Moremi GR - Day 8

Baboons grooming is just plain amusing

Multiple lions had roared all night and we decided to change our plans and see if we could catch them. That meant getting up a bit later so that there was light when we started our drive - not a major inconvenience.

Unfortunately they had only walked down the road for a short time and then moved back into the bush and there were no roads to follow them - really frustrating!

The problem came when we tried to start our morning drive. The lion roars were coming from just outside the gate but when we got to the gate it was padlocked shut and there was no sign of the parks guys to open it, even though it was half an hour after opening time.

Change of plan and off to chase the leopards again, we headed down the main road where we came across lion spoor of the South Gate pride, cubs and all.

And it was a frustrating next hour or so as we chased a leopard sighting from yesterday, knowing that there was a slim chance of finding them. We finally found the sight that they had been seen but there was no trace of them, and a tour guide told us he’d seen one moving away around 7pm at night so it was no point carrying on. Instead, since we were nearby we headed to the wild dog den and got there with about 10 dogs already sleeping in the shade and only one pup still out the den.

Flat dogs in shade are not really worth shooting but we decided to hang around a bit with 3 other safari vehicles. Eventually 2 of the cars left and the other went to sit with the adults while we opted to stay at the den.

Need to stay calm when the big girl comes walking down the road

It was a good call because a few minutes later one of the adults walked to the den and promptly vomited up some meat for the babies who got very excited. Cue the remaining vehicle to quickly head back to us while we all watched the pups eating this already once eaten meat while the hooded vultures tried to get a few scraps themselves.

Eventually all returned to normal and after the last pup had gone back into the den we called it a day and slowly made our way back to South Gate. We had a small detour towards Blackpool but after a chat with a guide about distance and directions, even though cheetahs had been sighted there we decided to rather head out.

Road back to Maun

We had lunch at the South Gate campsite after checking it was okay with the camp attendant and then started the 99km trek back to Maun. We opted to stay again at Crocodile Camp for the evening and this time have a final braai rather than eating in the restaurant. It would be a long drive back to Gaborone but for now we will celebrate a great trip to Moremi, and relive some of our favorite sightings over a beer and a fire.