African Safari 2007

Our somewhat bumpy flight took about 1:25. KB and Mass met us at the airstrip and took us back to our camp, Kwando Lagoon. Along the way we stopped to see a pack of African wild dogs, which are quite rare. They were all lounging around, digesting last night's kill. We also saw a number of impala, the local 'fast food', a.k.a. "Kwando McDonalds", African 'fast' food. We were shown around camp and to our "tree tents". They were the two newest tents, and the only ones up on stilts. They were quite large and very nice.

At 4pm for tea we went to the main hall and then headed out for an evening game drive. The first thing we saw was 4 male lions sleeping in the road. We got up quite close, they seemed completely uninterested in us (and barely able to keep their eyes open long enough to look at us!). As we drove around we saw more impala and then went to see the wild dogs again in the hopes that we'd be able to follow the pups to a kill. We waited around for a while, but the parents returned without any kill so we moved a short distance for a sunset drink. (The pups squeaked excitedly when the parent returned, it sounded like quatimundis!).

We heard lots of 'plinky' frogs (known here as bell frogs). One the way back to camp we saw some baby impala and a hippo with a baby. All the guests met for dinner at a huge table, then we walked back to our tent (escorted since there are often hippo in camp!). We fell asleep to a  cacophony  of pleasant jungle sounds.

Our 5am wakeup was pretty early, but we had some coffee and a light breakfast at 5:30 to get us going. At 6 we drove out from camp in search of "big stuff". We saw lots of birds, some wildebeest and a warthog. Then we saw a lone male elephant and stopped for some pictures. He eyed us for a bit, then walked off when he decided we were not that interesting.

We saw a giant baobab tree with big chunks missing where the elephants had dug into it for water during the dry season. We stopped for coffee at the edge of a channel where we saw two groups of hippos in the water. On the way back we saw two different groups of giraffes, one with about 15 in it, of all different sizes and colorings. They are really crazy looking animals! (One had big claw marks and a chunk missing, apparently from a battle with a lion).

We continued back and saw another warthog, an anahinga bird, some open billed storks and a couple of crocodiles (actually just their eyes). We also saw a rock monitor lizard sunning itself on a termite hill. We made it back to camp just in time as Rick was definitely in need of some food, water and a nap.

After lunch Randy did a first pass on pictures, and we all chatted on the balcony outside our tents. Just before tea time we all reviewed the journal so far. At 4:30 we headed out with KB and Mass. We drove along the river and saw a group of hippos, then we saw a water monitor lizard and lots of birds. At this point we got word from the other jeep that they had spotted a leopard and were following it. We buckled our seat belts and took off to try to see it. When we arrived the cat was walking through some bushes. There was an impala right in front of us, which we later learned was the mother of a baby impala that the leopard had just killed. The remains of the kill were in the tree and the leopard jumped up and grabbed a leg, which it proceeded to eat under a bush.

Cameras were clicking away in both cars as we watched. After finishing the leg, she went up into the tree, posed in the sun, then came down the other side. We then followed her through the brush, pushing through with the jeep (the small trees and brush bounced right back after we went over them, they are adapted to dealing with elephants!). The Leopard went up into another tree for a while and was very cooperative in posing for amazing pictures, even dangling her back legs over a big branch..

Then she walked over to an ant hill which she climbed on top of for a rest in the sun. For her last amazing photo op she walked down to a small pond to drink, in a spot where her reflection was visible. It was such an amazing experience, it would have been hard for her to be any more cooperative. Our guides did a fantastic job of tracking her and keeping her in view for over an hour! (The two of us snapped about 400 pictures in that time!)

As the sun was about to set, we headed to a nice spot for an evening cocktail, all a bit high from the adrenaline rush of the experience. We were laughing and giggling. The light at sunset was, as usual, stunning. Rick snapped away with the camera and got some great shots. Back at camp Randy quickly downloaded the pictures so that we could see them. We were very happy with the results! We had a very lively and delicious dinner, then headed off to our tent at about 10pm for bed.

After a light hot breakfast we headed out for the morning drive. We drove in the opposite direction along the river from the night before. We saw antelope, many birds and hippos. We had coffee by the river where Rick persevered and got a shot of a hippo with his mouth open.

We saw some zebra and more antelope, then KB and Mass noticed some fresh lion tracks along the road. We spent about half an hour trying to track them. From the tracks, it looked like they had been chasing something but were unsuccessful. We decided to head back to camp and then saw a large pack of baboons walking through the tall grass. We followed them for a bit, but they definitely kept their distance.

Back at camp we had brunch (introducing breakfast sandwiches to Botswana), and then retired to our tents for siesta. After a short nap we spotted a hippo on the opposite side of the river, munching on the grass. After four o'clock tea we hopped in the jeep for the night drive. We were joined by a new guide named Sage who was starting his training. The sky on the horizon looked a bit ominous, so we made sure to pack our rain gear.

After watching a family of wart hogs we stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the thunderstorms that were moving into the area. We continued on, skirting around the edges of the storms. Near the river we spotted a hippo out of the water and as we drove towards it we saw a large troop of baboons which we stopped to watch for a while. Continuing on we tried to get close to the hippo, but he saw us and lunged into the river.

The storms continued to look blacker and blacker, but our guides seemed unfazed. We stopped by the river for our evening cocktail. By this point it looked certain that we'd get wet, so we put on our rain jackets and headed back to camp. It was one of the most spectacular lightning storms that any of us had ever seen, we were oo'ing and ah'ing all the way, sunset on one side, lightning storm on the other. Our guides did an amazing job of driving around the thunder storms, we ended up not getting wet at all! Back at camp everyone was very excited and we had a very animated dinner. Two Dutch couples had arrived that afternoon and we had great fun chatting with them.

After our usual 6am breakfast, we jumped in the jeep for our last game drive. After a short while we saw a couple of giraffe crossing the road. Then we saw some antelope running across the road and noticed that the giraffe were looking nervous. All of a sudden we saw one of the wild dogs running after the antelope. We quickly buckled up and started to track the dogs. We drove around for a while looking for tracks, then finally found them near a watering hole. They hadn't caught anything but they were all animated, jumping around and playing with each other. After watching them for a while we set out again.

Driving along we spotted the same leopard we had seen two nights before. We followed it for a bit, but she wasn't being nearly as much of a show off. We decided to go and look for lions which we ended up finding fairly quickly. It was a single male lion and he once again looked very sleepy. We had to keep Assana from jumping out and petting him (just kidding).

Back at camp we had packed, then had breakfast. Afterwards we said goodbye to everyone, then KB and Mass drove us down to the airstrip.  

   Next Page