Drumbeat Autumn 18

Life in the wilderness Mobile safaris are wonderful if you want to get off the beaten track. Focussing on superb wildlife and awe-inspiring landscapes, they cover everything from game drives and bush walks, to canoeing and scenic flights. We’ve worked with Annelies at Drumbeat Safaris for many years and thought it would be fun to find out what it’s like to host these magical safaris in Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve. She chatted to Alice about her life in the bush: Q: Bucket list travel spot? A: There are so many places I would like to see... but my husband just wants to go to our place on the lake in Zimbabwe to go fishing. And to be honest, who needs to travel when you work in such an amazing environment as I do. Q: Favourite place to safari? A: I absolutely love the Bodumatau area of Moremi. The campsite is situated at a magical, remote spot and we rarely see other vehicles when we are there. The wildlife can also be amazing – we’ve had a leopard or wild dogs in our camp on several occasions. Q: What’s been your most challenging mobile camp site? A: Our mobile camp is basic but comfortable. The whole lot needs to fit into a car and trailer, so packing is an art form at which Jimmy is an expert. Most challenging is setting up in the rainy season, as the campsite can turn from completely dry into a lake surprisingly quickly – as happened last year when we started our dinner dry but within half an hour of the heavens opening we were sitting up to our ankles in water. The mess tent was obviously not in the right place. Next morning we moved our tent and problem solved. Q: What’s the strangest guest request you’ve had? A: I guess that’s whether it’s ok to go out for a jog. Jimmy, Onalenna and I like to stay fit, so we often do a 30-40 minute bootcamp-style class in the afternoon when the guests are on their game drive. We are happy to bring this forward so our guests can join us, which has happened quite a few times now. You should see the faces of passengers on other vehicles on the rare occasions they pass our camp during our work-out. Q: What’s your best family safari anecdote? A: There are quite a few, from waking one morning to prepare breakfast and hearing a 15 year old boy call, ‘there is a lion next to my tent,’ or the family helping to collect firewood that somehow picked up a dried out piece of elephant trunk – when that was thrown on the fire the smell was absolutely horrific. But the one I remember so clearly was camping in Savuti when Jimmy showed the kids a cute mouse he’d found in the kitchen. We all thought it was lovely and when we let it go it ran around a bit, digging in the sand. Next, this hornbill appeared, snatched up the mouse and sat in the tree beside us, mouse in its beak. I looked at the kids, not sure how they would react, and then the youngest one shouted excited, ‘we had a kill in camp!’ Q: Best safari memory? A: One early morning game drive in May we came across three lion brothers. In their prime, in the perfect crisp winter morning light, they were absolutely stunning. Then they started to roar, all three of them. The most amazing sound and experience ever. Q: What is your most unusual animal sighting? A: That must be the leopard with her cub... although some guests have also seen rhino on game drives. I have not been so lucky yet. Q: What piece of kit could not survive without? A: Apart from my toothbrush, I think the answer would be our fridge. Nothing is better than a cold beer or a chilled glass of wine at the end of a hot day. INTERVIEW BY ALICE www . aardvarksafaris.co.uk l P14 Q: How did you start working with mobile safaris? A: When I was 20 my then boyfriend, Johan, and I left The Netherlands and backpacked for 10 months through Africa. We fell totally in love with it, so sold our belongings back home, borrowed some money to get us started and booked one way tickets to Tanzania. We spent two years as camp managers in the Serengeti and Tarangire and then moved to Botswana to manage a camp for the same company. It was here that we discovered mobile safaris and realised exactly what we were passionate about. We started Drumbeat Safaris in 1996 and were guiding our first guests through the Botswana wilderness in 1998. I became the sole owner in 2008 and run the office, plan the itineraries and organise the safaris. But most important of all, I go out on each safari, driving the back-up vehicle and hosting our guests in camp. I definitely did not come all the way to Africa to sit in an office. ‘The vehicle had been properly stuck so I’d just been digging in the sand in the heat of the day. Shows my job is not always glamorous!’ Read the full article bit.ly/LifeInTheWilderness

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