While we sat on the back patio of our villa, relaxing before the next drive, my wife suddenly pointed out a lion in the distance. Down in the riverbed below our room, four lions moved steadily from right to left, one of them even calling out for the rest of the pride. We lingered, hoping more might appear, but my attention drifted to the birdlife nearby. An Ashy Flycatcher posed on a branch, and a Collared Sunbird added a flash of color. When no more lions emerged, I wandered off to explore the property, camera in hand, capturing photos of nyala and impala grazing quietly nearby and a vervet monkey.
We met up with JJ at 3:15 p.m. for our afternoon drive and told him about the lions we had spotted earlier. He decided that would be the perfect place to start. Sure enough, not even two minutes later, we found ourselves back at the sand river, watching the very same lions lounging sleepily right where we had last seen them from our room.
On our way toward the wild dog den, our path was briefly blocked by a massive elephant making its slow, deliberate crossing of the road. As we continued across the river, the scene opened up before us—more than a dozen elephants scattered along the banks, peacefully grazing on the lush green grasses as the late-afternoon sun dipped lower in the sky.
We arrived at the wild dog den at the perfect moment. The pack was getting ready to go hunting and all the pups were out playing with their parents. It was a very noisy scene and they were running everywhere. My wife took some great video that I will add at a later time when I have time to edit the footage.
It was getting later and we had to start making our way back to camp. I had JJ stop when I spotted this White-fronted Bee-eater.
By now, the light had dropped so low it was almost impossible to photograph. JJ brought us back to the river where we had seen the lions earlier, and sure enough, the lazy cats hadn’t gone far. A few of them shifted closer to the water’s edge, giving me just enough of a chance to capture the final shots of the night before darkness took over.
