MV17 MAUN TO CHOBE

On the 23rd, when we started our trip, we arrived at Pompom Airstrip to very good weather. As we drove to our fist camp at Nxabega we saw some good birding and some nice herds of Impala. Lots of Kudu in the Bushes, which is a good sign of recovery of the fires we had last year. Our Mokoro trip was filled with funny sightings of the painted reed frog, nice sundowner on the water, aquatic birds, amazing waterberry trees and lots of fun. Our third day takes us per plane to Khwai Airstrip were we are rejoined with our vehicle and start our trip by car. We drove down to the Khwai river for Lunch, were we encountered Elephants swimming in the river to the joy of the guest and myself for that matter. In Khwai one can generally see good herds of Waterbuck, Giraffe, Jackals, Elephant and Kudu, and this was one of these days. On the afternoon drive in Savute we spotted a male Leopard which in front of us started a hunt of Impala..unfortunately for him unsuccessful, nevertheless this one was not to give up and worth our wait a close by Warthog was his next choice of prey. Lucky Warthog, the Leopard must have been tired, because he also missed this target. Another survivor of the day! The day still turned out thrilling for us, sometimes the animals simply come to you..3 Wild dogs turn up out of the Bushes and start a chase right next to our vehicle. Coming to Chobe, the guest changed the game into something fun. They wanted me to drive and they were going to track the lion spoor that we found just outside our camp. Everyone was very involved, plans were made to turn into great success! We found the lions after one hour. The pride of five was laying nicely in the shade, not bothered by our presence at all..until the Elephants decided to make their path right through the “Lion camp”..those kind of sightings are so rare and unbelievable to watch, size against fear, big against small, Elephants pushing Lions away, it was a great day for all of us, except the Lions which had to find a new spot where they would not be bothered and left us by the road trotting into the Bushes.

Posted: Botswana Expedition by Samuel Kudomo, Date: 23 March 2012