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Day Two in Botswana

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My second day in Botswana started with a river cruise (more on that in another post) followed by a vehicle safari.  I had already done the east side of the National Park (well some of it as it is huge) so now our guide was taking us to the west side.  We first saw a little wild dog running along the plains. I know it has a proper name but I can’t recall what it is (my blogging friend Mavis will surely know) It was tiny and very lean.fullsizeoutput_f7fullsizeoutput_f6

Our guide then received a message on his radio from another guide advising of a dead buffalo or wildebeest located a little off the track.  He said it had been killed by lions the day before so we immediately drove to that area to see if we could see the lions.  On the way we saw a beautiful giraffe strutting his stuff on the road and others eating leaves and generally just looking around.fullsizeoutput_ecP1000802fullsizeoutput_eb

Then we arrived at the location of the dead animal – wow did that smell awful!  We were all holding our breath firstly because of the smell but mainly as we were all so excited about seeing lions in the wild.  It was a very lucky day for us.  We saw a lioness and two babies (well probably teenagers) who had just eaten and were about to take a nap. fullsizeoutput_e0fullsizeoutput_e3We all saw three but our guide found another baby having a little sleep.  My eyes then went back to mum who was yawning ready for her sleep…I guess eating a buffalo is hard work!!fullsizeoutput_e2fullsizeoutput_e5And looks like this little one has been fighting with the scars on its nose.fullsizeoutput_e6fullsizeoutput_deWe were so grateful to our guide for taking us a little off our tour to see these majestic animals but boy did that day old dead buffalo smell!!  We then drove down towards the water where there were plenty more giraffes taking a drink…I love the way they bend their long legs to drink.  What a sight!!fullsizeoutput_edAnd several just hanging about waiting to have their photograph taken…so kind of them.fullsizeoutput_effullsizeoutput_eeWe also saw hundreds of elephants, zebra, impala and beautiful birds…it really was a magnificent day [but I will save those photos for another post] .   The monkeys were plentiful and rather sweet.fullsizeoutput_f1fullsizeoutput_f2fullsizeoutput_f3And as we were leaving for the day, a car with two tourists stopped us and asked about lions so our guide kindly showed them on their map where they were and in exchange they told us about a pack of wild dogs nearby…so off we went and found them under a huge bush.  They were very difficult to see with their colouring acting like a camouflage but we did get a couple of photos – such lovely looking animals.fullsizeoutput_f4fullsizeoutput_f5

 

Then back to our resort for another delicious dinner followed by a good night’s sleep.