Second day of safari at the Moremi Game Reserve

We are in Botswana, more precisely at the Okavango Delta, we are traveling on a mobile safari that will lead us to discover these wonderful lands.

We are at the Moremi Game Reserve, yesterday we set up our camp at the Khwai area; this morning we woke up before dawn, at 5.30 am, we prepared quickly and had breakfast; at this time of the morning the air is fresh and a cup of hot coffee is just what one needs.

At 6:30 am we are ready to leave, we get on our open car and begin the exploration of the Khwai area.

We travel a few hundred meters and find a wonderful apparently solitary lioness; from its behavior we understand that it is hunting, even if it is aiming some impalas that are not usually the favorite prey of lions, and this for two simple reasons: the impalas are relatively small, and therefore the energy wasted to capture them does not justify the meal, they are also very fast, so it's not easy to catch them.

The lioness is beautiful, its golden hair, its hazel eyes fixed on the possible preys, its powerful muscles that can be seen when it crouches and walks low trying an ambush; impossible not to notice how it is an animal born to hunt, we perceive its physical strength in addition to its intelligence and ability to know how to wait to seize the most opportune moment to launch the attack.

The light is not optimal for taking photographs, the sun is rising at this time but it does not yet illuminate the lioness, however, shooting with the widest aperture and the slightly elevated ISOs, spectacular shots are obtained, also because, at certain times, the lioness is particularly close to our car.

We remain to admire it for quite some time and we would never want to leave, but our safari must continue; surely today the day started in the best way.

We continue the exploration of the Moremi and after a while, in the drought-yellowed grass, we see something dark that runs; impossible not to recognize it instantly, it is a honey badger!

The honey badgeris one of our favorite animals, it is small but bold, it is not afraid of anything or anyone and it challenges anyone it finds on its way; a sort of bully on the outskirts of the savannah!

In reality the specimens are two, a male and a female; they are usually crepuscular and nocturnal animals, but it happens to see them active even in the morning, while they are looking for food or are busy digging a new hole in the ground.

Continuing our safari along the course of the Khwai river that, in some places, is little more than a trickle, we see several red letwches near the water; these beautiful antelopes live in marshy areas and spend a good part of their day in shallow waters and reed beds.

Also along the Khwai river we see some hippos and several Nile crocodiles, we also spot beautiful water birds such as cranes, herons and several African fish eagles; here also the impalas, the wildebeests and other herbivores come to drink, since this is one of the few sources of perennial waterin this year of drought. 

As we turn near the river in the distance we see a sinuous movement in the yellow grass, it is impossible to go wrong it is a leopard!

We rush into its vicinity, but always keeping a certain distance so as not to disturb it; unfortunately it gives us its back and it is moving away from us, moreover we cannot either follow it or go around to go to the opposite side and see it in front because there are no tracks in that direction.

So what we can do is seeing it walking away as it walks slowly with its feline step; its spotted fur is clearly visible in the yellow of the grass.

At some point it enters a small grove and goes to sit under a tree in the shade, we can only see its head but it is watching us and then we take some pictures hoping that they have a good quality, given the shadow in which it is located the leopard and the strong light of the sun where we are.

While we are focused on the leopard we do not notice that a group of giraffes is watching us, they are too funny, they will be more than ten and they stare at us halfway between amazed and the curious.

At about 12:00 pm we change direction and begin to return to our camp, doing safari anyway; unlike yesterday, today we return to the camp for lunch as the area we are exploring is relatively contained and, in the central hours, it is usually more difficult to make sightings since the animals suffer high temperatures and remain hidden in the vegetation.

When we arrive at our camp we find the table set and Titti, our cook, busy at the fire; just the time to bring backpacks and cameras to the tents and lunch is ready.

Titti delights us with another delicacy, he's really good at cooking if one thinks he's cooking everything on the stove.

While we have lunch we comment on the safari done this morning, but we chat and we also laugh at something else; we have too much fun and time flies.

After lunch someone decides to rest a little while someone else stays at the table to chat; I'm going to take my Mac in the tent and unload the trap camera card that I placed here at the camp tonight.

Many files are almost useless because the trap camera has immortalized the staff boys who finish to set up the camp before going to sleep, while in others you can only see the fire that, being still lit, activates the trap camera sensors; but at some point here it is!

Our trap camera immortalized a spotted hyena that tonight wandered around the fire where the cook cooked, probably smelling the food; at a certain moment we see that it is licking the still glowing embers and, inevitably, we wonder how it doesn’t get burned.

When we finish viewing the contents of the trap camera, we are happy because we have several videos that have immortalized all its forays into the camp and at the fire in particular; it is the first time we use the trap camera and, given the quality of the footage and the possibility of capturing something, we will use it every night.

We stay at the camp until 4.30pm when we go out again for the afternoon safari.

We try to look for the lioness that we saw this morning to see it again and with a different light, we would also like to understand if it managed to hunt, we look for it but we don't find it, obviously it has changed area; on the other hand, however, along the Khwai river there are several elephants, both solitary males and herds of cubs.

Usually elephants go to the river to drink in the late afternoon, obviously it is not a fixed rule and you can spot them at any time, but the last hours of daylight are their favorites.

Some drink from the shore, others are eating the green grass that grows near the water, others are still in the water up to half legs and drink, bathe or eat.

I love elephants, they are too intelligent animals, and their presence in an ecosystem is so important that it is vital for many species of animals and plants.

We hang around on safari until the sun goes down, coloring the sky with warm colors that are reflected in the ponds and in the river, creating a spectacular contrast with the green of the grass.

We go back to the camp when the sun has already set, even the today's safari is over, now we just have to drink a glass of wine sitting around the fire, commenting on the day and the sensational sightings, waiting to have dinner and to enjoy another evening in the wild.