MAY 20, 2019 - CHONGWE RIVER CAMP

May, 20, 2019

Today was walking safari day so I opted to skip it. While I do crave the exercise that we are not getting, I also find the walking safaris less interesting and way too warm so I don’t enjoy them enough to go. I was actually looking forward to some peaceful time to write and just hang out but almost immediately after the group left the housekeeper arrived to try to clean my room (I asked him to return later) soon followed by another staff member at my door, asking if I was ok and could they get me anything, and did I want breakfast delivered to my room...so I decided it was best to just vacate my room for awhile so they could clean and get breakfast so I wasn’t interfering with the chef’s schedule. While eating breakfast the camp manager came over and said “what would you like to do today, you can’t just sit around all day” to which I am thinking “why yes I can just watch me!” But instead I agree to go for a short boat ride. I meet “Bob” - a guide in training - at the boat launch. We did a very slow cruise up the Chongwe river which right now has very shallow water so we were constantly getting wound up in the weeds and went briefly aground a couple times. We came to a particularly narrow passage with a pod of hippos on one side and not much room to get away from them because it was so shallow. The big male hippo did not like us so close and actually took two giant leaps towards the boat! My heart stopped and I envisioned the rest of the group returning to find out I was in two pieces floating down the river and becoming crocodile food. Soon after I returned to camp, John, Marc and Beth also returned with nothing too exciting to report about their walking safari. As I suspected it was hot and they learned about spiders and animal droppings (yawn). We had lunch and siesta then John went back out fishing and the three of us remaining went on an afternoon game drive. We were looking for a pride of lions that were 2 lionesses and their 5 collective cubs, 7-1/2 months old that had been spotted earlier that day. We pulled in next to a watering hole where a lone bull elephant was throwing dust on himself after his bath to wait and see if perhaps the lions would come down for a drink. An unexpected delight was that the trees surrounding the water hole were full of the brightly colored bee eater birds who would periodically dive to the surface of the water feeding on bugs. The lone bull elephant had since wandered off but now another came down and began a long luxurious soak in the water while he watched us. A little further down the road we came across another lone bull elephant quietly feeding on the trees and dried grasses. Our guide noticed that he was completely unfazed by our presence so he decided to pull the jeep in close and cut the engine so we could observe. The elephant was quite curious and every few minutes he would inch closer and closer to our Jeep until he was maybe 15 feet away. Twice he tested us by standing tall, giving us a head shake and fake charge, but our guide instructed us to sit still and not move or react, he said the elephant was just looking to intimidate us but wasn’t really looking for a fight. The old guy just stuck around our Jeep and wouldn’t move off, and at that point the guide said he really couldn’t start the jeep because that sound may indeed trigger aggression. So we sit and wait until he finally turns his back to us enough so that we can start the engine and scoot away! It is so interesting to just watch them, I know I have said that time and time again. By this time in our trip, we have seen almost everything there is to see in the areas we have visited so we just enjoy watching the behavior of each species in their natural habitat, and each encounter is different. We eventually moved on and drove deeper into the bush and up a steep hill to a lookout point where we had sundowners until dark, then we started our night drive back to camp with the spotlight. For quite a while nothing at all came to life under the lights, until.....we came around the bend to find many sets of eyes reflecting into our lights — the lion pride! The two lionesses were perched up on a small berm on the side of the road, back to back, like sphinxes, looking over the cubs who were sprawled out on the road and side of the road in little golden, spotted piles. The cubs were quite curious about us and our vehicle so they would get up and walk next to our Jeep looking and evaluating this strange beast. One cub in particular began stalking our vehicle, it was so adorable watching him slink along as if planning to pounce on us. Our guide kept the spotlight slightly off center so we weren’t blinding them but enough to get some pictures. Our guide then noticed that the lionesses were now alert and focused on the brush so he said let’s turn off the lights and listen. Now... it’s a little unnerving to be in the presence of lions in the dark that are on the hunt I must say. We sit and wait. The rustling in the bushes gets more pronounced so the guide turns the spotlight back on and we witness an aardvark scurrying our into the open followed by one lioness in chase whereupon all the cubs spring into action to chase and tackle the poor unsuspecting aardvark, like an NFL offensive line! We are talking 7 lions teaming up against this poor little nocturnal creature who was probably minding his own business when unfortunately he found himself in the wrong place. Somewhat miraculously the lucky aardvark escaped back into the brush and we think it escaped to live but we aren’t sure, as we couldn’t see. Surely he was worse for wear with at least some injuries. The whole incident took about 10 seconds so no time for cameras. Our guides were incredulous and couldn’t believe what we witnessed. They said it is so rare to see an aardvark in the first place, but to see lions hunting an aardvark will be a legendary story for them for years to come. They turned off the lights again and we sat in the dark waiting to see if something else would happen. This made us a little uneasy being so close to the lions on the hunt in the pitch dark so we said “let’s leave them alone and move on” - who knows if they would decide we were now the hunted?! Anyway, what a sighting. We drove back to camp with the guides squealing with slight, and over dinner regaled the other guests on our experience.