Tuesday, 10 June 2025
This morning we were up before dawn again for our last game safari. We met our guide, Munguu, in the foyer and loaded ourselves into the open-sided 4WD with Munguu handing us blankets to wrap around our knees to manage the pre-dawn cold. Kasane is well situated to explore the northernmost part of Chobe (pronounced Cho-bay) National Park.
This park was established in 1967 and at 12,000 square kilometres, it is the third largest park in Botswana. According to our itinerary, Chobe is home to the highest elephant concentration on earth and is considered to be one of the most spectacular national parks in the whole of Africa.
Still quoting our itinerary … the riverine forests and floodplains support an abundance of game species, which in turn attract predators such as lions, leopards and hyenas. The park is divided into four distinctly different ecosystems: Serondela, with its lush plains and dense forests in the Chobe River area in the extreme north; the Savuti Marsh in the west; the Linyanti Swamps in the north-west; and the hot, dry hinterland in between. The large concentration of elephants that reside here during the dry season (June to October) congregate along the fertile floodplains of the Chobe River.
Obviously, on a single game drive out of Kasane, we could not explore the whole park; it was into the Serondela section of the park that we ventured, shortly before sunrise. In pursuit of big cats. We have seen our fill of antelopes, zebras, giraffes and elephants, what we really wanted to see was some big cats.
The drive started sedately enough with a marabou stork, an African fish eagle, some of those common antelopes, the impalas, and a flock of guinea fowls. An outstanding red sunrise broke over the Chobe River behind our right shoulders, but it was impossible to photograph because we were on the go, in pursuit of game, not sunrise photos!
Munguu received word that lions had been spotted, so we made a U-turn and careened off towards the river. Oh, wow, four young lions were prowling along the bank of the river and safari vehicles had arrived from everywhere, jockeying for position. The lions looked very relaxed going about doing their thing and not at all interested in or bothered by all the meals on wheels! Munguu received another message that some more mature lions had been spotted further along the river bank. We lurched off towards where these lions had been seen, soon seeing two magnificently maned lions stalking along the river.
We, in turn, stalked them as they headed in the direction of the youngsters. Not in a good way apparently. Munguu told us that they were intent on chasing the young males out of their territory. We turned again and, as we neared where the youngsters were, we saw the young female chasing a Cape buffalo. OMG! Never mind that she was probably being a bit ambitious, it was amazing to see the buffalo being chased by the lion.
We sat and watched as the mature lions arrived. They were not interested in us at all, they were totally focused on finding the young males who had, by this stage, run off. Munguu said the young males were much too young to challenge the older males and were right to make themselves scarce. Older males will kill younger males if they don’t do the sensible thing and leave without challenging. Nature in the raw, for sure!
With all this activity going on, a hyena was flushed from its daytime bolt hole and ran across in front of us. Munguu said it was rare to see a hyena at this time of day because they are night hunters and go to ground with the dawn. His only explanation was that the lions had run through, causing it to break cover and scarper. It all happened very quickly but David, sitting in the front seat, managed a pretty good shot of the hyena with his smart phone.
Munguu turned the vehicle again and we headed back along the river bank, where we saw the buffalo that had been chased by the young lioness, now well out in the river. But a single Cape buffalo wasn’t really enough of a look at this member of the Big 5, so we were very pleased when we spied a whole herd of Cape buffalo. These buffalo were much more docile than the ones we saw earlier in the week. They continued to graze and browse near the river while we watched them. Photography was a bit difficult though, shooting into the sun. At least we had now had a good close look at Cape buffalo.
By the river we also saw a yellow-billed stork, some distant hippos, a lilac-breasted roller, more guinea fowl and the ubiquitous impalas, before Munguu drove us to an area where a number of safari vehicles had gathered for a morning tea break. The bush toilet rules/etiquette were sorely lacking, with not even basic instructions to suggest that it should be men to the right and women to the left. With blokes peeing anywhere and everywhere it was difficult for the gals to find even a semblance of privacy to drop their dacks for a squat!
I guarded the front of a tree while Deb went around the back and then she did the same for me. Ahem, reasonably private from the masses already at the site, but then a safari vehicle coming late to the party drove in from the side and I was pretty much in their line of sight. Oh well, I’m never going to see those people again! With the pressure on our bladders relieved we were able to enjoy a cuppa and some biscuits and we were even treated to a giraffe passing by a couple of hundred yards away.
After tea we started to make our way back towards the Sedudu Gate with everything crossed for a leopard sighting, the only member of the Big 5 that has continued to elude the group. The others are lucky to be at four out of five, with the rest of the group seeing two black rhinos on the first day in Etosha National Park. I’m only at three out of five since I missed the rhinos.
Despite scanning the landscape intently for a spotted cat, all we saw was vultures sitting in trees, a troop of baboons with some impala and another hippo in the distance before arriving at Mongoose Mansion a huge mound of soil that had a pack of (at least) a dozen mongooses. These guys were much closer to the vehicle than the ones we saw at Etosha and they are very cute. As far as I’m concerned it’s not all about the Big 5!
We passed yet ANOTHER huge herd of impala, they are so common, ha, ha, before exiting the park, unfortunately, without a leopard sighting. It’s seeming pretty likely that we will not see a leopard in the wild before we leave. I suppose we did at least see some at the wildlife refuge outside of Windhoek. Better than not at all??
Driving back into town we had to give way to a warthog crossing the road and saw some townie mongooses running through a car park beside the road in a seething mass of furry, striped bodies.
Back at the resort we were in time to head to the dining room for a late breakfast. With breakfast included, but not lunch, we all tried to eat enough to last until dinner time before heading to our rooms for a few hours at leisure. Taking advantage of some reliable internet we spent our time working on the travel diary and photos.
Mid-afternoon it was time to head out again, this time looking out for game during our cruise along the Chobe River. We arrived at the boat where we were greeted by Munguu, our capable guide from this morning. Same cowboy, different horse, he told us.
We motored along the river and we could see grey blobs, hippos? on the right bank, but Munguu steered us over to the left bank. Damn, before we can look at the wildlife, our permit to enter the park by watercraft had to be sorted. The one issued for the game drive this morning didn’t cover this afternoon’s game cruise.
Paperwork sorted, we motored over to the grey blobs which resolved themselves into two bull elephants gorging themselves on the river grasses. They tear it out with their trunks, thrash it about on their tusks to dislodge the soil and then they stuff it into their mouths and they were feasting! So interesting to watch.
During our cruise we were treated to sightings of African darters, water monitors, semi-submerged hippos, jacanas, herons, wattled plover, a couple of hippos unusually out on land before sunset, crocodiles, Egyptian geese, a family group of elephants, three bull elephants and amazingly, a crocodile that caught a darter and started consuming it right in front of us. Wian told us we were very lucky to see that as the crocs rarely hunt during daylight.
Starting to head back towards the resort we saw some more hippos and Bernie managed to take the money shot of one of them with its mouth wide open. After another pleasant sundowner cruise, we enjoyed yet another spectacular African sunset before we docked. We had all started to feel the cold as we motored back after the sun sank below the horizon, so it was off to our rooms for a hot shower or bath to warm up before dinner.
When we arrived back at reception we were pleased to find that the smorgasbord was being served indoors tonight. It was lovely sitting outside last night but, with it being quite a bit cooler tonight, eating inside was a much better proposition.
After dinner there was some debate over what time we should head off in the morning. Wian said we only have about 80Ks to cover BUT we are crossing the border into Zimbabwe and there is no way of knowing if the immigration process will be quick or, worst case scenario, take a couple of hours? Wian was torn between leaving at 9.00am or 10.00am. We suggested splitting the difference and aiming to leave at 9.30am. OK, he said, bags ready for 9.15am and we’ll leave at 9.30am.
Steps: 9,092 (6.20kms)
