We were scheduled to leave today and head to Mashatu Camp in Botswana but we were able to squeeze in a drive before we left. On this drive we saw 3-week old lion cubs. There were three of them, we saw two of them, one pretty clearly. They were just outside their den. Look in the middle of the picture for the cub.
Here are some of the other animals we saw on our short drive.
We left the camp at 9:45 for our 10:00 flight. The camp has an airstrip 5 minutes away. We flew on a small chartered plane with seating for 11 people but we only had 8.
We stopped in South Africa to emigrate out of the country. Then we took off again to Limpopo in Botswana where we were picked up by our guide, Richard, and taken to an immigration office where we got our passports stamped. Here is a picture of Richard and Patty.
Then we drove to the camp. It was really, really hot. One of the other Land Cruisers wouldn’t start so we had an extra three passengers in our truck. We arrived at the camp around 2:45. It had been a long trip from MalaMala to Mashatu. Richard showed us our tents. Did I mention it was very hot and we were all concerned about how we were going to sleep in this heat. Also we were a bit spoiled by MalaMala.
That afternoon we had high tea, followed by a game drive. There is less eating at this camp. They wake us up at 5:30 and serve cereal and fruit before our morning drive. Then we have brunch at 10:30 when we return from our morning drive. We have high tea at 3:15, just before our afternoon drive. Finally we have dinner at 8, shortly after returning from our evening drive. Richard joined us for all our meals. Additionally we stop for tea, coffee, and snacks during our morning drive and cocktails and snacks after during our afternoon drive. Here’s a picture of the common area where we had breakfast and brunch (we had dinner in the boma).
Here are pictures from our afternoon drive.
The highlight of this drive was a cheetah mom and her three 1-year old cubs. They were just relaxing. They sleep in an open area where they can see predators coming. The lions will kill leopard and cheetah cubs because they are competing for the same food. Also they will often steal food from each other. Some lions and hyenas will steal food from leopards. Leopards and hyenas will steal food from cheetahs. Another interesting fact is that hyenas have the most powerful bite of any animal.