At the south eastern corner of Botswana lies the Mashatu Game Reserve, a privately owned chunk of land. We made it safely across the river and were picked up at the border, loaded into a big jeep and brought to our next camp.
Perhaps not as fancy or plush as our last stop (which will forever be hard to beat), Mashatu offers incredible wildlife and honestly, better game drives. The driver and tracker actually look for tracks and there is no walky-talky noise to distract or pollute the quietness. There is a great sense of vastness and space in Mashatu.
Even the animal behavior was different than in Timbavati, where we would see isolated animals or groups of the same animal together. However at Mashatu, the animals’ would comingle and mix. There would be wart hogs close to the car, a stoic male Kudu a few meters away, then zebra, giraffe, impala and wildebeests all grazing in the same vista.
Elephants roam the area too. At one point we saw two big families of almost a hundred elephants and twenty or so babies emerging from the forest. Even now writing about it makes me swell with emotion. It is incredible to find yourself in the company of such huge creatures – each with a unique personality and aura of dignity. 
