Bush Tales
Nice sighting
The following fantastic sighting happened in November since I’m only now back home from 3 safaris in a row I can only share this wonderful sighting with you now:
We were on a great morning game-drive in Savuti, following the Savuti Channel as it spreads into the marshes. We had already encountered 2 male lions and 2 spotted hyenas and were now admiring the thousands of waterbirds.
There is a narrow strip were vehicles can drive through the channel to get to the other side of the marshes and while waiting for 2 other vehicles to pass I scanned around and looked at a freshly dead elephant on the other side.
To my complete surprise a leopard walked from under a bush and straight to the elephant, turned around and marked it, he stood about 10 seconds sniffing before walking back under the bush.
We quickly crossed and drove next to the bush where we had some great views of the totally relaxed leopard.
Some minutes passed and suddenly the leopard got up, walked back to the dead elephant and started to eat the tip of the trunk. He pulled the trunk of the ground a couple of times and mock attacked it when it fell down.
It was amazing to see a leopard so playful and relaxed, it was only when another vehicle saw us and came round to check what we were looking at that the cat found it too much attention and walked back to the shade.
Proof again that Savuti always surprises!
Eddy
We were on a great morning game-drive in Savuti, following the Savuti Channel as it spreads into the marshes. We had already encountered 2 male lions and 2 spotted hyenas and were now admiring the thousands of waterbirds.
There is a narrow strip were vehicles can drive through the channel to get to the other side of the marshes and while waiting for 2 other vehicles to pass I scanned around and looked at a freshly dead elephant on the other side.
To my complete surprise a leopard walked from under a bush and straight to the elephant, turned around and marked it, he stood about 10 seconds sniffing before walking back under the bush.
We quickly crossed and drove next to the bush where we had some great views of the totally relaxed leopard.
Some minutes passed and suddenly the leopard got up, walked back to the dead elephant and started to eat the tip of the trunk. He pulled the trunk of the ground a couple of times and mock attacked it when it fell down.
It was amazing to see a leopard so playful and relaxed, it was only when another vehicle saw us and came round to check what we were looking at that the cat found it too much attention and walked back to the shade.
Proof again that Savuti always surprises!
Eddy
Kalahari lion in our camp!
We had just finished dinner. Fifteen clients from Spain sitting around the fire chatting in Spanish when one of them, looking over my shoulder says, "que es eso?" Meaning "what is that?" in Spanish. In the light of an almost full moon, I turn to see a large female lion walking around behind us, her sister following in short order as they circle around to where we are seated at the fire.
Paul calmly says, everyone stand up and get closer to the fire. Somehow I recall a variety of Spanish commands, "be calm," "come over here," "be quiet," "be careful," etc. I'm not sure what it says about my personality that I remember the commands best?! But they do come in handy when a lion approaches your camp when you're on a five-day trans- Kalahari safari with Spaniards. Who knew I'd ever need my Spanish for that scenario?
We all quietly draw closer to the fire and Paul instructs one of the other guides to start the car so as to intimidate them out of camp. We had suspected they might be coming to visit when we saw them just at dusk as we were driving to our campsite. One male and two females strolled down the road in front of us settling in at the junction of two dirt tracks to make their long guttural moans marking this territory as clearly theirs. If only I had had the presence of mind to audio tape their call but I was so awestruck by the depth of the tones and the vibration of my own chest that all I could do was manage to involuntarily get the hair to stand up on the back of my neck.
Unfortunately, the younger of the two sisters is looking a bit "cheeky" - kind of like my mother's old cat Delilah used to look right before she pounced out from underneath a chair to attack your leg as you walked by. My niece Becca described her as "cute but fresh," and that's one thing in an 8 pound house cat and quite another in a full grown female lion. Her tail flicking a bit, eyes staring right through you, head down, ears slightly back...she seemed to be sizing us up as a potential appetizer.
Paul instructs, "Slowly make your way to the vehicles. Nobody run. Just back away." We move as fast as "slowly" will allow and pile into the vehicle. Paul joins us in short order and we are on the move to "push" the lions out of camp. While one vehicle has already gone out to do this, when they turned back towards camp the lions just followed them back. We decide we need to "drive" them off farther.
It is believed that animals see a vehicle as a large object (not a vessel carrying small objects that can be eaten) so the idea is that we will "intimidate them" by approaching them and flashing our high beams at them. The male lion seems uninterested and makes his way off down the road not even looking back. The younger of the two sisters, the cheeky one that came within three feet of the circle of chairs around the fire, is undeterred. She strays off into the grass hiding behind a bush until her more responsible older sister waits for her in the road, spots her, then crouched down like a house cat and springs on her. She grudgingly gets back on the dirt track and starts walking.
At one point the cheeky one walks off the road into the nearby grass and plops down. Paul goes up into the grass, probably two feet from her, flashes the high beams and she barely blinks. She's got a look on her face that says, "Bring it!" We decide to go past them hoping they will follow us even further away from camp.
When we've hit a stalemate and they won't go any further, we turn back. As you might imagine the excitement and tension among the group is palpable.
Fortunately, they don't return to camp and when the sun comes up in the morning we all have an amazing story to tell our friends that they will find unbelievable. Not many people can say they had three full grown lions come into camp in the Kalahari!Fortunately, they don't return to camp and when the sun comes up in the morning we all have an amazing story to tell our friends that they will find unbelievable. Not many people can say they had three full grown lions come into camp in the Kalahari!
Used with permission from Kristy Maher's Muddy Hyena blog