Okavango Delta, Botswana

We’ve flown about an hour south of Chobe National Park to Santawani Camp. The camp features a shallow watering hole within easy view of the camp main area. All kinds of creatures wander down here to drink.

After the warm greetings we’ve come to expect from Wilderness Safaris’ staff, and the tasty and healthy lunch, we went out on our first game drive. We are at the far edge of the Okavango Delta, which at this time of year is extremely dry. The upside is that mosquitoes are nearly non-existent (helped by cooler temperatures here—especially at night, brr!). Because we’re not in a national park, we can also drive anywhere. There is so much brush land, I don’t think we’re being too destructive—certainly not more than the elephants. Our guide, Gully, drives the Land Rover over small fallen logs, mows down sage brush, or whatever it takes to get to the wildlife. He’d gotten word on the radio about a female lion and some juvenile offspring (around 6 years old), so off we went. They were mostly resting, but it was still thrilling to see lions after not seeing them since our first days at the private reserve.

Soon, we heard that our guide in the other jeep had found a mother lion with three baby cubs in the open. This is very unusual, since the mothers usually hide their babies in a den or deep brush to protect them from predators or a non-parent male. Non-parent males will kill babies to be able to establish their own pride of offspring. The little cubs were around 2 months old, a bit unsteady on their feet, and as playful as kittens—dried elephant dung, or mom’s tail, or a stick makes a great toy.

After that, we went in search of papa lion. The guides felt that the mom didn’t hide the babies because papa was somewhere nearby. Soon we found him sitting near the hollowed out carcass of an elephant that had been killed a couple of days ago, possibly by him or another male in the pride. Vultures were circling, but they wouldn’t come near while the lion was there.

A herd of elephants was hovering nearby, wanting to get to their fallen comrade. Elephants hold a type of memorial for their dead, where they gather around and stand completely still for a few minutes — even the babies don’t move an ear or make a twitch. They will do this even if they come upon an elephant skeleton that has been scattered by hyenas. They will push the bones together and hold their moment of silence.

Another beautiful African sunset finished off the drive. During the night and part of the morning, the sound of a lion was disturbingly close to our tent cabin! But we learned later that the lion was just establishing its territory, and was not in hunting mode.Read more