AN ANIMAL SYMPHONY
“To travel is to be astonished, otherwise the trip is nothing more than a trip”, said Paul Morand. In Botswana, the surprise is immediate. This country is slightly larger than France, and its population is less than the city of Paris, enchants at every moment.
After having touched down in Johannesburg, then to Maun, in the north of the country, here we are in an airport that would have seduced Tintin. Outside, dozens of air-taxis are waiting to connect to the most inaccessible areas of the country. One feels the thrill of Indiana Jones climbing into one of these old planes with eleven seats, cramped like sardines, where you bend over at every plane hop. From the clouds, we can get a very good view of the extraordinary flatness of Botswana. An immense plain as far as the eye can see, where the background is intertwined with bush arabesques and lagoons: welcome to the Okavango Delta. The river takes its source from the highlands of Angola and then it disappears, like a phantom in the Kalahari desert. Its delta is a natural wonder as much as it is a mystery: “the river that never finds the sea” is a ghost river, just imagine the Camargue region married to the Sahara.
The incredible wildlife that comes from the constellation of streams, lagoons and ponds is a real glimpse of Eden. We are always deeply moved by the discovery of sites that preceded us. They remind us that we are the custodians of the world. We pass, they stay. So let us be humble and give back to nature what we owe her: respect.
At the Belmond Khwai River Lodge respect is a symbol: it was founded in 1968, at a time when we understood (finally!) that it was necessary to admire the animals, not stuff them. A pioneer among photo safari lodges, it has a nostalgic and cozy charm. Jumping in a jeep to go sip a Gin-tonic, while the setting sun ignites a pond full of splashing hippos: what’s better than that? Exhilaration invades the soul and we would like to just embrace nature… at the risk of being devoured. But don’t be mistaken: here, man is only walking on a tightrope. One wrong move, and ginormous front teeth await! “Beware of baboons!”, warn the guards, who escort you to your bungalow, under the full moon. Both day and night, elephants, leopards and simians cross the paths with the nonchalance of native who knows he’s at home. There’s a sense of danger even in walking 100 m. from your room to the reception desk. From the beds in the lodges and through the thick canvas walls, you can hear the great African night breathing: growling two steps away, hippos calling out, croaking frogs...
Elephant army
There’s no question of sleeping in! The first “game drive” at 6am takes you in the heart of the bush, and it’s an explosion of colors, fragrances contrasts and rousing images. First the heady odor of wild sage bushes is inescapable, a reminder of the pungent aroma of wild beasts. The only ground relief in these infinite plateaus is the termite mounds that rise towards the sky, like Giacometti or the moais. Little by little, life awakens to reveal itself to the eyes, the cameras, the binoculars: the animals.
Before us graze fifty zebras. “They’re the iconic animal of Botswana”, whispered the guide, as they symbolize harmony - so rare in Africa - of Blacks and Whites. The entire Ark will soon be here, full of diversity, forms and ferocity. Baboons, with their jovial indecency. The giraffes, with such cuddly movements, sliding among the leaves. The proliferating hippos that swarm, sometimes in piles, like squads of prehistoric mermaids. And then there are the elephants, all the time, everywhere! Botswana is not only the first animal community on the African continent, but it is also home to the largest elephant population: there are almost 150,000 elephants. You have to see them covering themselves with mud, a bit like us covering ourselves with sunscreen, with their trunks containing six liters of water! And when they appear from the bushes - two, then ten, then thirty! - one can imagine (with no exageration ) Hannibal’s armies in
La Trebbia by Heredia: “In the distance we could hear the trumpeting of elephants”. The wild cats are much more difficult to find. With them, it’s all a matter of timing. As in The Desert of the Tartars, we wait. For what? No one knows but we hope, with a pilgrims faith. "A lioness was seen on the other side of the lagoon," murmurs the guide while turning his steering wheel. And here we are wobbling, always on the watch, deciphering the bushes like they were hieroglyphs. The wait is worth it: two cheetahs laze in the tall grass; a lioness nurses her cub; a leopard chases a goose... which in the end escapes.
Bush orchestra
After Khwai River and a new plane hop, we dive deeper into the Okavango Strait and join Belmond Eagle Lodge, the Belmond group’s pearl in Africa. The arrival is celebrated by an elephant pressing his forehead against a marula tree, Botswana’s best known tree, to make its berries fall, the same berries found in the leading national alcohol (similar to the sweetness of Baileys but seductive). In fact, they say that pachyderms get drunk and stagger!
Eagle Lodge is a kind of giant amphitheater, where exquisite individual huts are arranged in a semi-circle, facing the savannah as
Adam would have contemplated Creation. Nature is here, immediatly, offered, like the fruit on the tree. Almost as if the elephants come to taste your coffee, the baboons steal your biscuits, the buffaloes smell your slippers and the zebras drink at your private pool. The amazing antelopes graze with a ballerinas elegance.
Here, everything celebrates the wedding between savageness and civilization. A fantasy that we wouldn’t dare call colonial because these times are over. But a sense of
welcome, service, and dreamed comfort to discover Eden from the finest possible belvedere. Of course, we think of the sweet exoticism of Pierre Benoît, Kipling’s L’enfant d’éléphant, the posters of Cassandre and Blake and Mortimer, but Belmond doesn’t offer a trip to back to the past, a nostalgic exploration. On the contrary, it’s an immersion in a permanent here-and-now: the raw nature of an unspoilt world. Africa has a shared history that must be our future together. Beasts, men and gods breathe in unison to sing a balance so tenuous that it must be preserved. Because the concession is private, everything is possible: flying over the bush by helicopter, watching the hyenas under the moon (these scavengers have been nicknamed “witches’ horses”), walking in the savannah, at dawn, to scrutinize the gentle awakening of things…
And for the highlight of the stay: a classical concert in the bush! Five musicians from the celebrated London Philharmonic Orchestra (who recorded, among others, the trailor for Lawrence of Arabia and the Lord of the Rings) came to Botswana. These artists are as surprised as they are amazed to be here. Their only experience of music in the wild takes place every summer, in the very British setting of the Glyndebourne Festival. But from the cottage to the bush there’s a big gulf, which these five wind instrumentalists have crossed with a joyful stride. The quintet dressed in white tie and tails as if they’re heading to the orchestra pit, pose in front of the hippos. The concert will be tonight, but for now they are rehearsing in front of the beasts, as if Noah’s Ark had a choir.
The animals are frightened but seem to be seduced and carefully observe the instruments, wondering if they can cut or shoot. But no: the bassoon is not a rifle and the clarinet has no barrel. So the hippos scrutinize the chamber players with a courteous circumspection, while gradually being seduced by the notes. After all, Camille Saint-saëns paid tribute to them with the Carnival of animals that has always created beautiful evenings for music lovers in shorts. And when the happy few at Eagle Lodge hear it the same evening, on the terrace of the bar, at sunset, everyone recognizes this absolute classic and they start humming, stamping feet and nodding at the chef.
Fresh ferocity
What a remarkable show watching these musicians playing the music from Out of Africa, or Mozart’s clarinet concerto or the superb Summer Music by Barber, while the sun behind them fades away… We would like to record every moment from this concert! The wind that turns the pages on the score until a kind soul rushes to pinch them with a clothespin; the oboe player with the sun in his eyes; the astonished baboon hovering around the orchestra, who shrugs his shoulders and then enjoys a some buffalo dung. Finally, the thirty elephants, who suddenly appear in the twilight and come drink down at the river. This vision is so beautiful that one would think it was done on purpose. But no: no tricks here. We’re not at Pinder’s circus. It is simply the harmony of things, which unites listening with sight for what remains the most unforgettable of all recitals. “What we ask of Africa, wrote Morand again, is to help us understand what the world was in the days of its innocence, its fresh ferocity.”
PRACTICAL NOTEBOOK
The Belmond group has three lodges in Botswana: Khwai River Lodge and Eagle Island Lodge on the Okavango, and
Savute Elephant Lodge in Chobe Park. It's possible to visit the three, which are a must in terms of comfort and refinement. But if you had to make a choice, prefer the first two, which have private concessions and offer much more possibilities and flexibility. If possible, ask for the excellent service of the adorable, efficient and exciting Moses, the guide and driver. Belmond offers a full six-night package, "Botswana at its best" (2 nights in each lodge, meals, game-drives, helicopter ride, dawn safari with Leica binoculars, domestic flights and transfers from Johannesburg included ), on a basis of 6,350 € per person in a double room.
Air France Paris-johannesburg flights are not included and start at 490 €. Inquire by writing to safaris@belmond. com or calling + 27 (0) 21 483 1600. Belmond.com.