I’m sitting on the porch at Camp Sebu watching my new elephant friend graze on the lush green grass of the Okavango Delta. He is accompanied by a troop of baboon, but otherwise, it is quiet...whoops, here comes a monkey...on this lazy hot afternoon. Birds also gather on the mud flat near camp, but I’m too excited to siesta after my animal encounters.
Wake up drums were at 5 AM for our flight to the delta. On the way to the airport, six hyenas lined the road for a final animal sighting as we said goodbye to Chobe National Park in the northeast corner of Botswana.
We boarded 10 seater planes, and an hour later we were flying over the waterways and grasslands of the delta. Several people spotted elephants and zebras below.
After tea....yes, we have to eat our 5 meals a day!...we arrived at Camp Seba and were greeted again by scented washcloths and lemon and ginger sparkling water. It’s a similar treehouse feel as Camp Baobab but looks directly out on the grasslands and a large mudflat. Now a warthog has joined the other animals.
Lunch concluded, Robyn and I headed to our assigned tent...#1. As we walked down the wooden raised walkway, a congress of baboons were jumping on our roof. Suddenly, the biggest male baboon I had ever seen was on the roof and mating with a female. She let out a holler, they both jumped down, and commenced eating the round green fruit of the morula tree. Life in Africa!
Suddenly our escort stopped, ”Elephant”! Right by our walkway, right by our tent door, was a formidable gray male elephant scooping up the same morula fruit with his long trunk. He was very peaceful and was distinctive with a large chuck missing from his right ear. Robyn and I couldn’t believe our up close and personal encounter.
Several of the camp employees tried to scare him away, but they only succeeded in him “hiding” in a bush.
A guide put himself between the elephant and us, and we scooted into our tent to watch from the window. Only a wooden walkway and a piece of canvas were between us and one of Africa’s big 5 animals. We spent another 20 minutes watching from screen netting windows before he turned and disappeared into the foliage. My thoughts, “He’ll be back for more fruit”!
Another new creature is also hanging around our deck. He looks similar to an impala and is also part of the antelope family, but this is a bush buck with beautiful white markings.
After spending time on the camp’s patio and watching our new “friend” in the grasslands, he headed back in the direction of our tent. I packed up and ran...ok, I trotted...to our tent where Robyn was taking a siesta, but this elephant moved faster than I did. He was already by our front porch so I had to stop to give him space and shouted quietly, “Robyn, don’t come out!”
I watched from a safe distance on the boardwalk while Robyn watched from inside the tent. Our friend definitely wanted more fruit, and then he started stripping limbs of low growing bushes. After about 15 minutes he turned to go, but instead of leaving, he calmly walked around our porch and down the other side of our tent to the back where the morula tree grew and more fruit was on the ground.
I ran inside, and Robyn and I were in awe as we looked out our screens to see this giant of the bush within reach of our hands and nothing but a piece of canvas separated us from him. He seemed gentle enough, but that is when human and animal interaction can turn deadly. Robyn and I watched quietly from the “safety” of our screens for 30-40 minutes, and at time I was either eye to eye or eye to trunk with him.
He knew we were there; elephants have extremely good hearing and smell. They certainly should with those big ears and trunk! Robyn and I were clicking away with our cameras and “Morula” (I named him after the fruit that he loves!) fascinated me as he sniffed the ground for fruit. When he found one, he carefully picked it up and plopped it in this mouth. Those trunks can be deadly and pick up trees, but they can also pick up a pencil. He finally turned, walked right by our tent side, and back into the bush. People pay big bucks for this!
I didn’t think we could beat that experience, but we loaded trucks for an afternoon game drive. It was quiet...impalas, zebras, giraffes, elephants, warthogs, hippos in a pond; same old, same old. Suddenly, our guide gets a call...a confirmed leopard sighting! It’s the only animal in the “Big Five” that we haven’t seen during our trip.
We raced and bumped and turned off-road which is allowed here until arriving at a grassy area where a beautiful full grown leopard was resting. It was difficult to take pictures since my camera wanted to focus on the grass surrounding him. His spotted coat was exquisite, and he tolerated our presence until he stood, stretched, and headed to another shaded area.
The guide, Go, who found the leopard did so by watching giraffes nearby. His father educated him growing up in the bush, and he is astute at reading animals’ behavior. He noticed the giraffes were all facing one direction and were very watchful. “A predator is close”, and he was right.
The leopard must have heard a noise in the brush because he crouched and started to slowly stalk his prey. One footstep, pause, two footsteps, pause, and each step was taken to insure silence. We watched this performance for 10 minutes and left him to find dinner without our intrusion.
Dusk was falling, and our guide gets another call...another leopard sighting. We had asked for one, and now we might be blessed with two! Off roading again through tall grasses...not the place for allergy sufferers, and a much smaller lighter colored leopard is within sight. With darkness approaching we watch him, and his interest in a small rank of impalas.
Excitement that we might get to see a hunt ended when the impalas let out a warning noise. The leopard had probably been smelled, and the element of surprise spoiled. Our truck headed to camp, but the other truck’s adventure continued when a herd of wildebeast ran towards them and around both sides of their truck. Suddenly, the small leopard jumped on a wildebeast’s back but was shaken off. It was dark when we arrived at camp with the other group excitedly telling us about their adventure!
Wow; another day in Africa!
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