Living "The Lion King"

Or, My First Safari

Picture it: Maun, Botswana. Late November, 2010.  The clouds hang heavy in the sky, ready to open at any moment and unleash a tempest.  Seven Peace Corps volunteers head out into the bush on their very first safari.  One of those volunteers… was me.

Okay, enough with the dramatics (although you get ten points if you understood the reference).  Last weekend a group of volunteers went out with a great guide to Chobe National Park to see some animals.  It ended up being a weekend of laughs, amazement, and pure terror.

It all started out regularly enough – we set up camp by the truck’s headlights and started a campfire to cook dinner over.  Then, as we finished eating, there was a loud noise behind me.  Oh, you know, it was just a hyena.  Ten feet away.  Wanting my food.  No big deal.  We fell asleep in our tents that night to a lullaby of lions calling across the bush to their tribes. 

The next day started out great with ostriches, zebras, baby wildebeests, and giraffes, not to mention dozens of birds.  Already I was content, but Botswana was not through with me.  In fact, it had not even begun.

A baby wildebeest, getting breakfast from its momma

We drove past a tree and it looked like there was a log or something underneath it.  Pretty normal.  Actually, no, it was a waterbuck carcass.  The interesting thing about waterbucks is that they have a white ring on their backside, so they literally have a target on their butt.  Alwyn, our guide, backtracked the open truck to investigate and we found two lionesses resting underneath the tree.

Yes, we were this insanely close to the lionesses

Lions eat roughly every four days, and they never know when their next meal is coming, so when they make a kill they completely gorge themselves.  After eating, they’re so full that they just lay in the shade and concentrate on trying to breathe.  Seriously – their stomachs expand so much that it presses against their lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

Lioness: I'm... soooo..... fulll....

We sat watching them pant for awhile and, resolving to return later, continued on our way.  We saw a pond full of hippos, which really means that we saw a pond with a bunch of hippo noses, ears, and eyes sticking out of the water.  There were times when the hippos would stand up and let their backs come out of the water and they are huge animals.  They’re actually very territorial (and thus kill the most people out of any animal in Africa) and they were warning us not to get any closer.  I was happy to oblige.

You can't really see the hippos, but they're there, I promise!

After that we ran into an elephant!  Need I say more?  He was precious and perfect.  I wanted to give him a big ol’ hug.  Now that I’ve seen one in its natural habitat, my life is complete.

Hello, I am an elephant and therefore perfect in every way

After lunch back at camp, we headed out again for another game drive and saw more elephants, giraffes, zebras, and baby warthogs.

Bebe Zebra on the right

The Botswana sky is massive and absolutely beautiful

This is the grandmomma elephant, who takes care of the herd.
When her ears stick out like that, it means GET AWAY!

I am totally inspired by the lushness of giraffes' eyelashes

'ello croc!

A little before sunset, we returned to the lionesses.  They were still half-eating/half-lounging, and calling to their tribe to let them know there was food available.  They looked so comatose I felt compelled to get out of the truck and give them a belly rub (that always makes me feel better after feasting).  That’s when we saw it in the distance – a hyena, lions’ eternal enemy.  He was scoping out the food prospects.  The lions weren’t worrying about the lil guy just yet, but Alwyn decided to drive our truck to a better position to watch.  He turned the car on, pressed the gas, and – ka-KLUNK.  Yes, folks, you got it.  We had a flat tire.

Our very flat tire

Complicating matters, we couldn’t get out of the truck to fix the tire.  The thing about lions is they view safari trucks as one huge animal that’s not worth attacking, which is why we could get so close.  However, if you make too much movement or get out of the truck, they realize you can be eaten.  Also, it’s against the law in Botswana for guides or anyone else to carry a gun, even for protection.

So you see our dilemma:  On one side, there are lionesses, in the distance there’s a hyena, the rest of the tribe is being called for dinner, and we are a truck full of hors d’oeuvres right in the middle.

This is what we were up against

Well, I think.  At least the lionesses are so full that they probably can’t even move.  No real danger.

That’s when one of the lionesses decided the hyena was too close for comfort.  She leapt up onto all fours, crouching, and crept through the tall grass – straight at our truck.  None of us dared to breathe.  Luckily she walked around us and continued to track the hyena instead of the humans, but so much for my “too full to move” theory.

Turns out that we didn’t have everything we needed to fix the flat tire, so with night quickly approaching, Alwyn decided to just drive back to camp rather than test our luck with the lionesses.  It was a long, slow, bumpy drive, and I was really happy to be back.

The next morning we had more lion luck and ran into two lions eating what the lionesses had left them.  They really are beautiful – the morning light seems to turn their manes into pure gold.  However, the beauty was fleeting as we then spent an hour watching them tear into a fly-infested carcass, blood and muscles spewing out everywhere.  Let me tell you, it didn’t smell too great either.  Ugh.

Mufasa

Simba

My friend Ross grabbed the carcass while the lions went for a stroll.
"Guys, it touched my leg.  The spinal cord touched my leg.  It was warm."

Sadly, it was time to head home.  On our way out we saw a momma ostrich with roughly twenty babies!  It was a cute, harmless ending to my first safari.

Baby ostriches running away from our truck, after their momma
completely abandoned them and ran away herself

I know I’m leaving out stories (like when the grandmomma elephant got mad at us for driving too close, and when one of the lionesses looked like she was going to attack us, but then she just farted).  All I can say is – get yourself to Botswana and check it out for yourself!

[If you would like a more detailed account of the safari and more pictures, check out my friend’s blog: http://fromwanderingsabroad.blogspot.com]