We were off-road at this point, and let me tell you, there is nothing more bumpy than a safari truck pummeling through the brush during a chase! We were bouncing all over, everyone holding on to rails so we wouldn’t fly out of the truck, all the while keeping our eyes on the action in front of us.

But within a few minutes I was proven wrong when we drove up to a tree and there was our leopard, curled up and resting on some branches that extended out from the trunk. She was calm and allowed us to pull up close to the tree and watch her quietly while we took pictures.

We sat quietly for a moment, on a dark night with some starts and moonlight, listening to the frogs calling all around us. If I play the video from that moment and close my eyes, I could be sitting in that truck again.

A few minutes later Bee stopped the truck abruptly, and listened. There were only two guests in the truck, myself and my good friend Rob, and neither of us had heard what Bee heard – alarm calls from baboons in the distance. But with the engine switched off, we heard them too. Bee said this call was definitely an alarm call, not a contact call or a fight, and that we must investigate. We agreed, and Bee continued driving and listening.

This March I took my annual trip to Botswana, which turned out to be the best safari I’ve been on to date! We had unbelievable sightings almost from the first moment we arrived.

We’d seen ellies do this around the outskirts of camp, and Kwando staff had made us aware of the situation when we arrived, so we knew to keep our eyes peeled while walking around. But we didn’t expect an elephant to walk right in to the main area of camp, right where the camp fire normally was! No guides were around, nor any other human, so it was up to us to decide what we wanted to do.

… within a few minutes of leaving camp AT spotted some leopard tracks. G stopped the truck and they both got out for a closer look.

Note: don’t forget to check out the photo gallery! Contents Timeline Planning Weather Guides and Staff Accommodations Daily Routine The Wildlife The Safari Truck Where the hell was I? Summary and Suggestions I’m actually writing this post about 6 months ..

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