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January 16
     Jungle oats, toast with peanut butter and campfire coffee, and we were on the road at 6.30. The sky was overcast, promising rain. No matter how many impalas I see I still enjoy them, especially when there are babies - a doe was standing with two fawns that could have been twins.
     Two black-backed jackals were sitting in the road; one was shaking his head vigorously, and the other was scratching himself; they must have had fleas.

     A pair of carmine bee-eaters perched in a tree, and later we saw another of these very attractive birds on a termite mound. Larger than the other types of bee-eaters we had seen, they are a rusty red color with sky blue lower bodies, green on top of their heads, ruby throats and a black mask over their eyes. We would see more of these unique birds later. A spotted thick-knee was standing on a log, and a handsome tawny eagle perched in a treetop. 

     Gee spotted a Kori bustard in the grass; these large handsome birds are the heaviest of all flying birds in Africa. About the size of a turkey, they are grey, brown, black and white. They are prevalent in Savuti.

     We passed a wildebeest daycare center, and more impala of course. We paused to hang out with a trio of giraffes. We watched a tiny steenbok as he relieved himself, and then made quite a production of daintily pawing the ground to cover his all signs of his business.

     A slender mongoose watched us from a log; he had a long weasel-like body and was a reddish-brown color, with a black tip on his long tail, and red eyes.

     We drove past Kudu Hill and then on to Bushman’s Rock, a steep hill formed from a large rock outcropping that juts out of the flat plain. The name refers to the San people, also known as Bushmen, an ancient hunter/gatherer tribe that inhabited these plains for centuries. (The term Bushmen is considered derogatory, so I use the name San instead, except where it is part of a place-name or title.)  High up on Bushman’s Rock there are ancient rock drawings made by the San people.

     Gee stopped the land cruiser and checked around for animals, and then we all got out. He led us up a fairly treacherous path and we scrambled up over the rocks and past an albaezia tree with white bark that guarded the entrance to an opening in the rock face. Gee said it was a cave where the San people lived some 2000 years ago. We climbed up to the shoulder of the outcropping, and had a fantastic view out over the plains, and to the other hills in the distance.

     There was a large rock face on the side of the outcropping, and there we could see the Bushman Rock Drawings. Outlined in a reddish paint, we could clearly see an elephant with an eland above it, a sable antelope below, and a faint hippo. There were wavy lines depicting a river, and a bird below that. I don’t know what the paint was made from, but it had endured the centuries; these rock drawings are thought to be between 3000 and 4000 years old.

     The sense of history was amazing. The San people, like many of the indigenous tribes around the world, had a deep connection with nature and the wildlife, and did not waste or take more than they needed. If only ‘modern’ man could treat the earth with such respect the world would be a much better place.

     At the base of one end of Bushman’s Rock stands an enormous ancient baobab tree, known as the Bushman’s Baobab. We stopped there for tea. The circumference of the tree’s mighty trunk must be more than fifty feet around. This magnificent baobab is said to be two thousand years old. Imagine the things it has seen, the centuries it has watched pass. I am in awe of it.

     I wanted to get a group photo in front of the baobab, so I asked everyone to line up in front of the tree. I had just taken a couple of shots when suddenly our group was attacked by bees. Gee was stung, and Rafe had bees in her hair; we all took off running and swatting. Now we could see angry bees swarming out of a hole in the trunk right behind where we had been standing; we realized there was a hive in the baobab. Plan B - we lined up in front of the land cruiser for the group photo, but the bees were coming after us there too – so we hurriedly got back in the vehicle and drove on.

     A martial eagle was standing on a high perch.  He had long legs, ruffled feathers on his head that formed a topknot, and a somewhat cruel expression. Gee said they are the largest eagle in southern Africa, and will eat baby antelopes.

     Janell spotted a leopard tortoise walking through the grass; it moved quicker than you might expect. It was very pretty, with a mottled black and yellow shell. We got out for a closer look.
     A rather pretty bird was wading in a large puddle by the road; it was a painted snipe. It was a rust brown color with white markings, and had a long bill and a short tail. 

    Driving across a wet field, we saw thirteen marabou storks standing in a row; we were surprised to see so many together. But a bit further on we came upon many more; there was a flock of 37 of them.  These unappealing birds are sometimes known as the undertaker birds; they are black with white chests so it looks like they are wearing a suit, they stand sort of hunched over, and are often seen around a carcass.

     We drove around Leopard Rock, another huge rocky hill. We had seen a mother leopardess here with young cubs on a previous trip, but there were no cats around today. We drove up onto the Sand Ridge and stopped for tea under a camelthorn acacia tree – no bees this time. Even though the ridge was not very high, we had a nice view down over the plain and the hills in the distance. It was raining lightly, and the sky was stormy.

     There was a hornbill in the tree, feeding his nesting mate through a hole in the trunk. There were wild cucumber vines growing all around; the vines grow along the ground, and the plump green fruits have spiny prickles on them. Gee said he had seen an ostrich eat one of these cucumbers whole, and watched as the large lump move down its neck. 
     We headed back toward the Savuti Channel, passing warthogs and waterbucks. A pretty red-crested korhaan hid in the grass. We saw a Kori bustard flying; it was huge. They are always described as Africa's heaviest flying bird, but I can’t remember having actually seen one fly before.

     The Savuti Channel is actually a river, or at least it used to be.  This mysterious channel runs for a hundred kilometers, from the Chobe River to the Mababe Depression, and ends at the Savuti Marsh. Both the channel and the marsh are dry now. Unlike the Okavango Delta, which floods seasonally with water coming down the river from the rains in Angola, the flowing of the Savuti Channel is influenced by seismic activity under the earth. On researching the channel’s history, I found that it was running with water back in Livingstone's time, but then went dry in 1880, and remained so for about 70 years. A shift in the tectonic plates of the earth caused it to flow again in 1957, but then it dried up again in the early eighties. Water flowed again around 2008, and then a few years later became dry again. Each time the river dries up, it is devastating for many of the animals that depend on the water, especially the hippos and fish. When I first visited Savuti in 2015 there was still a little water in the channel, but when I returned in 2017 it was all gone. Who knows when a seismic shift will cause the river to flow again?

     As we neared camp, Gee spotted a dead impala hanging high in a tree. This was the work of a leopard; they often carry their kills up into a tree to keep it away from lions or hyenas. Gee told us that he had a guest ask him once, “What was that impala doing in that tree before the leopard got him?”

     Gee drove around the area trying to find the leopard, but we found no other trace. Later Gee talked to another guide, who told him the leopard who lived in this area was a very shy female. Some leopards don’t seem to fear vehicles at all and allow you to get quite close; others are shy and elusive, and it is almost impossible to find them if they want to hide.
     We went back to camp for lunch. The weather was cooler now than it had been the first part of the trip, and the temperature was quite comfortable, though still intermittently rainy. We did some laundry, and we had time for a little nap.

     We went back out around 3.30. We stopped at the little shop by the park gate to buy a few gifts, and then we headed out toward Sable Hill.  There was a very large herd of impala near a grove of trees, and two jackals were checking out one of the small babies. The adult impalas were not having any of it though; they gathered round the baby and shielded it from the jackals.

     We finally found our male kudus; there were two of them in the trees. We had seen many female kudus so far, but this was our first good view of mature males. Though they were still on the young side, they had impressive long twisting horns, and a thick two-toned mane hanging from the underside of their necks as well as along the top. I consider kudus the most magical of all antelopes – they always seem like something out of a fairy tale.

     We passed another of the large rocky outcroppings; Gee told us it was Quarry Hill. We constantly had to ask Gee to identify which of these kopjes was which, because they look different from various angles, and we were always approaching from a different direction.

     We saw several white-backed vultures sitting in a dead tree. As we got closer we saw more of the vultures in another tree; there were dozens of them altogether. Gee searched the area, thinking there might be a lion kill somewhere near. Before long we found an elephant carcass - this is what had attracted the vultures.

      While certainly not crowded in any way, we were seeing more game driving vehicles in Savuti. Whenever we encountered another vehicle Gee would stop and talk briefly with the guide, exchanging information about wildlife sightings. The guides would also report to each other by radio. Gee had learned that two lions had been sighted near Leopard Rock, so we went to try to find them.    

     It was quite late by the time we found the two male lions. They were lazing about on the plain, alternating between lying flat on their sides, rolling over comically on their backs with their legs in the air like a dog wanting its belly rubbed, and occasionally sitting up to look alertly around. We watched them in the fading light for a while, and then left them to head to camp. We checked out the tree impala on the way in, but there were no leopards in sight.  ‘What had that impala been doing in the tree before the leopard got it?!’

     Back in camp we had drinks and dinner, and great companionship as we reviewed the day and told jokes and stories. We were happy to have such a great, compatible safari group. It rained all night.

January 17
     It was cloudy and rainy again in the morning as we set out at 6.30. A pair of very wet tawny eagles watched us from a high perch as we left camp.
     We had seen impala and wildebeest everywhere we went, but we noticed that the herds of both were much larger here in Savuti. We came across an impala daycare group with at least twenty babies. There was a large group of wildebeests with the smallest babies we had seen yet - they are so cute when they are little! Gee told us the female wildebeests have brown on their faces, while the males’ are solid black.

     We spent some time watching several elegant giraffes as they browsed alongside the road. They moved from tree to tree with slow-motion strides that are deceptively ground-covering; then they would stop and stare at us with quizzical expressions. They appear so gentle, but Gee told us they can fight fiercely to defend themselves or their young from predators – you don’t want to be kicked by a giraffe.

       A male red-crested korhaan walked through the grass. He was black underneath with a mottled brown back and wings, and large expressive eyes.  I love photographing the korhaans, because my camera focuses on them very well. I have noticed on multiple trips that there are some animals the autofocus has a really hard time locking on to, such as banded mongoose, Guinea fowl, and sometimes even close-ups of elephant’s faces - but my lens loves the sharply etched detail of the korhaan’s feathers. As we watched him, he opened his beak wide and let out a trilling call.

     We went back to the impala tree (who says antelopes don’t grow on trees?) to look for our leopard. Gee found some tracks and started following them, listening for alarm calls. There was a very small road through the bush in the direction the leopard appeared to have gone, and we went down it.    

     The road became smaller and smaller, reducing to just a faint track, and eventually it ended altogether. Several times Gee heard alarm calls from birds, and we thought we must be very close to the leopardess. We wandered for quite a long time, circling round looking for signs or prints. Finally giving up on finding her, Gee set off to rejoin the road. 
     We really didn’t mind it when we were unable to find a certain animal; after all, this was the wild, not a zoo. There was no guarantee we would see anything (except maybe impala), and really, the hunt was a large part of the experience. Sometimes we found the most amazing things when searching for something else!

     Intending to head back toward the Savuti Channel, we drove and drove through endless bush. We were in a very remote part of the park now, and there didn’t seem to be any roads. We were completely alone. We passed a few familiar-looking trees; perhaps we were going in circles? Were we lost? Not exactly; Gee wasn’t sure just where the road was, but he knew roughly where we were. We knew he would find the way, and in the meantime we were enjoying the adventure.
     We were in an area that few people visit, but there was plenty of wildlife. The usual impala, kudus, and steenboks were there. Several vultures surveyed the area from a tree, but we saw no signs of a kill or carcass. We startled a group of giraffes, and watched as they cantered away in their slow-motion gait, which is at the same time both elegant and slightly awkward-looking - I was unsuccessful in my attempts to get a video of them running.

       We were wandering through an area of scrubby trees when suddenly Gee pointed enthusiastically. ‘Eland!’ he exclaimed. And indeed, there was one of the large cow-like antelopes, trotting away from us at the far side of the clearing.  Elands are magnificent creature. The San people depended on them and revered them, as indicated by the presence of an eland in the rock paintings. However they have been heavily hunted in the past (Gee said their meat is very good) so they are shy. He told us that there are still elands that live in the more remote areas, he has on occasion seen a herd of hundreds of them together, but they avoid being where they will be seen. We felt really lucky to have had two sightings of elands; both had been a distant glimpse, but that was more than I had hoped for.

     It had been several hours now since we had started hunting for the leopard near the impala tree, and we had seen no signs of civilization. Finally Gee stopped and climbed up on the roof of the land cruiser to try and look above the trees; from up there he could see the Sand Ridge and hills of Savuti, so he immediately knew which direction to go. I came up with another bad limerick:

We wandered the veldt high and low
Looking for places predators go
The road was elusive
The leopards reclusive 
And where the heck we were we didn’t know.

     Now that we knew our direction, Gee quickly found the road that went past the air strip. Soon we were back out on the open plains of Savuti, with the Sand Ridge in the background. Three beautiful giraffes were feeding there; the alpha male was a very dark color. One of the giraffes cantered gracefully across in front of us.      

              ~ Continued on next page ~


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