Our first stop was Duba Plains. Duba has always been known for its Lion and Buffalo interaction and in the past we have been fortunate enough to see some great sightings of lion taking down buffalo and buffalo taking out lion. However this time around we did not see a single buffalo. I have been going to Duba for the last 10 years and have seen buffalo each and every time…so this was interesting. The animal movements are changing due to the big floods coming in these days. They have to adapt just as we now have to adapt with less road infrastructure because of water levels. The lack of the buffalo didn't take away from our experience. We had fantastic sightings of elephant, red lechwe, kudu and with the short grass floodplains that are in this area; the bird watching was unbelievable! This is probably one of the best places to see lion interaction. Everyday we spent quality time with members of the resident Tsaro pride. We watched the lions crossing water, cubs playing, cubs suckling, and females stalking warthog. What makes the lion sightings here great is that you can usually pick them up early in the morning and they seem to stay active for long into the morning. The landscape also lends itself to amazing viewing because it is open country with many termite mounds, which they seem to love.

Our next stop was Little Vumbura camp which is situated on an island in the northeastern part of the Okavango Delta. As always we had wonderful game viewing here including 2 separate wild dog sightings with their puppies, 2 leopard sightings, great giraffe, a large herd of buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, tsessebe and of course spectacular birds which were starting to congregate around the fish traps. It was here on our 4th day of the safari that we witnessed what we all agreed was the highlight of the 12 days. We watched an adult female cheetah and her 4 sub-adult offspring moving majestically through floodplains using termite mounds as vantage points to scan the surrounding areas for prey. After following them for half an hour we watched them stalk a herd of impala on the edges of an island. Then, with clinical precision and speed; they chased and successfully brought down an impala ewe. WOW!! What made it such a spectacular experience was watching it all unfold fom start to finish before our eyes. We will not forget this for a very long time.

It was time to leave the Okavango Delta and explore the vast wilderness areas of the Selinda and Linyanti. The Selinda Spillway is where the waters of the Okavango Delta and the waters of the Linyanti swamps meet. Before last year this had not happened since the early 80's. And since this change….this area has exploded with life. The dry Mopane woodlands and ancient Leadwood woodlands give it a wild feel that is hard to match. This vast area is known for it's large herds of elephant; of which we saw many. Again we had great sightings of wild dog, giraffe, tsessebe, wildebeest, wonderful zebra and superb lion, which included females and their cubs AND females stalking giraffe. On our last evening we had sundowners on the edge of a beautiful lagoon with close to 50 hippos. Not a bad way to finish off our time at Selinda Camp.

Finally, we were off to Chitabe Camp which is situated on a sand tongue in the south eastern part of the Okavango Delta. It has always been a great place to see leopard due to the lack of lions in the area. The habitat is perfect for them and there is an abundance of impala. For the 3 days we were here we had a great viewing of 2 leopards. A female had killed an impala and dragged it up into the canopy of a sausage tree. We arrived to the sighting the next morning to find that she had company in the form of a young male leopard. Some time during the night he had either picked up on the smell of the carcass or stumbled upon her and eventually driven her off her kill. So she sat in a nearby leadwood tree watching the male with her kill in the sausage tree. By the next day she had decided to move on and leave the rest of the kill to the male who provided us with some wonderful photo opportunities. The next morning while sitting at breakfast we heard 2 male lions calling not far from camp. They were moving northeast on the trail of a small herd of Buffalo. Don't think for a minute that males do not hunt for themselves. Male lions with their size advantage have extra strength to take on the larger herd species. We watched in amazement as they approached the herd and for a short period the lions and the buffalo had a stare down. Suddenly it exploded into action as the lions charged the herd; which turned and ran. They had obviously spotted a calf of about 7/8 months old and targeted it. Once the dust had settled all we could see were the two males standing over the calf. It all happened so quickly. They dragged it into the shade where they spent the rest of the day feeding at leisure. Just when you think it couldn't get better the bush provided us with another special moment. We couldn't have asked for more on this trip.

Till next time…..
Richard