Walking in the Wild





Red dawn brings a golden light onto the plains as we get an early 6AM start on foot into the wilderness.  I am back in my element, walking is such a special treat and I love camps that allow this activity as it brings nature directly to one’s sense of smell, taste, touch, and hearing.

Soon we reach a 10 foot bluff overlooking a hippo pool only yards away from over 20 large adult hippos and 4 juveniles bathing in the muddy river.  Hippos are so much fun to watch and it is a treat to be able to observe them on foot only so close up.  Their yawns span a good 6 feet, they grunt loudly and make funny noises.  They roll and lean into each other in a big tangle of huge bodies - like so many Sumo wrestlers in a mud bath!  Good fun.  Later we spot 8 lionesses just across the river - another incredibly rare sighting on foot.  They turn to look at us and then scamper ever the embankment to start their morning hunt.  About twenty minutes later we come across an adult and juvenile eagle owl perched in a giant tree.  What a privilege to be able to stand just 20 feet below and look up into their giant eyes with my binoculars.  Their bodies are huge and powerful - able to pick up a small antelope and fly away with it.  Amazing! 

As we walk on we are startled to find 2 huge male lions hiding on the other side of a tree only 60 feet away from us.  The lions stood, gave us a once over, and then casually strolled off into the bush.  Incredible to see 10 lions on a morning walk - what luck!  We continue on to a magical spot near the only bridge in the area where we are able to safely observe untold numbers of giant crocs and hippos.  After our vehicle picks us up we circle back towards camp to see the fish eagle, stopping by hippo pool for tea where ever 100 individuals are laying in the shallow mud sleeping and then we spot another female  leopard just ten feet off the road on a low branch.  This one is not shy and we have a fantastic 20 minute session looking into her big green gold eyes and appreciating her sleek muscular body with gold and black prints.  Katavi is off the charts and it is less than one day into the trip!



On our afternoon game drive we set out at 4PM and soon find the calm leopard plus the eagle owls all in their same locations. We catch an amazing sunset watching the grazing animals out on Katuma plains.  Later at sunset we are startled by a distressed mother elephant calling in a panic for her lost baby.  Luckily we were in the vehicle because she was very agitated and scared.  She charged right up to us bellowing and trumpeting in agony.  It was a hard scene to watch and we could only hope the baby was somewhere nearby.  Luckily about 20 minutes later as we were driving back we saw the baby was with two older sisters and they were headed towards mom’s location.  It seems it would end well.


Just before camp a beautiful group of banded mongoose crossed our path.  These are ringed gold and black - majestic in the fading light.

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