Woke up to lions roaring again this morning, but it was so cold that I couldn't get out of bed to look for them. Instead, I continued to doze with my head under the covers until the 6 am wakeup call. I mostly dressed while still in bed, and my fingers were too numb to tie my shoes and I had to put my gloves on before I could tie them. I think it was actually warmer outside the tent than inside, but the brisk walk to the lodge and the fire beside the breakfast area helped me warm up quickly.
This morning 6 of us took the mokoros (shallow dugout boats) for a tour of the water of the Delta
. Getting into the boats was a bit of a challenge, since we were sitting on chair seats that were not attached to the bottom of the boat, and I was proud to be able to sit down and stand up without assistance, thanks to my yoga practice. While traditional mokoros were made of wood, ours were fiberglass replicas. Each boat held two passengers and our poler-guide. Ours was named Derrick. The shallow parts of the waterways were covered with waterlilies, which were still closed in the early morning chill, but began to open as the sun rose. This was a trip to view the water, the birds and the plants, rather than a game drive. It was very peaceful and beautiful to glide through the water with only the birdcalls and occasional splash of a jumping fish. We saw many new birds including a very interesting one locally called The Jesus Bird. It has very long legs and in the shallow areas appears to be walking on water. It makes a floating nest on lily pads with no more than 4 eggs, and when the chicks hatched, the father takes them under his wing and guides them to dry ground
. The group that went in the makoros yesterday saw a nest with three eggs, but also saw a very young chick sitting on a nearby lily pad. Today, the chick was gone, but the eggs were still there. We also saw a couple of Painted Reed Frogs. They are only about 1 inch long and like to perch on the top of tall reeds. As we approached the main channel where the water may be as deep as 15 feet, there were 3 hippos which we watched for about 15 minutes, but never saw more than their heads and mostly just their ears and eyes. Hippos have very sensitive skin and spend most of the day in the water, making their way to land at nightfall to graze on grass and shrubs. New birds we saw include the Reed Cormorant, a Great White Heron, Sacred Ibis, Wattled Crane, White faced Duck, Black Crake, the Go-Away Bird, Pied Kingfisher, and the Jacana (Jesus Bird). We stopped for our mid-morning coffee and bush break and learned that the other group had seen some lions. When given the choice of continuing our boat ride or cutting it short to see the lions we all chose the lions and quickly finished our coffee, reboarded the boats and poled back to the landing. It was about 15 or 20 minutes to the field where we observed two male lions. They were brothers about 3 and 4 years old, just beginning to grow their manes. This is their first year away from the pride, but they are doing well on their own. Three days ago they killed a buffalo and are still feeling full and sleepy. They were some of the lions that we heard calling this morning, and their former pride were responding. We enjoyed watching them until it was time to return to the lodge for brunch. Since they are spending the day sleeping, it is likely that we will see them again this afternoon.
Mokoros and Lions
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Okavango Delta, Botswana
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2025-02-11