Moremi Game Reserve - Day 3

Crocodile camp Maun. Small individual campsite. 

Breakfast of muesli and coffee was had just after 5 am and we were out the Crocodile Camp gate at 6 am in the dark. A potholed road to Shorobe marked the end of the tarmac and after dropping the tyres we started the corrugated sand road to the park entrance gate. It's a 50km slog that should take an hour depending on the road conditions and of course, if you see anything as this is wild game country. 

No more tarmac for a week, time to air down tires. 

And so began probably the most exciting non-park game drive we've ever had. We've never seen much on this road to the gate except elephant and plains game. But just after the community camp Kazakini we could see close to 200 vultures on trees. The reason soon became apparent - a half-eaten dead elephant right on the edge of the road. 

Elephant carcass on the side of the road. 

The problem for the vultures was that the cars were too close when they stopped to look at the carcass so the vultures were patiently waiting for there to be no vehicles around before they descended for their feast. Besides the vultures, only an injured jackal was around to feed on it which surprised us - we would have expected at the very least a couple of hyenas feeding but perhaps they'd been there in the night. 

The Vultures were lining up at the Elephant carcass. 

Our cameras were still packed away so we took a few phone photos but we should have taken them out because a few minutes later we found a few game drive vehicles stopped ahead - lion cubs! There were 3 crossing the road just ahead so we assume mom had already crossed but couldn't catch her. They didn't really pose for photos, rather preferred to stay in the bush before heading further in, but we managed to get a few record shots before they disappeared. 

Cubbies on the road! What a start. 

It wasn't the end of the sightings though because probably about 7km from the gate, there were more lions on the road. Altogether we counted about 7, females and sub-adults. Again they were crossing the road and seemed to be hunting judging by the way the nearby herd of giraffes took off. Unfortunately, they were heading further away from us in the quest for a meal but we did see 2 others emerge from the bush on the opposite side and cross the road. We weren't sure if there were more but decided to carry on as we weren't too far from the gate. 

Moremi had other plans for us however because only a few moments later Cheryl exclaimed "leopard leopard leopard!" Right on the side of the road a leopard was seated. She was a pretty small one but that didn't stop her from attempting to hunt a nearby impala herd. She never got close though despite her best efforts at concealing herself and soon the herd was snorting alarms and running off. Cover blown, she gave up and melted into the bush. It was a nice sighting with poor photos in harsh light but we were still stoked to catch a leopard. 

Leopard in the open, and we were still to get to the gate. 

Finally arriving at the gate we checked in with the campsite guys and went to pay the park fees. Unfortunately their card machine wasn't working so with promises to pay later we headed to our campsite to drop a few things off and then headed off on a game drive. The game drive inside the park wasn't nearly as productive as outside but since we'd seen most things in the morning already we weren't worried. 

South gate, Moremi Game Reserve. 

We drove to Blackpool, an area that we'd not visited before in the hopes of catching the resident cheetah there but there was no sign, nor surprising since it was the middle of the day and temps were reaching the high twenties. We stopped at the Mokutshomo picnic site, which only consisted of a wooden framed long drop toilet and sorted out our lunch of chicken rolls with a plan to eat them later. 

Two legends in one shot, the Toyota Hilux and big brother the Toyota Landcruiser. 

We were surprised how little water was around from the channel; based on what people had told us we'd expected there to be water everywhere but it was relatively dry. We didn't go searching for the channels however, so I'm sure there was water if we really wanted to find it. Instead we ate our lunch under a tree with a family of red-necked spurfowl before continuing our drive. 

The Mokutshomo picnic site.

There was plenty of plains game in the pans gathered around the seasonal waterholes that still hadn't dried up. Giraffe were plentiful as were zebra and wildebeest but the predators were missing in action. We meandered around until we found a little waterhole. It was the channel slowly moving into the grassland of Xini lagoon and we could see a finger of water slowly moving into the lower parts of the veld. The water was moving into the little lake at a surprising speed and the little finger of water was headed to a small depression that would soon have water in. It was really fascinating to see the waters of the Okavango Delta slowly rising in real time. 

The flood was arriving right in front our eyes the birds are never far. 

Amazingly the birds were arriving at this newly formed lake, no doubt taking advantage of the fresh water and the insects that it was dislodging as it flowed over the dry grass, an attraction for tourists and the local Batswana alike. We were curious to know how much the little depression would fill with water in the next 12 hours, we planned to return the following day. 

The arrival of the flood was faster than we imagined. 

Leaving the waterhole we passed by a game drive vehicle that told us that there was a leopard nearby but offroad. We'd chased this same leopard the previous year and again she was walking around in the mid afternoon. We could see the cars offroad in the trees but we weren't going to do that so hoped that we could catch her walking a bit later. It took a while and some more driving but eventually Cheryl caught a glimpse of her before she melted into the brush and disappeared away from any roads. 

A Marabou watched while everyone else is busy feeding. 

For now it was time to head back while there was still light as it was a long drive back to south gate. With nothing exciting to hold us up we arrived back at camp just in time for sunset. We quickly got showers out the way and then lit the fire and got the tent up. We were expecting an active campsite animal wise but it was pretty quiet except for a few distant lion roaring and hyena calls. Our first full day in the park beckoning, we had our steak and braai potatoes before heading off to bed to the sound of the scops owl.

Camp set up for the night.