We are travelling most of tomorrow, so I decided to wrap up our time in Khwai in a single post. The Okavango Delta is a unique landscape and given we’d seen it from the air, so our next option was to experience it from the water. The local people traditionally travel in a ‘mokoro’ which is like a canoe, but the driver stands on the back with a pole to push the boat. Our driver explained the water lillies, frogs, birds and introduced us to George the crocodile. The elephants walk through the water enjoying the softer vegetation. It was really tranquil on the water, but there is a current as the water moves to the lower areas.
We were glad to have completed this activity fairly early in the morning before it got too hot. Once back in the vehicle we resumed our search for leopards. We had caught a glimpse of a female leopard called Saronga the previous night, so we were hopeful she was still in the area. The trackers all talked and narrowed down her location in a thicket. Most of the drivers were happy to wait, but there was one driver who drove his vehicle into the thicket to try to scare her out. Some words were exchanged, however the safari drivers just need to do better. We decided we would try again after lunch and sure enough we found her wandering.
We had an opportunity to track her at a distance to where she climbed a tree and took up the classic elevated leopard poses while she rested. We spent a couple of hours watching her and waitin for her to come down. It was amazing to watch and observe this beautiful cat. She is third generation in this area and has raised a couple of cubs. Unfortunately, leopard cubs are often killed by lions, so she has lost quite a few as well.
Eventually she came down and went on her way, hopefully to find something to eat, without having it stolen by hyenas. The next morning was our last in Khwai, as we had to head back to the airstrip to get our connections to Johannesburg. On our way to the airport we came across Saronga wandering again. She obliged by finding another tree to pose on. I had great guidance on framing these shots for Shaun Malan. @shaun_malan_photography
Until tomorrow….
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