Africa Trip Report Volume 3: Okavango Delta

(Catching up? Here is Africa Trip Part 1, and Part 2)

Leaving Savute

As we departed Savute and headed south, I figured we were in for a long road day with few wildlife encounters. My previous trip along this stretch of track was just such a day. Hot, dry, and not too much to see. However, the arrival of the green season had shifted the distribution of animals so dramatically that this transport day turned out to be a trip highlight. And it started with a leopard.

As we made our way south out of Savute, the route carried us by some of the rocky outcroppings that dot this part of Botswana. We were the first vehicles (indeed probably the only vehicles) to make the journey that day and animal tracks were abundant on the sandy road. At one point Paul, the safari guide behind the wheel of my vehicle, swung off to the side of the road to look at some tracks. Leopard.

That in itself wasn’t so rare, leopards are primarily nocturnal and use the sand tracks as an easy walking path, leaving their hours-old tracks to be found the following morning. Usually, by morning, the leopard is long gone. But these tracks along for some distance on the road and the tension in the vehicle rose with the hope of encountering one of these elusive cats. The leopard we were tracking was a lone male, and we drove for over a mile with his wide foot prints leading us. And then, they didn’t. He’d veered off into the brush, and in the expanse of habitat where he’d disappeared, there was little chance of finding him. I cursed quietly.

We made a circle of one of the rocky outcrops, hoping he may have wandered into the rocks, where we might have some hope of spotting him. No such luck. We turned back onto the main route and continued on our way.

Not two hundred yards further down the road more cat-tracks appeared in the sand. This time there were two sets of leopard prints. A female, and an older cub. These too, we followed for some distance. Often they’d veer away, and we’d lose hope, then they’d reappear. At each road junction Paul would lean from the vehicle checking which direction the big cats had gone. Right, left, another left, and then they were gone again. Damn.

We ventured down each possible route, finding nothing. Then, on a whim, Paul drove down one more sand track toward an empty campsite. And there they were, lounging in the dappled shade of a tall tree. The two leopards lay out in the open, a female and an older cub, just as Paul said there would be. Honestly, it took me a moment to really see them. The pelage of a leopard looks flashy when set against a clean background, but in their natural habitat of dappled forest light, they are nearly invisible.

We spent almost an hour with the cats. They weren’t particularly active, simply napping, grooming, and yawning. But they were unconcerned by our presence, and simply did their thing. That alone is a special experience.

The Mababe Depression

The day grew warm as we headed south, but despite the rising temperatures, the wildlife did not fade into the shade as they often do. Building clouds provided some relief for both us and the animals, and elephants, giraffes, zebras, rare Roan Antelope, tsessebe, wildebeest, warthogs, impala, and many other species were constantly crossing our path.

We stopped for lunch at the northern edge of the Mababe Depression. This is an ancient lake bed, long since dried, but it persists in the form of a large low, depression in the landscape that extends into the northern end of the Okavango Delta. In the flat plains of northern Botswana, even a subtle change in elevation can open up views. And that was the case here. After lunch we drove along the edge of this ancient lake, looking to the southeast toward the expanse of greenery that was the Okavango Delta.

Afternoon thunderstorms rolled through, and cloudbursts could be see in nearly every direction. Puddles in the road, and the smell of damp air indicated the storm’s recent passage, but we didn’t get hit by a single drop. Big, bull elephant were all along the road, grazing on the fresh grass emerging from the clay soils. A herd of over 100 Cape buffalo forced us to pause as they made their way across the road. They looked at us skeptically as the ambled past, but despite their reputation, did not show any sign of threat.

Khwai Area

As we entered the Okavango proper, not far from the village of Khwai, a group of five Spotted Dogs appeared in the road ahead. They were trotting toward us, apparently on a mission, and went by with surprising speed. Aside from a cautious glance our direction, they showed no concern, and were gone within a few moments. That made THREE packs of spotted dogs during the trip, and the best had yet to come…

The Upper Okavango Delta

We camped a few miles from the village of Khwai in the northern edge of the Moremi Game Preserve. We spent three nights at the camp exploring this corner of the Okavango.

Northern Moremi and the nearby Khwai Community Preserve is a mosaic of wetlands, riparian areas, and surrounding dry uplands. The addition of flowing water in the form of the Khwai River was a huge change from the arid Savute region.

My most memorable moment was on our return to camp one evening. With a few extra minutes, we diverted down a rarely used track and found another safari vehicle parked next to a fallen tree, partially obscured by brush. Curious, we looked around them to see the tell-tale spotted tail of a leopard, who fast asleep on the fallen tree, about 8 feet off the ground.

Visibility was a challenge, but Morgan, the safari guide driving my vehicle for the day, found a window in the vegetation that offered a mostly clear view of the leopard. As we watched, she began to stir, blinking her eyes open and licking her lips. Eventually, as the last of the evening light began to fade (and our return-to-camp deadline approached), she sat up, turned her head, and looked straight at me.

I don’t mean she looked in my general direction. I mean she made eye contact with me. Her blue (yes, blue) eyes were so remarkable that for several ticks I could do nothing but stare back, but eventually I came to my senses and purred off a few shots.

Later, over dinner, Morgan and Paul told us that leopard was known as “blue eyes” in the local language until three years ago when she was attacked by lions and lost one of her rear legs. Now, she is called “Tripod”.

I was surprised, and still am, that she could live with just three legs, let alone survive the trauma, blood loss, and infection that must have resulted from the wound. Yet, there she was, doing well at the ripe old age of 7, still hunting and raising young. Cheers to you, Tripod, you are an inspiration. May you persist in the Okavango for many years to come.

One additional anecdote from the Khwai area: The first night at this camp, we heard a few hyenas whooping in the night, not far from camp. This isn’t an oddity on safari, wildlife sounds are the musical accompaniment to nights on safari, but it was notable in the morning because they sounded so close. The second night, one client said he woke up to the sound of lapping from the water bucket on his tent’s front porch, and peered out to see a hyena sneaking a drink. The third night, the same hyena (presumably) made the rounds of camp, moving from one tent to the next lapping water. The camp staff leaves kerosene lamps burning all night in camp to serve as nightlights and as a deterrent to wildlife, so when I woke to the sound of lapping from my neighbor’s porch, there was just enough light to make out the silhouetted form of the hyena making its way to my bucket, where it took a few drinks before wandering between the tents and off into the darkness. 

I want to emphasize that there was never any danger. The tents are sturdy, and hyenas, like most species of wildlife in Africa are mostly harmless unless provoked. This thirsty animal, took advantage of a free drink of good, clean water, and gave us a bit a thrill in the process. So thanks, hyena!

A few additional images from the Upper Okavango:

Camp life. Perfect moments are rare, it’s good to appreciate them when they roll around.

Deeper into the Okavango

Our final camp of the core safari was much deeper in the Okavango in the Xakanaxa area of Moremi Preserve. As I noted on previous post, our transport days are deliberately long, to allow time for the camp crew to break down camp, make the drive, and set up the new camp before we arrive in the early evening. But this extra time allows us to make some diversions we may not have otherwise made. On our drive to Xakanaxa was very roundabout, but we had a mission – rarities.

Cheetahs are very rare in the Okavango Delta. The forest and brush dominated landscape is not particularly suited to the Cheetah’s open-country hunting style. Cheetahs need open space to hunt, and there are few areas like that in the Okavango. But there ARE a few. And that’s where we headed.

The diversion was not a hardship. Along the way, we had coffee with elephants, and watched and photographed a steady string of creatures as we drove.

Honestly, I love the transport days. There is so much to see in Chobe and the Okavango, that it is never boring. Wildlife is almost everywhere, and it’s rare to drive more than a few minutes without seeing one species of large mammal or another. And you just never know what you may encounter.

Cheetahs for example.

We didn’t actually have much hope of finding these guys. They are rare, and elusive, but it turned out that Morgan and Paul have something close to supernatural abilities to find and spot wildlife. When a few vultures kicked up from the ground near a faint track, we drove out to investigate. To our surprise, we didn’t find anything of interest on the ground where the vultures had been, but as was always the case, Paul and Morgan spent a few moments glassing the landscape. Paul turned back from the driver’s seat and looked at me, he grinned and whispered “Yes!” while pumping a fist. (Even safari guides get excited by cheetahs).

Indeed, Paul had spotted a pair of male cheetahs, probably siblings, hanging out under a shade tree. From our distance, even through binoculars, the cats were virtually invisible, and it took me a moment to make them out.

We approached slowly in the vehicles. Paul and Morgan concerned that these cats, in a little-visited corner of Moremi, may not have encountered many people or vehicles. Fortunately, they took our presence in stride and allowed us to get pleasantly close without disturbing them.

It was hot out, and the two cats were none to anxious to leave their shade tree, but nor were they sleepy. Rather they sat, panted, and looked at the curious humans in their curious vehicles. These were my first cheetahs, ours were the only vehicles for miles, and we had the cats entirely to ourselves for over 30 minutes before the need to move on finally pushed us to leave. It was a trip highlight, one of many. 

Xakanaxa Area

The Xakanaxa region of Moremi is dominated by water in a way Khwai is not. Khwai is dry with corridors of wet rivers and wetlands, Xakanaxa is wetlands with narrow corridors of dry habitat. Wading and shorebirds, waterfowl, kingfishers, and other aquatic birds were new additions to the landscape while water-loving mammal species like lechwe, waterbuck, hippos, and elephants were more common here than other places we’d visited.

Our camp was situated on a good sized pond, inhabited by crocodiles and hippos. The shoreline (well, a safe distance from the shoreline) was a perfect spot to stand during quiet moments to watch the birds come and go, and watch the forms of hippos and crocs as they moved about, their noses just breaking the water.

Our days in Xakanaxa were some of my favorites. There was so much wildlife, and we were treated to skies full of drama, storm light, giraffes so close, they loomed over the vehicles.

It was a remarkable final few days to the main part of the safari, but it wasn’t quite over not yet.

For the dramatic conclusion to the 2019 Discover Botswana Photo Safari, stay tuned for the next post! (Couldn’t resist a little tongue-in-cheek there, but really, check back in a couple days, you won’t be sorry).

A few more images from Xakanaxa:

Excited to come with me yet? Here’s how you get on the 2020 Safari!