October 2021
Safari Notes: Khwai Leadwood Bush Camp, Drive #1 – Botswana
What we saw on the drive in Khwai Concession
- On the search for leopard – mom and baby had been spotted recently very close to the camp but no luck today.
- Many bull elephants and zebra – not in the quantity we saw in Linyanti but my goodness, they were so chill and we were able to get very close to them in the vehicle.
- Three crocodiles – all chilling along the water and they were massive.
- Zebra, wildebeest, lechwe, and kudu (kudu pictured below with twisted horns and hump on the back)
- Our guide heard distressed birds which can sometimes indicate that something in the area that is alarming.
- A relaxed bull elephant that let us take the most magnificent photos!
- We mentioned to Banda that lions were still on our list to spot so we went on the search for lions and my goodness did he deliver. We came across a huge pride of lions that included two males, multiple females, 6-8 month old cubs – over a dozen lions all eating a giant elephant. First, I could not get over how darn close we were to these lions and how little they cared – they were so focused on being full, hot, and tired. We sat with them for a long time and the only thing that was unpleasant was the smell – that dead elephant carcass was extremely foul! We all had masks on to try and mute the smell but mouth breathing was the only way to go. Kevin and I just kept looking at each other – how is this real life???
- We took so many photos so I have them all featured here!
- We found a place for our sundowner, and enjoyed watching the sunset which never gets old. We spotted a red billed hornbill (Zazu) while we relaxed. I also found an elephant dung that we felt was important to document the size compared to my giant feet.
It was time for the spotlight night game drive where Banda would shine the spotlight and look for reflecting eyes to indicate an animal was there – green is typically an antelope, red is typically cats. I do not know how they do this as they are driving this enormous vehicle through sand and bush, navigating the terrain, and then also looking for animals in the pitch black of night.
- Giant eagle owl
- Antelope of all kinds, elephants, zebras
- Bush Baby
- Banda stopped to stargaze and I could not have been more happy. He identified constellations including Scorpio clear as day, as well as four planets in the sky Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, and the dazzling milky way
- Search again for the female leopard and cub, no luck and we heard hyenas but no luck seeing them. Hyenas were the last animal on our ugly five checklist – we could not believe this was still an outstanding animal on our list given all the tracks we saw.