The last game drive, Kathy's lion encounter

Our last game drive was to be another all day event, this time in Chobe National Park in Botswana. The park is Botswana's third largest covering 4,500 square miles. It is unique in that it has four distinct ecosystems (woodlands, sandy desert, swamps and flood plains) and contains Africa's largest concentration of elephants (over 50,000). It also had the leopard, the missing link in seeing the Big Five on this trip.

With a pleasant trip up the river to Kasane, Botswana, marred only by the border ordeal in Namibia, we  were lulled by the scenes on the river and how pleasant the last two days had been. Our safari vehicle looked new and was open air, the roads to the park were paved, our guide was highly experienced, and when we reached the park gates, we saw sandy roads just past the park entrance. This was going to be great!

We no sooner entered the park and we came across a trio of giraffe posing perfectly.

A short way away, our first sable antelope also posing just for us. 

Then a magnificent kudu.

Followed by a cute baby elephant. How could it get any better? 

You think you could get jaded seeing these animals every day and you do joke about it, but then they appear and you excited all over again. Fortunately or maybe unfortunately, a radio call came into our driver and the word leopard was uttered. He said it was off on the other side of the park and we had to hurry. So off we went with dust billowing from the back tires of the vehicle with Kathy and I, having chosen the top most seat, cantilevered over the back wheels, hanging on for dear life, as we drive for forty minutes over soft sand roads that somehow proved to be the bumpiest, most rutted, roughest, roads we had been on. 

We rounded a corner, went down a hill, quietly drove up to a grove of trees and our guide pointed and softly said leopard. We then sat there for about forty-five minutes watching and waiting and this is what we saw.

I've seen more leopard skin on a purse my mother had, but it qualified as a sighting and try as you may, one cannot will these animals to do anything they don't want to do and this one wanted to sleep. Even a herd of passing elephants, some that even grazed on that very tree, couldn't get it to move.

It was getting very hot, I was getting pretty bored, but again, a radio call came in and our guide excitedly told us: dead elephant and male lion eating it. Ours was the only vehicle that broke away from the leopard and again we careened across the bumpiest roads we had yet experienced, again across to another distant side of the park. About half way there, Kathy's back couldn't take the ride and she changed seats to the lowest one, right next to the driver, searching for a smoother ride. It was a faithful choice.

After about thirty minutes of jostling, we turned down a small road and after a few minutes we saw this partially blocking the road.

I will spare you any closer pictures, but it was pretty horrific and the smell was indescribable. If there were a million flies covering the carcass, there was one. It was gross. Our friend Bob, who is an outdoors man and big game trophy hunter in Canada, said it was the worst smell he had ever come across. 

As we slowly drove past, the driver said the lion was ahead. Now it's hard to tell, but the road is lower than the banks of the road and the lion was sitting about a foot off of the side of the road on the bank. As we pulled up he was probably thinking about the big dinner he was going to have and here is what I saw.

Kathy had taken the seat next to the driver, about three feet lower than me, and this is what she saw as he pulled up and stopped.

She had to slide to the driver's side to get the shots to focus, as she literally could have flossed it's teeth she was so close and was at eye level. What possessed this guide to do what he did we will never know and how she didn't flinch is beyond me. The rest of us where very still as we could hear it breathe. As we slowly pulled away, the guide said to us "she is a brave lady".

We were glad to leave the smell behind us, although we had to pass the elephant one more time to get out of the area. Then the driver said it was time for lunch and we all hoped we hadn't contracted some airborne disease from the elephant and used plenty of had sanitizer before we ate. When we met up with the others they told us of watching the tree for the leopard to move, but we a far more exciting and compelling story: Kathy's Lion Encounter.

Lunch was a pleasant affair, but it was getting terribly hot and the group was getting pretty cranky and tired. Perhaps animal fatigue was finally setting in. We asked to start heading back, but the guides wanted to go back to the leopard. So we did.

We were first in and he actually had moved and I got this shot.

Not a bad shot, but then vehicles started coming from every direction and one pulled right in front of us.  I said a few unkind words to the other driver and our driver just sat there. After awhile I said this is stupid and we agreed to leave. 

As we left I took this inspiring picture of a termite mound. These things are actually engineering marvels, but I will spare you. If you really want to know more, and they are pretty cool, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound-building_termites

No sooner than ten minutes after we left, the leopard did start moving around. We headed back to the leopard area, but it was already back a tree. My haste cost us some pictures. We are indebted to our good friend Sarah Kodalen  for these shots.  KC, her husband, had lent Kathy his camera when her lens broke and these marvelous folks came to our aide once again.

Everyone was hot, tired and thirsty. We didn't realize it, but the temperature had reached 114 and we had been out all day. All we all wanted to do was to head back to the Zambezi Queen. We still had to face the climb up the sandy hill in Zambia and face the grumpy official, but that would mean it was only fifteen more minutes to the boat. 

That was it. The final game drive of the trip. It was fitting that we were literally spent. We had traveled many miles, stayed in marvelous places, seen the Big Five, the Serengeti, the beginning of the Migration and so many other things, learned a lot and made new friends. It was time to wind down with  a day of leisure and then a final fling at Victoria Falls before we all headed home.