Nature’s Wonders

The reserve was closed for about 30 years, until in the 1980s and 1990s, When both self-drive and organised tours were allowed in, albeit in small, tightly controlled numbers.

Shortly after entering the reserve, we saw elephant dung and made a joke about it as we had never seen any elephants in the CKGR. Later we read about five elephants that were seen as far south as Piper Pan, which meant that the elephants had travelled through a section of the park that is normally very dry, and upon reaching Piper Pan, they quenched their thirst by drinking all the water in the waterhole. During our visit to Khutze in March 2013, we spoke to the rangers about this and they confirmed that elephants migrate during the rainy season from the north and have been seen several times in the CKGR. A sighting of elephant in the CKGR was a first for us and I will never again be surprised when I see a heap of dung here in December or any other time of the year.

That night we stayed in Kori 3 Campsite at Matswere Camp, which is beautiful and overlooks Deception Valley, one of the highlights of the park mainly due to the dense concentrations of herbivores its sweet grasses attract during and after the rainy season (and of course the accompanying predators). When we were here in March 2008, we had an encounter with a leopard that visited our campsite and were hoping that it would pay us a visit again - but didn't really hold out much hope. I had gone to bed, leaving the men sitting around the fire, when I heard Xen say that there was a leopard in the campsite. Within seconds, Kori 3 looked like Times Square in New York, with all the headlamps, spot lamps and security torches being switched on. All three men were focusing intently on the rear end of a leopard, as it moved into the surrounding bush. We own an infra-red camera, which we had strapped to a nearby tree earlier, to record any movement around the camp. Upon checking the camera, we observed, from the built-in timer, that the leopard had been around us for more than 20 minutes and the closest tracks were no more than 6 m away from where we were sitting - awesome, but also very nerve wracking. However, that was not to be the last of our experiences.

We spent the next three days exploring the game reserve and by then most of the water had subsided, the sky was clear and we welcomed the warm sunshine back. But it was time to leave. Our time here had been magical and we'd seen a myriad of animals and birds. As we made our way out of the reserve, we decided to camp at the Matswere 8 Campsite, which is situated in the middle of a pan and only has few trees. In fact, the trees were the only indication that the campsite existed, which meant that there were no ablutions or showers. While discussing whether to stay or drive straight home, we came around the trees and saw a young lion and lioness mating. This was the third time we'd stayed with mating lions, so we knew they were not dangerous, unless threatened. We set up camp about 40 m away from them, made sure we had enough firewood and prepared our meal before it got dark. Their mating routine was so predictable that I could bake bread without checking the clock. It was amazing to see how the lioness would lie on her back immediately after they mated and the male would fall into a deep sleep for the next 20minutes. How he knew when she was ready and how he didn’t leave a scratch when he placed his mouth over her neck to keep her down while mating, remains a mystery. Even from where we were, we could hear them purring, happy and content with each other.

As the sun began to set, we had the fire going nicely and were enjoying our time alone with the mating lions - or so we thought. Well, the next moment we nearly fell off our chairs when we heard a roar from behind us, to which the male lion in front of us responded with another huge roar. We were in the middle of a symphony created by two lions; the one protecting his companion and the other one in search of a lioness to mate with. So we jumped up, grabbed the spotlight and saw two very big male lions about 400 m away from where we camped. Although we enjoyed the sounds of the night for the next few hours, every time the lions communicated with each other we nearly had a heart attack. When we realised that the sounds were getting closer and closer, we decided to head for the safety of our roof-top tents. The last of the roars that night were very close and we estimated that the visiting lions were only 100m away.

What an amazing experience our time with the lions had been and what a perfect way to end an amazing holiday. In that time, we totally forgot about how the rain made us feel miserable at times and we forgot about the disappointment of the boat trip across the Chobe River, but we were thankful to return home with so many memorable experiences to treasure and share.