Day 143 - Three Lions, Twelve Elephants, One Honey Badger and Face to Face with a Lioness!

Day 143 - Three Lions, Twelve Elephants, One Honey Badger and Face to Face with a Lioness!                 

We wake at Suvuti for a 5.30am breakfast, the boys and I in one tent and Jo and Imogen in the other, but all the children are up and ready to go.  Jo was very cold in the night, as temperatures can plummet, so she is thinking twice about the game drive so KG escorts Imogen from her tent, to breakfast. We enjoy a good breakfast and get ready for the drive, then Jo appears who decided at the last minute to join us.   

It is still very cold, in fact freezing at 6.30am and KG starts up the truck and we head off, blankets provided, which the children snuggle into.  Jo is pleased she came out as shortly after turning down a narrow track we see a large heard of buffalo, grazing in the bush within a thin line of mist still laying in the cold air before the sunrise has had a chance to burn it off.   What a lovely early morning view.  

KG carries on with the drive and we soon spot an amazing site. Fred's keen eyes spot what looks like a male lion in the distance.  KG reverses up toward the river bank and we realise it is not one but three Male Lions walking right towards us, with purpose, probably 100m out, but something has alerted them to food.  

We then see a small group of buffalo that are separate from the main group with young and a small group of Tsessebe, again with young who soon become aware of the lions and make a quick exit.  The Male Lions just keep walking, in a line of three straight towards our truck, focused on the smell of potential breakfast, buffalo, who are now starting to make distress sounds and become fairly agitated, especially as they have young with them.  KG has radioed ahead and a couple of other trucks join us just as the three male lions amazingly walk right next to the trucks, within meters and then take a drink from the river before pondering their next move. They appear to be in no rush and rest in a nearby bush, allowing us to take some great photos, clearly keeping pace with the buffalo before deciding to make their move.

Snoozing with one eye on the prize!

   Taking a rest, but with one ear and one eye on buffalo breakfast, the three lions take an extended snooze.  We watch them for a while and the children are mesmerised at being so close to not one but three male lions and we then head back to camp, where we need to pack and be on our way.

We get back in time for another breakfast snack before packing up and heading off at about 9.40am to our next destination, Khwai, which is a community camp off the river, as basic and wild as it gets with no facilities what so ever! The children are going to love it!

Khwai is about 100km south of Savuti and we head out down the track where we saw the lions and amazingly they are still there. We are the only vehicle around and it looks like lethargy has got the better of the brothers, but probably getting plenty of sleep before they feed tonight.  We travel on for about an hour through the bush and the boys spot a small group of Elephants, some 200m off the track heading towards us. I decided to stop the land rover by a bush and reverse up, so that the land rover is completely visible to the elephants but next to the bush, but right on the animal track that the Elephants appear to be walking.  I switch off the engine and tell everybody to be completely silent as the small heard of Elephants get closer and closer.  They can clearly see the landrover and I assumed they would start to vere away, but no ............... they keep walking down the path straight towards us, not moving off the path at all.  .............. We could now see that it was a family with some young Elephants amongst the group.  This could get interesting, but the elephants seemed fairly calm by our presence.  ............  Ok, nobody make a sound, just keep very calm!  ..........  The elephants were now some 10m from the landrover and half of the group started to walk towards the rear of the landrover whilst the mother and young ones walked towards the bush, ..................... Imogen, my 8 year old, had stopped breathing by now, having recently shown her a newspaper article of a rogue bull elephant leaning on a car and then using its tusks to roll the car down into a ditch.  You could have heard a pin drop in the landy as the matriarch came passed the bush with her family and turned toward the landy, now some 3 metres away, flapping her ears and letting off a huge trumpet sound with her trunk ................ nobody moved an inch and the immortal words of 'play it cool Trigg, play it cool', came into my head as she said her piece and continued to walk passed the landrover with her troop! ...................... a sharp intake of breath came from Imogen as she remembered to breath and we all relaxed a little - I have never seen the children so quiet throughout the whole trip. What a fantastic moment to share.  All our hearts were pumping quite fiercely as being that close to them, there was no way we could have started the engine and tried to move, that would have had disastrous consequences.  The elephants were always aware of our presence and had no intention of diverting and just let us know that we had been an inconvenience.  Wow, two amazing encounters in one morning. ................ and they say things come in three's!  

Elephant video

The Landy was fairly quiet for a while following our elephant encounter as we made our way Mababe, which was the exit gate to Chobe, some 70km away from Savuti through deep sand, which meant it was going to take us some 4 hours to make the gate, including the game drive on the way.

We are all relieved to eventually reach the gate by about 3.00pm (we were supposed to have been out of the gate by 11.00am according to our permit, but managed to get away with it!), as the last hour of the journey we had seen virtually no wildlife, only dust, dust and more dust and Jo had helped out with a bit of the driving.  We then take a real off road short cut to join the road to Khwai, the community camping area by the river where we would spend our next night beneath canvas.  It really was just turn up and find a pitch anywhere, completely in the bush and just off the river bank where there were an abundance of Hippo's and Crocs.  Fantastic!.  .....................  and a little different to the New Forest in good old England!  

Imogen digging the WC

Some of the Overland Camping groups had set up a veritable 'homestead' in the trees but the overnight campers had to pitch somewhere nearer to the river, wherever looked cosy? ............. and obviously much closer to the Hippo's and Croc's! Khwai community area covers about 1800km of bush and has a very high concentration of predators, so it was going to be an interesting evening.  We had heard that there were a pride of 9 lions close by, so we needed to be alert and get a fire going very quickly as soon as we had found a place to put up the tent.     

I drove around for a while, just off the river bank, looking for a suitable area to pitch the tent and came across a suitable patch of open grass.  However, I noted another smaller patch, a little more secluded, some 20 meters away from the Landy and got out to check it over, telling everyone else to stay in the Landy until I came back.  I was walking towards the patch of long grass and noted an animal track in front of me, which for some reason I decided to follow.  As I stepped on the stubbly track, the short grass crunched under my feet and I remember immediately thinking, 'well that will scare anything away thats hiding!'  ..................... just as I finished that thought, I looked up to see a huge lioness, 5 meters away from me, startle and jump up from behind a bush.  It was as if everything from that moment now moved in slow motion. The lioness had awoken suddenly by the crunching of the grass and seemed to grow larger and larger as she stood to a full position, turning her head towards me and letting of a loud and deep roar as she grew larger. ................  I felt like Victor Meldrew! ' I don't believe it, its a bloody lion!' ......... A huge amount of information flashed through my head in a split second, calculating distances and probabilities as I stood motionless, assessing what she was going to do. I didn't move or make a sound and lucky for me I had disturbed her from her sleep which had put her on edge -  this fortunately caused her to turn and run into the bush in front of her, where another two lioness's were asleep in the sun and no sooner had she turned her back on me, I ran back to the Landy as fast as I could.  I got back to the Landy and opened the door and sat back in the seat, trying to make sense of what had just happened. It was quite a bizzarre moment as the children were having a bit of an argument and Jo was trying to calm them all down, none the wiser and I had just walked out in front of a lion! 

Having completed a Game Ranger course in South Africa 7 years earlier, I remember being constantly told , when you get out of the landrover always be aware that there could be a lion behind the bush! ........... in 1800km of bush, you just don't think it is going to be your bush! ............... but there she was ................ a strong lesson learned.  

Later having thought about the situation, it was extremely lucky that I had got out to check the pitch and chosen to walk on the stubble, as if we had simply pitched at the spot we had stopped, the next step would be for everyone to gather wood for the fire! ......... that would not have been good!

I drove the Landy a few hundred meters away and found another pitch, got some dry timber and lit a large fire as soon as possible and made the rule that nobody strays from between the fire and the landrover, as it was now getting dark. We ate a quick meal cooked over the fire and then Imogen, as cute as she is, piped up and said 'Daddy ......... I need a poo'.     Ahhh, I had dug the poo hole on the other side of the fire!  Right, ok we will have to be quick!  I grabbed a couple of torches and we found the nicely dug hole and while Imogen hovered over to do her business, I stood over her with two torches looking for the glowing green eyes of a lion or two!  'Quick Imogen .... as quick as you can'! 

It had been an eventful day and after getting the children into their tent up on the Landy roof, Jo and I were just getting in our tent on the ground when something was making a noise around the side of the Landy. Go and have a look she said as I took the torch and shone it on the ground ................ It was a Honey Badger!!  ............ the most feared animal of the bush! Feared by elephants, even feared by lions, as the honey badger will strike by attacking your testicles!  Elephants and lions have been known to bleed to death, having had their testicles firmly taken out.  ................. Bugger! This honey badger was making his way to our tent as I was desperately trying to shoo him away, whilst firmly holding on to my testicles, much to the amusement of the children peering out through their tent.  

The most feared animal of the bush!  The Honey Badger.

I had the pleasure of looking after a honey badger in the rehabilitation clinic mentioned previously, so knew them very well.  The one I looked after was 'friendly' as it had grown up with humans since a cub and had a problem with being unable to smell anything, therefore could never be released back into the wild.  I used to pick it up when it escaped, which was frequently, very smart animals, and it is a complete ball of muscle, with exceptionally sharp teeth, one of the strongest animals I have seen.

After negotiating his escape, we finally got some sleep, dozing to the sound of lions roaring in the distance and Hippo's munching their way through their nightly tonnage of grass on the river bank.    .....................  What a day! ............  Needless to say any pee requirements in the night were very close to home! 

Day 142. Deep Sand and Leopards.

Day 142.     Deep Sand and Leopards.

 Packing up this morning to head south to Savuti, one of Africa's best known big game reserves, which is still part of Chobe National Park, but the Park is not continuous so you have to exit the river section and re-enter 80km further south. Savuti is described as a place of enchantment, of beauty and boasts one of the greatest concentrations of animals in Southern Africa.
The Land Rover is nearly packed when Jo starts to get breakfast prepared, putting food on the table ..... but suddenly, as our backs are turned for no more than a second, a large Baboon appears from nowhere, snatches our whole loaf of bread from the table, still in the packet and scarpers, as quick as it arrived! Thieving Rotten Baboons! - The boys and I quickly set up chase, as this was the only bread we had, but soon realise we have very little chance of catching him! Baboons have an exceptional eye site and have colour vision in the same way we do, they need it to source ripened fruit and the pink colour of the rump of a female who is ready to mate. They will carefully sit there considering their plan of attack in detail and will move extremely quickly, as bold as can be, when the opportunity arises to make their strike. ......... Well whilst the baboons were having our breakfast we sat down and made do with what was left!  The children were quite shocked at how quickly and boldly the Baboons took the bread!   New security measures were required!


 Exiting Chobe National Park through the Ngoma Gate, we head out for a game drive and it is not long before we notice a Impala carcass high up in a tree, suspecting breakfast for a leopard who would probably be back later for seconds.









We also see plenty of Common Water Buck, with the tell tale white target on their back sides, looking as though they have just sat down on a freshly white painted toilet seat! Classified as the 'least threatened' species as a conservation status, with an estimated 200,000 in existence, they tend to live for about 18 years and emit a smelly, oily secretion from their shaggy brown -grey coats, thought to be their waterproofing, but it is so strong that it even deters predators!  A very sedate looking and gracious animal with widely spaced and gracefully curved back and up horns.  Harry found the 'toilet seat' bottom highly amusing.


 We also see plenty of African birds, Kudu and Elephants along the way. We continue down various tracks and decide to take an inland loop where we see more elephants and are heading back toward the exit gate, but signage is limited. We find a straight piece of track, quite wide that should take us back and we follow this for some time, only realising the reverse side of a sign as we drive passed it towards the end of the track, which reads; 'No Entry' - Police and Botswana Defence Force Vehicles Only!!  Bugger! we have done it again! 




With a little more acceleration and no obvious sounds of gun fire, the children breath a sigh of relief, as do I and we get through to the end of the track that brings us back on the National Park tarmac road, so it is an easy drive back to the Ngoma Gate.
 The drive from Ngoma gate to Ghoha gate is approximately 78km and is a very scenic drive on what starts out as a very smooth tarmac road, so unusually smooth and unexpected, that we even consider a stop for a coffee break, as we will make Ghoha in easy time. Thankfully we didn't, as the smooth tarmac road stopped at Kachikau ...... very suddenly! and immediately changes to deep sand for the next 41km! Driving that far through deep sand is exhausting as you need to concentrate on every yard! not matter what you do to the steering wheel, the tyres are going to follow the deep sand tracks that the wheels are currently in; it is like an unpredictable form of automated driving and the steering wheel is constantly slipping through your hands as the wheels find their own path! The last thing you want to do is stop as you might never get going again in the sand, so any pee stop needed to be at the top of a hill! ....... so plenty of; ...  'hold on kids we will stop soon!'



 Eventually, in one piece, we reach the Ghoha Gate and complete the necessary paperwork to enter and continue the next 29km down to Savuti, again we have deep sand tracks and the boys take it in turns to practice their 'off road' driving skills! - not bad for an 8 and 9 year old! - with me controlling the pedals of course (and the sand controlling the wheels!). The temperature is rising and it is beginning to get very hot and as most wildlife seems to be sheltering from the sun on the way through, we head out to Harvey's Pan, a large salt pan that comprises a number of waterholes that keep their rainwater for months. This is the area where Dereck and Beverley Joubert shot their DVD, 'Ultimate Enemies', capturing the rivalry between Elephant and Lion, driven together for their desperate need for water. It is also known as a great area for birding because of the shallow water at the edges of the pans and we have our hopes up for some animal sitings, but with the temperature rising we only see a lone Elephant and a few Giraffe, so soon head quickly across to Camp Savuti, a couple of kilometres further on. Our stay at Camp Savuti is in a tented lodge, which was originally going to be for two nights, but with a tight budget we only stayed for one night, so we arrive at about 1.30pm, in plenty of time to enjoy our stay, with a good wash and brush up from camping. We were greeted by the staff and shown to two tents where they were fairly insistent that a parent had to sleep in each tent, just in case unwanted visitors arrive in the night! and they provide us with plates to have our lunch and ask us to be ready for tea and cake at 3.00pm and a game drive at 3.30pm. ............. Great, we had no idea a game drive was included, as they we thought this was only part of the full board option, so happy to take a break from driving and be chauffeured to some wonderful sites. 'KG' is our guide for the drive and we are joined by a very nice Swiss couple form the camp. We had some great encounters on the game drive, seeing a large heard of about 700 Buffalo,



Elephants, Antelope and then much to everyones delight we spotted a Leopard, high up on a rocky outcrop, looking as though she was making her way down the rock face. We all sat and watched with eyes fixed on the rocks, but we lost her for a while and then suddenly she appeared in right front of the vehicle on the track. It was a fantastic siting, we watched her for as long as we could, but KG had to get back us back to camp fairly swiftly before the gate closed, so we watched and then headed off at speed.  The children were very excited about seeing the Leopard.

Leopards are such amazing creatures. Although they appear fairly sleek and lethargic, they are one of the most fearsome animals.   ..................  Some 7 years previous to this trip, I had been working in a rehabilitation clinic for injured animals in South Africa and I had been asked to go into the food pen to collect some dead chicks to feed to the injured Vultures. As I walked into the fenced pen, there was an enclosed holding pen within it, like a walled cell, with a large door, within which was a viewing hole with bars in, about 16 inches square. ........ In the holding pen was a 'wild' Leopard (in more ways than one!) who had just been captured as she had been spotted by locals on their farmland and was going to be shot unless the team picked her up within half an hour and rescued her, to move her to another area. She had literally just been captured and put in the holding pen before being moved.  I looked through the bars of the door as I could hear the Leopard painting loudly and anxiously from her frightening ordeal. She was sitting at the door, her face no more than 18 inches from mine, looking straight at me.  It was absolutely amazing. Knowing I had the protection of the door and bars, I stared through the opening and couldn't believe she was so close, not moving, staring right at me and panting heavily. I stood there in awe and looked right into her eyes and could feel her breath on my face.  Her head seemed huge and she was no longer the sleek almost lethargic wanderer, she was the strongest and most fearsome face I had ever seen, yet amazingly beautiful.
They say you should never stare into the eyes of a leopard and I can see why. I stared for what appeared to be ages, hearing the loud and fast panting of her breath ................ suddenly she jumped at the opening with such speed and power and let out a huge growl, frightening the living daylights out of me. The energy and strength that she showed in that split second was unreal and the Leopard is certainly an animal who's strength should never be underestimated. She would have torn me to shreds in seconds had there been no door! ........ her face is an image I will never forget and an animal I will always respect!

An animal not to be misjudged