Day 5 part 3 - wet and wild

Our Ranger guide Dylan pointed out we’ve had the full range of Safari weather now  - hot, cold, windy, overcast,and this evening rainy.  Though really just a bit drizzly.  With the wetness things didn’t start out auspiciously. And next we had a new difficulty - all that crazy driving we experienced  led to this - a flat tire.  

So out we scramble so that Ranson and Dylan can change our tire. 

As we got back in, a hot tip was reported, and we raced - and I mean thrill ride log flume at Disney breakneck speeding through the rain and dips and gullys of the bush roads  - to some mysterious sighting.  We all took guesses about what was so worth almost ejecting us en route, but were all wrong. We got there, and it was indeed something special and worth the exhilarating ride - we found a pack of wild dogs on the hunt. These are in the top 3 of most endangered predators in the world.  There are only a couple thousand in all of South Africa.  They moved quickly and were hard to photograph, but we saw a pack of around 8   Unfortunately they moved north and out of our traveling rights area, so we weren’t there for their kill.   But I’m bettting it came soon after our sighting.

We were completely off-road for this wild dog tracking, just driving through the Bush and right over trees.  Our new vehicle companion remarked that he thought all the downed trees were due to elephants, but now he knows range rovers full of tourists carry some responsibility.  No wonder we get flat tires.  

Here is an example of what we drove through following this pack. No road, just runnng over all that brush and small trees.  

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After the dogs moved out of range, We didn’t even have time for our sundowner drinks, as we dashed off to the next sighting - this time a male leopard marking his territory.  

This is a leopard we know from our safari live viewing, so a bit like an animal celebrity to us.  He walked right past our vehicle as the sun was setting - it is unnerving.  It’s still hard to believe we don’t look like prey as sitting ducks in the truck.  But i guess all our shampoos and deodorant and bug repellent really do make us unappetizing. 

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Next,we found the Styx pride lion cubs again that we had seen the other day, but since it was dark, and the cub’s eyes aren’t fully grown yet, we didn’t use the spotlight on them, so no real photographs.  But it’s always fun watching them play.  They were out on a stroll with mom and dad - and all looked well fed.  

Our day 5 evening was capped off with another celebrity leopard sighting.  When we first arrived at camp, Dylan’s asked what we wanted to see on Safari, and I answered Josanna. - who is a young orphaned leopard we had gotten to know on Safari Live.  I knew he sometimes came to Chitwa dam , but he had been absent during our stay.  On our walk with Dylan to dinner this evening, Dylan shown his flashlight in the dark thicket of bush and said “Josanna”.  I thought he was joking - Dylan likes trying to trick us with tall tales -  but he kept moving the light, and first Rich, and then I, saw a small leopard in the flashlight.  Turns out my favorite leopard Josanna  was literally right outside my door. It was a really special last night on Safari in Chitwa Chitwa.