Sleeping in the small huts was quite different than our large Kubu Lodge cabin that we shared. At first I found it amusing that there were gaps between door, wall, and floor, and small gaps all over as the reed/bamboo “sticks” don’t provide building material that seals like bricks, blocks, wood, etc. If it were mosquito season, the net over the bed would be even more treasured. But it was cool to see the almost full moon peeking between “slats” of bamboo/reeds. Almost wished there was no roof so we could lie in bed and see the stars.
We woke up to the watch alarm. We had our breakfast of soymilk, cereal, juice, muffins, and banana’s on the tailgate of the truck around 7:30. After finishing our morning routines, we walked up to where the reception hut was to find out about our reservations and guide into Moremi. We were introduced to Tizzer, who would be our guide and ride with us into the park. We went back to organize and lock our huts and met Tizzer about 20 minutes later. Off we went, eagerly looking forward to our adventure the day would bring us. We drove out of the camp area and down the dirt road that brought us from Maun but going in the opposite direction. Tizzer had me turn off onto a small track, basically a path that has been made by two sets of tires. We slowly drove along this for some time, looking for wildlife. As we drove, our discussions with Teezer left me a little puzzled. After more time had passed, we still hadn’t entered Moremi, and his conversation left me with an impression that something was amiss, we figured out that he was told that we were using him only for guiding us in the community concession, which lies outside the boundaries of Moremi.
The small community near Kaziikini Camp was given land next to Moremi by the government, to use and develop to provide jobs and support the tourism industry. So they built the camp and conduct guided safaris on the concession. But I indicated via email that we wanted a guide for Moremi. We eventually convinced Teezer that was our intention, to go into Moremi all day with him, not the 3-hour concession safari that he was told. So, he agreed to be “kidnapped” by us, at first expressing a slight concern that back at the camp they would wonder where he was when he didn’t return. But he said he would explain it all to them at the end of the day and we said we would pay for his time. So, after spending about 2 hours or more in the concession, where we did see giraffes and other animals, we drove to the south gate of Moremi and entered around 12:30.
Teezer said it had been about a year since he was last in the park. Our eyebrows raised a little on hearing this, but I felt it was at least one more time than me, he added a little sense of comfort by being there, was helpful driving the correct route, and it didn’t cost that much to have him along. Moremi’s roads are quite “natural” – dirt and sand, with ruts here and there, most parts in need of serious grading and speeding never an issue. The CRV would not have been able to handle the conditions we encountered. We hit some very deep and long sand pits, getting stuck once. Luckily, there was someone right behind us and with them pulling us using a towrope, digging out the sand, and me in reverse we came out. Must say it’s a little weird being outside the car in a place where there are lions out and about. The guy, who was from South Africa said they were stuck in mud for 90 minutes the day before, and he walked to a campsite to get help. The park posts advisories saying if you get stuck to stay with your vehicle, as someone will eventually come by. I don’t know if I would walk by myself any great distance out there.
We drove on, pulling over to the side to deflate the tires a little as he had suggested for better traction. They waited for us by going slow, and I tried to drive with a little purpose so we could stay with them in case I managed to get stuck again. We came across some tricky, hazardous areas, but I followed their example and we made it to where we wanted to go. One of the most unnerving situations was crossing what passes for a bridge there. We had to pass two – and seeing someone else do it right before me was a big help! Pictures don’t do it justice. The one we have pictures of isn’t even the worst one! A long, deep pool of water had to be crossed, not too fast, not too slowly, with a 40-degree turn in the middle of it. Then you had to ease up onto the “bridge” while mostly out of the water, and take that very slowly as you hit a rut with a different tire constantly so we were bouncing and shifting all over the place. We checked the time and figured we should head back to get to the south gate before it closes. That meant crossing those two “bridges” again. Not ideal, but I did gain a little confidence by doing it once. Such a relief as we successfully negotiated the first then the second. I was only mildly concerned when we passed the long section of soft, deep sand where we had gotten stuck earlier. This time, I had built up a good head of steam and just kept the pedal down. Also, the guy had told me to always keep it in “High 4”, never use “Low 4”. That would come back to bite me on the ass in a week, but that story comes later. We drove back to Kaziikini, the situation with Teezer being with us all day was explained, and it was arranged for him to be with us all day tomorrow. We went to the restaurant/bar for some cold drinks and discussions about our day with Teezer, Fana, who is the assistant manager, and some other guests. After, we ate some of the groceries we brought with us for dinner, cleaned up, ands retired for the night into our huts. Nothing much to do out in the middle of nowhere, if I’m not mistaken we were lights out at least once between 8 and 9pm! But that made it easier to get up early the next morning.
We had learned that we could buy the entry pass at the gate the previous day, so that’s what we did. Up to this point, we already had seen most everything we were hoping to see, with the exception of a big predator…a big cat. So, we were hounding and pressuring Teezer during the ride on our second day to guarantee us a lion sighting. If we didn’t, he would enjoy a long walk back to his village, we told him. We could hear them in the far distance in the morning, and he spoke with researchers who tracked their movements in the park, so we were hopeful. We even stopped at their research station briefly in the morning before going into Moremi. We did get stuck in soft sand again, but this time we dug a little with our hands, and Teezer and I placed some sticks under the tread to get some traction and we were out with little trouble. Once in Moremi, we would drive a different route. The day before we had to cross 4th and than 3rd bridge, respectively. Today we would have to possibly cross 1st bridge, if we went that far. I was not eager to do so, even with yesterday’s successes. Having spent most of the morning searching for lions in the village’s concession area, we made it to Moremi right around midday. We saw plenty of wildlife in the morning, but still no lion. Saw lion tracks, took pictures of the lion tracks, but not one lion. Even saw a kill from a distance…took pictures of that…but no lion.
Our first witnessing of a predator making a kill was from a most unusual source. Teezer said he knows of no one who has seen one. It was a Secretary Bird fighting, killing, and then tearing a Black Mamba snake to bits to eat it. These snakes are no joke, being 2nd only to the King Cobra as the longest venom snake on the planet. This one looked to be about 5 feet long at least, considering the bird was the average height for a Secretary Bird of 4 feet. Once subdued, the bird took the snake away from where we were parked watching, and joined what was most likely it’s mate, as it shared some of its meal. That was really exciting and interesting to watch. But as we told Teezer, it’s not a lion, so he better warm up his walking shoes! It was about 1 o’clock, we had 5 more hours until the park gates shut for the day. Time was running out. We saw more zebras and giraffes, and then came upon 1st bridge. I did not like the looks of it, and immediately voted “No” regarding crossing it. It was almost 2 now, and we had to start back soon anyway, seeing as how it would take us some time to get to the gate if we made stops along the way. As we sat there and debated, tourists in several trucks came from the other way, driving around the “bridge”, choosing to go through a large water hole. Then a truck with workers went through, exchanging a few pleasantries with Teezer. We turned around and followed them back the way we came. We were quite some distance away from 1st bridge when we came across a group of vehicles that we had passed earlier in the day. They gestured for me to roll down my window, and they asked me if we saw the leopard and cubs up ahead. We said we hadn’t, and asked how they came to believe this was up ahead. They said the people, the ones who had come across the water hole while we watched them had told them. You see, one of the unwritten courtesies of doing safari is to spread the word of sightings to others you come in contact with. Teezer couldn’t believe these 2 vehicles of German tourists traveling together didn’t say anything to us at all about what was literally 3 to 5 minutes down the road from where we were at the water hole and bridge!! And he couldn’t understand why the guys he spoke with in the truck didn’t tell him. So we immediately decided to turn around and go back, as this was our chance to see a big cat and Teezer’s chance to have a ride back to camp! AS we were deciding whether to try the bridge or go in the water, the other vehicles, one being a Mercedes SUV took the bridge route. One was even pulling a trailer. So I was the last to go over the bridge, and while it was bumpy, it would prove to be the easiest crossing of the 3 we would make, as the leopard’s location was right before 2nd bridge, so we wouldn’t have to cross that. Good thing to, because it looked really bad! We went all the way to 2nd bridge, because we were told the location of the leopard was right before 2nd bridge, and we would see quite a few vehicles parked there watching. We saw nothing! We waited and debated, drove back and forth in the area, scanned the area with binoculars and zoom lens…no cat!!! We were bummed, but entertained the thought that we were in the wrong spot. While possible, we didn’t think that the party broke up so quickly. So we drove back the way we came, and right before a small turnoff, in the distance along that turnoffs route we saw a group of cars all parked in the same direction. We made haste and found what we were looking for!! One hour later and 470 exposures later, we were fully satisfied having gorged ourselves on a beautiful leopard and two playful cubs! We were maybe 15 meters (about 50 feet for those metrically challenged) from them. About 6 or so vehicles maintained a watch, two would leave then others would come and join. My knee hit the horn as I sat on the window to shoot over the truck’s roof, and the people in the safari vehicle next to us had a cow. The leopard? She looked over for what was maybe two seconds and then went back to watching her cubs. It was fun observing the behavior of this family for an hour – such great entertainment. The cubs would play, and when they got out of hand she would go over a give a little growl, and if that didn’t settle them down her paw would lay the smack down on them. At one point she went into the brush and came out with the severed head of a Springbok! The cubs played with and chewed on the thing for quite a while, until the two cubs started fighting over it. She got up, took it in her mouth and disappeared into the bush, returning a few seconds later without it. Playtime was over!! If we didn’t have to get to the park gate before 6 we would’ve stayed longer. We passed over the bridge around 4pm, and made our way back the way we came. We got to the gate with a little time to spare and back to the camp well before sundown.
We had to get to our next destination, Discovery Bed and Breakfast near Maun, which was only an hour away. Jen was going to depart for Namibia the next afternoon, so we wanted to be close to the airport. The bill was settled and we left the camp, again, a little later than I would’ve liked, because we got to the B&B after dark. We had no trouble checking in, and decided the next day we would take a plane trip over the delta before Jen flew out a little after 3pm. We drove to Audi Camp where we spent our first night in Botswana six nights earlier, which is only a few kilometers south of our B&B, to have dinner at the restaurant there. After, we drove back to the B&B, not too concerned about driving at night here as it was a paved road and only a few kilometers between places, and went to sleep in our really nice cabins, ready to start fresh tomorrow for another phase of the trip.
The album for this post can be found here: http://www.photoshop.com/user/johndp/?trackingid=BTAGC&galleryid=fdf03f9f1716469b91c83574be06932d&rlang=en_US&wf=sharegrid
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