Xugana Island Lodge

With the water exceptionally high in the Okavango Delta this year, animals are on the move.

They cross from island to island with ease to find a plentiful supply of food. The situation makes a walking safari all the more intriguing, for participants never know what they might find, and those who are open to all of nature’s bounty, from the tiniest insects to the soaring African fish eagle, never come away disappointed.

On this day, led by Desert and Delta Safaris guide, Lets Ngoma, Jenny and Geoff Lee of Australia seemed the happiest of guests, paying close attention to Lets’ description of the dung beetle and its manner of rolling dung into a hole in the sand, a deposit that will one day feed its young. Lets was pointing to buffalo dung to describe the preferred food over that of the droppings of an elephant. As all of us inspected the ground, Lets soon noticed something else: lion tracks. He concluded that buffalo the previous evening had headed in the direction from whence we came, and a lioness had tracked them.

What happened next was a treasure hunt, a classic tale of tracking. With Lets in front and tracker Lasty in the back, the group walked on. Lets had us inspecting even more lion tracks, including those of a big male. “Open your ears,” Lets advised us. “Open your ears.”

We examined more tracks. We watched Lets stand on top of termite mounds to scope the landscape of Palm Island with his binoculars. At one stage we heard a growl. It was low. We had to crosscheck with each other to be sure we had heard it. Lets moved away to test his theory. Quiet. Then more growls. Then in another direction, we heard scuffling and saw dust rising. It seemed animal action was all around us. And then Lets saw it: In the distance near a group of red lechwe was a lioness. He made sure we could all see her. “Well done!” whispered Geoff. It was 8:57 a.m., less than an hour after we had left the boat to begin our walk. Lets and Lasty decided we would move toward the dust cloud.

We were excited, and certainly our ears were open. Before long we had come upon a herd of Cape buffalo, somewhere between 200 and 300 of them, the tracker estimated. And in no time Lets had spotted more lions, two resting in the shade of a termite mound, their eyes on the buffalo. And then there was a lioness moving in front of us, not 50 yards away. And soon there was the male Lets had been hoping to see. The Lees were thrilled by the magnificence of the sight, although Geoff, a physician who maintained his sense of practicality, for which I was grateful, made sure we received instructions about where to flee should the buffalo charge us.

They eyed us curiously as they grazed, but kept their distance. In all there were 8 lions visible that morning. Lets and Lasty determined there were more, at least one more male, by the sound of the roars calling out to each other.

To be that close to wildlife in Botswana, on foot no less, is an encounter that can never be forgotten. All the senses come alive. Awe is the undercurrent. Those on a walking safari have been guests in the home of the wild animals of the bush. As Jenny exclaimed to the camp managers upon our return to Xugana Island Lodge, “We’ve been on an adventure!” Never to be forgotten.

Maria Henson, Desert & Delta Safaris volunteer