17 September

17 September

I am very much going to miss Savuti and the lodge. The whole place has such a special ambience to it, with the leafless tree stumps jutting out of the yellow grasses and the mystery of the channel. Drinks at the bar before dinner, which is at one long table on a deck overlooking the channel and a waterhole. The conversation is good and lively, elephants continually crowd the waterhole through the night and display some fantastic interaction, and we continue to watch afterwards from the circular fire-pit. Both nights its been just our group (with the two german couples) staying after everyone else has left, and tonight we were joined by a spotted genet scavenging for scraps. Not to mention that the food is excellent.

The animal sightings have been nothing short of spectacular either. Today we saw 3 separate leopards; two in the morning and one in the afternoon. This morning an impala carcass was spotted hanging in a tree high on a rocky hill and sure enough after searching with binoculars – the leopard was found in the grass beneath the tree. Shortly, it jumped up the tree and began to climb before a second appeared and jumped up behind him, chasing him off.

We also followed the tracks of a lion pride for a while but didn’t manage to find them.

Our guide Gwist has been excellent and helpful. As tomorrow we are leaving to the Khwai area after the morning drive, he has contacted the park scouts here at Savuti, and via radio contact they have been able to advise us on our route. The Khwai area is mostly flooded, so we will have to detour down south and come north again through the famous Moremi game reserve.