safarhis

Saturday was another 5am start. Rhiannon, who had slept for four and a half hours, was understandably less than bright eyed and bushy tailed but a mug of hot chocolate and the prospect of another game drive soon did the trick. She quickly spotted a pair of jackals, the camera whirring quietly. By now, her photographs had started to attract attention from the others and they kept asking to see what she had taken. I would hear the word “wow!” more times that day than I ever had before.

We saw jackals, zebra and giraffes during “golden hour” which is what Rhiannon calls the first hour after the sun had risen:

It was clear from the outset that Joe was a man on a mission. He wanted to find a leopard. After a number of radio exchanges, he told us that a leopard had been seen but was very shy so we would need to proceed with caution.

The leopard hunt was much less intense than the wild dog chase but still very exciting. Another driver alerted Joe to her position and Joe told us that she was in a bush eating an impala. Brody and Tom jokingly said that we wanted to see a cub too, as we had with the lions. Joe smiled, “We will see” before telling us to minimise noise as we approached.

Arriving at the area, we waited for another truck to reverse out of the vantage point before we drove towards the spot. There was the leopard. The most beautiful animal I had ever seen. I felt transfixed by her pale eyes and as looked straight at us seeing only a truck. Just alongside her, eating the impala, was her cub. Joe had delivered again!

The leopard was unsettled by the trucks (two more arrived whilst we were there) and slinked by into the bushes. Her cub finished eating and followed her. Reluctantly we left.

As we drove away, we saw elephants, zebra and impala. Rhiannon was pleased to spot a tree squirrel which, she declared, had been on her ‘wish list’. We then made a tea and coffee stop which was on my wish list.

We had a visit to a local village, Ditshiping (pronounced ‘Disipee’). 400 people live there including the mokoro ‘polers’ from yesterday.

There is a pre-school but, at the age of five, children go to school in Maun and live there, only returning to the village for the school holidays. They remain in school until 17 and hardly any return to live in the village.

The villagers have pet dogs, one of which made a bee line for Rhiannon of course. She responded with the familiar greeting of, “Hello, Boy!”, giving his head a very restrained pat before washing her hands thoroughly with anti bac. Domestic dogs aside, she has not laid one finger on any animal.

Some of the villagers work in safari lodges, others in the community garden selling vegetables to the lodges, others work on the mokoros. Ultimately, the safari lodges and tourism are the means to providing an income and a living to this and other villages.

Joe was waiting for us at the truck. He drove us to a familiar track nearby but announced that “the wild dogs are not available right now.” He explained that this meant that they had almost certainly not managed to make a kill last night so had gone out again. We briefly saw the Alpha female, wondering where the males were. Joe said that, if necessary, she would venture out herself.

We saw a few buffalo, caked with dried mud. More dangerous than lions, Joe said, as there is no warning that they will charge. Once their victim is on the floor, a buffalo will stamp on them for an hour or so until they are dead, even lions.

That made it four of The Big Five. Rhiannon told me that her personal Big Five would be lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog and hyena. Her Bird Big Five is: LBRs, little bee eater, yellow hornbill, African fish eagle and jacana.

After lunch at the lodge, an outdoor shower and packing, we were back out on a drive. Joe asked what we all wanted to do. We voted for another visit to the leopard. This time, Joe allowed Rhiannon to sit in the passenger seat so she would have an unimpeded view

Neither leopard was in the hideaway with the dead impala and so we searched the area. Joe listened carefully to the birds’ alarm calls and noticed that the monkeys were high in the trees staring in one direction.

One bird in particular – a red-billed spurfowl – was making a real fuss. The call was intended to warn other birds and animals of the close proximity of danger. Someone asked if the leopard knew what the bird was saying. “Yah,” Joe answered, “so when she is hunting, she just avoids the birds.”

Our shy leopard was not hiding. She was sleeping on the ground, barely 10 feet from the spurfowl (or “the snitch” as we liked to call it). There was a narrow line of sight but we managed to take our photos. Rhiannon had a better view from in the front. Had it been possible, she would have preferred to get lower to the ground but we never leave the car when animals are around. They see only the vehicle, not the driver and passengers but if we were to step out, predators see something else: food.

After watching Mrs Leopard turn back, we turned our attention towards her cub whose whereabouts were hitherto unknown but who, Joe thought, would not have ventured far. Sure enough, after driving slowly around the bush, eagle eye Joe spotted the cub in a tree. As the light started to fade, we sat there, mesmerised by the view of a two month old male cub relaxing in a tree whilst the birds complained vociferously all around.

Reluctantly, we left him. Rhiannon remained in the front on the way back to the lodge, asking Joe about his family, telling him about hers and about Macsen and the cats and bunnies (he was fascinated to hear about the pets – they only seemed to have dogs).

We had missed our sundowner again but no one minded. We would all rather have been watching the leopards. We chatted happily amongst ourselves as the sun set. The morning and evening skies are breathtaking. Literally breathtaking.

A party of six Australians had arrived at the lodge. They sat one side of the dining room and we were on the other, drinking – respectively – gin, beer, wine and welcome drinks (!) and watching Rhiannon edit her photos which showed in much more detail what we had seen.

At dinner, the six of us sat on one table together. We ate fish on the bone … well, some of it. Rhiannon gave it a very good go as she has been doing with everything. On balance, she preferred the homemade brioche rolls, however.

After dinner, the Aussies retired to bed and the rest of us accompanied Rhiannon to do a bit of astrophotography. TH drove us a short distance where she captured the Milky Way and we all wondered at the number and brightness of the stars.

Back at the lodge, we said our farewells to our new friends, promising to stay in contact. We really could not have asked for a better lodge, a better guide and better company for our first safari.