A MOST INCREDIBLE MORNING DRIVE AND NORMA COMPLETES THE BIG FIVE
After a great night's sleep despite hearing hippos feeding and grunting outside of our room and hyenas howling and barking, we were awakened at 5:30 for breakfast at 6:00 and a 6:30 departure for our first game drive here at Vumbura. We were on the hunt for cheetah. We saw lots of game - many species of antelope such as the Waterbuck, Lechwe, Impala (these do not have black faces like the ones we were seeing), and Kudu. We watched a troop of baboons some with babies hanging on to their mothers, climb trees, display dominance by practicing their fighting skills and a family of warthogs feeding. Norma completed sightings of the Big Five when we watched a herd of approximately 500 Cape Buffalo crossing the road in front of us. There were lots of young ones with the herd and one very impressive male. Then we headed out to a wide open area with a lot of marshy areas. We saw some rare birds and were watching a Marabou Stork when G called out: "I see cheetah!" We drove a little closer and watched as a mother approached with two cubs. We drove closer, watched some more, drove even closer. The mother seemed not at all perturbed by our presence. We ended up a close as 30 feet away and enjoyed the antics of the cubs while mother kept a close eye. The cubs were so cute as they practiced their hunting skills on each other and playing. At times, they imitated their mother's behaviour - sitting and staring off into the distance when she did, lying down when she did. It was incredible - Glen said it was his best sighting of cheetah ever. I was snapping pictures and video like there was no tomorrow. At this rate, I will run out of memory for my camera. We watched the family for over half an hour before we were joined by another vehicle. By this time all three were lying down as the day was getting hotter.
The weather here is much milder at night than in the desert. We didn't need to bundle up for this game drive and certainly didn't need hot water bottles.
We had our tea break and headed back to the camp for lunch. On the way, G stopped at an area where a communal table had been set up and other guests at the camp were having a bush lunch. We could have joined them but opted not to - they most probably think we are real snobs! We wanted to go back to our rooms to freshen up and eat on the deck - a great decision. After a delicious lunch, we adjourned to our room for a plunge in our pool, an outdoor shower, a long nap, and blog updating. We leave in a few minutes for our afternoon boat trip in the famous Okavango Delta.
After a great night's sleep despite hearing hippos feeding and grunting outside of our room and hyenas howling and barking, we were awakened at 5:30 for breakfast at 6:00 and a 6:30 departure for our first game drive here at Vumbura. We were on the hunt for cheetah. We saw lots of game - many species of antelope such as the Waterbuck, Lechwe, Impala (these do not have black faces like the ones we were seeing), and Kudu. We watched a troop of baboons some with babies hanging on to their mothers, climb trees, display dominance by practicing their fighting skills and a family of warthogs feeding. Norma completed sightings of the Big Five when we watched a herd of approximately 500 Cape Buffalo crossing the road in front of us. There were lots of young ones with the herd and one very impressive male. Then we headed out to a wide open area with a lot of marshy areas. We saw some rare birds and were watching a Marabou Stork when G called out: "I see cheetah!" We drove a little closer and watched as a mother approached with two cubs. We drove closer, watched some more, drove even closer. The mother seemed not at all perturbed by our presence. We ended up a close as 30 feet away and enjoyed the antics of the cubs while mother kept a close eye. The cubs were so cute as they practiced their hunting skills on each other and playing. At times, they imitated their mother's behaviour - sitting and staring off into the distance when she did, lying down when she did. It was incredible - Glen said it was his best sighting of cheetah ever. I was snapping pictures and video like there was no tomorrow. At this rate, I will run out of memory for my camera. We watched the family for over half an hour before we were joined by another vehicle. By this time all three were lying down as the day was getting hotter.
The weather here is much milder at night than in the desert. We didn't need to bundle up for this game drive and certainly didn't need hot water bottles.
We had our tea break and headed back to the camp for lunch. On the way, G stopped at an area where a communal table had been set up and other guests at the camp were having a bush lunch. We could have joined them but opted not to - they most probably think we are real snobs! We wanted to go back to our rooms to freshen up and eat on the deck - a great decision. After a delicious lunch, we adjourned to our room for a plunge in our pool, an outdoor shower, a long nap, and blog updating. We leave in a few minutes for our afternoon boat trip in the famous Okavango Delta.
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