BOTSWANA, Southern Africa

Bouncing along the sand track, we clutched our cameras and field glasses while
our open-back Land Cruiser growled with each shift of gears. Our spot light searched
passing trees, as we held our collective breath. Then our guide Thuto said, "There,"
as he stopped the vehicle, training the spotlight on a large limb maybe 15 feet 
in the air, "the leopard!"

We arrived for our Botswana safari just three days earlier, crossing the Zambezi
River from Zambia in a small aluminum boat along with Thuto and six traveling 
companions whom we had met upon arrival at Livingstone, Zambia airport. The six are a couple
about our age (Kathy and Charlie) from Wisconson, their grown daughter and her husband
(Becky and Kevin) and Kevin's friend and colleague and his wife (Greg and Marci)
all from Arizona. Fortunately we are all good sports and adventurous, as we are 
destined to spend 10 days together tent-camping around northern Botswana in search
of wildlife and the "feel" of Africa. Of course this was after our first
night at the exotic and comfortable River Club, along the Zambezi River in Zambia.

We are quite lucky, we are told, to have seen a leopard at all, especially at
this place called Selinda Concession, that was a hunting concession until two years
ago.  Thus the animals remain quite wary of humans. Our leopard seems totally unconcerned
about the 11 people sitting below her not more than 30 feet away and shining a light
into her eyes. She lifts her head and looks directly at us as we madly click shutters
and observe through field glasses. We move slowly to stand and peer through the 
open roof and keep our voices low as Thuto advises.

We found our leopard in the tree the evening of our arrival at Camp Lechwe, 
the second camp we visited in Botswana.  We have dome tents with cots, sleeping 
pads, outdoor toilets and bucket showers.  It is definitely camping, though the 
very good food is prepared by camp chefs, campfires built, drinks served, warm water
delivered with morning wake-up calls by personable and efficient camp staff.  The
dust, very fine Kalahari sand, permeates everything, especially our clothes and 
shoes--we'll see how long it takes to get the stuff out.


The Leopard                                                                       A Border Boy

Our first camp, Linyante, overlooking its namesake river that forms Botswana's
northern boundary with Namibia's Caprivi Strip, will be remembered for the hippos
in the river serenading us each morning and evening with a sound resembling a series
of deep honks.  Though emanating from a distance of 100 yards or more, when lying
in our tent we'd swear the animals were right outside.

On our journey to Linyante we traveled part way up the Chobe River aboard a
canopied pontoon boat and witnessed crocodiles sunning on the banks, hippos standing
in the river, elephants crossing the river--some very near our boat.  We spotted
African Fish Eagle, Egyptian Geese, cormorants, egrets, honeyeaters, and an African
Spoonbill. We also saw Cape Buffalo, Red Lechwe and Impala grazing on the banks.
This three-hour boat trip was our welcome to Botswana.

Twice at Linyante we viewed Lions up close and personal. A 5:30 A.M wake-up 
call for our first morning game drive sent us with Thuto searching for a pair of
male lions known to be in the general area. We tracked those lions back and forth
and round and round through the bush, often without benefit of a hint of road, for
two and one-half hours.  It was nearly 9:00 A.M. when Thuto abruptly stopped the
truck and told us to remain seated and keep our voices low. He pointed out two young
male lions, he later identified as the "Border Boys" because they'd
arrived in the area from across the river in Namibia.

The "Boys" were lying in the grass maybe 30 yards away just looking
at us.  After about 10 minutes one lion stood up and slowly walked toward our truck
stopping once to stare then sauntering within 20 feet before passing the truck and
heading into the impenetrable (by land cruiser) bush.  Our first big cat sighting
convinced us that Thuto could read the minds of animals.

          Lioness with Zebra kill                                                Camp Lechwe

We saw lions again the next day after a dusty 2-hour drive to the Savuti Channel.
Here we viewed an amazing abundance of wildlife, including the zebra, giraffe,
a huge baboon troop, elephants, antelope and four lions--two males and two females
feasting on a zebra they had recently killed.  We watched as they rested with bloated
bellies, three lions wandering very slowly to the shade of a tree while the fourth
male began dragging what remained of the carcass in the same direction.  It was 
so large and heavy, the lion couldn't drag it more than 20 feet at a time without
resting.  We doubted he would make it to the shade.  Vultures hovered waiting for
him to give up.  After a break for tea, we came back to find the lion and his zebra
in the shade of a bush with the vultures still at bay.

A fleeting leopard sighting and a very close encounter with an elephant herd,
where one elephant actually walked up to our safari vehicle and tried to take a 
bite out of it, were other highlights of Linyante Camp.  Of course our camp cook,
Gladys, an excellent chef and a "traditionally built" Botswana lady and
the rest of the camp staff who sang and danced for us as well as took cheerful care
of us were another highlight.

Lechwe Camp on the shore of the Selinda Spillway resembeled Linyante, with our
tents strung out along the waterway with a charming, personable and competent staff.
Here we took our first bush walk--Thuto carrying a high powered rifle for our protection.
We canoed on the waterway, viewed cape buffalo, observed our bushman guide Cady 
strip bark from a bush and make rope with it and then use it to make a snare.  






    African Elephant                                                      Cape Buffalo
  
Remarkably we observed another leopard our second night at Camp Lechwe.  As 
we were sitting around the campfire after dinner, Thuto heard an unnerving sound
and said, "It's a leopard--let's go."  We all piled into the truck
and headed in the direction of the sound along the bank of the waterway.  Thuto 
shined the spotlight across the water and we soon saw eyes reflecting the light.
Then we saw the cat walking through the bush.  After the leopard disappeared, we
raced through the darkness hanging on to our seats as we splashed across the 4-foot
deep channel.  When we got to the opposite bank we saw the leopard walking toward
us.  Twice more we lost sight of the leopard and then found him in the darkness.
We finally headed back to camp after 11 pm and slept--excitement finally succumbing
to fatigue.  Happy Travels, Janet and Stu

             Zambezi River, Zambia