Checking in from the banks of the Chobe River in Botswana.
We had an excellent day today photographing from a boat. We did a lot of work on elephant and hippo, managing to get really close and then were lucky enough to see a leopardess and her cubs come down to drink in the middle of the day – very rare sighting. We got some great shots of the sunset with elephants that I had been visualizing since arrival and I actually pulled it off!
We have been “roughing it” at Sanctuary Retreat “camps” in both Zambia and Botswana and they have really looked after us well.
I am so excited to be on this trip! The wildlife viewing in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley is tremendous. We saw giraffe and baboon, as well as the colorful bee-eaters which make their nests in cliffsides. The leopard we saw had killed a big female impala and the ungulate was too big for the cat to stow in a tree. So instead, she buried it, which is highly unusual.
Later in the day we came upon a lioness with a wire snare embedded in her neck. Luckily we were able to call the local lion research team who responded quickly because they happened to be in a nearby part of the park. We waited with the lion until they arrived. They then darted the snared female and we helped with the processing of data and removal of snare. I got to be right in the middle of the action and hit these shots as things got a little tense as the lioness’ temperature spiked. We took all the ice from our cooler box and pushed it against her back to keep her temperature from getting critical–I shot this moment from above.
