In
the Okawango Delta
Adventure
at Third Bridge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My
friend and companion, John,
at
'Third Bridge' in Moremi National Park, Okawango Delta, Botswana.
Our
guide, Klaus, originally from Berlin, but having lived in Botswana
for the past ten years drives his Landrover slowly and carefully
along barely visible tracks.
We find, of course, the almost obligatory "Yellow billed Hornbill"
"Oh yeah?" says John, You showed me one Hornbill, I'll show you two!
All kinds of Tree Squirrels, scamper up and down trees.
They're playing 'Catch" Klaus said.
It truly looks that way: One squirrel chases the other up or down a tree.
When they collide, their chatter sounds more like laughter
and the 'caught' becomes the 'catcher'
"Talk about kids" John remarked.
Then there are two 'White-throated Bee-eaters"
behaving in Unison as if they were
members of the Ziegfeld Girls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There is a small clearing ahead,” Klaus informs John and me, “We'll stop there for a while and have a bite to eat.”
As
we get there, we find the clearing occupied by three Lions. One, an
older one with full, dark brown mane, and two younger males.
The
two young ones slowly circle the older and seem to harass him
relentlessly.
The
full maned one turns slowly on his own axis, to keep the two young
ones always in sight.
Then
the two jump into an attack. Is it real, or is it just a
'pretend-attack'?
I
think it's real. There is a lot of growling and slapping at each
other.
Finally
it seems that the Old male is getting tired of this nonsense and with
a ferocious howl, he slaps each of his tormentors with his powerful
paws. A right to one and a straight left to the other. It's a fight!
Two against one.
Finally
they seem to call it quits, all three of them wandering off into the
bush.
We spend the afternoon, cruising slowly, observing great numbers of colorful birds,
four Warthogs, (or are they Bushpigs?) Baboons in the fig trees, and a family of
Waterbucks.
a Waterbuck in a most beautiful pose and setting.
and, as a payoff, three female Waterbucks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I
think there might be some rain tonight. So we had better put up the
two-men canvass tent.” Klaus suggests.
Since
it is just the tail end of the rainy season, a short-lived shower is
a decided possibility.
Again,
John and I share the big Canvass, while Klaus spreads a rubberized
cover over his mosy.
There
is no rain, and we open the little flaps, high up on opposing walls,
for a cross breeze.
After
a short conversation about the three Lions of this afternoon, we both
fall asleep.
**********************
At
first I hear it as if from far off.
With
a jolt I wake up and hear the roaring of Lions close by. Very close
by.
One
can clearly differentiate the low, powerful roar of the older Male,
and the snarling and somewhat higher pitched roaring of the younger
ones.
“Holy
cow!” John calls out as he sits up. “What in hell is this?”
The
roaring and snarling is now so loud, that our chests literally
vibrate.
I
am truly serious. This is not a figure of speech.
My
chest vibrated along with the low pitched, high decibel sound of each
roar.
Amid
all this carry-on I hear Klaus calling: “Stay in your tent! Don't
come out!”
I
think: “I wouldn't come out if you paid me for it. “
“This
is likely the fight of the two young Lions against the older one.”
John suggests.
The
snarling and howling finally seems to recede, comes from further
and further away, until, at last, it stops.
At
dawn we carefully leave our canvass and inspect the tracks left by
the three combatants. They are within a foot or two from out tent.
One
can clearly see tracks on one side of the tent's guy wires and then
on the other.
That
those three 'rowdies' did not push over our canvas is a small
miracle.
We,
including Klaus, could only guess at the reason for this fight.
One
of the two younger of the combatants.
No
Photographs are available of the night-fight.
I
was too afraid to even peak out of our tent.
( : - ))
***************************
No comments:
Post a Comment