The trip to Botswana this year was organised by wildlife artist Pip McGarry. Tour leaders on the safari with Pip were Bill Hall, one of the UK's most experienced animal keepers and well known wildlife artist Caroline Debansi. Early September saw the group of 16 leave Heathrow for their destination of Maun, the safari capital of Botswana, via a short stop in Johannesburg.

The first night was spent in a hotel in Maun and saw the group settled in, bearing in mind some had never visited Africa before. The next day the safari began, using three very spacious vehicles to allow maximum room to manoeuvre for photographs and game viewing. The professional wildlife rangers accompanying the group were Guy, Rod and Steve. After several hours of driving during which the terrain gradually became wilder and wilder and tarmac road was replaced by tracks, we arrived in Moremi Game Reserve. On this, the very first day, we encountered Cape Hunting Dogs, four of them looking very sleek and relaxed. We also saw elephants, giraffe, impala, steenbok and many colourful birds.

During that night we were aroused by hyenas calling eerily around the camp, plus some browsing elephants whose eating noises sounded very loud through the flimsy canvas of our tent….and WHO was it snoring? We never did find out.

The next day we took a boat trip into the Okavango Delta. Stopping for a picnic lunch we swam, several persons who had no intention of swimming getting soaked through and eventually joining in. We saw reedbuck, lechwe, elephant, ground hornbill, red necked falcon (quite rare), bee-eaters, black backed jackal, marabou storks and crocodile, fish eagles and zebras. That night was spent at Acacia camp, normally the most beautiful and impressive of all our campsites, but due to the grasses being sparser, the impact was less. The tree mouse was still there from last year, Bill and Pip also called for the pearl spotted owl, which eventually responded!

We then toured the Khwai river area for a couple of days. We saw hippos, a crocodile swimming with an impala in its jaws, our first kudu, grey heron, waterbuck dwarf and slender mongoose, a bennets woodpecker, tsessebee, impala, our first lions, baboons vervet monkeys, giraffe, warthogs. The evenings were great, camping under the stars around a fire, comparing the different animals and events we had seen.

Amazingly, the weather suddenly turned. It actually rained one morning and was cold. Two vehicles returned to camp, though Caroline's more hardy crew stayed out game viewing. It also turned very cold at night…

But then the long trip onto Savute, an eery but beautiful place. Leaving Moremi we pass through 'Raptor Alley' so named for obvious reasons. We saw sable, waterbuck and elephant in this beautiful place. Stopping en route for a lunch in the Mababe depression we eventually arrived in Savute.

The first morning there we stopped and climbed up a very big outcrop of rocks to see the Bushmen rock paintings. A climbing competition ensued between Rob and Pip to see who could go highest. We then went on game viewing, more kudu, elephant (particularly around the waterholes), a pride of nearly twenty lions, sable, vultures, banded mongoose, bataleur eagles, our first ostriches, many guinea fowl running all over the place. One evening a particularly large elephant came up and touched our vehicle. Who was present when the three male lions chased off a young male right in front of the vehicles at the waterhole?…and why was Caroline and Sarah's vehicle back after dark each evening? The campsite was in a big dip, Lucy found it a bit eerie. Still no news on who is snoring.

Then onto the Chobe river area, stopping at the Ngoma gate for a sandwich lunch. Very hot and mens loos not working again! A very different terrain yet again, a river plain that goes on for miles. On the Botswana side an escarpment and scrub area, on the other side of the river, Namibia. A profusion of elephants, a dead elephant brought a stream of vultures, small zebra herds can be seen on the river plain. One morning a huge buffalo herd resting can be found. Over 1000 animals we guess. A big herd of sable (Guy counted sixty) and many other animals.

Then we take the afternoon boat trip on the Chobe river. An experience not to be missed. Elephants crossing the river, two having a mock fight on the water edge. Lions with a buffalo kill. Hippos, buffaloes, egrets, crocodile, giant and pied kingfisher, darters, bee -eaters, puku (an antelope similar to lechhwe), monitor lizard, bushbuck, kudu. All the cameras working overtime. Back to the campsite, watching the stunning red sunset on the way.

Finally, Saturday comes and we set off for Victoria Falls. We cross the Botswana/Zimbabwe border and book into our hotel. Then off to do various things. Some choose a helicopter trip over Victoria Falls, others go to the local market to bargain for local carvings, material, fabrics and souvenirs. Then a walk round Victoria Falls. The entry price has gone up from 6 US dollars to 20 US dollars. Good grief. But still worth it, the cool spray and beautiful sight of the Zambesi cascading over 100 metres to the floor below.

Our final evening is spent at the 'Mama Africa' restaurant ….could it possibly be as good as last year? Yes, was the answer, by the end of the evening the whole group had taken over the dance floor and were boogieing to the sound of the local band. What a place… please let me return next year.

Arrival at Johannesburg airport…great shopping…4-5 hours rounded off the perfect trip going mad with the credit cards in the superb and cheap duty free shops, clothes, booze, perfumes, more clothes…how on earth did we get it all on the plane?