A Weekend at Savute Safari Lodge

Story by Derek Flatt - Desert and Delta Safaris Managing Director

"We arrived at Savuti at 4 p.m. on Friday 4th January. The veld was gloriously green with all the recent rain that is still falling regularly. In fact it rained everyday of our stay there, including two substantial storms on Saturday and Sunday.

We checked in to Savute Safari Lodge, and decided against a game drive, there was lots of elephant activity going on at the waterhole in front to keep us interested. Our friends who had been there for 2 days already told us of sightings of a wild dog pack that morning, and a leopard the day before that they had watched stalking (unsuccessfully) an ostrich on wild dog vlei. They had also had a wonderful time birdwatching, all the migrants are in, and the pans, being full of water are alive with all the waders and ducks and geese. They had some wonderful pictures of knob-billed ducks “grazing” – stripping grass stalks of their seeds, and a great series of a Kori Bustard in full display and “booming” while carrying two freeloading carmine bee-eaters on his back.

The next day was overcast and cool. The morning drive on the marsh yielded tsessebe, wildebeest, herds of zebra, ostrich, elephants and a small herd of buffalo near Marabout pan, all busy feeding on the lush grass growth the rain has brought. Also out and about were numerous bat eared foxes and myriad birds. Other guests had a very special sighting of two juvenile aardwolves basking in the sun outside their den in the marsh. Energy, their guide, had spotted the mother there about 2 weeks before, and, making a shrewd assumption by her behaviour that she had cubs, had been keeping an eye on the area. The reward was these two cubs which the guests got great pictures of. Very unusual and exciting. We dodged rain showers all the way back to the lodge at midday, and took some time out after brunch.

The rain had cleared by about 4 p.m. so we spent the evening drive around Harvey’s pan. For the first time in three years there is a hippo in Harvey’s. A big bull, quite scarred, who gave us some great threat displays, yawning widely and showing off his formidable tusks.

We found the wild dog pack at Harvey’s, getting ready to hunt. We followed them a short while until they disappeared off into the Phyllonoptera scrub, intent on food. They are in wonderful condition; this time of year is so good for all the wildlife.

There was a lot of rain that night, but the morning was clear so it was back to the marsh. All the animals were out again – we were never out of sight of something as we made our way down to the southern end. There we ran into three lions – two beautiful big maned males and an adult lioness. The lioness and one male were mating, so staying close together and looking rather tired! The other male was lying by himself about two hundred metres away and looking rather distant and aloof. We drove closer to him and he gave us a rather grumpy growl and stalked off in a huff, so he was obviously not happy about the love match nearby!

At brunch we heard that Energy’s guests had seen leopard that morning, the same one from Friday, Energy has been watching for his tracks, and also a pair of cheetah on the eastern side of the marsh. That makes all three big cats in one day – and this in the “off” season! Other guests had also seen the lions.

The evening drive took us off in the direction of Harvey’s again. Before we got there we saw what looked like a branch in the track. On closer inspection this tuned out to be a snouted cobra in banded phase – about 1.8 metres long. And right beside it was a largish puff adder, which the cobra seemed to be nudging with its nose.

We stopped to watch what turned out to be a sighting of a lifetime. The cobra had obviously bitten the puff adder at least once already. The nudging was to see if the poison had taken effect. It had not, as the puff adder coiled back in a classic strike pose and bit the cobra just behind the head. The cobra moved back and then bit the puff adder again, holding on and pumping venom into it. It still held on even as the puff adder struck again.

The cobra then stayed close, nudging the other snake now and again, waiting for the venom to take effect. Obviously it got the reaction (or lack of) that it was waiting for because after a couple of minutes it moved round to the adder’s head, opened its mouth wide, unhinging its jaws, and started to engulf the adder head first. The adder was very puffed up, and obviously not dead yet, so the cobra had some difficulty getting the process started. As it “walked” its jaws forward taking in more of the adder, so it slid backwards into the short grass on the side of the track, obviously needing purchase for its body to help getting the other snake down.

We watched the process until the cobra had ingested its meal, re-hinged his jaws, and moved on – at speed and with purpose, and looking as slim as if he had nothing inside him. The whole action took about 45 minutes.

We went on to Harvey’s and saw elephants, zebra, an insouciant looking hyena and lots of birds, but I must say, after witnessing the snakes enact their bit of “bush life in the raw” – we were not, I am ashamed to say, quite as excited as we could have been.
The other guests, who had missed our drama, had nevertheless again seen cheetah, and the wild dog pack.

This is Savuti in January, in the middle of a good rainy season, when the game viewing is supposed to be at its worst! What an amazing place.

I have to add that, for my son, our resident reptile expert, this was an outstanding experience, and to have him there to clarify matters, such as snakes, particularly puff adders, being a favourite prey of snouted cobras, and that the cobras are immune to other snakes’ venom, added to the experience”