monday oct 15---lions!
patsenojexpedition
patrick and susan jones
Mon 15 Oct 2007 10:57
get up at 5:30am and eat a light breakfast at 6 and then leave for the
game drive at 6:30 to 11am. baines camp started at 7:15, but it is better
to leave earlier since that is when the animals are eating each other for
breakfast.
today started out fairly routine, and we are jaded anyway since we have
now been on something like 60 game drivs in total by including the south
africa trip 4 years ago. so, i was just watching passively as things
started picking up. among the interesting things we found is hyena dung
(a throwaway for daniel who has interest in such things). hyena dung is
white since they eat so many animal bones (calcium). then we ran across
literally dozens of vultures circling and seated on trees in a grove of
trees and bushes. getting more intresting now, says i. turns out that
there was a camel all torn apart in the bush and had already been picked
over by whatever other animals were around (hyena and lions) and the last
parts were being eaten by the vultures.......was a lot like a hitchcock
movie of similar but different plot. then we moved away and found another
large flock of vultures flying around and sitting in the open
field.....turns out to be the remains of a zebra. all that was left was
the skeleton, even though the kill would have happened just last
night.....these carnivores are very efficient.
so, after now being totally awake, we hotfooted it across very open and
bumpy roads in the 4x 4 to reach several lionesses and some cubs that
another guide radioed to our guide. arrived on the scend and found that
they were hidden behind a large bushy area in the marsh. turns out to be
about 5 lionesses and 3 cubs, one of which was probably only 5 months old.
since we could not see them behind the bushes, our intrepid guide decided
to venture out into the marsh (after all we had a 4x4) and get a better
look so we could take pictures. so here we are in the middle of the
marsh, maybe 15 feet from a bunch of lions, all by ourselves, and got
stuck in the mud. this was not a particularly brilliant move by the guide
and also seemed like it might interfere with our lunch plans (as well as
perhaps our evening plans if we indeed even survived being eaten by a
bunch of lions. but the guide (lower IQ) radioed the other guide who was
staying out of the marsh (higher IQ) and we were towed out. much more
excitement for the morning than i had anticipated!
then we moved on to return back to the lodge and saw a giraffe skeleton
with the head and horns displayed...quite interesting.
other things we saw during the morning would include a bunch of herons,
geese, egrets, vultures (as mentioned), colorful birds (including a parrot
or two), baboons, monkeys, jackals, all sorts of antelope related things,
hippos, giraffes, elephantsand several crocodiles. the water levels in
the river were low, so all the birds were congregated at a couple of
deeper sections where the fish were hiding out, and so it was like an
aviary with dozens of fish eating birds all lined up on the banks just
shooting fish in a barrell (or whatever metaphor works).
ran across a herd of breeding elephants (a family) that would not move
from the middle of the road since they were much occupied eating the bark
off a tasty tree that they had just toppled. finally, after a long wait
being stuck in the road waiting for them to move, the driver started the
vehicle to shoosh them away. in return, 3 of them flapped their ears and
also trumpeted their great annoyance at our interruption of their
breakfast. we had been vaccinated against trumpeting since yesterday,
when a lone bull fake-charged the vehicle, trumpeting and charging and
making a lot of dust----he was just posturing to show that he was braver
than the 4x4 but the little newlywed from ohio just behind me was
terrified and was sure she was going to die. i rather enjoyed the whole
thing but susan was rapidlyjoining the union of the newlywed lady.
so, a pretty interesting morning overall. game drive this afternoon
starts at 4pm and we return at 6:30pm. more later, since we are here
for 4 more nights.
temperature during the day gets quite hot, but mornings are cool enough to
wear a jacket. evenings cool off too (late), and we must be escorted to
our little bungalow since there are hyenas and lions and elephants and
hippos that wander about the camp all throughout the night.
this place is nicer than baines camp---rooms are bigger and more refined.
there are 12 bungalows instead of 5 at baines camp, although smaller
setting was intimate and nice too. susan would say goodbye for now but
she has discovered the place has a spa/massage place-----not bad for the
middle of the okavango delta..