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We went to look for a leopard and a herd of buffalo broke out.
Our new guide, Obert, was there to pick us up to take us to Machaba Camp which was 15 minutes away. I feel like all camps are 15 minutes away. Obert told is he is relatively new to the camp which had me a little concerned and that he had not seen a leopard here (in retrospect, I think there was something lost in translation there). Uh oh. I am sure this will be fine. As we bumped along, he told us we were getting an African massage. Good one, Obert. We were greeted at the camp by Elka (German woman...a bit unexpected) and Paul among others. Paul did our orientation after which we were taken to our tent for siesta. It is about as hot here as Lebala so that didn't seem likely. But we discovered that the view from the front of our tent was amazing as there is a marsh right in front of us. Hello, elephants and hippos!
At 3:30, it was time for tea as we can't go more than a few hours without some sort of food. We heard some voices of children and it turns our that Elka has two kids here - a girl named Nala who is 4 and a boy named Caan who is 2. Both are very cute, with slightly German accents like her, but they also seemed a little underdeveloped speech-wise. Elka said she has 3 months on and then a month off so it works okay for them, as the kids aren't in school yet.
It was only the two of us and Obert for our drive which was a bit different after our group in Lebala. Any doubts I had about Obert were pretty quickly erased as he quickly found us a hippo out of the water with her baby. Here, they drive through the water at times to get across the marshes and rivers. The depth of the water varies. It is both exciting and scary at the same time, given the crocs and hippos nearby.
We saw baboons (too close to monkeys for my taste) and tried to follow what the sentry was warning everyone about. That was followed by a huge group, like 200 or more, of water buffaloes. It was pretty awe inspiring to see a group that large, moving together. They are mean, rather intimidating guys.
We drove around a bit and Obert pointed out a steambok which is pretty rare. We were so focused on it that we didn't realize that there was a leopard right in front of us. Luckily, Obert did and said excitedly "Look! leopard!" It blended in so well with the background that it was tough to see. Our real cameras caught it better than our other devices but here is a look. Obert put the call out to the other guides (Custard and Leopard...yes, Leopard which us very confusing when they call him over the radio). The leopard hid in the bushes then spotted the steambok. The leopard for down very low in a position to pounce and the steambok kept slowly approaching. It knew something was up but it wasn't sure what. We wanted to warn it away but we also wanted to see the leopard leap out. The leopard finally started to move and the steambok quickly sensed it and ran quickly away. No luck for the leopard. She went back further into the bush and we lost her. But we saw her. Third trip is the charm!
We also saw (thanks to Moira for taking notes):
Red billed franklin
Red back lechre (a type of antelope)
Dagger boys (all male buffaloes, 5 together)
Waterbuck
Big hyenas
We continued to drive when Obert noticed a hissing noise. No, it wasn't a snake. Our luck of getting vehicle problems was happening again and the back left tire was punctured. Timing was okay though as we were due to have a sundowner. Luckily, all the cars have spare tires. He found a place to pull off and let Custard know where we were. Obert gave us the local beer we'd requested (its name is St. Louis of all things) which is pretty light. He went about jacking up the jeep while Custard drove up. There were 7 people in the car (more on them later) and our first impression was that they weren't too nice. They were a mix of mostly British and Aussies. We made a little small talk, impressed them by telling them about the pangolin (I guess more people know about them then we realized...although Obert has never seen one) and then watched the sunset while Obert changed the tire.
Dinner here is communal and they do it up nicely. The staff has gas lanterns hanging in the trees and the table was set up nicely. The chef (a woman) announced the dinner courses while a man announced ghe red and white wine pairings. We were then all invited to sit down. Here was the cast of characters, most of whom were nice once we got to know them a little:
- Sally and Will, a mom and her 15 year old son (who doesn't say much) from England
- Shane and Paula, married couple, expecting a baby, living in Perth where he is from but she is from Zimbabwe (or Zim as they say)
- Lee, a single woman from Australia also who was in Uganda for 18 days before coming here...she did gorilla tracking
- Caroline and her husband who I will call Paul as I don't remember his name, newlyweds from Northern England
- Obert, our guide
- Richard, who works for the company that owns this camp. He is here until December then gets a break, returns in the new year, and helps them start and set up a new camp somewhere not too far from here. He is from Zimbabwe but grew up mostly in South Africa.
One highlight pre-dinner was that there was something moving in the grass in front of the cocktail area. Someone from the camp, Richard I think, shined a light down and then he and the other camp people were excited as it was a Civet. I had no idea what it was but it seems it is a member of the cat family and pretty rare.
The most interesting dinner conversation was about toilets again. Lee wemt to use the bathroom this morning and realized that there was a rat in there. She has already flushed and saw him trying to climb up. Lee then went and got someone from the camp to get rid of it. We all said that might have caused us to sound the alarm horn that is in each of our rooms. Sally, among others, said this was her worst nightmare. Now, before either of us use the restroom, we check and yell out "No rat!" Hopefully there is never a time where that changes to "Rat!!"
After dinner, we chatted around the fire with a few people, mostly Lee. It is easy to talk with people when you make travel the common denominator. We were excited when we got back to our tent at around 10, which seems relatively early. But we still didn't get to bed until 11, which means only a little over 6 hours sleep. It is easier to deal with here then at home though.
Moira woke up to a number of bug bites. For some reason, she seems to be a real target here. Another issue is that you really can't prevent the bugs from getting into the tent. We spray. We use Ben's wipes. Doesn't seem to matter. At least waking to a view like this, makes it easier to take.
The drill here is the same as at the other camp. Breakfast at 6 and then game drive. We still had Obert to ourselves. We started off seeing hyena pups and then a couple huge bull elephants knocking down and eating trees and tree branches. The sound of the breaking and chewing is quite amazing. And the elephants are really quite destructive. Obert showed us an area that looked like acres and acres of wasteland that a big herd destroyed years ago.
The game viewing was very slow this morning for everyone who was out. It may be the heat (up to 38C by noon, which is 100F) or maybe there were no big kills so all the animals were already sleeping. We did see a dazzle of zebra (as a group of them is called) and a billed stork. Our best viewing was sat our coffee break where we saw a bald eagle, and then and a huge, huge crocodile chowing down on fish, with a group of baboons off in the distance. Add to that a velvet monkey troop (from off in the distance, thank God) and a very dark giraffe and that was our morning.
After lunch we went to the wifi hotspot (a picnic table under a tree) to try and get online. It was unsuccessful as their signal is too weak. Siesta time is until 3:30 and it is really too hot to do anything except sit in the pool or try to catch a breeze in the shade at the tent. We feel as if we are constantly taking showers and changing clothes. You can't beat the views though. And 3 elephants were eating very close to our tent all afternoon.
There is a masseuse/hair stylist/mani pedi woman here named Rachel. A few people around camp were extolling her services some signed up for in room massages...mine was on Wednesday while Moira was next day. When Rachel came to the tent, we discussed inside or out, but opted for in as she said the elephant that was nearby outside was a naughty boy. Moira went up to the lodge to get a drink and try for wifi while I had my massage. I tried to concentrate but heard a bit of noise outside. When Rachel had me turn over, I looked up to see the naughty bull elephant right by our screen window. I will be honest and say it freaked me out a bit. Rachel said we were fine inside but the elephant walked right but the front of the tent to the other side where he proceeded to start ripping trees and shrubs out. All I could think was that Moira was going to come back and get attacked. At the same time, some one at the camp told her NOT to go back as there as an elephant there. He eventually left but when she came back, there was an elephant gate (aka a downed tree) in her way. She also said, "Now I know what a chocolate chip cookie feels like." When a person like Moira who is always cold compares the heat to bring baked in an oven you know it is bad.
We knew it was going to happen but we were joined by 5 people on our evening game drive. It is a woman, Beatrice, who is obviously in charge, a man, Patrice and three boys who I later found out were 17, 16 and 12. We also figured out that Beatrice is their mom but Patrice isn't their dad. And we found out they are from Geneva, Switzerland. We were looking forward, believe it or not, to having people join us but not a group gins big who largely spoke French instead of English. Beatrice would often translate for the boys. Moira named the boys Jean Paul, Jean Claude and Jean Luc.
The drive started out slow like the morning. Then we saw a huge number of elephants, at least 3, which is called a Memorial of elephants. Obert got a radio call about leopard and we decided to head there, but before we could, we ran into a huge number of water buffalo. Even more than the day before. I would guess at least 300. Finally around them, we went to the leopard area and had our second sighting. We even got to see her dash after and catch something, which we then determined was a guinea fowl (aka an African turkey).
At our morning drive, we had to wait for the Swiss family Robinson as they were late. Obert is always saying "Ready?" and prompting us to leave early. We think he likes to beat the other jeeps out. Our late start didn't prevent us from having a productive morning. Obert got a call almost right after we started out that someone saw some lions. Which is a good coincidence as Moira was saying that is what she wanted to see today, as was Beatrice. We headed off in the other direction and soon caught up with Custard and his group. The youngest Swiss son, Jean Luc, was the first of our group to spot the lions. We then all saw the pride of 5 of them. They walked a bit then found a tree to get some shade. They were kind of playing with one another.
As they continued to move, Obert thought he saw a male behind them. He doubled back and we were lucky enough to be the first group to see the male following behind the others...so it was now a pride of 6. All the guides felt like they were headed to try to hunt the water buffalo (God knows they had enough to choose from). All 3 of our camp jeeps headed after them, through the brush (file this fact away for later). Eventually it got too thick and we had to turn around.
A little later in our drive, when we were looking at zebra (the Swiss were very excited about them...I guess they didn't see any where they were before), Obert got a call on the radio that there was another lion with a kill. We hightailed it to the general area where Obert noticed lion tracks. He followed them and lead us to a male lion who had killed what a water buffalo. The lion was having a rest under the tree while the water buffalo was propped up against another tree (lion on right of photo, remains of buffalo on left, bad lighting due to time of day).
Our luck continued (at least for now as we drove) when Obert spotted a leopard, this time a male. Like the male lion, it had its recent kill with it, what we believe was an impala. The leopard was pretty big and healthy. Leopards can feed on an animal's remains for up to 3 days...the fact that it goes bad doesn't bother them. Lions, on the other hand, will eat most of their kills right away and then leave the rest for the scavengers.
As we were watching the leopard and taking photos, we heard a hissing sound. The tire on the back left, the one that had gone flat before and was repaired had another puncture and was leaking air. Changing a tire in front of a leopard would make us quite a target so he moved down the road a bit where we all got out. Patrice helped him change the tire while we had the morning coffee break. Back on the road, we went a bit and then Moira said to me, "Do you hear that? Thunk...thunk...thunk..." Turns out the tire unde her (back right) was also leaking air and in worse shape than the other one.
Given that our spare tire was now a flat tire, Obert had to call for someone to bring another one. It was after 10 now so starting to get hot. We waited in the shade of the jeep until Richard and two other guys brought a replacement. Richard asked Moira if it has just started hissing for no reason. She said, "yes, it did" out loud while silently saying "it had nothing to do with our off roading to chase the lion pride."
Other morning sightings included:
- Marshall eagle high in the tree
- Reedbok (fluffier head than other boks)
- Hammerhead (brown bird in water)
- Troop of baboons- School of hippos
- Spur winged goose
This afternoon was Moira's turn for a massage. She did not have any unwanted visitors. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay cool in the tent. The term cool is relative as the only animal life that was even up for venturing out near our tent were birds. Someone told me yesterday it was supposed to be 39C today which is 102.2F. I would believe that is correct as it is fit for neither man nor beast here. Now I get that saying.
The afternoon game drive started out slow and didn't pick up too much. We were searching for a pack of wild dogs near the campsite, to no avail. The boys were getting a little antsy and we were getting a bit over them. We saw the regular things like impalas (comparable to zebras in Kenya, in other words they are everywhere) and hippos. At one point, though, two of the elephants were play fighting, which may have turned into real fighting. They were two young males ams they kept locking their trunks together ans bellowing at one another.
After sundowner, we returned to camp and Obert was leading us back to camp in the dark with his flashlight. As we approached the boys' tent, he stopped and told us to be still, and begin backing away. Right in front of him was a huge elephant, maybe the same one that was around our tent the other day. Along with the Swiss Family Robinson, we began to back away. Obert made some noises, trying to almost shoo it away. It seemed to be working but then as we approached again, it started to move forward. One of the boys started to run, then we all started to run, which was absolutely the wrong thing to do...when near an elephant stay still, so it doesn't notice you or think you are a threat. Luckily the elephant was focused on Obert so it didn't charge. Someone he was able to get the elephant who I think had a pal with him, to move away from the tents. They did do their typical damage of some downed limbs...and they knocked over our light.
As all of our acquaintances had left, we had to try to make new friends at dinner. We talked to Emma and Bradley from Southern England and then ended up at dinner next to Reinardt (Moira) from Austria and Thomas from Germany who were there with their families. We talked World Cup, soccer in general and US cities. On the other side of us were two guides, Sean (from South Africa) and Moremo (from Botswana). They were very nice and impressed we saw a pangolin. We sure are getting a lot of mileage from something we didn't even know existed a week ago.
Immediately after dinner, we went on a night drive. Unfortunately, the Swiss Family Robinson joined us. Obert had a big light that he would flash into the bushes. If we saw yellow eyes. It indicated an animal like an impala. Blue eyes are things like bush babies and smaller mammals. Red eyes are lions and leopards. We didn't see any red eyes but we did see some elephants, zebras and hyenas as well as the African hare, which jumps on its tail like a kangaroos. It is nocturnal so we hadn't seen one before. We were out for about 90 minutes and it felt good to be a bit cool.
Last morning in camp. We had the choice of going on a shortened game drive or sleeping in. Because we are always concerned about missing something, we opted to go on the drive. We would need to be back at the camp by 10. As we went to leave for breakfast, an impala ran by our tent, down to the water. It was shortly followed by a group of animals chasing it. Our initial thought was hyena. The impala jumped through the marsh and river and made it to the other side, while its pursuers stayed on our side. At breakfast, we learned that they weren't hyenas but wild dogs, which makes more sense. And all the guides decided we would go out and look for them. At our normal departure time of 630, the Swiss Family Robinson was running late again. When they did arrive, they asked Obert if they could go out with another guide as they didn't want to come back at 10 with us. Obert explained that the normal time to return is 10-10:30 and that there weren't other guides or staff available as today is Botswana's Election Day so they went to Maun to vote. They pushed him and said they would then have to have him take them back out between 10-1030. Maybe if they weren't always late, they wouldn't be so worried about coming back on the earlier side.
Anyhow....all the guides at camp had a mission. Find the pack of wild dogs. The guides knew that they hadn't crossed the river so it was a little easier to pinpoint them. As they can go up 65 kph, they can cover a lot of area quickly. The guides tracked them down within a half hour, on alert and watching a group of impalas. The impalas were definitely on alert as well. The pack had 7 dogs, one of which was a pup. There used to be 4 pups but the dogs aren't good parents so they were probably taken by the lions or crocs. After a bit of watching from higher points and rolling around in the grass, the dogs started chasing the group of impalas. The impalas ran away as one. The slower ones that got stuck in the back seemed a bit vulnerable but with the water as a buffer made it through okay. The dogs then retreated and noticed a baby impala in the tall grass. It was a goner. The dogs attached. There was one scream type sound from the impala and then the dogs tore it apart. You could literally hear it. It was both fascinating and gross. Mostly gross.
That was the highlight of the morning drive. The animals were pretty quiet after that. We drove around for awhile and then at about 9, Obert said something about a flat tire and laughed. I thought he was joking. Nope. Flat tire number 4. He called to Moremo who came to pick up the Swiss Family Robinson so they could continue on the drive. Which was fine with us. I do have to say that they were all nice as they left, with Beatrice, Patrice and Jean Paul shaking our hands. We actually helped Obert a bit as he changed the tire. We feel as if we have seen this enough now that we could do it ourself. Who needs AAA? We got an African education on jacks and lug nuts.
Back to the camp...an English breakfast..then on to the airstrip.
For those of you counting;
Total cumulative number of flights: 5
Total cumulative game drives: 11
Total flat tires: 4
Total close encounters with elephants: 2
Total of bug bites Moira has: 25
1 comment:
I must now be considered family, my sisters, as I read from beginning to end with relish. Also, that civet you saw... There's a very expensive coffe that is made by getting civets to feed on coffee plants and extracting the coffee beans from their poop. They don't have that at Starbucks.
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