Our First Full Day in Okavango: Lions and Leopards

June 24, 2013

We set out with Thuso on the morning drive.  Again, I was welcomed with the sights and smells of this beautiful Delta.  It was both peaceful and exciting to venture out in the mornings.  There was a beautiful morning light from a fresh sunrise and the anticipation of what this drive would bring.

Soon after we left camp, we witnessed  a group of three lioness with a cub.  They had a fresh impala kill and were each eating their portion of it.  One of the lioness was elderly, probably 15 years old or so, and Thuso said that she might only have a few days or a week to live.  She'll die of old age, and the scars and cataracts show she had a long life full of the battles that the African bush requires.

It was interesting to watch them eat and clean themselves and each other.  At one point, the cub decided it wanted more to eat, so it ran up to one of the lioness, growled a bit, and picked up a bit more meat along with a bone.  The cub treated that bone like it was a treasure. 

When we were about to leave, the lioness made a move toward the water.  We waited and were treated with a view of the three lioness making their way across the water.  They passed right behind the jeep - one lioness making eye contact with me.  I could have reached down and touched them!  We wondered about the cub, and soon we heard a cry from it.  Not too long after, we saw it run after the lioness with its precious bone secure in its mouth.



In the afternoon after another nourishing lunch of fresh food, Amy (my partner in the back of the jeep) and I took a half hour trip in a mokoro (a dugout canoe).  It was a quiet and relaxing tour where our guide, Boston, used a pole to move us through the water.  While we didn't see any animals, it was nice to be in a quiet vehicle on the water.

The evening drive was an adventurous one!  We spotted a leopard in a tree, and when it left the tree, Thuso took us on a journey through the trees to view the leopard on the ground.  He drove us over 6-7 foot trees!  The jeep showed its power and many of the trees just sprung back up again. 

Then, we witnessed a set of two leopards with a kill.  It was a mother and son pair.  The son was old enough to be on its own, but had found his mom with a prey.  It is rare to see two adult leopard together, and we were treated with their interactions.  The son had stolen the kill from the mom, and she was growling and attempting to get it back.  We watched at the son stood dominant and kept the kill.  At one point, when the mother was making a move to get to the kill, the son moved quickly over toward her.  In a split second, the mother passively went to her back and the son walked back to his meal.

After we watched the leopards for a bit, we headed over to a den of hyena.  There was the mother, two babies of 1-2 months old, and an adolescent.  The babies and adolescent were much cuter than I would have thought when previously thinking about hyena.  We watched the hyena play for a bit and then joined the other jeeps for the sundowner. 

Dinner that night was preceeded with entertainment from the multi-talented staff at Sanctuary Chief's Camp.  Then we ate a bar-b-que buffet with the tables set around the fire pit.  Delicious and beautiful way to finish off the adventurous day.