We were on safari around sunrise after a light breakfast of fresh fruit, yoghurt. In the Khwai Reserve there are less rules about where the vehicles can go and our driver, Africa was very skilled at getting the vehicle into great places for photos off the actual roads. He manoeuvres sometimes surprised me. There was more water around the Okavango Delta due to some early rain and the upstream flows, which also meant that some innovative solutions had to be found to get around. We started the morning driving around as all the safari drivers looked for photo opportunities. There’s definitely a lot of collaboration between the drivers, but they use their local language, so we didn’t know what they were conjuring up for us.
Soon enough we arrived at the water’s edge and could see two of the younger lions being called from across the water to rejoin the pride. The calls from the older lions were ringing out and eventually the older lion came into view. Lions are cautious about crossing the water because there are a lot of crocodiles here.
Eventually, the young lions plucked up the courage and crossed over for the reunion. It was an amazing thing to watch. It was great not to be rushed onto the the next sighting so we could watch the scene unfold.
One of the things that is commonly done in the delta is a scenic helicopter flight where the door of the helicopter are removed. This allows greater access to clear photos without the reflection off the glass. We were in the air for 45 minutes which provided a real great view of large parts of the delta. The Okavango Delta is a vast inland river delta known for its sprawling grassy plains, which flood seasonally, becoming a lush animal habitat before mostly drying out in the hot dry season.
For our afternoon game drive Africa got brave and we drove through the water to an island where we thought there was going to be some more of the lions. We were quite lucky though as we came across a small pack of wild dogs that are also more accurately known as Painted Wolves. When they hunt they rely on their endurance to run their prey to exhaustion. There are less that 7,000 left in the world. We stayed with them until they embarked on their hunt, but soon lost them as they disappeared into the heavier scrub, but fascinating to watch their strategy.
We came back to camp for dinner and reunited with the other guests and the were two new guests that joined us. They had a separate guide so we compared notes over the great food and wine.
Until tomorrow.
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