Jan Cochran’s love of journey was evident from a younger age. As a baby, she was notably fascinated by Africa, and on the age of 17, she launched into her first journey to Kenya by way of a pupil trade program. “That simply strengthened how a lot I liked Africa, and I’d at all times needed to return,” Jan says. She and her husband, Dennis Matthews, received that likelihood a number of years in the past, after they went on safari in East Africa. Jan and Dennis continued their travels, together with a Lindblad Expeditions cruise to the Galapagos Islands in 2018, however they nonetheless felt drawn to Africa. For his or her subsequent journey, nevertheless, they needed to attempt one thing totally different.
A Safari With a Mission: African Wild Canines
“We had associates who visited Botswana, they usually raved about it,” Dennis says. Most significantly, the nation had an abundance of one thing the couple hadn’t seen in East Africa: African wild canines, an animal on the high of his wildlife bucket checklist.
The couple found Pure Habitat Adventures on-line and booked two spots on our Botswana safari. Jan says Nat Hab’s small group sizes had been what attracted them.
“We actually like touring with small teams slightly than the massive tour bus journeys,” she explains. The couple’s Botswana journey group included simply eight individuals, together with their Expedition Chief, Richard Avilino, and a Nat Hab videographer.
Watch our video that includes Jan and Dennis: Exploring the Okavango | A Botswana Traveler Story:
As they set out, they crossed their fingers. They knew Botswana can be lovely, however would they get a glimpse of the animals they’d traveled midway world wide to see?
“The very very first thing we actually noticed was the wild canines,” Jan says in a brief movie produced through the journey. “All these pups, totally different ages, working round and taking part in. In my coronary heart, I used to be pondering, “Oh my gosh, I can’t imagine it! The primary time out: wild canines!”
The remainder of the journey would deliver many extra wildlife experiences. Their first evening at camp, they watched a gaggle of lion cubs—and even some adults—wrestling on the shore. Over the subsequent few days, they’d have up-close encounters with leopards lounging in gnarled bushes and elephants and giraffes ambling throughout the savanna.
“We’ve by no means been as near the animals as we had been in Botswana,” Jan says. “And since they’ve been protected for therefore lengthy, they didn’t pay any consideration to us in anyway!”
One other spotlight was a trip by way of the reedy marshes in a mokoro—a conventional poled dugout canoe—the place they had been capable of spot hippos rising out of the waters of the Okavango Delta.
“That was so totally different from anything we’ve ever executed,” Jan says.
Making Dream (Journeys) Come True
Jan and Dennis would like to return to Africa, however within the meantime, they’ve loads of adventures deliberate nearer to residence, from Yellowstone Nationwide Park to Costa Rica and Alaska.
However irrespective of the place the couple ventures subsequent, Botswana will at all times maintain a particular place of their hearts.
“I felt a connection to Botswana that I actually can’t clarify—there’s simply one thing about it,” Jan says. “There’s a sure sort of happiness once you’re in a spot that touches you so deeply that you simply cry. It’s highly effective.”
“Day-after-day was new and on daily basis was nice,” Dennis provides. “It was our dream journey.”
All photographs (besides function) © Dennis Matthews
