Chobe National Park - Day 8

Yellow Billed Ox-pecker

Ready to go by 5.45am, we headed out of Ihaha and on to the plain. We hit paydirt quickly when we spotted 2 lionesses coming from the Chobe River channel after drinking, literally next to the camp site!We could see blood on their faces, and judging by the vultures sitting on the ground, we figured they'd killed in the plains and were now returning from eating and drinking their fill. We made a call to leave them and carry on down the river, hoping to find a leopard on the way.

Been busy in the night and getting off the plain before it gets hot. 

There didnt seem to be a sign of leopard but we found an enormous herd of buffalo, possibly 500 strong, that interestingly were crossing the channel from the floodplain to the main land which meant they needed to swim. It was the first time we'd seen such a massive herd swimming, and it was in excellent light, so we spent quite a bit of time with them.

Escorted by Crocodile, Buffalo swim across the river channel. 

Eventually, we meandered into Serondela and found the game drive vehicles clustered together, a sure indication that the lions were about. One of the lodge guides had told us that the lions were near the picnic site but the lions had chosen a terrible spot for game viewing and they were already under the shade of the surrounding bushes, giving really poor visuals.

We stopped nearby for coffee, hoping that the lions were heading our way for a drink at the channel, but it was a long shot that didn't pay off. So after a while, we carried on down the river towards the Sedudu gate side. 

Finally, we saw elephant herds, which had been surprisingly missing up to now. But they were making their way onto the plains to eat the grass and slake their thirst, and so we enjoyed the sightings of the massive animals. 

Finally at Sedudu gate we quickly told the officials that we were around and then did a quick run to Kasane to fill up with diesel as we'd used a lot the day before on the soft sand drive from Savute and didn't want to be stuck with low stocks.

Carmine Bee-eater, gems of the sky. 

Back in the park, we enjoyed more elephant herds and even found a couple of small herds of sable, something that is pretty unusual to see, although Chobe is the one place that they can be viewed By now, it was pretty hot, and the plan was to slowly head back to camp for lunch. 

We stopped at a stretch point on the way under some bug trees and then promptly had to come back to them when Cheryl couldn't find her phone and worried that she'd dropped it.

The Chobe flood plains never disappoint. 

Luckily, it was found in the car eventually, and we started heading back on the main road to Ihaha. Not far from camp, we spotted enough vultures to pique our interest, so we stopped to put the binoculars on the area and soon worked it out - lions on a zebra kill but under a dense bush.

Always happy to see the regal looking Sable. 

We figured that the pride had made a kill early in the morning and that the 2 lionesses we'd seen had gone to drink but the kill was on the mainland and not on the floodplain as we'd thought. The sighting was not the best, but at least we had another sighting of lion and a target for our evening game drive. 

Back at the camp we relaxed under the shade of our campsite trees while having lunch with the impala and some kudu males grazing on the grasses in front of us. The plan for the afternoon was to focus on the nearby lion pride with the kill and the stories we'd heard of the resident leopard with 2 grown cubs.

Sable antelope

We checked on both roads for the lions and could see that they were still under the tree with the kill but got a surprise to see at least 2 small cubs with them - that made it even more enticing to catch these lions in the open. But for now they were out for the count under the tree so we headed down the river in the hopes of catching some elephants coming to drink while it was still hot and catch the lions a bit later.

 

A nice herd of males

The herds of elephants were coming out to drink so we spent quite a bit of time photographing them even if the light was a bit harsh as it shines directly into the camera.

The herds of the Chobe river. 

By 4.30 we wanted to be back in the area of the lions and it was just as well we were. As we got to the spot we thought they would be if they decided to move to the river, there we found the lions out in the shade of the bushes and trees, including one of the cubs.

Next generation of the Ihaha pride. 

It was just what wed been hoping for and they went one better by slowly one by one walking towards us and then crossing in front of the car and into the floodplain.

The Ihaha pride making evening moves earlier than expected. 

There were about 8 lions in total and they filed in a line towards the open veld looking like they wanted to hunt. The zebra and impala definitely thought so as they all took off and made sure they weren't in the lions' sights.

And then about 5 minutes later they all decided to walk back to where they had been sitting, giving us another opportunity to shoot them close up. They stood around for a bit and then headed off into the bush, presumably back to their kill. Why they'd come out and then gone back we didn't know but we were sure glad they did. All this was taking place just 5 minutes from our campsite.

Odd move, in to the veld this early in the evening. 

Having got the lions earlier than expected we continued on our drive and caught some nice elephant scenes again before we started heading back to the campsite stopping to shoot a lovely sunset before making it back to camp.

The game could see them coming a mile off. 

A braai, showers, camp chores and a pleasant evening under the stars with the sound of a spotted hyena calling for the first time on this trip as we headed to the roof tent for a good night's rest.

Chobe keeps pumping out the awesome sunsets.