Gal Meets Globe: Little Vumbura Lodge, Botswana September 9-10, 2012

We flew from Windhoek, Namibia to Maun, Botswana where we were met and transferred to a single engine Cessna Caravan for our flight into the Okavango Delta to the Little Vumbura tented camp. After landing we jumped into a safari Land Rover and driven to a small boat for transfer to the camp. On the way we saw a crocodile.

Cessna Caravan 12 Seater

Short boat ride to camp

Crocodile

After lunch we went out on a safari. Our guide is named Kay but is also known as “Mandala” which means “old wise one”.

Madala Kay AND Madala Scott with Barb (means old wise one)

Mandala was aware of a pack of wild dogs in the area and he wanted to find them. After searching for some time he spotted some pups jumping up in the grass. As we inched forward toward the pups we could see that the pups were very active and that the adults were quietly resting nearby. We watched the pups play for some time. They were jumping on each other and biting each other and playing tug of war with sticks. The adults were ignoring the pups and the Land Rover.

Wild Dog Puppy (not related to the domestic dog)

Playful puppies

Suddenly the adults became active. We counted 17 adults and 12 pups. The adults began moving single file in one direction. It is late afternoon and is getting cooler. Mandala believes that the dogs are needing to hunt. This large pack of wild dogs would need to kill multiple times during a day to make sure all dogs in the pack were fed. The dogs came upon a flooded area and seemed reluctant to cross. The pups stopped. Some of the adults reluctantly took a step or two into the water and other dogs would follow behind. It was clear that the dogs were afraid of being taken by a crocodile. The ripples created by one dog would scare the dog walking close by. The pups remained huddled and hidden in the bush near the edge of the water and the pack of adults moved cautiously across the water. We drove the Land Rover through the water and followed the dogs. The Land Rover has a snorkel and you can drive it through water as long as the snorkel end is out of the water.

You can drive in water that would go up to the waist of the driver and cover the feet of the people in the second row. The snorkel is the air intake on the right side hood. As long as it is above water, you can be amphibious.

The adults start to get restless-maybe hungry

The ripples in the water make them tentative-maybe there could be a crocodile

The dogs are hunting. They spot an impala and immediately spread out as if executing a military maneuver. The impala senses danger and bolts and evades the dogs.

We next come upon a group of about 8 male wildebeest. There are no babies. Mandala does not believe the dogs will attack a group of male wildebeest but he was wrong. The wildebeest begin to huddle together after the stragglers race to the huddle. The dogs begin to try to create confusion and an advantage by attacking around the edges of the huddle. One dog runs through the huddle and is head-butted by one of the wildebeest. The wildebeest back into the circle so they are facing out in a circle. They have “circled the wagons” for their mutual protection. Wildebeest are smarter than they look. The dogs lunge and try to create some chaos but the wildebeest stay in place and the dogs give up and continue to hunt.

Wildebeest circling with heads out to fend off the dogs

We were hoping to see the dogs continue their hunt but the sun has set and we need to return to camp. On the way we see a beautiful big stork sitting in the top of a tree.

Open billed stork

There are 6 tents at Little Vumbura and we are in number 5. Barb is always a little leery of being the furthest tent from the center of the camp since she remembers the sudden fear she experienced for Jason when we stayed at Hamilton’s tented camp in South Africa and Jason was in the furthest tent from the center of the camp and suddenly a lion began to roar loudly in the direction of Jason’s tent. Barb was afraid Jason had been eaten and there are no phones in tented camps.

Walkway to tents- Baboons, elephants, or any animals can walk through

Tent 5- Our Home

Pretty nice tent inside

I think tent number 5 was a lucky tent. We could hear animals all night long. Baboons would sometime jump on the tents. Elephants would walk through the camp. At 5:30 am the first morning our safari guide came to wake us. He said: “Wake up for safari and you have an elephant sleeping by your door.” We jumped up and quietly peeked out of our door. There was a huge elephant lying on his side. We could hear his stomach rumble. We counted 6 breaths per minute. We were being quiet. It was still almost completely dark. We did not want to startle the elephant for fear he would knock down our tent. We were using our headlamps to look at the elephant.

We knew we had heard a hippo or elephant outside when we went to sleep, but we didn't expect him to spend the night

On our safari drive the next morning we came upon two leopards. We followed them and they led us to a tree where they had killed and hung a large baboon. The leopards had come back to eat some more of the baboon.

Yummy

Look how full his belly is

Watching the leopard eat made us hungry too. Back to camp for lunch.

That afternoon we came across two honeymooning Leopards. For more than two hours we watched these Leopards mate about every 5 to 10 minutes. It always started the same way. The female always initiated by walking over to the male and flaunting herself. The male reacted and it always ended with some playful biting and growling and a swap of the paw by the female.

Honeymooners

Movie of Leopards having a good time!

There is a tree in Africa called the Baobab. It can be 1000-2000 years old.

Baobab tree

The elephants have been eating the bark. You can see how small Scott looks next to it.

Morning safari took us past giraffe, spotted hyenas, cape buffalo, elephants, kudu, impala, Tsessebe, Sable, hippo, warthogs, and birds of all colors and sizes. On our way back to the airport, there was a lion sitting atop a termite mound asking for her picture to be taken.