the camp. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo28-a.jpg[/img]
Alex said these were NOT the same lions from yesterday though, who had one of their members injured by the wartie. Another lion was nearby, digging furiously in a hole, trying to dig up another wartie! We watched for a while and finally ended up leaving before seeing the outcome of the digging marathon. Alex figured that he would probably not succeed, as the lion had about 3/4 of his body in the hole already and lions are not particularly good diggers. I was able to take a couple of really lovely pictures of a Fish Eagle, with the moon in the shot. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo29-a.jpg[/img]
We also had a really fantastic viewing of a leopard, including a lovely little jaunt down the road in the full sunlight. Alex was able to move the jeep several times and continue to get in front of him, so we were able to get several shots of him walking down the road, straight toward the jeep. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo30-a.jpg[/img]
That particular siting seemed kind of unusual to me, as the leopards seemed a lot more shy than the other big cats. [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo31-a.jpg[/img]
Eventually he the leopard did lie down to take a nap, so we moved off, and eventually back to camp.

We then enjoyed our last meal in the bush. I had a chicken satay and enjoyed it so much, I asked for another order! Hey, my next meal was going to be airline food! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> As always at Mombo, the response was, “no problem!”

I honestly don’t remember whether we knew about it ahead of time or not, but when we arrived back in camp after our game drive, there was a film crew from the BBC in camp. They were doing some type of a piece on Botswana, and they asked everyone in the camp whether they would agree to appear on camera and answer a few questions about Mombo and Botswana in general, so we did. I have no idea whether the piece has aired yet or not or even whether our particular piece made the cut, if it has aired.

All right, it was time to go back to the real world, so we headed out in the jeep with Alex to the airstrip. I enjoyed seeing one final warthog (yeah!!) [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo32-a.jpg[/img]
and then it was off, headed home! [img]http://www.info-res.com/ehill/pixs/africa/mombo33-a.jpg[/img]

Link to final post here Finale

I was not able to view your pics from Mombo and was able to see all your other possa and pictures!! How come? I couldn't open the red x's...please send them as I am most excited to see your fabulous animals as you wrote about! Thank-you for all your efforts in your fantastic travelogue!!!

Just got back from NYC, and found one of our servers is down. Eric is looking at it now.

Server is back online this morning, but we have been having a lot of problems with it. Guess I know what Eric is going to be doing July 4th weekend.... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

Thanks so very much for fixing your server!!! The pictures are AWESOME!!!! What fun I have had viewing them and reading about your trip! Thanks for sharing!!
Mimi

Well, just tell Eric he has lots of fans out here who really appreciate seeing the pictures. I actually happened to check the board shortly after you posted, so I've been waiting ALL weekend for you guys to get back so I could see the pics! These were just amazing....

Sorry, didn't realize that server had been down all weekend. It was up when we uploaded the pictures late Friday night..

I can see the pictures fine today. Great to meet you guys in the flesh. Little crazy at the party to talk to anyone at length but still a great time. Pictures and stories are excellent! You could truly have a great travel book in the works.

I've always kinda wanted to be a travel writer, but haven't had anybody breaking down my door to offer me money to do a book, yet! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Hey Carol, As every good salesperson will tell you, there is no one ready to break down Your door, you have to break down Theirs (in a very professional, subtle way of course <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/hammer.gif" alt="" />). You don't get the order unless you ask for it <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> There has to be a publicist in the TTOL mix.

What a wonderful trip. Thanks so much for sharing in such beautiful detail. And the pictures are amazing. You two should get commision for all the people who now want to book their trip. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> Laura

Laura--you're welcome! We've got one more section to do and we'll be done with the trip report. Have to finish the photo slideshow and get some video up, and then we'll be finished! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Carol,

Just AMAZING! You have so many frame-able pictures! They are great, and great report.



Really like this one!

Wayne--Glad you liked them! That particular picture is going to get framed for my wall, that's for sure!! My big problem is figuring which ones to frame!! (....As well as getting the pictures finally ready to give to Eric for the slide show! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> Going through 3,000 or so pictures and picking the 500 or so best ones <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> is really hard! )

Well, Carol, you are lucky you have room to frame 500 of them!! LOL (just kidding). There are so many that are great!

Wayne--not just for Africa pictures, but we're going to have a major problem when we move to Florida, as our walls at our house now--3 full levels, huge rec room, 4 bedrooms, etc--the whole house is full of art and pictures we've framed! Our house in Florida is one level, 3 bedrooms, probably 1/2 of the size of the current house! We've decided we're probably going to have to do a rotation schedule -- OK, in November, put up this set of artwork, change again in March, etc!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

For everyone info the Cessna is a C206

OK, thanks. That seemed to be the type plane we flew in all the time.

Carol and Eric,
I have to admit that 1) I have not had much interest in Africa; 2) I don't read trip reports on destinations that I'm not planning to visit; and 3) I rarely take the time to read trip reports of any kind or view online photo albums---

So it comes as a surprise (to me) that I decided to read your report on Mombo (#7). And I was so enthralled that I read all your reports from beginning to end. Not only was the story richly satisfying, the photos were fabulous. Now I think I have to visit Africa in the way you did it. Thank you for opening another window for me.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! Africa truly was an exciting destination!

(..now if I could just get the last installment and the pictures finished!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Crazy.gif" alt="" />)

Carol,
Awesome picture! Hope you don't mind I am using it for my desktop. It looks beautiful!
Thanks for the wonderful trip report

Which one??? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Use away! Have to finish final section, hoping to get that done tomorrow...

The pic with the lion cubs....So adorable.

I was just joshing with ya. I knew that was the one! I'm still hoping to have the last section of the report and the picture slideshow done this weekend. We'll see!

Hi there! I'm Rcon Franchesca Pascua, 22, writer, who also loves to explore and write about exotic destinations like Morocco. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/greendog.gif" alt="" />