Lucky Canadian Girl: Safari Time in the Okavango Delta!

The rain stopped and I was actually able to connect through the net and call my mom.

She told me my brother asked just how many safaris I needed to go on…

The answer?

As many as I can.

I have just returned from the Okavango Delta in north-west Botswana.

One word cannot describe my time there.

It was…incredible, beautiful, relaxing, educational, amazing, SO worth a trip to Africa!

But for now let me tell you a bit about my weekend in the “bush” (with no cellular service and no internet for four days!).

Quick highlights -

Tiny, sweet little lion cubs

A one week old giraffe!

Hippos!

Lions with a kill…

And finally, a leopard!

The night we saw the leopard, we had already returned to camp from our evening game drive.

The little plane that flew me from Maun to my camp

We had just had some pre-dinner drinks poured when we heard a leopard had been spotted nearby. We all hopped back into our truck and were off. We met up with two other trucks and briefly spotted the beautiful young leopard sitting on the road. But just as fast as we found it, it disappeared back into the grass.

The other two trucks went back to their camp. We were relentless.

Unfortunately our spotlight was broken and we were only using a flashlight.

Our guide radio-ed back to the camp and, very quickly we were back in business.

The firepit area in camp with a couple
Impala just grazing...

Our tracker and guide traced the leopard’s paw prints and anticipated where it might be.

We found him.

He was beautiful.

We lost him again briefly in the grass…

Then, to our surprise, out came a hyena.

EEEEWWW – those things, I’m sorry to say, are NOT at all pretty.

Before long, we tracked down the leopard again.

He was long, lean and on a hunt.

We spotted antelope nearby.

The leopard was hungry.

We found the right spot, turned off our light and listened.

Only the sounds of crickets, frogs, and other “critters” were heard in the night.

Only light came from the amazing number of stars in the sky.

(I had NO idea how many stars were actually in amongst the stars that made the Orion constellation!)

We probably sat for a good 45 minutes when finally we heard a commotion.

The sweetest little lion cubs!

Then silence again.

We turned the spotlight back on.

The antelope were gone.

The leopard missed.

As much as maybe I wanted to see a “kill”, I was kinda glad we didn’t and we headed back to camp.

The hippos!

I SO much wanted to have a hippo encounter.

You know, me and a hippo face-to-face-ish…

And everyone kept telling me that was a dumb idea.

Afterall, hippos are the number one killers of humans in Africa!

Really!

And I didn’t get it until I had my own close-up, heart-stopping lion encounter.

Worthog
This little "cutie" freaked me out in the camp,
he was just hangin' out on the path to my tent!

It was a rather rainy morning and we had just seen a mama giraffe and her one week old baby!

How cute!

The little male had his umbilical cord still hanging from him – that’s how “fresh” he was!

And yet, he was taller than me!

(They come out head first from their standing mom at 2 metres tall! Literally dropped into the world!)

So there we are – high from this sweet safari experience when we head to see young male lions with their kill. Now this is one of those safari experiences that you either want to see or don’t want to see. I was certain I wanted to see this!

The young male lions were sleeping. Their dinner, a zebra, was just around the other side of a bush.

It was amazing to see how it had been cleaned right out, the whole body was in tact, it was just that it had been opened and emptied.

You could literally count all the ribs…It was empty.

My lovely lovely

Closer to our truck were the zebra’s lungs.

And on the other side of the truck, partially covered was another “innard.”

(They cover up parts they haven’t eaten yet to hide the scent from other predatory scavengers like the jackal, hyena, and vulture.)

One of the lions woke to check on its half-eaten dinner.

We watched and took lots of pictures.

It licked the zebra’s skin (also to mask the scent), then, it came to check on that lung.

When it began eating the lung, I almost lost the muffin I ate at breakfast…

I was recording it (yup – some of you will be lucky to see it if you want!) and thought, someone at home will find this interesting…

Honestly, I get that it’s nature, but it was kinda gross – hearing, seeing, smelling it all…

Anyway – the lion decides he’s had enough and now he’s gone around our truck to check on the other zebra innard he’s left in a pile of grass.

At this point, I’m feeling totally at home with the lion, it’s doing his thing, I’m doing mine…

I start taking selfies with the lion behind me…

When Tuelo (my guide) whispers loud enough for me to hear, “Cherrie! Do NOT move. He sees you.”

"My lion selfie"
Just before I thought I was gonna get pounced on!

WHAT???

I mean, yeah, I saw the lion scrapping the ground, putting more grass on top of his food.

I see him move around a bit.

I see him look up in one of my selfies.

UH DUH.

He sees me.

I am not moving.

I am not breathing.

He approaches the truck.

I swear his paws are right under it, he’s sniffing.

I hear this.

I’m freaking out a little.

I know that all he has to do is jump up and I’m gone.

And of course, as soon as he takes one whiff of the truck, he realizes it’s not new dinner.

Phew!

I’m breathing again.

I’m ready to go.

And a close encounter with a hippo?

Yeah – I no longer want that!

Two young male lions

Tuelo, our guide, and Chester, our tracker are awesome.

They both grew up in the Delta.

They know their stuff.

Seriously – they can make all the bird noises.

They can tell you what something is from miles away.

And then they have the craziest, most detailed info about every creature.

In as much as it was a fun safari, it was totally educational also.

The camp – Little Kwara is so great.

There are only five tents at the camp, which means personal service!

I would say that for most of the time I was there, there were more staff than guests!

The personal attention is amazing.

The food was so delicious.

Home-made bread and muffins in the morning.

Delicious meals.

Totally spoiled.

Also – this camp does not have fences to keep the animals away.

So once it’s dark, you can’t just wander off, your guide has to take you to your tent.

I really wanted to see an elephant in the camp, (which actually happened while I was there, but missed it) but instead I was only momentarily freaked out by a mama warthog and her baby.

Actually, I think I freaked the baby out more than it freaked me out.

Worthogs, now their “ugliness” is debatable. I think they’re cute!

I was also totally ready to hear the animals at night.