July 31, 2024

The light looked beautiful over the pan this morning.

After our large breakfast we joined KK and Obert and set off on our morning game drive. It was a cold morning, so I was pleased to see that there were blankets at each seat, and what is this? There is a hot water bottle as well? I was glad that we had brought our puffy jackets with us. I was wearing a fleece and the puffy jacket, my safari scarf, my Ugg boots, my wooly cap and thick gloves, but trust me the blanket and hot water bottle were essential as we set off in search of game..

Today we are going to the flood plain which is just over an hour away on the sandy bumpy road.

Finally we get to the flood plain and we are treated to our best sighting of red lechwe yet. In the Delta and we came across them on foot, or in the boat, they were very skittish. But here they were very relaxed and calm as we drove by, and we were finally able to get a good view of them. They really are very pretty.

The plain was teaming with wildlife. Kudu, tsessebe, hippos, a buffalo, herds of elephants, and a large herd of zebras. I was in heaven. There were no other vehicles in the park, and we could sit in the vehicle and watch the animals for as long as we liked. It was bliss.

The birdlife was fabulous as well. We can’t go a day without seeing a fish eagle, so there one was posing for us.

Although he let us linger as long as we liked watching the birds and animals, I could sense that Obert was on a mission. He had a smile on his face. Could there be lions, or even a leopard in our future? That would be amazing.

We carried on on the sandy road for a short while and then Obert came to an abrupt stop. There right in front of us was a mating pair of lions. Well, they had been mating, but they both looked pretty exhausted to me now. The male did open his eyes briefly, and the female gave us a long look, but we were of no interest to them at the moment, and they slowly closed their eyes and laid their heads down. It was evident that we were not going to see any excitement from them today.

There were some vultures sitting in a nearby tree. They were clearly hoping for some action too.

We watched them for a while, but then I caught the glint in Obert’s eye again. We were off to see what he had in store for us now.

We had already seen a dead elephant today, which had upset me, and I looked ahead, and there was another dead elephant in front of us. Seeing 3 dead elephants in the course of a week was distressing. Then I looked beyond the dead elephant. There was a young male leopard.

Leopards are the most beautiful creatures. I always get excited when I see one. This one was especially good looking. He was also a bit sleepy and gave us a large yawn. He may look cuddly, but those teeth looked like they could do some serious damage.

Soon he was joined by his mother, but she didn’t seem to be very interested in him.

She was more interested in eating the elephant.

I found this to be upsetting. Her sharp teeth tore into the thick skin of the elephant, and she settled down to have a good meal. Her son also took his turn eating the elephant.

I was conflicted. On the one hand it did make sense for them to be consuming a creature that was already dead rather than going out and hunting a living antelope, but to me there is something sacred about elephants and I wanted the elephant body to be left alone.

Of course it won’t be. It will be a feast for the scavengers out there. In time the bones will be picked clean, and all that will be left is its skeleton. Depressing, but I suppose that’s life in the wild.

We moved on and had morning coffee. It is always good to get out of the vehicle and stretch your legs after sitting holding on for dear life for a couple of hours. It was warming up and I could discard the blanket and hot water bottle, but not my puffy jacket.

We started on our long bumpy ride back to the lodge, passing more elephants who were very much alive, and by the time we arrived there in time for lunch it had warmed up considerably.

I took some photos of the safari vehicle

and around the lodge.

The best part was that 2 elephants had stopped by for a drink, they seem to stop by on a daily basis. I was so happy to see them.

The goal of our afternoon game drive was to watch the elephants at the waterhole, that happened to be over an hour’s drive away. I initially thought, well I could just sit at the lodge drinking wine and watching elephants in our very own pan, or I could spend 2 hours in a very dusty bumpy vehicle and sit sipping wine watching elephants in a distant waterhole. Hmmmmm.

Distant waterhole won, and off we set again on our long journey. I am getting quite good at climbing in and out of the safari vehicle, so I was feeling very chuffed with myself. I am not a decrepit old lady just yet.

We did have some good animal sightings on our way to our destination so that was good.

When we got to the waterhole I was so pleased with my choice. Instead of 2 elephants having an afternoon drink, there were literally hundreds of them. I haven’t seen so many elephants in years. Family after family, all with little ones in tow came down to have a drink and splash in the water. The single males came too, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. It was quite the place to be.

There was no pushing or shoving, no ear flapping or trumpeting, they were just all focused on having a drink and a good time.

We sat in the vehicles, the others consuming gin and tonics as they do every night, me drinking a particularly refreshing cold sauvignon blanc, munching away on tasty snacks. This is truly the life.

We sat there until the sun set, and it was time to return to the lodge. Wow, what a fantastic day.

Back at the lodge it was clear that a very special meal was in store for us. As we sat around the fire consuming our predinner drinks and snacks, the staff treated us to a wonderful choral concert. I love African music, we have many CDs of Zimbabwean and South African music, there is something about it that really makes me happy.

After the concert we sat down for a delicious traditional barbecue,

and it wouldn’t be Hyena Pan without the hyenas joining us at the pan.

It was a magical night. The sort of night that you want to go on forever, but as the embers of the fire were dying, we realized it was unfair of us to keep the staff up any longer. The lodge does not have a fence, so at night KK and Obert need to escort us to our rooms. Reluctantly we left the fire and returned to our rooms where our mosquito net and hot water bottles were awaiting us. The hyenas were still up and about near our room, but they were quieter tonight. Maybe tonight is the night we will hear the lions roar.