Water Babies

Dec 12, 2018

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Our last game drive in the Okavango Delta would be this morning, and number one on Jutta’s list was to see some elephants in the water, spraying it around and having fun. Emang hoped to deliver. Driving around this part of town is really fun……..we routinely cross large sections of trail that are totally under water, deep enough to come up over the hood of the truck, and have water washing through the floor beneath our feet. A short distance from camp this morning, we dove into the water on one side of a passage, and a hippo surfaced at the other end just twenty yards away………Emang stopped the truck in its tracks, and after a few grunts and dirty looks, the big fella moved off. Lucky, as some are more aggressive than others.

We came across a large baboon family on the move to who knows where, but it was hilarious watching some of them trying to avoid getting wet.

The call came in suddenly that one of our trucks had spotted wild dogs………we had heard so much about them, and in particular they were very hard to find, so Emang booted it and we were on the scene in minutes. Suddenly everything shifted into high gear. The pack of four dogs move fast, and believe me they were moving. Clearly hunting, we tried desperately to keep up with them on their flank, or sometimes just behind. It didn’t take long for it to happen, and they were only out of our sight in some trees and bushes for maybe 10-15 seconds, but we heard a squeal, and next thing you know, on the other side of the trees, they had already torn apart a small impala, somehow agreed on who would have which piece, and were chowing down. Fifteen minutes later, they were up and on the move again, and this time they were smarter than us. Lost them. The pictures are pretty gruesome but very real………what an experience watching them hunt.

Bones, everything gone in 15 minutes, then immediately back on the hunt

Wow, how could we top that?

Back on the trails, we stopped with our other truck from camp and had our coffee break at a big water hole. Here come the elephants…….could this be Jutta’s moment? Plenty of wildlife and birds in this location………I can barely drink my coffee for snapping pictures.

Ok so it wasn’t Jutta’s moment but still pretty great.

We started back towards camp and dropped Helmut at his plane with Fredrick and Birgitta as they were off to another location, so now just Jutta and I with Emang.

On the way home it was hippo central, and then it happened……..once again the pictures can tell the story.

Three young bulls having a bath, and a lot of fun. A nice way to wrap up the morning………pool and siesta this afternoon and our final cruise tonight.

Just Jutta and I on the cruise, and Emang had picked out a great island for sundowners. The reflective views along the way were phenomenal………just couldn’t put the camera down. No better way to wrap up our Botswana experience than watching the sun go down tonight.