Savuti
New experiences in the Mababe Depression
In 1979 I departed Serondella and traveled back to Croc Camp and stashed some equipment there. I then in August I traveled North bound for Savuti and set up my tent on the banks of the Savuti Channel just upstream of the Kasane-Maun road ford. Savuti had no good shade trees and for the next few weeks I sweltered in the tent during the day. I was not overly productive here, but still experimenting with my watercolour paintings. I became very thin here, having misjudged the amount of food I needed and even was buying chicken eggs from rangers at the nearby game scout camp.
1/10 : In 1979, the Veterinary Department still sprayed every vehicle passing through Shorobe with DDT to kill Tsetse flies
2/10 : This was the country surrounding the Savuti campsite.
3/10 : Within a few days of making camp elephants became a nuisance. They were looking for for apples or oranges.
4/10 : Also within a few days hyena became a nuisance at night, often running off with anything one had inadvertently left outside after dark.
5/10 : I did get many opportunities to sketch elephants right in camp.
6/10 : Downstream there were large pools and thats where I did most of my fishing fro bream.
7/10 : This particular elephant was very well know in th e Savuti area as being very relaxed when close to humans.
8/10 : After a while marauding hyena went from being novel to being completely irritating.
9/10 : In some ways it was an idyllic few weeks living very close to nature
10/10 : When it was time to leave one had to negotiate 150 kilometers of bad roads to get back to Maun.
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