We had time one more game drive left before leaving Chobe. The lodge has been excellent and our guide has worked hard to find us the things we wanted to see and those things that nature thought we should see as well. Our guide was of the view that many elephants will die over the summer, with the el nino driving temperatures up which leads to increased deaths from exhaustion and other cattle-borne diseases like Anthrax. We stumbled of a male lion supervising the a lioness feeding on an elephant that had seemingly died over night. Later the hyenas, jackals and vultures will join in later and soon the only reminder will be a some bones. I did to use the least offensive picture for this one.
As we drove back to the lodge for the last time here, I reflected on the sheer number of different animals here. There were birds and baboons as well as the lions, leopards and elephants. I do hope this area can remain protected and diverse for a long time to come. One of the highlights has been the different viewpoints, not all safari vehicles, but also the view from the water.
Our next lodge is in the the Khwai Community Concession which is an 180,000-hectare, community-managed wildlife area located on the northeastern edge of the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. There is a road from Kasane, but it is in such poor condition it takes many hours to drive. The other option is Mack Air, a safari airline based in Maun, Botswana. They run a fleet of 12 seater planes servicing the safari camps across southern Africa. Our flight from Kasane took around 45 minutes and landed on an unsealed airstrip.
We were met by our lodge hosts who took us to the camp for a quick check in before a quick game drive before dinner. Our guide for this stay had been with Machaba Safaris for about 14 years so knew many of the cats by name and their likely hang-outs. He is also a great photographer who can be found @shaun_malan_photography on Instagram. He understood what we were there for, whereas sometimes we felt a bit rushed. He found us this group of young lions that we stayed with until is was dark. It turned out to be a great preview to what was to come.
We came back to the camp and enjoyed a pre-dinner drink. The camp we were staying at only had 4 well appointed tents so tonight we shared dinner with the only other guests who were a you South African couple from Johannesburg. It turned out to be great opportunity to ask questions and gain understanding.
Until tomorrow…
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