Safari Day 14: Lions, rescues, crazy roads and a new camp

Chobe to Savuti, Botswana

A top and tail day today. - in both connotations. Started with morning safari at Chobe and then rolled into the new camp at Savuti for the ablutions block and the dusk safari. 

@Mac getting hints on power options

The alarms called along the line of tents and we were all stirring at 5:45 refreshed and excited for the long drive of today.

 Dressed in the darkened warm cocoon of the tent and had everything at our fingertips in the new $4.50 bags we had picked up at the first Botswana lunch stop. Made all the easier because we have our trusty headlamps on.

A sunrise, the trusty bags and power options

Had managed the night without power and options for the loo. @Mac's new battery kept the CPAP pumping and I only had one little wakeup through the night to run the gauntlet of the lions, leopards and elephants. Heard @Tom unzip his tent at 3:30 but stayed inside, rolled over and convinced myself I didn't need to go. Wasn't quite the story at 5 am unzipped and with headlamp scanning the area, scurried to the back of the tent and felt much relief for standing up to the challenge.

Breakfast was enjoyed to the background of a fiery sunrise and then on the dot of 7 it was off on the morning game drive.

Rugged up for morning tracking

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS:

No further than 2 minutes down the road and @Shimmy spotted the tracks of the big male lions that we were sure we heard overnight. And of course, within a kilometre, guided by the ever-watchful giraffe and the leaping impala we came face to face with two males ambling slowly along the road. I wonder what mischief they had been up to in the night?

So calm, so close. Not a care in the world.

They were slow and relaxed. Found themselves a lovely patch of grass and rolled and played, showed their belly to the sunshine as they rolled on their backs, giant paws raised to the sky and patted each other's faces. This king of the beasts appeared surprisingly gentle with his brother from the same mother.

The giraffe in the distance wasn't of interest to the boys - they were just relaxing - even as the noise and bustle of the gathering safari vehicles intruded on their peace. At one stage we counted 8 vehicles lined up for their view - and lots of comings and goings - but we were the first to find them and @Shimmy had us lined up a mere 5 metres from the lions. We were in no hurry - and the gathered crowd hung on every whisker and ear twitch, roll in the grass or change of head direction.

Relaxing and rolling with your bro'

Apparently, the sunlight "blinds" their sense of sight and they rely on hearing in the day - and then at night, their vision kicks in and hearing becomes secondary.

What a life. If nothing disturbs them they can sleep for the whole day. Finding myself being torn between an elephant that eats all day or a lion that sleeps all day. @Shimmy had us in giggles this morning asking us to imagine "doing a bushie, bushie and looking up to see one of those." The transition from languid and sleepy to alert, fierce and in hunting mode happens in an instant. After 45 minutes of enjoying that spectacle we left the queue of late arrivals behind and went in search of our next sighting.

Enjoying the baboons.

Found a wonderful troop of baboons having an early morning romp. @Shimmy declared this animal as his favourite and says if you are lonely in the bush you just need to find a troop and then laugh! So entertaining. According to his take on life, if you don't get enjoyment from their antics you need to pack your bags and get a mental health check. Lots of business going on - swinging from branch to branch, wrestling, tumbling, grooming, suckling, sleeping and mating. 

Lining up for loo - typically just one - bushie bushie much cleaner and faster

In 1967 the native people were removed from the park area and resettled. In the baboon playground there was a "wall" of the house left abandoned - it was lived in by a special white person who practised agriculture and became part of the local family. It is now a picnic spot - well at this moment it was the romping ground for this entertaining baboon troop.

Intrepid breakdown

Met a group of 10 on an Intrepid tour on one of the paths this morning and they were stopped with a flat tyre and no spare on board. We've got two. We waited with their vehicle until their spare arrived and started up conversation. We are smiling smugly because our conditions have been great - they claim they have been camping in freezing conditions and sleeping on a 5 cm mattress in the floor of their tent. Not us - our stretchers, complete with mattress, white sheets and doonas are fabulous.

We shared conversation amn photos - they had the leopard viewing we had the lion and as soon as their replacement vehicle arrived we took off in opposite directions. 

Found a croc free rest stop close to the river for morning tea and a bushie, bushie and took our cuppa and rusks with a bit of background into @Shimmy's journey to being a guide that included his early training at the side of his father who was a hunter and then his formal training with the Botswanan Wildlife Organisation.

Can't get enough of them 

A real zebra crossing of the river.

Spotted a bloated zebra carcass floating in the river not far from where we witnessed the zebras making the river crossing. A little further on it was two hippos out of the water, one very scared. They were out of the water sharing the river bank with a huge croc and a third was yawning in the water. But it is all constant movement and activity - birds flying and perching, impala running and jumping, giraffes browsing and kudu patrolling the roads. Seriously, you don't know which way to look.

Hippos and a croc.

That 7 - 1:00 session was the first part of the day. We were looping through the camp taking in the sights from every angle and perspective. We farewelled that camp with one more drive by our resting lions only to note that our big male was limping! His front left paw has sustained an injury of some sort - a bit of a mystery because he wasn't limping when he padded down the road this morning.

Watched him change colour.

Also stumbled on a mobile military camp on the park this morning. A collection of tents close to the River bank which will disappear in a day or two. Their purpose is to catch the poachers. And they are serious with their shoot on sight policy.

Lunch was at Ngoma gate. The entrance to an adjoining park which we accessed via a combination of dirt tracks and a small stretch of bitumen. Salad, meat, rolls, fruit and a boiled egg combined in your own special way, was eaten standing around the running boards of the vehicle washed down with a stone-cold water with access to flushing toilets with toilet paper. You can't do much better than this.

And then it was time to "suck it up!" It was 110 kms to our next camp accessed by about 40 kms of bitumen and then ... well .... just "and then" sort of sums it up.

Not much of a road

To be a little more specific - bone shattering, narrow, rutted sand tracks. Sometimes red sand, sometimes grey - always deep furrows with loose sand piled high and the vehicle straddling the centre high rise. But the open safari vehicle handled it all.

Only a few kms in we ran into a Range Rover stuck in the sand. In his second good Samaritan move of the day @Shimmy offered assistance - this time he jumped into the vehicle and tried to reverse the vehicle out. No luck.

(Old) Manpower

 Th owner whipped opened his back door and unfurled a canvas tow rope - with it at the ready I don't think I was his first time stuck in the bush.

 Hooked him up and almost effortlessly towed him backwards down the single lane to a spot where he could do a u-turn. When the guy finished his manoeuvre, he was sideways across the road and again bogged. @Tom, @Steve and @Mac were then called on to provide manpower. After a false start and with renewed effort they finally dislodged him and we were free to pass. He indicated he was AOK and had phoned for help and encouraged us to continue on. Our men none the worse for wear - although their hands were a little uncomfortable from the heat of the bonnet.

The long, swaying drive through country with very few sightings in comparison to the bounty of Chobe was only interrupted by a bushie, bushie stop for @Shimmy. As we remained in our seats we all were on high alert as we tuned ourselves into a low grumble. Were very relieved that it was only the the duelling stomach noises of @Tom and @Mac - quite possibly something more dangerous than a marauding lion in there!

Pulled into the Ghoha (?) gate area at 3.30 and we were still counting down the kms with still an hour to Savuti. Seemed a better road of rutted harder surface rather than the sandy track we had hit travelled. In reality, just a tiny reprieve - the rock and roll continued.

The landscape changed as we ventured further on. Sparse open plains for a little while and then back to the scrub that provides a hiding place for the animals We were buckled in, feet braced n the floor and held on for what seemed like a never-ending roller coaster rode. @Shimmy did an amazing job keeping one eye on the road, one in the bush and one on us and @Mac was definitely sporting a new brush back and stand-up hairstyle as we neared the end of this drive.

Popped out of the bush to take about a 1 km smooth ride down a graded landing strip complete with windsock, terminal and gate.

Someone has a sense of humour - especially in relation to @Mac's new "up do"

Someone in this park has a sense of humour. On the boundary of the runway between the small green concrete shed and the two toilets was a hand painted wooden sign announcing, "Savuti international Airport, Terminal 3, gate 5."

At last, we were at our gate and @Shimmy checked in and organised our use of the shower block. Just had to find the specific location of the camp. That 7 till 1 session this morning I'd all about giving @Joseph and @OT time to dismantle camp, get ahead of us, drive and set up the new camp. Our fish stop was camp-site 30 but there was no sign of the advance party. @Shimmy called up the team on the radio and was advised we had been allocated 25B so now to find it. A few twists and turns and we found them, but not quite what was expected. The table was up, a fire was on, but they were in the middle of set up. Bugger. They had experienced radiator trouble and subsequent overheating on the run in and had only just beaten us!

Gathered up our shower gear and just left them to it. And while we lathered up in the luxury of a hot shower they continued with set-up and dinner. Of course, by the time we returned, miracles had been worked. Drinks around the fire, delicious beef stew for dinner, laughs and conversation to round out the night and we were done by 8:30 and think the late nighters pulled up stakes at 8:45.

Just saying, at Kruger you had to be on full alert searching for the animals in the distance. Regular sightings and rewarding but nothing like here on the Chobe. Any drive along the river presents you with herds and the slow trek inland has the horizon ringed with the heads of the stately giraffe, the guineas fowl swarming and pecking close up and then a myriad of choice in between. Chobe so amazing.

Loving sharing the wild with this group and fascinated by the stories that @Shimmy shares. We might be camping but there's nothing "rough" about it - @Shimmy, @Joseph and @OT definitely focussed on ensuring that our camps and drives meet all our expectations.

Got another long haul tomorrow.

Accommodation:Savuti Mobile Tented Camp

Wildlife Spotting: 

Lion

Impala: biggest herd we've seen, horn broken does not regrow 

Kudu

Elephant

Carmine Bee eater: tiny bird

Flap neck Chameleon: changed colour from red to green, long tongue to clean eyes, snaps long tongue to catch food, was shedding

Warthog

Guinea fowl: masses everywhere pecking non stop

giraffe: group if giraffe, Tower of giraffe, stride of giraffe wjen they walk, journey when they run

Baboon: sharp pointed teeth for stabbing and cutting, omnivore

Monkey: blue testicles 

Banded mongoose: worms, insects, scratching in elephant dung, digging, burrowing, leopard's easy prey, birds of prey hunt them

Lilac Breasted roller: so many - ABR - another bloody roller - so common - insect eaters- perched high in tree

Zebra: @Shimmy calls them donkeys 

Saddle billed stork: not permanent residents- eats frogs and fish

Hippo

Crocodile: all sizes - one large one right behind a hippos foot; sliding from river bank into water

Helicopter bird

Water monitor: along the riverbank, longest part is tail, use tail as weapon, looking for eggs from bird especially the plover, bugs and beetles

Cormorant

Darter 

Fish eagle: soaring

Steinbok  

Round hornbill

Drive was alive with birds - they were on the ground, in the trees, on the water, in the air - so many