Category: Linyanti Page 1 of 2

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!

It was quite windy through the night and it is cool this morning. As the dawn breaks I can see that it is partially cloudy and light is quite flat. I think photography will be a challenge today. We find the three male lions close to where we left them last night. They look sleepy and are just lying by the side of the track without a care in the world. We watch them for a while but it is very clear that they are not moving any time soon so we continue on our drive.

I enjoyed sitting and watching a coran. I call them the suicide bird. They perch on a mound, click their beak faster and faster, then let out a piercing series of high pitched whistles. If you are lucky they then fly straight up in the air, close their wings and do a death roll to the ground , just opening their wings at the very last minute. Sadly I couldn’t capture that but did get the singing.

I never tire of trying to photograph bee-eaters, but they rarely pose with the light in the right direction.

There are lots of zebra around this morning and a few herds of impala. We spot elephant in the distance and there are some lovely groupings of animals down by the water holes including wildebeest with very young calves.

I capture some reasonable in-flight photos of a juvenile fish eagle which was a very long way away 

When we stop for coffee we notice a Verreaux’s eagle owl in the tree above us. While I was taking photos I could hear buzzing and realised there was also a beehive in the same tree. It looked as though the bees had just swarmed and this is where they had settled. There was also an unusual sighting of a large monitor lizard in a tree. I had assumed that they only lived on the ground and was very surprised when Mayezi pointed it out to me.

On our way back to camp I also saw a side-striped jackal which I have never seen before.

I’m sitting in my room and looking at the photos I took this morning. I’m disappointed that many are quite grainy due to the poor light conditions. I think on past holidays I would have been quite happy with this morning‘s results but now I know what I can achieve with the new camera lens. This morning’s efforts are not up to par at all. I think I may have taken quite a few bird in flight photographs in tracking mode and I am beginning to feel that this is a mistake. I think I achieve a much better result using back button focus in continuous focus mode. However, I shall continue to experiment and see what I prefer. It’s early days and almost every animal requires different camera settings. I set up lots of custom modes but in the heat of the moment I couldn’t remember what was what! I found it quicker to change settings in the magic grid. So I just need to practice to work out what works best in each situation.

On my final drive at Lebala, I opted to spend some time trying to capture lechwe running and jumping. It is a huge challenge and I think I will need to return and spend solid days trying to get the perfect shot. They are not bad but I know I can do better with time and patience.

…..and of course I had to take a few more bird photos before I left and we had nice sunset drinks by the river.

When I returned to camp there were two new guests – Amy and Douglas. It turns out that they will join me at Kwara Camp in three day’s time. They seemed a nice couple – interesting and chatty. It was quite a treat to have other guests for dinner and not just camp staff (even though they were good company).

It’s another beautiful morning and we set off early before 6am. Initially there is not much stirring, even the birds seem subdued, but as the sun rises the bush starts to wake up. Birds appear and warthogs strut jauntily through the tall grass, tails held high.

We found tracks of wild dogs chasing an impala and set out to try and find them. In so doing we also found lion tracks. However, the bush was really dense and we have no success. We decide to go back to the impala killed by the branch yesterday. There is absolutely no sign of the impala at all, but there are vultures in the trees overhead and jackals hanging around so something has eaten it.

Then Mayezi & KB get out of the vehicle and try to ascertain what has happened. Initially they thought it might have been a leopard but there were no drag marks. Eventually they find the spoor of two lions and after circling the site pick up the tracks again and find the remains of the impala. Pretty much everything has gone apart from the shin bone, hoof and skull. A young jackal was hanging around and came right up to the vehicle while the guide & tracker were looking at footprints. I got the best shots and he had the whitest teeth!

Just as we drove off we found a kingfisher sitting in the road. It looked injured. Mayezi picked it up and put it on a log. It was very beautiful. On the other side of the road I spotted a cute dwarf mongoose.

In the afternoon we drive over the grasslands. We see wart hogs and stop by a hippo pool try and capture a pied kingfisher in flight. Absolutely no success – it refused to leave its perch.

We see ostriches, kudu and a jackal. A herd of elephants are coming up to drink so we stop and let them pass. We go down to the big pool for sundowners and a huge flock of pratincoles(similar to sandpipers) are sweeping and swarming through the air and loads of other water birds too.

The sky grows very dark with lightning in the distance and we think we’re going to get very wet again but somehow it passes us by. We drive back to camp for a quick change of clothing and dinner before going on a proper night drive.

We then head out on the night drive which is very successful. Almost immediately we see a hyena and then we spot a lioness. We follow her along the track and she enters hunting mode. We stop the vehicle and turn all the lights off so as not to disturb the hunt. We then hear the male lions calling and they eventually join her. There are three of them. This is so outside my comfort zone. Sitting in an open vehicle in the pitch dark, knowing that four lions are in very close proximity certainly heightens your senses! The lioness approaches one of the males and then runs for it. She is seriously unimpressed and he chases after her at break-neck speed. We start up the vehicle and race down the track hoping that we can get ahead of them. We veer off the road and park , once again turning off all lights. We sit and wait and listen. Suddenly – BANG!! The lioness has run smack into the front of our vehicle which is violently jolted. In that split second a lot of thoughts go through your head. Mainly focussed on how pissed off the lioness is going to be and what will be her reaction. The reality was that she was much more concerned about the male lion and picked herself up, glared at us, then ran off into the bush. We continued to track them for the best part of two hours and they finally ended up on the old airstrip. This was very funny because the military were camping there and they were in the open round a small fire. When we told him that the lions were approaching they didn’t initially believe us until they actually saw them. They grabbed their AK47s and took cover very swiftly! The male lions then proceeded to lie down on the runway 20 yards away from them and roar as loudly as possible. They could well be there all night so I guess those guys were going to have a very, very interesting evening. We watched for a while but nothing else was likely to happen and by this stage it was 11 o’clock, so we headed back to camp. We saw 2 springhares and a serval on the way back so all in all a very successful evening. I have some great video of the whole episode which I will be posting eventually.

There was no more rain during the night, although my bedroom floor was still wet where the rain had driven in through the front netting. My boots seem to have dried out and are just damp on the back of the heels.

The drives today were largely uneventful. As usual there was plenty of bird activity but there were few mammals to be seen. Even lechwe and impala seemed to be thin on the ground. We were lucky enough to spot a civet running across the track and into the distance but no sign of any big cats.

For our afternoon drive we headed through the water plains and I tried to take some action shots of lechwe and I’m hoping some of them maybe good although it is a huge challenge. Last night’s storm was very bad and had brought down trees and broken huge branches from others. We were surprised to find that one branch had landed on an impala and killed it.

We looked for cheetah tracks but found none and then headed off to stake out the hyena den again.  Sadly, it was an abortive mission and, as the pups are now quite big, we think they may have left the den already, although it is clear that they were at the den this morning, as there were fresh tracks over the rain. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

It’s a beautiful morning with a gorgeous sunrise. We soon find the tracks of a lioness and cubs. We follow them and soon also find adult male lion tracks and scent marking scrapes. We proceed to follow the spoor and see if we can locate the lions. I am not optimistic as the grass is tall and the bushes thick with leaves but my guide and tracker are good so we shall see. We had probably only been driving for half an hour when, as we rounded the corner, two beautiful male lions lay across the road. The sun was shining on them perfectly and I prepared to take photos. I was rather surprised therefore when we started to reverse back around the corner away from them. It seems crazy to waste such a great photo opportunity, but then I realised the reason. KB was sitting on the tracker seat and clearly felt rather vulnerable and wanted to get inside the vehicle before we re-approached the lions.

We watched them for a while and then noticed a third male lion coming out from the bushes. He walked across the track and scent marked a nearby bush. We relocated the vehicle to take advantage of the best light. The lions had full bellies and looked very relaxed. Nevertheless when they look at you they still see completely into your soul and it always sends a shiver up your spine. Eventually he was joined by the first two lions and they settled down for a sleep in the shade.

We thought the lioness and cubs must be in the vicinity so instead of going on the walk we carried on tracking them but in the end had to abandon our efforts as the bush was thick and clearly she felt vulnerable with the cubs and was keeping a very low profile. We will go back tonight and may be lucky. You never know!

We continued our game drive and were very fortunate as we did not have to wait very long before a young elephant appeared from the nearby bushes. We stopped and then noticed that there were a whole family grazing behind her.

They gradually emerged from the shrubbery and, munching as they went, proceeded towards us. In the end, they literally were feet away and I could no longer use my powerful zoom lens and had to swap to the bridge camera.

It is such a privilege to be so close to such magnificent animals. To be accepted into their world is a very humbling experience and my heart always beats a little faster, as at the end of the day, I am entirely at their mercy. Eventually they move on and so do we; down to a pool where we stop for coffee.

We set off again and then spot a family of giraffes heading down to drink so we position the vehicle down by the water and sit and wait. We are not disappointed – there are mothers, a large bull and 2 young giraffes. They all drink at the water and we watch them for quite a while. There is also fantastic bird life down by the lake. Its a beautiful spot.

We then set off back to Camp. I am surprised as we approach the river to see brunch laid out in the bush. I am offered a very welcome gin and tonic and delicious meal of chicken with noodles, various salads and cheese and biscuits. There is something so great about eating in the bush. What a brilliant morning!

As we set off for our afternoon game drive, the weather is beginning to look very ominous and the wind is getting up. I’m sure it is going to rain very heavily later. We go back to the site where we saw the lions this morning to find that they are still there in a very relaxed and sleepy state.

We look for the lioness and cubs but I still unable to locate them. We then head off to stake out the brown hyena dens.

We took up position and waited. The sky became increasingly threatening and lightning flashed all around us. The wind increased and it was clear that we were going to get very wet so we put our camera gear into plastic bags, donned ponchos and battened down the hatches. We waited until it grew dark but there was no sign of the hyenas so we made our way back to camp.

It was then that the torrential rain commenced. I was fine as I was in the middle row of seats and not too exposed to the elements. The same cannot be said for my poor guide and tracker. The front of the vehicle was open and bucket loads of water poured off the roof directly onto them every time we hit a bump in the road, which of course was very frequently!

On arrival in camp hurricane lamps lay shattered on the floor. The storm here was horrendous with very strong winds and horizontal driving rain. Everywhere the floors were wet, including the inside of my room. My boots which I’d left just inside the door were soaking wet inside. The evening meal of Mexican soup, roast pork and apple crumble was most welcome.