What’s special about the bush is not always what you immediately see. This can be difficult to explain to guests who are on safari for the first time, or come with a ‘check-off list’ of things that they need to see. Rushing from one sighting to another, means that you are only experiencing one side of the bush. What you need, is patience. Sleeping lions are, for the majority of visitors, not the most inspiring of animals to see… we all arrive with our pre-conceived ideas – where is the MGM lion? Fortunately this month we had some guests who understand that even sleeping lions don’t sleep for ever. They spent a fantastic morning sitting next to a group of sleeping lions for four hours. And when the cubs woke up, there was not a lot of sleeping the rest of the pride could do! This provided some amazing photographic opportunities, but also a real insight into the social structure and daily life of a lion pride. For one car, four hours was not enough. They opted to spend the entire day parked next to the lion pride. And persistence paid off…. A family of warthog strolled past the quiet scene, and then a sleeping lion pride springs to action, with a kill in front of the vehicle!
Sleeping dogs too, can be a little dull at times, but one afternoon at Nari Pan we came across the pack of 14 wild dogs having a wonderful time playing in the water, chasing each other around, swimming to and fro, and generally just mucking about. A few minutes later, order was restored from chaos, and they dashed off on a hunt, chasing impala, leaving us in their dust. Another day, and the same pack also led us on a hunt – not successful. Without impala for dinner, the dogs resorted to eating millipedes, and other small things they could find on the ground!
The mother lioness with her three two-month old cubs was seen often. The cubs are becoming more and more inquisitive, regularly approaching the car and playing around – and if the guide doesn’t “shoo” them away quick enough – under it! Mum keeps a watchful eye, and calls them to her if she thinks they are getting too far away, or too wayward. They don’t always listen…. A few days later, and now it was four lionesses and 11 cubs. Each mother trying to keep control of her boisterous offspring, who were having a great time playing with all their brothers, sisters and cousins!
Sometimes, it’s the small stuff that makes the best sightings. Tree squirrels in Botswana are about 1/2 of the size of their European relatives. But active as ever, and also faced with the challenges of rearing their young. We had a lovely time watching a mother squirrel relocate her babies to a new den, carrying each baby in her mouth carefully, one at a time, ferrying them to their new home, away from potential threats.
And sometimes it’s the big stuff. The very big stuff… Parking the car at Kubu Pan, the pan and surrounding area soon became inundated with around 300 elephants. There were hippos in the water as well, so with all the elephants playing, swimming, mud bathing, and shuffling the hippos to the other side, they were paying no attention to the car parked in amongst them. A wonderful two hours was spent in amongst this huge herd of elephants, seemingly as part of the herd!
