Mokolodi Nature Reserve

Ready for a game drive.

Giraffe family!

Outdoor seating at Mokolodi restaurant.

We decided to start out the four-day Easter holiday with a trip to Mokolodi Nature Reserve this morning, and really enjoyed our two hour game drive and nice lunch afterwards. Mokolodi is a private game reserve right outside of Gaborone that offers several game drives each day, as well as more specialized activities like rhino or giraffe tracking walks and horseback safaris. There is also a quite nice safari lodge called Mokolodi House and a restaurant that is one of the better places to eat in Gaborone, both in terms of food quality and ambience.

Snack break at the lake.

Warthog family at the watering hole.

Today was our first time out to Mokolodi. We started with the 10:30 am game drive, which lasted two hours and took us all around the park with a snack break by the picturesque lake. The weather in Botswana is finally starting to cool down and it was lovely to spend the morning exploring the great outdoors in an open vehicle. We spotted giraffe, zebra, kudu, hippos, and warthogs, but unfortunately missed seeing the Mokolodi leopards and rhinos (there are no lions or elephants in the park). Lots of fun!

After the game drive, we checked out the restaurant and wolfed down a couple of burgers with fries. The food was decent, better than your average Botswana fare, but what was really nice about this restaurant is the peace and quiet, the relaxing atmosphere, and the proximity to the bush.  During the meal we were pleasantly surprised to watch a warthog family, including two little baby hogs, come up to drink out of the watering hole right next to where we were sitting, and then dart back across the middle of the playground... much to the delight of the children playing there! Makes for a pretty darn cool dining experience. We'll definitely be back to Mokolodi soon!