We have a leisurely morning with breakfast at 07.00 leaving the camp at 8:30. The flight from Tau Pan to our camp Rra Dinare in the Okavango Delta should take less than an hour but ends up taking almost four. Our pilot is ill so the flight has been changed to another operator. This involves flying to Maun, disembarking to refuel, then flying pretty much back where we came from. We are met at the airstrip by our guide Mark and tracker Sarah. It’s a short 15 minute drive to camp. We have brunch and a glass of rose then head off for showers and a much needed siesta.
Our tent is very comfortable and the view from it is incredible. We can see miles across the verdant plains where buffalo, lechwe, impala and numerous birds abound. I am dozing on the bed when a shadow crosses the decking. I look up to see a large giraffe ambling past our deck and only inches away. A huge herd of buffalo are passing by. Wow!
At 16.00 we have tea and set out on our first drive at 16.30. We find a pride of 7 lions. They’re just lazing in that way that full lions do when its really hot.
We stay with them briefly, there will be no action for a while yet. There is a good variety of birds, which Mark is good at identifying and then encounter a coalition of four cheetahs.
They are in their prime and look very healthy and well fed. They are active and playful. One rolls in a sage bush just like a cat rolling in catmint.
They yawn, stretch, scent mark and lick each other.
There is lots of interaction and a good photo opportunity. They are posing nicely.
We spend a mesmerising 30-40 minutes with them before reluctantly moving on. This is the holiday for bat-eared fox sightings. A small cub peeps out from its den under the watchful eye of its parent.
The sun is setting and all too soon it is sundowner time. We park on a wide open pan and watch a couple of elephants sauntering away into the bush. Mark tells the story of how he and his guests were stalked by lions in this very spot whilst taking a comfort break. He had to face off the lioness, who was feet away, get into the vehicle and drive up to the guests who scrambled in over the bonnet. Maybe a story for the end of the trip…..
The routine in this camp is the same as Tau Pan… wake up call at 05.00, breakfast at 05.30 and game drive at 06.00. As we eat breakfast we can see lions harassing the buffalo. What an amazing sight from camp!
There is lots of interaction and standoffs between them. It was noisy in camp last night as the buffalo were attacked by the lions… and the lions won. The carcass lies out on the plains.
The lions are very full but that does not stop them trying their hand at another buffalo.
Lechwe spot the lions and make a hasty get away.
We spend three hours with the pride and it is interesting to watch the story unfold.
As the heat builds up, the lions relax and look for shade in which to sleep off their huge meal. They see our vehicles as good shade options.
A lioness lies down in the shade directly in front of our vehicle. It’s time to leave before she decides to crawl underneath it, in which event we would be immobilised for a while!.
We see a lot this morning. Loads of birds including lilac breasted rollers, a sacred ibis, pelicans, kingfishers, marabou storks, a saddle-billed stork, a Goliath heron, birds of prey and more…
We also see banded mongooses which are too fast to photograph, a small monitor lizard…
…three separate hyena encounters
…the four cheetahs from last night with very full stomachs
And of course – hippos, buffalo, zebras, lechwe, impala, tsessebe and beautiful landscapes.
A pretty good morning! We have brunch and head back to our tent for a well-earned siesta.
The afternoon is scorchingly hot so it is a quieter experience. We see the bat-eared fox and cub again, giraffes, another hyena, zebras and swallow-tailed bee-eaters.
A lioness is lazing with her three 9 month old cubs. The young male seems shy and twice when he looked up he put his paws over his face as if playing peekaboo. Very cute, but sadly I missed the shot but did get this one.
We end the drive with sundowners next to paradise pool and very nice it is too.
A new day brings more great encounters. We are on our way for a mokoro ride in one of the channels. There is not much doing but I spot a fish eagle and take a couple of shots.
Then my camera behaves strangely. I can see through the viewfinder but it will not let me take shots. Just as I am cursing at my camera we see a leopard. It is in the open and just yards from the trail lying on a dead tree. No time to change lenses and use the zoom. Thank goodness I have a second camera with me, but it has the short lens on it. I get what I can but annoyingly I shall now have to keep switching lenses. This was not the plan.
She does not like our company and disappears into the undergrowth. We try following. It is hard with very few ways through. We duck low as huge branches bend and catapult back against the vehicle. We do eventually manage to locate the leopard but she is hiding in dense undergrowth. We admit defeat and move on.
We see a huge monitor lizard, a little bee-eater and a large pride of lions with young cubs. I would have liked to spend longer with them and watch the cubs but Mark is keen to move on and continue to where we are going to take the mokoro trip. Best laid plans.. A call comes in that there is a leopard cub in the area and it is in a tree with a kill. We are in luck. It is still there, but really hard to see. I have marked its position on the tree below.
We drive closer for a better view.
Finally we make it to the channel where the mokoro excursion will take place. The channel is quite deep and we can see two hippos in one direction and a load of buffalo in the other. The idea of being in a canoe so close to such large animals that can tip it over is not appealing. Oh and did I say there are also crocodiles on the channel edge. We vote against it and drink our morning coffee admiring the view, which is beautiful, before clambering back into the safety of the vehicle.
We see a couple of bee-eaters
and then encounter a very large herd of buffalo – several hundred I would say. They are crossing our path so we have to sit and wait it out. The sun is shining towards us so the photos do not turn out well. Never mind – Mark says he will drive into the open so we can see them crossing the water. It’s a great plan and the photos could have been amazing if he had put the vehicle in a position where the sun would be behind us, which I note the other guides did manage to do. Nevertheless it was an incredible encounter. The giraffes in the background were a bonus and fortunately I do have some half decent video.
The afternoon finds us again looking for the young leopard. It is not in the tree where we left it this morning but it has to be close by. We drive slowly around the surrounding area, catch a glimpse of a tail and follow. Of course leopards are the master of stealth and following is not easy but we manage.
Eventually it goes back into the tree with the kill. I line up a shot and just as I am taking it Mark moves the vehicle to a position where only he can see the leopard. Pretty annoying. “Have you all got a good view” he says. Er no! I have the vehicle roof and thick branch in the way. I can see nothing. We sit for what seems like ages, while I am quietly fuming. Finally Mark moves the vehicle to a better position but just as I am lining up the shot he starts the engine so he can get a better view. I cry “No! No! No!” I think he may finally have got the message. Here’s hoping. Considering how high up and hidden the leopard is, I get some great shots.
It peers upwards.
…and then chases a squirrel up really high. We are worried the cub might fall, but fortunately it realises its limitations, and descends to a lower and sturdier branch.
The rest of the afternoon is quiet. It has clouded over and it is raining in the distance. The animals can sense it and there is not much happening – a few elephant, a hoopoe, a steenbok, a few baboons, a decent sized herd of kudu and another pride of lions. We have seen so many on this trip. It is good that they are doing so well.
Sundown finds us back at paradise pool where we watch and listen to the hippos whilst drinking G&Ts. A nice end to our stay here. There will be no game drive tomorrow as we are leaving camp at 08.15.
Best laid plans. We have asked for breakfast at 07.00 but when we reach the communal area everything has been cleared away and there doesn’t seem to be anyone around. We pour juice from the lunch station and then someone appears, asks us what we would like to eat and then goes to fetch it from the kitchen. We sit on the deck soaking up the view, whilst eating eggs toast and muffins. No manager or staff in sight. Strange. No-one is there to say good-bye.
Eventually at 08.30 someone appears to drive us to the airstrip. He drives like the clappers as we are late. The track is bumpy and we fly up and down on the seats. Not impressed. We stop en route where Mark meets us. He is out on a game drive but he swaps vehicles and drives us to the airstrip. He thought we might miss the plane. He apologises. Says there’s been an error. The manager had gone out and we had been forgotten about. Badly done Rra Dinare.
I have loved my stay here and we have had some very special encounters. The room was very comfortable with a view to die for – often seeing more action from our deck than out on a drive! However, this experience does rather confirm my feeling that the camp staff are not as motivated as they should be. It will be going onto my review sheet and also fed back to my agent. It is a stark contrast to the hospitality received in the previous two camps and indeed all of my previous safari experiences.
