Sunset VIII - Nata
Packed up we headed off to Nata, a small village in Botswana's central district with a population approaching 8,000. Its biggest claim to fame is being home to the Nata Bird Sanctuary and our primary reason for visiting. At a distance of 300km, or about 5 hrs away, we were granted a lazy start which meant a full breakfast, a full shower, and full daylight when packing away the tents. It was a cruisy run compared to our first 2 days with the only formality going through a disinfectant dip station, one of many throughout Botswana, used to mitigate the spread of foot and mouth disease. Mr B guided the Wilderbus through a shallow trough covering the tyres but we were required to disembark and walk through a smaller version wearing our shoes. However, the Botwasnan government know full well no visitor travels with only one pair of shoes and Richard was adamant on our departure that we have our second pair unpacked and readily on hand to save any delay.
Taking the opportunity for a quick bushey-bushey while the shoes dried by the bus, we spotted a funky beetle just chillin’ around known as the Acanthus Discoidalis, and with two environmental scientists on tour we may well have been in 1835’s Galapagos Islands such was the excitement. The rest of the trip remained uneventful until we got closer to town and the familiar outlets of Chappies and Liquorama. With snacks and grog all loaded up we found our digs for the night at Nata Lodge just a few kilometres out of town. Like all the campsites we stayed in, Nata Lodge was an oasis on the African plains with powered tent sites, open aired and spotlessly clean ablution blocks, a swimming pool, bar, restaurant and even a gift shop. Catering to all level of traveller with private lodges and glamping style tents, the great thing about these sites is that all amenities are available to everyone regardless of residential status.
We established camp with the usual ring of tents then helped Nola set up the kitchen station before she prepared lunch, and with the cooler once again stocked we dined in the sun on delicious African style hotdogs and ice cold beverages. It was very laissez-faire befitting our ever slowing pace and a wonderful afternoon after a frantic first week. With a crystal blue pool on site it didn’t take much for many of us to head on down and test the waters, which as with all swimming this time of year, was frightfully cool but ultra refreshing.
With a few G&T’s in the slot, it was late afternoon when two jeeps miraculously surfaced to take us out to the bird sanctuary for an afternoon safari and what was promised would be beers by the lake. The Nata Bird Sanctuary is the only protected reserve in north-eastern Botswana and a community managed project assisted by the Nata Conservation Committee, and national and international organisations. Opening in 1993 it encompasses an area of 230 square kilometres with the conservation of wildlife its major objective. Home to over 165 bird species, the sanctuary is of international importance due to its population of 250,000 lesser, and greater flamingos which visit the sanctuary annually in winter to breed, always after the rainy season, or whenever the water sources are full with most of the birds migrating from Etosha on the west coast in neighbouring Namibia.
On entering the sanctuary it was singularly flat and barren with grasses being the dominant vegetation among clumps of shrubs and tress. Sticking only to the tracks we witnessed zebra, wildebeest, ostrich and just a few of the 165 bird species on offer. Driving though to the lakes edge, we covered the last 100 metre on foot for an up close and personal date with the hundreds on flamingoes feeding on the brine shrimps, worms, and tiny crustaceans plentiful in the warm shallow waters. Lyndall was of course in conservationist heaven, the flamingo being high on her African species list after missing them in Argentina, and on the shores of the Sua Pan she stood perched among the rushes putting her new Moon Bazooka to good use. Knowing her for forty years, Fatpap is pretty sure he’s never seen her happier.
The brochure sold this part of the trip as an opportunity to visit the Makgadikgadi Pan which Fatpap was particularly excited about. The Makgadikgadi, technically comprising many pans with sandy desert in between, is one of the largest salt pans in the world and what remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikgadi that dried up tens of thousands of years ago. Recent studies of human mitochondrial DNA suggests modern Homo Sapiens first began to evolve in the region 200,000 years ago when it was an exceptionally fertile area of lakes, rivers, marshes, woodlands and grasslands especially favourable for habitation by evolving hominins and other mammals.
The largest of the collection is the Sua pan and where we stood today. A dry, salty, clay crust most of the year, it is seasonally covered with water and grass becoming a refuge for birds and animals in this very arid part of the world and exactly how found on our visit. Only knee deep the water stretched for ever, and like all inland lakes was absolutely fascinating and a marvel of Mother Nature given the immediate surrounds.
With illusions shattered and goofy images on the pan unattainable, one could only concede that in full flood the Sua was equally impressive and when coming completely by surprise, even more memorable. The promised beers however were exactly per the brochure so we necked a few on the slopes of “Lake Makgadikgadi” watching the sun disappear over a ridiculously flat horizon. Africa of course delivered the goods for an eighth consecutive day and with the photos collated as they are before you now, one can see the amazing colour palette that afternoon produced.
We returned to camp to find dinner ready on arrival and as always, deliciously filling. The food had been eclectic, made from local ingredients and often traditional African dishes, or at the least western ones with an African twist, but there was no denying Nola had the uncanny ability of always creating fireside masterpieces that filled the stomach and warmed the heart. Her proclamation on our first night was spot on, she was vitally important to this tour and its success. We saw out the night by the open fire sharing stories and laughs, and in our case, a bottle of Amarula with Michelle. Bought only that afternoon it didn’t trouble us for long and never left Nata as intended. Meh. Another start at sparrows was needed in the morning so we reluctantly left the fireside as its final embers did the same.
