Delta Adventures

No more sleeping in! We were up at 5:30, breakfast at 6:00 and back in the jeeps for 6:30.  Once again we set out to look for cats.  The three jeeps went separate ways, with the guides using radios to stay in touch.  Finally, we got word that the lion group found a pair of lions.  We were quite far away so we headed in their direction.  We had to drive across the river, that was an adventure in itself.  We finally got to where they were to discover another male and female lion in the mating process.  When we arrived they were out in the wide open but it was beginning to get warm ,so the male was trying to move into the trees.  It was fascinating to watch as they would copulate and then each go away from the other and lay down. In 10-15 minutes, the female would search the male out as that was her signal that she was ready to mate again.  

The “cheetah” jeep hadn’t yet arrived so the other two jeeps tried to keep the male from going into the bush by just driving alongside of him, beside the bush.   He didn’t give up so eventually they let him go into the bush.  Luckily, the third group did arrive and they got to watch the ceremony through an opening in the trees.

We once again went our separate ways in search of more cats.  Again, we saw elephants, zebras, giraffes and other wildlife.  Then we got a call that the cheetah jeep was stuck so then we had to travel over to pull them out.  It was funny to drive up to see all of the cheetah girls standing under a tree with several giraffes right behind them.The guides quickly pulled the jeep out of the mud and then they served us our coffee and snacks.  We headed back in the direction of the camp and got back at 11:00.

We had just enough time to freshen up and head back to the lodge for lunch at 11:30.  After lunch we had three hours of siesta and relaxation time.  I am sitting on our deck, writing this blog, watching the animals out behind the camp and listening to all of the sounds! Amazing!

We left for our afternoon game drive at 4:00.  We had just left the camp, driving across the river when we spotted a Water Monitor Lizard on the river bank.  What an opportunity to spot one of those!  As were were travelling along, the guides spotted rhino tracks so we set off in search of rhinos.  Along the way we had some new sightings.  We saw two ostriches and two hyenas, in separate locations but both couples were skittish and ran away before we got really good pictures.  We also saw Steenboks, which are tiny antelope that measure about 2 feet to the top of their heads.  So cute!

We never did find the rhinos but our search took us a long way from our camp.  So, we had a long and bumpy ride back to the camp, arriving after dark.  We had dinner as soon as we got in and then everyone was ready for bed!!