Botswana : Lion Research in the Delta

Sunday arrived and this was now our seventh day without finding the elusive Lions. It is amazing how difficult it can be to find any one of several prides of Lions known to frequent the surrounding area, even with tracking equipment and a great deal of effort on the part of the whole team. We set off as usual after breakfast and a couple of hours later a faint signal was heard on the receiver. The Land Rover veered off the track and across country, rumbling through grassland, shrubs, woodland and floodplain and then finally there in front of us we could see our first Botswana Lions. We counted six Lionesses laying under the shade of a tree. They had obviously killed the night before and were sleeping peacefully with full bellies and no intention of moving any more than absolutely necessary. One thing Lions do very well is rest, and they were happy to lay, totally undisturbed by our presence, for as long as we cared to observe them. They really were magnificent specimens and to be able to observe them at such close quarters was quite awesome. We stayed with them for some time and identified individuals from the records of their photographs and markings, (one identity mark is the pattern of whisker spots on the muzzle, which is unique to each animal). As it was obvious the pride were not moving off anywhere until they had slept off their feed, we returned to camp.

The next day another signal was received in late afternoon and just before sunset we located one of the larger prides. This consisted of 10 Lionesses and 2 males and they were on the move. We had packed a coolbox with drinks and snacks and so decided to stay with them and observe them hunting. The sun set by 6.p.m. and they were moving several hundred yards and then stopping to rest and listen before moving off again. By this time it got rapidly very dark and we continued to follow them with the aid of headlights and one spotlight as they meandered, stopping, resting and starting off again through grassland, woodland and shrubs, with us right behind them as the Land Rover bounced and lurched over the rough and bumpy ground. This certainly turned into a hair-raising ride for Dave on the roof, as the vehicle veered right and left to avoid Elephant holes and trees looming at us out of the night, and branches whipped by him in the dark with him trying to hang on to his precarious seat and hold his camera equipment too!! We observed them stalking and following prey but no kills were made while we were there although we stayed with them for some 4 hours. We were able to observe many of the other night hunters and their prey, as we journeyed across the dark African plains. A pair of Honey Badgers, Jackals and a beautiful Civet cat were all picked up in the spotlight along with the Hippos, Impala, Tsessebe and little Spring Hares bouncing along like tiny Kangaroos. We decided to return to camp and eventually arrived just before midnight, very tired and cold as the temperature had plummeted to about 3 degrees Celsius. After a hot drink we fell into bed surrounded by the grunting of the Hippo colony and the cries of the resident Hyena family who insisted on visiting the camp most nights to see what they could scrounge. On two different occasions we were also able to sit close by the Hyena den and observe the 3 young ones playing as the sun went down, totally undisturbed by our presence.

The following morning we were off again to catch up with the pride and found them sleeping off the after effects of their night hunt. It was obvious they had eaten and a search of the surrounding area revealed the remains of a freshly killed Zebra. All that was left were the tip of the tail, part of one rib, jawbone and one hoof, around a patch of blood stained grass.

The pride lazed and slept in the heat of the midday sun, only occasionally waking to answer a call of nature and urinate or defecate in the bushes. The smell from a Lion toilet has to be experienced to be believed”! and being downwind from a pride of some 12 ‘windy’ Lions produces the most appalling odours!!

Altogether we were able to observe three different prides during our second week giving a total of some 24 individuals, 20 Lionesses and 4 males.

During this second week we began to receive visits from Elephants during the night. Between the tents were several trees and shrubs on which they enjoyed feeding and right in the centre of camp was a giant Jackalberry tree covered in ripe greenish golden berries which were starting to fall off with resounding ‘plops’ as they bounced off the tents and office roof. Elephants just love Jackalberries! And one night as we returned late from following the Lions we were greeted by a massive bull Elephant standing right in the Land Rover parking bay under the Jackalberry tree and he wasn’t about to move for anyone! We beat a hasty retreat in reverse and parked elsewhere and then crept across camp by torchlight with the sounds of the Elephant ripping branches and breaking wind echoing in our ears.

The pattern was now set, with the Elephant returning night after night into camp, and what was worse, bringing his friends along. Several nights we lay awake wondering how close they would come to our tent as we could hear them ripping branches off and crashing through the undergrowth just yards from where we lay with just the canvas for protection. The diet of an Elephant contains an awful lot of fibre and this results in them having the most awful flatulence problems with constantly rumbling stomachs and the very, very noisy, repeated passing of large quantities of wind. (I would defy anyone to sleep through this!) and when they defecate, they dump a very large, wet mountain of dung with a resounding ‘wallop’ as it hits the ground from a great height.

The crop of Jackalberries was such, that the main bull Elephant decided to pay us a visit during the day too and marched into camp as we were enjoying a brief rest period. This resulted in everyone rapidly taking cover behind suitable trees and trying to take photos without angering him into charging! I had my 100-300 zoom lens on and he was so close I could only get a small part of him in view. Dave managed some hasty shots of him looming over our tent before the elephant was persuaded to leave by Christiaan shouting at him in Afrikaans. What he shouted remains a mystery, but I get the distinct impression that had I understood, I may well have blushed!! He did return some few minutes later but was again persuaded to leave.

The days passed all too quickly as we enjoyed game drives, Lion tracking both day and night, road strip counts, and of course our beloved photography. The evening meal was always a social affair with much laughter and tales of Africa, encounters with animals and the various adventures the team had experienced. Sometimes we laughed until our ribs ached and how nice it was with no television or radio to distract us, so that reviving simple social interaction was a treat.

On our last night in camp we experienced the closest Elephant encounter of all as just around midnight we were awoken by the sound of Elephant hide rubbing coarsely along the outside of our tent. This was followed by the same sound against the other side of our tent. We were sandwiched between two very large bull Elephants eating the branches overhanging our tent and pushing alarmingly against the side canvases. I grabbed my clothes and quickly dressed. If I was going to be crushed, I wasn’t going to be found naked! (I guess this must be a woman thing, because I always feel safer and more able to face danger with clothes on!) Looking through the mesh windows we could see nothing but Elephant against the night sky and as we crept along inside the tent to the bathroom area a very large head and trunk was pressed against the mesh window, completely filling it, as a large trunk sniffed along the window searching for scent of anything worthy of eating, while at the same time sensing these humans just 3 feet away. Being this close to totally wild Elephants during the day would have been awesome enough, but during the middle of the night the adrenalin rush was unbelievable. We could do nothing but put our trust in God and hope these were gentle giants in good humour as our hearts thudded against our ribs. The sides of the tent were bowing in quite alarmingly by now as the two massive bulks pushed against them and we could hear the creaking of the guy ropes and tent poles as they took the strain of several tons. The sound of their rumbling stomachs and breaking wind was by now quite deafening and as one of them took an almighty ‘dump’ it sounded as though a bomb had gone off. We knew we would have to go outside and Dave was bravely preparing to shout as he had seen Christiaan do before, all the time trying to keep between me and the Elephants. We grabbed our torches, opened the tent flap and went outside and there towering above us was the awesome bulk of one Elephant, while the other had stepped back. Dave shouted and I beat on the metal table on our verandah. The Elephants retreated a few feet and stood watching. Our hearts were in our mouths and what had seemed before like a good idea, now did not seem so clever!! Alerted by the noise we were making Christiaan appeared by torchlight and together he and Dave persuaded the Elephants, with a selection of Afrikaans and English phrases, to back off some more until they stood back in the trees looking us over before finally disappearing into the night. We eventually went back to bed and slept fitfully with one ear open to the sounds of breaking branches as the Elephants continued feeding further off in the surrounding trees. This had been the most amazing experience for us both, and one I don’t think we will ever forget!

The next day after an early lunch it was time to say our farewells to the Lion Camp team as we departed for the Airstrip and our Cessna flight to Maun and on to Johannesburg and London.

This had been, for me, my first amazing African adventure and as the tiny plane roared across the Delta I took my last look at the floodplains and animals below as my eyes filled with tears to be leaving such in incredible and vibrant country. Forever imprinted in my heart will be the sights and sounds – such as Lion roar, Elephant trumpet, Zebra cry, Impala snort, Baboon bark, Hippo grunt, Fish Eagle cry and the Go-Away Bird. Then there were the incredible smells which assailed our senses at every turn, from the scent of the wild sage bushes to the smells of Elephant and Lion which we came to instinctively recognise.

Dave, sensing my tears, took my hand in his and said “We will come back”. The sound of his words were lost in competition with the roar of the tiny engine, but reading his lips I fought back the lump in my throat and whispered “Oh yes!
We will!”

Carol Clarke July 2003

With grateful thanks to Hanlie and Christiaan, and all at Lion Camp for their hospitality and for allowing us to share, for this brief time, their world.

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