Cats' life: Sabi Sand, Timbavati, Chobe, Okavango

[Atravelynn]

Fish in croc mouth. Impeccable timing for a photo and a snack. Terrible timing for the fish. "5 adult cubs!" Your good timing continues, along with your ability to sit tight in a speeding vehicle, with this cheetah uncommon sighting. Beyond those beautiful spots and expressive black lined countenances I'm thinking gene distribution. Go forth an multiply you five!

 

Such VARIETY!

[bettel]

Any time invested in improving your post processing technique will pay off @@bettel.

There are lots of Lightroom courses and Tutorials out there and you'll be amazed at the transformation of your photos.

 

One tip - If you do plan to get more interested in playing with your photos then try shooting in RAW format if you are not already doing so. It will give you a lot more control and flexibility.

 

I actually started to read a tutorial. We will check how it will work .

 

 

Day 16. Last morning in Chobe.

 

This was a very special day. I don’t think I will ever be able to forget it.

 

But I will start from the beginning. The night before the other guest left and I stayed alone on the guest side of the camp. During the dinner we were laughing a lot with the guide and the camp manager forecasting that I would blow the alarm horn every 5 minutes. I probably scared them as falling a sleep I could hear that the guide and the camp manager were moving their tents closer to my tent (lol just in case). Jokes aside I was thankful for the care although I was not going to use a horn

 

And then I woke up in the middle of the night because somebody was scratching my tent. For a few minutes I was trying to understand if it was a starving lion but then I heard the sound of branches being broken as well as “working engine” sound of elephants talking to each other. They surrounded my tent and I could hear them touching it here and there. And even more once when I touched the tent wall I could feel the tip of the trunk on another side. It was so special! I can’t express this in words. It was better than any sighting I could imagine. As if the whole world stopped to exist and there were only elephants and me. I was lying in my bed and was listening to elephants for hour or so. And then I fell asleep.

 

In the morning the camp manager smiled at me and asked how I was sleeping. I told him that it was the best night ever. And he answered that he was waiting for me to call alarm and only 30 something minutes later he realised that I was probably fine . I joked that at least those were elephants, not lions. The guide smiled wider and pointed to the ground. There were big lion tracks there. I guess our camp was pretty busy place that night.

 

To compensate for an exciting night our morning drive was pretty quiet.

 

African fish eagle:

 

 

Warthogs, father and son are playing:

 

 

Impalas are warming up in the morning:

 

 

We checked all areas around the camp but we were not able to find lions so the guide decided to show me other parts of the park. It was pretty empty there as well.

 

Baboons were grooming each other:

 

 

Life is good:

 

 

Kudu female was resting:

 

 

And then there was a small present from Chobe, a sable antelope. I had not seen this antelope before and it was actually not time for them in Chobe. This male was probably delayed by something or decided to stay for some reasons:

 

 

And after this we went on a tar road and continued to the airport for the flight to Okavango.

[TonyQ]

@@bettel

Great to hear the elephants so close to your tent - and to feel them

Special to see a sable as well

[Terry]

Love your "elephants outside my tent" story. What a wonderful experience to feel the trunk and then to find lion tracks in the morning! Truly a spectacular safari night!

[bettel]

Day 16 PM.

 

My travel notes are becoming shorter and shorter (somebody became laze) so it is hard to remember what was happening. But pictures help.

 

For example, when I saw the picture below I immediately remembered my feelings at that moment:

 

 

1) «We are going to fly on THIS plane during the thunderstorm? I think my horse will have to look for a new owner». It was not raining at the airport but the sky around was covered with black heavy clouds. Good thing I love to fly so they did not have to push me into the plane.

 

2) «I think I will die» - the plane was falling into each air hole and even more it was stopping three times on our way and every time before landing it was doing an additional circle to make sure that there were no animals. Even three pills of Gravol did not help me too much.

 

3) «I will die for sure» - right during the landing when we were only a few meters above the airstrip, a few kudus decided to cross the lane. The pilot began to pull out heavily trying to up and aside but my future trekker TT ran like crazy along the airstrip and scared kudus enough to leave the lane. So there was an overall happy end .

 

 

Velvet monkeys in the camp:

 

 

 

In the evening we went to hunt lions . I must say that from the lions watching point of view Nxabega was the best place. We were able to go back to the same group of lions again and again and to watch how they interacted with each other.

 

The lion pride of Nxabega is quite small: two adult lionesses (mother and daughter) and two male lions. Both lionesses have cubs (two weeks old and two month old at that time).

 

On our way:

 

 

We found two male lions practicing their favourite pose:

 

 

We were sitting with them not expecting a lot but flies were quite bad and lions started to wake up. This is the dominant male, going forward I will call him Older Brother or Older :

 

 

This is the Younger Brother or Younger

 

 

Sweet yawning:

 

 

More pictures :

 

 

 

Soon lions got up and walked away towards impalas:

 

 

They moved in two different directions to surprise antelopes and we lost them in high grass for some time. When we found them they were with a lionesses. This is Mother:

 

 

Male lions were very glad to meet a beautiful lady. But the lioness did not share their enthusiasm at all. Older brother somehow decided that it was time for love. The lioness had just given birth to cubs and did not have any plans for a new litter. Mother was not happy. She was walking, lying down, standing up, walking again and we could see that she was pretty nervous. But Older Brother was following her. From time to time he was trying to get closer to smell her and Mother was slapping his face to get him back to reality. Older brother was backing off sadly and then he was walking to his younger brother and slapping him.

 

Sad lioness was thinking how to get rid of two morons:

 

 

 

Older brother was following:

 

 

Younger brother was sniffing the lioness smell:

 

 

At the end they were walking together the whole evening: the lioness was first, the dominant male was following her, and the second male was following them 100 meters behind.

 

Couple views:

 

 

 

Sunset:

 

[Kitsafari]

wat a beautiful leopard, and stunning pix of her relaxed and paws crossed in the weathered tree with her long magnificent tail just hanging loosely.

 

and such special moments in the night with the eles. i'm envious.

[bettel]

Day 17. Morning

 

I again was the only tourist in the car so I asked the guide to go for lions and dogs.

 

First we found Mother and Older brother, they were still together.

 

 

The male lion was much quieter and much more polite. He was following the lioness like a shadow but never tried to get too close (I guess her teaching methods were effective). The lioness was more nervous: she was constantly moving her tail and yawning:

 

 

We spent a few minutes with them and went to Daughter with two cubs:

 

 

Guides and trekkers of Nxabega don’t have access to the radio collar. It is a government program.

 

There were two lion cubs: a boy and a girl. They were two month old at that moment.

 

Boy:

 

 

Girl:

 

 

Both

 

 

 

We were watching them for some time and then a lioness started to look for a place to hide them but she did not want to do it in front of us so we continued our drive.

 

A duiker:

 

 

Zebras:

 

 

 

 

Kudu:

 

 

We were having a mission to find wild dogs. Nxabega has a small resident pack that always stayed within reserve borders but to find them is not easy as they move a lot. We started with finding fresh treks and then we went in this direction visiting dogs’ favourite places. A lot of treks but there were no dogs.

 

At some point we stopped so that the guide and the trekker could discuss what we were going to do next and the guide suggested to turn around and to go and check another place. While guys were talking I was checking the area with a binocular. I saw something strange in a tall grass quite far in front of us. I told AK (the guide) about it and he responded that these were probably red lechwes . I was doubting, I was pretty sure that whoever was there had black ears. So I continued to insist that these might be dogs. I guess I was annoying enough to make the guide and the trekker to take their binoculars and check. They could not see what I was pointing at. After couple minutes of tries when everybody started to feel frustration (“Are they blind not to see these ears?”, “This blond girl is thinking she is the smartest here!” ). TT (the trekker) told that he could see them and these were dogs. Yes! We found them!

 

We got closer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dogs were hunting and were moving a LOT. Unfortunately after 15-20 minutes they crossed one of channels and we could not follow. AK told that now we are going to find a leopard. We laughed as nobody saw any leopard for a few days. We drove to the area where a female leopard lived and started to check trees. Nothing. And then we stopped to take a look at a bird of prey (I don’t remember what it was). And guess what? Couple minutes later AK told “Look at the next tree. There is a leopard there!”

 

 

The female leopard was posing for us nicely:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would say it was a perfect game drive.

 

When I came back to camp, I was served a breakfast. I was told that in addition I need to order eggs/omelette/pancakes, but I would have died

 

[FlyTraveler]

Great lions, kudu, zebras and leopard photos! I really like the first photo (female and male lions) where we can also see the scenery in the frame. What a pleasure to be the only tourist in the vehicle.

[twaffle]

Well done sighting the dogs, fantastic.

[JohnR]

Wonderful leopard and dogs.

 

(Minor point: your duiker in #82 is a steenbok)

[bettel]

(Minor point: your duiker in #82 is a steenbok)

 

Thank you! I am very bad with small antelopes

[TonyQ]

@@bettel

What a great drive - and well done for spotting the dogs!

Lovely pictures of the lion cubs, zebra, kudu and the dogs themselves

Beautiful leopard in the tree also - I think she looks as full as you were about to become with that breakfast.

[bettel]

Day 17. PM

 

I was robbed again. I guess some people don’t learn even from their own mistakes. That day I lost one of the most precious things… a piece of cake. During the afternoon tea, I put a sandwich and a cake on my plate, put the plate on a table and turned away to check for animals. A monkey used the chance. Good thing I was able to get a second piece after all .

 

Here is the robber:

 

 

The evening drive we started with checking the leopard that we found in the morning. She came down and was lying on the grass:

 

 

 

 

 

We spent some time with her and went to check lions.

 

First, we found Young brother. He enjoyed the life:

 

 

From time to time he rolled over to check what was going around and then he fell back:

 

 

As there was no action we went to look for lion cubs (lion cubs just can’t be boring)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best toy is mother’s tail:

 

 

 

While we were watching lion cubs, we noticed a car from another camp (sometimes when they don’t have lions on their reserve they bring them to Nxabega). The car drove very fast to bushes. Logically we decided that they might found Older brother and Mother. We decided not to hurry there but as we found later, maybe it was a wrong decision.

 

We stayed with cubs for awhile and then decided to check what attracted the Pom Pom vehicle. The first thing we found was a male leopard on the tree. The guide was surprised as this leopard was very illusive and shy and normally if he heard vehicles he disappeared in bushes immediately.

 

 

When we watched him for couple minutes, we realized that he was in pain as he did not bend his hind legs. The guide pointed the light there and when I checked pictures it was obvious that he had blood on the skin.

 

 

The guide told that lions caught him and they probably still somewhere here (he also suggested that vehicle from another camp could hear the sound of fight that was why they drove so fast). Couple minutes later we found lions around the nearest bush. The top right bright spot on the picture below is where leopard was:

 

 

I was feeling sorry for the leopard but January Nxabega updates in Facebook told that he is fine.

 

Sunset:

 

[pault]

Sorry to hear about the theft. Terrible!

 

And glad to hear that the leopard got away with it too.

 

Great views of the lion cubs.

[SafariChick]

Fantastic report - just read the whole thing in one evening! You had such wonderful sightings and your photos are beautiful!!

[graceland]

Definitely been a Cat's life; along with a few stray dogs

[bettel]

Great views of the lion cubs.

 

Cubs were a real highlight for me. Unfortunately, the last update from Nxabega says that only one cub out of four is still alive .

 

 

Fantastic report - just read the whole thing in one evening! You had such wonderful sightings and your photos are beautiful!!

 

Thank you. Sometimes I wish I did not have such a good trip, as now I am totally addicted and I can't imagine any other type of vacation

 

 

Definitely been a Cat's life; along with a few stray dogs

 

 

 

Day 18.Morning.

 

 

We started the drive with checking if the leopard was till there. Unfortunately she was not. But did not have a chance to get too upset as we received a call that dogs were found and that we had to be really fast as they were almost done with a baby impala kill so they would soon start to move. I think they need to include “dog” drives as a special entertainment , it is almost like rafting but without getting wet.

 

We came right in time as dogs were finishing last pieces:

 

 

 

 

Before they started to move they decided to check who would be their cheering group. They sniffed each car. It was funny and not funny at the same time. When you see a dog face one meter away from you and when you see a lot of thinking on a dog’s face you want to know what exactly a dog is thinking about . Actually I got quite lucky as I had two dogs standing near me and evaluating if I was delicious enough . Thanks God, I was not, but they were making the decision for quite a long time (at least it seemed to me): they were sniffing an air, getting couple steps closer, making eye contact with each other and then with me. Honestly, I tried to breath as quiet as possible better even not breath at all.

 

 

 

After we all got acquainted dogs started to move and for the next couple hours the main tourists’ task was to hold. Dogs were hungry and they did one attempt after another: impala, warthog, red lechwe, kudu. But there was no luck. I can’t say that I was feeling sorry, I don’t think I was able to deal with dogs’ kill.

 

 

One time we accidentally helped dogs. A reedbuck hiding in tall grass had to move because of our vehicle (we did not see the animal), so it ran straight to dogs but managed to see them, changed direction, and escaped.

 

 

I think we would not have been able to avoid a kill but another car got stuck and while we were helping to get it out, dogs crossed pretty wet place and we could not follow them.

 

Breakfast on arrival:

 

Edited March 26, 2014 by bettel

[Terry]

What an excellent safari! So many beautiful lions, leopards and wild dogs! I am enjoying traveling along with you!

[Kitsafari]

 

 

Cubs were a real highlight for me. Unfortunately, the last update from Nxabega says that only one cub out of four is still alive .

 

That's so sad - such a tough life for mothers to bring up the babies in the wild.

 

Before they started to move they decided to check who would be their cheering group. They sniffed each car. It was funny and not funny at the same time. When you see a dog face one meter away from you and when you see a lot of thinking on a dog’s face you want to know what exactly a dog is thinking about . Actually I got quite lucky as I had two dogs standing near me and evaluating if I was delicious enough . Thanks God, I was not, but they were making the decision for quite a long time (at least it seemed to me): they were sniffing an air, getting couple steps closer, making eye contact with each other and then with me. Honestly, I tried to breath as quiet as possible better even not breath at all.

 

How lucky you were! i would have loved to have been there. better wild dogs eyeing me than a lion, i think...

 

 

Breakfast on arrival:

 

 

 

that looks sumptious!

[bettel]

How lucky you were! i would have loved to have been there. better wild dogs eyeing me than a lion, i think...

 

 

I am not sure what is my preference . I had both situations they were equally exciting

 

 

 

 

Day 18. PM.

 

This is just an illustration that you should not leave anything unsupervised when you are in a safari camp.

 

 

 

This evening was the only one when I was really pissed off. We were one hour late for our evening drive as we were waiting for other guests to take a shower after arrival. All other lodges that I visited were solving issues like this by bringing guests later by a spare vehicles or by leaving them behind. And it was also a part of ranger responsibilities to coordinate this. My ranger did not make any slightest effort. I know for some people safari is not quite important part, but I was counting every minute. At that point I promised myself that now it would be only a private vehicle and nobody would get hurt .

 

I think the guide could clearly see that I was very unhappy so when other passengers came and we found that this was their first safari, he told them that we were going to see lions and we would not stop near impalas and other general game now, we would do this tomorrow. We just stopped for couple minutes near an elephant bull:

 

 

We found the Older brother by sound as he was calling actively. While we were approaching him I noticed a lioness and we realized that she somehow managed to escape. So we briefly stopped near the Older brother and went to check the lioness:

 

 

The lioness was very nervous, she was walking fast, sometimes even trotting and she was constantly checking what was going on behind her. She had no intention to respond the call :

 

 

 

We decided not to be with her as we did not want to help the male lion to find her. On our way back to the Older brother we found the Younger brother. He was listening to calls and was following the direction.

 

 

While we were watching the Younger brother I noticed the second lioness with cubs so we went there:

 

 

 

Soon the Older brother arrived. He was quiet and sad (he lost his love ) so he lied down not far and was just watching his family. At some point the lioness came to say hello to him but he was rude and tried to sniff under her tail. He was slapped in the face. Thinking that the lesson was learnt the lioness repeated her “Hello” (she was rubbing herself against his face), but he was rude again, so the lioness slapped him again. I don’t know how long they would have continued but the Younger brother finally arrived so the lioness returned to cubs.

 

 

At this point it got really dark:

 

[Kitsafari]

 

Day 18. PM.

 

This is just an illustration that you should not leave anything unsupervised when you are in a safari camp.

 

 

 

 

This evening was the only one when I was really pissed off. We were one hour late for our evening drive as we were waiting for other guests to take a shower after arrival. All other lodges that I visited were solving issues like this by bringing guests later by a spare vehicles or by leaving them behind. And it was also a part of ranger responsibilities to coordinate this. My ranger did not make any slightest effort. I know for some people safari is not quite important part, but I was counting every minute. At that point I promised myself that now it would be only a private vehicle and nobody would get hurt .

 

I think the guide could clearly see that I was very unhappy so when other passengers came and we found that this was their first safari, he told them that we were going to see lions and we would not stop near impalas and other general game now, we would do this tomorrow. We just stopped for couple minutes near an elephant bull:

-----------------------------------------

Soon the Older brother arrived. He was quiet and sad (he lost his love ) so he lied down not far and was just watching his family. At some point the lioness came to say hello to him but he was rude and tried to sniff under her tail. He was slapped in the face. Thinking that the lesson was learnt the lioness repeated her “Hello” (she was rubbing herself against his face), but he was rude again, so the lioness slapped him again. I don’t know how long they would have continued but the Younger brother finally arrived so the lioness returned to cubs.

 

 

that is such a great catch of the monkey - is that a ververt? - what a fantastic advert for Coke! i love it.

 

I'm sorry that you had such a horrible start. waiting for 15 mins is reasonable, half an hour is bordering on annoyance, but an hour just for them to shower? that's really irritating. couldn't you have asked the ranger that whoever's there on time to start the game drive first, and the rest could catch up later? it's just not fair to those who try to be on time. and all these should have been explained to every arrival, especially those on their first safaris.....

 

your description of the lions is quite delightful - sounds like a typical family situation especially when the husband sits down to watch the TV box and you are trying to catch his attention....doesn't it?

[Peter Connan]

I absolutely love the photo of the theiving mouse!

[bettel]

Day 18. The last safari drive.

 

I apologise in advance as there going to be a lot of photos. I will split them in two posts.

 

The morning started with a rainbow

 

 

We decided that it was a good sign and went to look for lions. But we met a lot of herbivores on our way:

 

 

 

 

 

Very strange creature: two bodies and one head

 

 

 

 

 

And then we found brothers, they were tired:

 

 

So after spending a few minutes and realising that they were hardly going even to open eyes we went to cubs.

 

 

 

While their mother was resting, cubs were browsing around and investigating everything around them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything was quiet and peaceful when cubs disappeared in very thick bushes at the bottom of the hill. A few minutes later we suddenly heard a growl and then a cub started to cry. And s/he was crying and crying and crying. We could not understand what was going on. Then small boy walked out of the bush but his sister was still somewhere inside and still complaining loudly. Cubs’ mother jumped up straight from her relaxing pose and tried to find out who abused her kids (it was a pretty impressive conversion, it took only a split second). I think first she decided that it was us as she gave us a pretty dirty and suspicious look but then she immediately ran into bushes. There was more growling and sound of slaps and a small girl walked out of the bush. We could see some blood on her shoulder but she did not limp. At this point we realised that another lioness with her nearly born cubs were there and she was not happy with her grandkids to be playing with her too little kids. Both cubs quietly walked a few meters away and hid in tall grass.

 

 

It takes much more time to read this than to watch the whole scene. After initial few seconds of fight between lionesses it became very quiet but the second lioness were still there. The guide told that in normal situation both lionesses would fight longer but the lioness with small cubs did not want to conflict at all as she was afraid to open here location to male lions (they were just 100 meters away). And it almost looked like as if the mother of older cubs realised how important it was to be quiet as she also did not continue the fight although she was in the bush with the second lioness for at least few minutes. And then she got out, found her kids and they all left quickly. I was impressed with cubs behaviour, when they were sitting and waiting they were very quiet, but as soon as their mom found them the small girl started to complain loudly on what happened to her.

[Double Dare]

Lovely report! I enjoyed it tremendously.

[bettel]

It is exactly one month till my return visit to South Africa so I would better complete the report for previous one J

 

 

Male lions obviously heard sound of fight and decided immediately that they had to find out what was going on. Especially Older Brother, he was missing his love.

 

/Sorry, my camera did something with colours, probably wrong WB/

 

 

But they say “Don’t plan for a bear skin till you kill him”. The older brother reached the hill when Daughter and her cubs were already leaving. He realized that there should be another lioness somewhere here, but he could not find her. He was walking back and forth, sniffing air and ground and listening, at the same time all of us, in the car, were praying for him not to find the den as we were not sure that he would not harm cubs. Thanks God, no luck for a big boy. He walked away and lay down not far from the hill.

 

 

After he left, his younger brother decided to try his luck. He was doing the same thing: walking, sniffing, listening so we were continuing to pray J. And he also found nothing. Older Brother was watching attentively, he was ready to jump up if there was a positive outcome:

 

 

 

 

 

Younger brother was leaving the hill:

 

 

At that point both lions decided that it was time to look for a place to rest:

 

 

The guide was driving forward, turning the car and positioning it in front of lions, so that they had to pass by us. And he was doing it again and again. I was sitting on the last row so lions were walking right under me almost touching the vehicle. A few times they raised their heads to take a look at the car and it was quote exciting. Eye contact with huge male that is only meter away with no fence between us… I was really hoping that the guide knew what he was doing .

 

 

 

 

Lions were marking their territory /again colours are weird/:

 

 

And drinking some water

 

 

 

At the end, they found a termite mound and settled down

 

 

 

A lot of portraits /sorry, I could not resist their charm/

 

Younger brother

 

 

Older

 

 

Younger

 

 

 

Older

 

 

Younger

 

 

And to complete our drive, lions returned to the pose we found them earlier:

 

 

P.S. I should have told this from the beginning, but I apologize for all grammar and orthographic mistakes. English is not my native language.

Edited April 8, 2014 by bettel