Nxai Pan (Clicks and all!)

At 2:30 in the morning, the plains outside our safari tent were silent except for the guttural grunting of three lions. Nothing reminds you of your place in the food chain quite like this aural reminder of the thousand pound cat separated from your bedroom by a flimsy screen door. Contrast this with the conversation Liz and I just shared – [waking her up from an afternoon siesta] “Time to get up darling, we have high tea in twenty minutes.”  Yes, ‘tis the life of a safari-er.

We arrived at the Kwando Lodge in Nxai Pan ("nx" = the click you make when you shake your head and cluck your tongue at someone who messes up), Botswana yesterday after an easy direct flight from Atlanta-Johannesburg then JoBurg to Maun, Botswana, and then a puddle jump 45 minute ride from Maun to Nxai Pan. Fun side note - Botswana and Namibia are home to tribes that speak languages from in the Khoi-san group, which includes clicks and is considered one of the most dynamic language families in the world. With Liz flying copilot, we were treated to an aerial tour of the vast grasslands of Nxai Pan, which is a clay/salt pan that used to be the bed of a massive lake in prehistoric days.  The Kwando Camp, the only lodge in the park, is set on the edge of a clearing, centered around one of the park’s two year-round watering holes. From the back porch of our beautiful room, we watch zebra lazily trod through the clearing, less than 50 yards from where I sit writing.

In our first 24 hrs, we have had two game drives with six lion sightings, huge herds of zebra, springbok, oryx, impala, and a few wildebeest, celebrated Christmas Eve, used the outdoor shower, and woken up to a beautiful African sunrise. The scale of the sky and land is indescribable. It goes on as far as the eye can see. As the afternoon thunderstorm drops columns of rain, and the thunder echoes across the plains, rumbling until it fades in the distance.

I am sure that every honeymoon is special in its own way but it is an incredible treat to spend two weeks with Liz nonstop. She’s the best safari partner, game spotter, and companion I could ever ask for.