From Berkshire spaniels to African meerkats – Petpals visits Botswana!

17th October 2016

 

Ruth and Les Wall, owners of Petpals Crowthorne and Bracknell have recently returned from a once in a lifetime trip to the Kalahari desert.

The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in southern Africa extending 350,000 sq miles, covering much of Botswana, parts of Namibia  and regions of South Africa.

Over to Ruth to recount the story of their extraordinary adventure;

‘Going on a safari to the Okavango Delta in Botswana has been on my husband Les’s bucket list since long before I met him. For those who don’t know (like me before I started researching the trip!) the Okavango delta is a huge wetland which is home to a huge variety of wildlife including elephant, buffalo, hippopotamus, wildebeest, giraffe,  crocodile, lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena, wild dog, black and white rhinoceros, zebra, and many, many more wonderful species.

‘We know that most people wait until retirement before doing big trips like this but a few things happened, as they do in many people’s lives and, being in the fortunate position to be able to leave our Petpals business in good hands with our trusted team of walkers and pet carers, Les said he didn’t want us to wait before achieving his dream so, after a few months of planning and research, we were off to Africa.

‘I will happily admit that going on safari had been Les’ dream not mine; I probably wouldn’t ever have suggested it as a holiday but I’m so glad he did and of course now, I’m a complete convert, it was truly magnificent. We saw some incredible sights and met some wonderful people. The only problem now trying to work out how to afford a return trip in the wet season for the flowers. The wildlife all over Botswana is absolutely amazing, the people are delightful and when you add in magnificent scenery, what’s not to love?

‘These photos with the meerkats, were taken in the Kalahari Desert one freezing cold October morning. We had spent much of the night before admiring the most amazingly black starry sky we had ever seen, (none of the light pollution we suffer from in the UK).

The next morning we got up very early and headed off into the rather chilly desert to meet the meerkats and their minder. Although completely wild, a few meerkat families have been conditioned to accept human beings being around. It was originally done so that their lifestyle could be researched, since they are normally incredibly shy, but continued so privileged tourists like us could see them close up.Ruth Wall gets up close and personal with a meerkat

Apparently they now see humans as part of the landscape and, in a flat desert, we make a handy vantage point. We were warned not to try to stroke them as a nasty bite could be the end result but they were all very well behaved, as you can see, happily sitting on Les’s hat.  Sadly they weren’t so keen sitting on me as I was only wearing a scarf. It had been very cold and dusty driving into the desert on quad bikes and I’d needed it to keep the warmth in and the dust out.

Despite my odd headwear, as you can see, one meerkat did end up with me sitting very, very still. I could feel her warmth through my trousers.  Interestingly, we were told that if the meerkats didn’t have someone with them full time they would revert to shyness within a few weeks.

As people who look after pets full time, although mainly dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and guinea pigs, it was wonderful to meet such an inquisitive, intelligent creature as the meerkat and we both feel very honoured to have spent some time with such a special species and hope very  much to return in the future. If we do, we’ll be sure to wear our Petpals’ fleece and coats next time!’


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