Lebala, Linyanti

A short one hour flight takes us to Lebala Airstrip. There is one stop on the way at 4 Rivers to pick up three passengers – John, Heather and Cindy who are to be our travel companions for the next three nights. Our driver and tracker greet us and I am delighted to find that I am reunited with Mayezi who was my guide when I was here before during Covid. Our tracker is Peach and he turns out to be a gem. A warm reception at camp is followed by brunch.

We are then shown to our tent which is Number 2 and the same one I had last time I was here. What a coincidence. It is large and very comfortable. We unpack our few belongings. We have travelled very light with hand luggage only. You really need very little clothing as all the camps do laundry for you. A nice long siesta leaves us ready for afternoon tea and our first game drive here.

What I particularly love about Mayezi’s guiding is that he takes an interest in everything around us. Not just the big game. We stop at a large tree being engulfed by a strangler fig and we look in detail at how the fig is taking over. I only now realise rather annoyingly that we did not photograph it. A small group of elephants amble by and a young impala hides in the undergrowth.

We see lots of small birds and I can never resist a bee-eater shot!

Last time I was here I spent a lot of time staking out a brown hyena den and in the end did see the pups. I ask Mayezi whether they are still here. He says he has been checking the dens regularly but has seen no activity yet this year. He suggests we go and have a look just in case. We sit quietly for half an hour or so but to no avail. However, sitting in silence and just listening to the bush is simply wonderful. You notice the little things. We spy a bush buck hiding in the long grass.

Then it is time to head up to the marshes. The water levels are much lower than on my previous visit. Mayezi says the rains have been very light in the last two years. Heavy rain is desperately needed. Nevertheless water still runs in the channels, which are populated by crocodiles and numerous hippos.

A water thick-knee patrols the water’s edge – excellent camouflage

We leave the vehicle to stretch our legs and photograph the hippos. Mayezi suggests we lie on the ground to capture eye-level shots. I am wearing shorts and the ground is prickly. Mayezi kindly fetches me a blanket to lie on.

We move a short distance to a slightly more open spot for sundowners. What a beautiful place. The sounds, the smells – real Africa. I feel like I have come home.

It’s a beautiful morning. We eat breakfast by the campfire whilst listening to the abundant birdsong. It turns outs that today we are in for some real treats with some rare and unusual sightings. Last night we drove past an aardwolf den and had a brief glimpse of an aardwolf pup. We make this our first port of call this morning and are not to be disappointed. A little nose pokes out next to some larger ears…

…and shortly mum puts in an appearance to…

As we are leaving the den we spot a wild cat – a very unusual daytime occurrence.

The morning continues to deliver with lechwe jumping, endangered wattled cranes, a lilac-breasted roller posing just long enough to set up a chance of capturing it in flight, a lone hyena and a majestic eland.

Then a call comes in. Wild dogs have been located but they are on the other side of the concession. Do we want to see them. Yes! Yes! Yes! We drive fast – half an hour of bumps and holding tight, but Mayezi is a skilful driver and knows the tracks well. The day is heating up. Then we see them – spread out under the trees and bushes.

Twelve in total including five pups, which are 4-5 months old. The dogs have full stomachs and have clearly made a recent kill as they still have blood on them in places.

Every so often the dogs scratch in the sand and throw cool earth on themselves. The pups are very lazy and when they want to pee just raise their rear ends and rotate them away from their body and pee sideways. Novel! The dogs are likely to just sleep off their meal through the heat of the day, so we leave the pack and will return later this afternoon. Quite an action packed morning and we have earned our coffee break!

Back in camp there are new arrivals sand we are delighted to see that our new friends from Tau Pan – Ed & Dee are among them. We greet them and instantly fall into easy banter. We have brunch and head back to our tent for a siesta. This is not altogether easy as the wind is rising and a dust storm is coming in. There is brief heavy rain and thunder and lightning, whilst the curtains fly horizontally and anything loose blows around inside the tent. Warthogs cavort in front of our veranda. They seem ecstatic to feel the rain upon them.

On our way to re-unite with the dog pack we see a side-striped jackal, a leopard tortoise and a male ostrich with a clutch of youngsters trotting along behind him, although well -camouflaged by the tall grasses.

The dogs are exactly where we left them…

but are beginning to stand and stretch.

The wind is really strong now. The pups try to catch leaves as they blow around. We wrap scarves and snoods around our heads in an effort to keep the dust at bay and park the vehicles so that the wind is directly behind us. Not the best photography conditions. One of my cameras has been playing up again so I have opted for the short lens which will cover any action shots. This does however mean that I shall not be able to capture good close ups. So be it. I am not prepared to change lenses in a dust storm.

The pups play and greet each other with excited squeaks and yips. The video I have taken is good and really captures the atmosphere. Every so often they approach the vehicles to investigate them. They sniff the tyres and glance at us, but clearly do not know what to make of us. They quickly revert to playing with each other.

Eventually the pack decide to hunt. There are lots of frenzied greetings, yips and yelps between them before setting their heads low and trotting into the bush. We follow as best we can but it is not long before they enter really dense mopani woodland and we are unable to follow. However, we have spent a magical 2 hours with them. A truly privileged and special encounter.

We are all in a relaxed mood the next morning. Yesterday was so amazing that we are very happy to just take it easy and see what nature provides for us. A hammerkopf is being surprisingly co-operative. Normally I just get a dark brown silhouette but this morning the light is perfect.

Bat-eared foxes are yet again featuring on our radar.

Ground hornbills put in a distant appearance and a normally camera shy coucal stays briefly in the open.

A gentle start but it appears that this morning is going to provide us with some wonderful encounters too. A small well-fed pride of lions..

…followed by cute baby elephants…

… and three large male lions…

…and as if that wasn’t enough of a menagerie we learn that two cheetahs are in the vicinity. We arrive to find that they have made a kill by ambushing an impala behind the tree stump that they were resting on. They are not sitting in the best position for photographs but we can see enough – and hear the crunching…

They are incredibly full but they still manage to eat more. We are amused to see a leopard tortoise appear on the scene. Fastest animal meets one of the slowest!

We head back to camp and spot some dwarf mongooses. They are fast and fleet of foot but we watch them for a while trying somewhat unsuccessfully to capture them on camera.

As we take our siesta warthogs root around beside our room and elephants too are close to camp.

After tea we head back to the marshes where we alarm a hippo

and disturb a huge crocodile on the far bank.

We watch the herds of lechwe grazing nervously and then spot a fish eagle in a nearby tree. The light is perfect and we sit for a while trying to take the perfect picture.

A black-backed jackal enjoys the last evening rays of sunshine

We enjoy our final sundowners of the trip before a short night drive where we see a hyena and of course loads of springhares. The staff have prepared a special farewell dinner for us all with local dishes, but before we eat they entertain us with joyful singing and dancing. There is genuine warmth from the staff and many of us have tears in our eyes. Quite an emotional experience.

A very special last evening here and make no mistake, I shall be coming back. Lebala is a magical place and my travel agent – ATR rate it amongst their top 5 favourite camps in Africa. I would concur.

Our flight out is at 11.15 which gives ample time for a final game drive. Wow! What a farewell drive it proves to be! It is a beautiful morning. It rained last night and now mist lies over the plains and water droplets glisten on the grass. A tsessebe and calf graze quietly and a little bee-eater is already on the hunt.

Mayezi says “Let’s see if we can find a leopard before you go.” A good plan but unlikely, we think. Then suddenly, on the road right in front of us, appears a large male leopard.

He is no hurry and not in the least intimidated by us. He ambles along the road, stops to scent mark and to poo. This is his territory and he knows it. We follow him as he saunters off. Then, to our amazement, the guides spot another male leopard maybe a hundred yards ahead of us. The first leopard also sees it and sets off at full speed. Mayezi says “Hold on tight!” and we race across the plains in hot pursuit. The intruder is chased up a tree where he looks down and growls ferociously.

We are now in for over an hour of leopard interaction. The leopard in the tree wants to escape but can see no way out and the leopard below bides his time, circling the tree and then lazing in various bushes. The exertion has made him salivate profusely.

He has all the time in the world.

The leopard in the tree looks down

and occasionally re-positions apparently to view any alternative escape routes.

Eventually the large male has had enough and stalks towards the tree. Then, in the blink of an eye, he is up the tree and a full scale battle ensues. The fight is ferocious and we really think one of them will fall. Somehow they cling on. At times, just by a claw or two, it would seem. We gasp and hold our breath. This is intense. I video it as capturing any single shots would be nigh on impossible. I have however managed to extract a screenshot from the video.

The young intruder male is higher up in the tree and that gives him an advantage. Accordingly the larger male appears to lose the battle. He climbs down and after hanging around for a bit slinks away. He sees a warthog and looks like he wants to hunt but the warthog spots him. The element of surprise has gone. We follow for a while but do have a plane to catch. In any event whilst watching the leopards, a huge herd of elephants appears in the distance. And I do mean huge – 100 plus.

We do at least need to have a brief encounter with them. Time is running short. They bathe in shallow water and spray themselves with dust. We are not in the best position for photos. The sun is directly in front of us, but we do not have the luxury of time to re-position. Not to worry – the encounter is firmly imprinted in my mind’s eye.

It seems as though we can never drive more than a few yards before seeing something amazing. We encounter a group of very young impala, a vervet monkey that scampers up into a tree – the only one we have seen on this trip – and then a tiny baby impala – still wobbly and clearly very newly born,

We are now late and drive fast to the airstrip. So fast that we do not notice the pride of lions lying right next to the track. There are a lot of ways to approach lions and this is definitely not to be recommended. I look down and suddenly see a lion’s head inches from my leg. I shout “Lions!” and a large male and female start to stand. I do not know who was more alarmed – me, the lions or poor Peach who was still sitting in the tracker seat. We did not decelerate! We drove 50 yards clear so Peach could get inside the safety of the vehicle. We then made a brief re-visit, the lions seemed to have re-composed themselves…

…although the lioness that was closest to the track still looks rather too close and rather too interested!

I would describe that as an adrenalin packed morning! However the thrills keep coming as there is now a different cause for concern. The wind is increasing and a dust storm hits the airstrip.

The arrival of our flight is consequently delayed by 30 minutes. Watching our plane land is less than inspiring. There is a strong crosswind and nailing the ground takes three attempts. I can confirm that we were all feeling somewhat apprehensive. Fortunately our pilot is skilled and professional. She flies us around the storm into clear blue skies with great views.

The approach to Maun is straightforward and remarkably smooth.

Sadly our adventure is now at an end. It has been the most incredible holiday and at times a complete sensory overload. I am looking forward to relaxing at home but also cannot wait to return!