For anyone that has not flown in to Nxai Pan, but driven in, you can understand that part way through the drive you really need a break. The long 28km section between the two park gates is driveable in a 4×4 vehicle, but requires a combination of patience, good suspension, and determination. Since Nxai Pan is only a few hours drive from Maun, we do, from time to time, get guests wishing to drive themselves in. Most guests that stay at the camp will do part of the drive if their guide takes them out to Baines Baobabs – the track goes about half way to the main park gate. The turn off to the baobabs is very clear, and offers a relatively open ‘four way stop’ which, if you are doing the whole trip, is quite an inviting place to stop for a minute or two to have a ‘rest stop’. It doesn’t matter how many years you have spent in the bush, it’s always good not to get too blasé. Having enjoyed a 10 minute break and coffee next to the car, two Maun staff heading to the camp were about to climb back into the car when a tourist vehicle pulled up behind them and enquired if they had noticed the lion ‘just back there’. Thanking the tourists, they headed back down the road a bit to see if the lion was still there…. Only to realise that the lioness, was ‘just back there’ about 100m from where the car had been parked, and had eagerly been awaiting her turn at the coffee set (or something else). Rather sheepishly, they enjoyed the sighting and then continued on to the camp….
Other lions were having more interesting meals than coffee and biscuits, with the main pride killing a giraffe, spending several days eating it, and then immediately killing another one and sitting in approximately the same place to eat the next one. Black backed jackals ran in and out, dragging away the odd scrap or bone, when the lions were too comatose to move.
The two young cheetahs were also seen regularly, particularly around the section of the pan just north of the camp sites. They prowled around, with a couple of hunting attempts being made. Obviously viewing springbok in the far distance, the cheetahs would stare off into the sunset, looking very much as though they were admiring the view…
Elephants are still queuing up at the camp waterhole, but most of the breeding herds have moved off now, leaving the bulls to jostle amongst themselves. Also competing for water – and fatally choosing the camp swimming pool – are queleas. Many rescues were made by staff as the flocks all tried to drink at once, with individuals sometimes becoming waterlogged. It was not just a case of getting them out of the water, but since the water was so cold, trying to warm up a quelea was also necessary. A cupped hand seemed to do the trick nicely, before the birds are left to their own devices safely tucked under the sun loungers till they feel 100% fit to fly.
