Few experiences in life compare to a safari, especially in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Ever wondered what a safari looks like? And why predators don't attack safari vehicles? We set out to answer those questions by flying deep into the Delta to spend 3 days on a luxury safari spotting everything from lions to cheetahs and even wild dogs! The first 300 people to include the code FERNWEH can get up to $500 USD off their trip with Go2Africa! Simply add the code to the inquiry form under “Describe your perfect African Adventure” to unlock your discount. Terms & conditions apply.
► COLOR GRADING 🌈 I recently updated the Fernweh Finishing LUTs of the Africa pack to incorporate the color grades of the entire recent safari series. These updated LUTs are now available on our website: https://www.fernwehchronicles.com/afr...
First up, let's talk about the elephant in the room.
No, not that one.
What's up with those open-air safari vehicles and canoes?
And how come they don't get attacked?
A guide once told us that the animals see them
as kind of a mobile tree,
a part of the landscape that's neither prey nor predator.
That is, as long as you don't get out.
We put this theory to the test during a three-day safari
in one of the wildest, most spectacular places on Earth,
Botswana's Okavango Delta.
Why is there bones everywhere?
Can I get it?
No.
This is so cool.
No more afraid of the crocodile.
Just go.
I wish I could be as relaxed as our kids
on these single-prop bush planes.
Out here in the delta,
flying is by far the most convenient way of getting around,
as we were soon to find out why.
This is now quite private for Stable Lally.
Hi, how's it going? I'm George.
This is Mario.
Mario, nice to meet you.
Do you know what we're doing?
We are going out this afternoon and have fun.
We're jumping right into it.
Have our drinks, watching the African sunset going down.
Beautiful.
Somewhere open in the middle of nowhere.
But we are in the middle of nowhere.
We already are.
Even more.
We're at the airport right now.
If the airport is this busy,
what do you think the middle of nowhere looks like?
Is that the trekking counter right there?
It might be.
These rare sable antelopes greeting us on the airstrip
became somewhat of a good omen during our time here.
See all the elephant poop everywhere?
Yeah.
You'll see lots of elephant poop.
What is the meaning of the word safari?
Well, how do you know this?
Journey.
Well done.
So the meaning of the word mopane, it means a butterfly.
This is a butterfly tree.
Ah.
You know, these trees, they mainly grow up on a very, very fertile soil.
The tree itself, it has lots of nutrients for the elephants.
That's why all the elephants are here.
Because their favorite tree is here.
Welcome to Stable Lally.
Which one's that, Bodhi?
A butterfly, Lee.
Did he actually listen to what our guide had to say?
And who loves to eat those?
Elephants.
Nice to meet you.
This is our welcome drink.
Are you in heaven or what?
Yes.
I hope I was right there.
No way.
So during the day, you can walk to and from your tents by yourselves.
When you come across maybe an elephant, if they're just standing there,
just go back to your tents.
But if they are moving around, let them pass.
It's good to know.
We might need to know that.
Mom, I found a whole herd of elephants.
After checking into what could only be described as...
Wait, does this still count as a tent?
It's our own room.
We already had to hustle to make it to our first sunset safari.
So in the bush, it's all about good luck.
Remember, our animals are wild animals.
So this afternoon is for you guys to familiarize yourself with this area.
And then tomorrow we have a proper, proper getaway.
Just like that.
Two big elephants in the middle of this Mokpani woodland.
Bloody silly.
Let's look behind you.
We'll never see them.
We saw two in one day, two sets.
Yeah, two one day.
Mainly in wintertime, but in summertime, never.
Very, very rare.
Can't be that rare.
Look at that.
Do you see the baby elephant?
Obviously.
Look at those temples.
Yeah.
These guys, they can go up to 8.0.
The waterbugs, they also have this really cool target on their back for the lions.
So they know where to jump on them.
Yeah, it's a target.
They use that white ring on their back and say, follow me inside.
Why is there bones everywhere?
Can she come out to see it?
OK, good.
How about that?
Just watch out for the elephants.
Who's this carried by?
Lions.
Those are all the bones from the buffalo?
Yes.
If you look down nicely, you might see the hyenas that will come and feed on these bones.
Looking for the calcium and phosphorus.
These are the buffalo teeth.
Yeah, these are the teeth.
We are dentists, let's fix these teeth.
I think he actually fixed it.
That's how it fit together.
Papa, look, I fixed the tooth.
No way.
Mario is telling us to go.
The elephants are not just there, but also right there.
That is one of the biggest teeth I've ever seen.
We've got to go, right now.
We've got to go.
Guys, he looks angry.
Why are you angry?
What is going on?
This is the most incredible moment of my life.
Besides last night, it may be the night before.
Obviously, she's talking about the other elephant encounter we just had in Zimbabwe.
The water is very, very deep.
We're going through it?
Yes.
In the dark?
In the dark, yeah.
Guys, sit down, I'm not paying.
Let's see how deep is the water.
That was crazy.
I think it's just a taste of what we're going to see tomorrow.
All right, we're going to head out.
I hope you feel better.
Don't have too much fun.
Okay.
Okay, kids, let's go.
Sunrise safari.
So Tara had some food allergy last night.
It started like three weeks ago that she had her first episode of that.
To be honest, we're not sure what's going on.
We probably each got like two and a half hours of sleep,
but she's pretty beat.
So she's staying behind for this morning.
And it's just going to be me and the kiddos.
All right, guys, let's go.
We won't have too much fun.
Okay, we got to hurry up.
Bye, I love you, Mama.
I can hear the hippos already.
I've been hearing them all night.
The hippos and the elephants.
That is wild.
The hippo, it's right there.
Good spotting.
So, Mario, Tara instructed me clearly.
What did Mama say?
Try not to have too much fun.
So, not too much.
Not too much.
Do you recognize that river there?
Yeah, we went there yesterday.
Yeah?
How deep can you go?
As long as the snorkel is not covered.
I'm flushing on my lap on an early morning game drive.
It's truly a game changer.
That will get us out of bed tomorrow, right, Liv?
Yeah.
Those are bush babies.
The hot water bottles, yeah.
I love that.
How's your bush baby, Liv?
Do you see the zebra scratching its chin?
Like, oh, it just feels so good.
Papa, look at the shot that I just got.
What?
I do have a very special animal for your body and Liv.
What is the animal?
Two male cheetahs.
Very elusive animals.
Whose bones are those?
A lion?
No.
Cheetah?
No.
Buffalo?
No.
What?
Human?
No, it's way too big to be human.
What do you think that is?
Giraffe?
Wow, Mario, that's unbelievable.
See how big is this, eh?
Look at my new jaws.
Alright, kids, are you ready to find some cheetahs, maybe?
Yeah.
I don't think we can tell Mama about it, though,
until she sees the video.
This bridge is literally made up of logs.
Gail's looking at that tusk.
What is he doing?
I don't know.
Mario, where are we going?
Let's explore the area and see what you're going to see, eh?
This is where the cheetahs are.
No.
This guy's the blender.
No way.
We had a few minutes with the world's fastest land animal
before someone had to go pee,
and I realized we would need to drive pretty far away
to not have these two show up unexpectedly,
as they can go 0 to 100 kilometers in under 3 seconds.
He needs to go pee-pee.
We're driving as far away as we can right now.
Hello, Papa.
Oh, wow, French press coffee out here.
Yep, French press coffee in the middle of nowhere.
Human man.
Guys, are you stowaways or what?
Heading back to the lodge just seemed like an extension of the safari,
rather than taking a break.
Hey, Liv.
How crazy is it that we can sit here by the pool,
and right there are the world's most deadly large land animals?
Are you telling me all I have to say is mokoro
to get you back from the dead?
I'm still a little bit rough,
but I'm going to do my best.
You can't miss out on a mokoro safari.
I still don't know what that means, to be honest.
They're the dugout canoes.
So, you get in a dugout canoe, and you float along all the waterways.
What if the hippos come after us?
I don't think they will.
We are going to Morocco, and not mokoro.
Which one's the male, and which one's the female?
That one is the female.
That one is the male.
How do you know that?
He's wearing a panty jacket.
They're really little boats.
Birdie, have you been brushing up on your swimming skills?
Yeah, I know how to swim.
This is the formal transportation that we are going to use here,
which is called mokoro.
It is a bit wobbly, but the balance will be maintained by us
in equation before we go on board.
I don't think so.
When is the last time it flipped?
Are you ready?
Yeah, let's do it.
And bye-bye.
See you later.
Let's go now.
As I was sitting here, I started to think about
how we were currently floating in the Kalahari Desert.
How are you going to sink, Papa?
You're really, really heavy.
You weigh 200 pounds.
You're looking good so far.
This water did not come from around here.
It traveled from the highlands of Angola,
over 1,000 kilometers away.
A hippo skull, Mama.
It's right there.
How do you know it's a hippo skull?
Because I know what they look like,
and I know what the skull looks like.
The Okavango Delta, unlike most other deltas,
does not open to the ocean.
It ends right here,
in this vast expanse of swamps, floodplains,
and this channel we were trying not to fall into.
Do you hear that?
Our Makoro Bar.
There's Bodhi.
Bodhi, did you notice the elephants back there?
Yeah.
Yeah, you noticed them?
Guys, look, there are elephants everywhere.
It's a lot of nighttime traffic.
Look for the elephants.
Bodhi, you've got to give the flashlight back.
You can't keep that.
Something moving.
Something moving?
Yes.
Maybe an elephant?
Can I see that hippo body?
Probably not.
There are bush babies waiting for you in your bed.
Real ones?
No, the non-biting kind.
We are right outside the tent.
Let's check it out.
The hippos and elephants.
Were all over this place last night.
Kept going for hours.
I eventually just fell asleep
to the soothing rampage of elephants and hippos.
You know, when they're talking about
to watch out for elephants here,
they're not joking.
That's why you can't walk by yourself
from your tent to the restaurant area at night.
This has got to be one of my favorite things.
Mugs right out of the oven.
Morning, Zazu.
Fire is still warm from last night.
Doesn't get much better for hippo viewing than this.
So the wildest thing about this platform
is that you can see all these footsteps
from last night and me this morning.
But then there are also these guys.
There was an elephant walking around here last night.
The bush baby is about to change your life.
Bush babies are set.
Let's go and find these animals.
What are we going to find today?
Um, Amadilos.
No way.
I tried to email them.
Hopefully they received our emails.
You know what, they never write back very quickly.
Very cold.
Cold morning.
So the other guides,
they picked up some fresh tracks from those lions.
Let's go find the lions.
See, he was charging that vehicle.
Did you see that?
Yeah.
You have to be really careful with hippos, right?
Why?
Because they can charge at you.
What's a charge at you mean?
Like run at you.
I think this is a young male.
Looking at him because he's moving out from the water.
Maybe he might be kicked out by his father.
So these guys, when they are kicked out,
they are very aggressive.
You see, George, where he's heading,
there's no water there.
He's heading to the thicket.
That's why he's so angry.
I'm going to suffer now.
Ah, poor hippo.
What did you find?
Lion tracks.
Oh yeah, there's a big one right there.
We'll try to check these guys and see whether we can find them.
So this is our luck for the dogs, guys.
I'm talking to my ancestors now.
Oh, right there.
Right there.
No, no, no.
Are you kidding me?
There's a lion right there.
I'm going to look behind you.
Look out.
There are lions everywhere.
Damn.
Lions and dogs together on the same area.
On the other side is dogs.
Did you get it?
No.
This guy heading straight for us
was really putting that whole mobile tree thing to the test.
Just don't move, George.
So we saw the lions.
Let's go and see the dogs before they move,
before they become active.
Cat and dogs.
It's just like a constant.
Now we go through the water again.
The other way, other way.
Other way, other way.
No, the other one.
Let's go away, dude.
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Wild African dogs.
They're so cute.
This is a pack of seven dogs.
I think they picked up one of the impala somewhere.
When they chased, they split it.
The other dogs, they are on the eastern side of us,
where we are.
As we were waiting for something to happen,
Mario kept reassuring us that these dogs
would eventually hear the rest of the pack
and reunite with them.
When all of a sudden...
All have changed quickly.
This is so cool.
Here they come.
We're in between them.
Look at the other dogs.
Remember these dogs that were calling
trying to locate these other dogs here.
No more afraid about the crocodiles.
Let's go.
Oh, they're so happy, guys.
A bit bloody on their head.
These guys, especially when they are successful
in terms of their hunt,
they will never wait.
Go where the king is.
We have to get around this waterway
filled with hippos.
Yeah, I see them.
Kids, keep an eye on the dogs.
We've been now following them
for about 10 minutes.
They keep leading us further and further
into the shrubs.
Waterbugs, their safety is water.
When these dogs chase them,
they'll definitely run into the water.
Do you see the dogs?
They're at 10 o'clock.
10 o'clock?
Hey, that's 11 o'clock now.
No, it's 11 o'clock.
That's 12 o'clock.
Hang on.
Is this our camp?
Yes.
That's our hut there.
Then we're just out here.
Yeah, these guys,
they're very weak in terms
of protecting themselves.
So they have to be, like,
very, very careful
when they are actively
heading towards the kill.
That's why they stop, listen, roll
to cover their smell.
You know?
There they are.
Haven't lost them yet.
Or they haven't lost us yet.
He's happy.
He made a kill.
African wild dogs
are one of the most
endangered species
on this planet
with fewer than 7,000
remaining in the wild.
This is the end of the road.
Look, look, look.
Oh, we're doing it.
Brunch is good.
Let's look for the vultures.
Look now, they disappeared.
Brunch.
Oh, there they are.
As we kept tracking them,
I couldn't help but
be blown away
by the complexities
of their social bond,
agility and communications.
I think I have
a new favorite animal.
No stopping.
This is the greatest adventure.
Did anyone see
where the dogs went?
They went to the thicket, sir.
Your guide is lost
in the middle of nowhere.
With the phone, be careful.
Are you talking to them, Mario?
I'm talking to this one.
He's very cautious.
He's looking at us
and staring at us like,
huh?
I'm trying to say hello.
The breakfast quickly
became our favorite part
of the morning safaris,
which always took place
in some of the most
stunning locations imaginable.
Mario, what do you see?
Two big logs.
No, there's a hippo.
Breakfast.
It's like you've
done this before.
George, look.
We even got to
witness a fight
between a father
and son hippo,
which Mario had mentioned
happens when it's time
for the young one
to leave and
start their own family.
Guys, look at this teeth here.
How old do you think
this bone is?
Two years old.
This is a teenager,
this guy.
He died from malnutrition,
I think.
So the skull is growing
obviously.
The jaws are becoming bigger.
When this teeth,
the front teeth
reaches the end
of the jaw,
it breaks into pieces
and then it's going
to be replaced
by this one
because they're
pushing each other.
I don't want to
spoil your expectations,
so let's go
and find out.
It might be
an armadillo, maybe.
These guys here
are using this mount
for elevation
for a better view
for them to see
in the distance,
especially lying down
on this open area
like this.
They're so pretty.
That's the mama
to this lioness.
Oh, that's the granny.
The granny.
That's the mimi.
That's the mama.
And that's
Bodhi,
an inlet.
Where am I?
Down at the water hole.
Probably.
I'm hungry.
You know,
whales are hungry.
Yeah.
These guys.
They just hid
something in the bushes.
Oh, there he goes.
Whose idea was it
to follow the lions
into the shrubs?
That is your belly?
That's my belly, yeah.
But it's a lion.
Mario,
are we going to make
our flight?
Yep.
That's our flight.
All the way over there.
Elephants.
Oh my god,
elephants are right there.
One minute to spare.
Ah, plenty of time.
It's Jun's house.
It's not his house.
All right,
now this turned
into a home inspection.
Give me a bone.