We have been on several wonderful safaris since our first visit to Kruger National Park in 2011. After doing the first few on our own with friends, we decided to reach out to Wandering Thru to help us take our trips to the next level. What a game changer that has been.
For our most recent trip, we wanted to change things up even more, and asked Ale to help us plan a trip to Botswana, a new country for us and a chance to see some of our favorite animals and bird in new locations. The total travel time for us from home was about two days, and included 5 flights and several long layovers. But it was SO worth it! We landed at the small airstrip around midafternoon and after a quick snack break, we loaded into the game vehicle for what was supposed to be a 45 minute drive to camp. Only John thought to unpack and set up his camera gear for this “quick” drive to the lodge.
Almost immediately, we came upon a breeding herd of elephants including one adorable very young ellie. After that, we passed some impala, a hippo and two zebras at a waterhole, and a bachelor herd of buffalo. And then, we heard there were lions in the area, and sped up to quickly try and track them down!
After a bit of bumping along on soft sand roads and a bit of bashing through the bush, we found them! Four healthy looking female lions walking through the bush. After following and watching them for long enough to get a few good pictures, we headed toward the lodge to get checked in, unpacked and freshen up before dinner. Except, the lions were getting ready for their dinner, too and while we were settling in and washing the travel dust off, the lions managed to find, hunt and take down a buffalo, providing enough meat for themselves and two nearby male lions for a few days. So, before we could even think about heading to our own dinner, we headed back out to see the lions and their fresh meal.
During the next three days at the Wilderness Savuti Camp, Ale and our guide helped us explore almost every acre of the reserve and we had so many wonderful sightings. On our first full day there, in four separate sightings, we saw 31 unique lions!
We started our early morning drive by finding a large male lion, drowsily resting near a waterhole trying to sleep off the huge amount of buffalo he had consumed overnight. After leaving him, we went back to where the buffalo kill was being guarded and snacked on by the four female lions, and found that overnight, they had brought their 8 adorable lion cubs to also enjoy some of the meal.
On a drive in another part of the reserve later in the day, we found seven young lions (not cubs but not fully mature yet) guarding a zebra skill from the circling hyenas, a jackal and several vultures.
Just over a hill from that sighting, we happened upon a different female lion right as she started her pursuit of several warthogs, successfully catching one and, with the help of two other lions from her pride, killing it to provide food for the cubs they had stashed nearby.
On our final morning drive at Wilderness Savuti, we headed out in search of just a few more lions for this part of our trip. With Ale’s sharp hearing and skill at understanding lion behavior, our guide managed find and to position our vehicle near the path of the pride of four females and 8 cubs. We spent an amazing hour as the sun rose following the lions as they walked about a mile through the bush, stopping occasionally to rest (the adults) and play (the cubs).
The pictures we managed to get, as the lions walked through the golden morning light are amongst our favorites from our trip. We wrapped up our first four days of the trip having seen 4 of the big 5, plus an abundance of other game and birds, and even a brief glimpse of a civet!
