Chobe National Park to Savuti
Day Four - Botswana & Victoria Falls - 2018
The morning of day four was spent on a game drive near the Chobe National Park riverfront, and -after a bumpy dirt-road transfer- we spent the afternoon exploring the amazing Savuti area. This resulted in a treasure trove of photographs from amazing, up-close-and-personal animal encounters.
Map Credit: OpenStreetMap
1. Chobe National Park Riverfront #1
A vulture looks for food in the morning light.
We awoke before dawn, dismantled our campsite, and headed out at sunrise to do a morning drive along the Zambezi River in Chobe National Park. The riverfront is a fascinating place brimming with both predator and prey, and we spotted quite a few animals on our morning drive. The following 13 images are also from Chobe’s riverfront area.
2. Chobe National Park Riverfront #2
A large herd of cape buffalo was moving along the river.
3. Chobe National Park Riverfront #3
The cape buffalo herd caught the attention of this male lion, who proceeded to follow it as it crept along. In all likelihood, the lion was looking for a juvenile buffalo. While typically female lions kill for a pride, larger game -such as cape buffalo- require the power of the male lion to make a successful kill.
4. Chobe National Park Riverfront #4
5. Chobe National Park Riverfront #5
6. Chobe National Park Riverfront #6
7. Chobe National Park Riverfront #7
8. Chobe National Park Riverfront #8
9. Chobe National Park Riverfront #9
Fishermen risk life-and-limb in a stretch of the Zambezi River filled with crocodile and hippopotamus.
Fishing is illegal from the Botswana side of the Zambezi, as it is a National Park; these fisherman are likely coming from the Namibia side of the river.
10. Chobe National Park Riverfront #10
11. Chobe National Park Riverfront #11
12. Chobe National Park Riverfront #12
13. Chobe National Park Riverfront #13
14. Chobe National Park Riverfront #14
15. Savuti #1
A lilac- breasted roller perches on a tree.
Having departed Chobe National Park via the Ngoma Gate, we took a long, bumpy dirt road to Savuti, a significantly-less touristed region of Chobe National Park. Savuti is centered around the Savuti Marsh, an area which floods and dries up intermittently for periods of several years. It is truly a gem of a gaming area, and I can seldom recall any place I have been so keen to revisit. The afternoon’s game drive was exceptionally productive, and the next 50 photographs are from the Savuti area.
16. Savuti #2
Shortly after arriving, Max successfully tracked down this female lion hiding in a bush eating a small wildebeest. The sound of tooth-on-bone from this encounter will be something that sticks with me for the rest of my life.
17. Savuti #3
18. Savuti #4
19. Savuti #5
20. Savuti #6
21. Savuti #7
22. Savuti #8
23. Savuti #9
24. Savuti #10
Max additionally tracked down this small bachelor group of male lions. He told us there are two main prides of lions in Savuti -one north of the river, one south- and that it was likely one of these males would soon challenge the male leader of the north pride.
25. Savuti #11
I wasn’t sure which of these…
26. Savuti #12
…I liked better….
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27. Savuti #13
After encountering the bachelor lions, Max mentioned he heard there was a group of African wild dogs across the river he might be able to track down. I emphatically requested we attempt to do so, and he quickly found them napping in a picnic area. The African wild dog (sometimes referred to as the painted dog) is an endangered species I encountered in 2017 in Kruger National Park, and I consider any opportunity to see them in the wild a special event.
28. Savuti #14
Unlike my visit to Kruger, I saw the wild dogs before sunset, while it was still possible to take some pleasant photographs; additionally, the dogs were relatively still as they were just waking up from their nap, meaning they made very good subjects. Having been significantly limited during our encounter at Kruger, I took full advantage of this opportunity.
29. Savuti #15
30. Savuti #16
31. Savuti #17
32. Savuti #18
33. Savuti #19
34. Savuti #20
35. Savuti #21
36. Savuti #22
37. Savuti #23
38. Savuti #24
39. Savuti #25
40. Savuti #26
41. Savuti #27
42. Savuti #28
43. Savuti #29
44. Savuti #30
45. Savuti #31
46. Savuti #32
47. Savuti #33
48. Savuti #34
49. Savuti #35
Suddenly, the dogs were all awake and moving about. One of the dogs went into the tall grass and spotted a small group of antelope in the distance.
50. Savuti #36
Another took a gander at the offering.
51. Savuti #37
Having surveilled the group, the pack decided this would make a sufficient meal.
52. Savuti #38
What followed was pure chaos. The dogs took off, much like sprinters in an Olympic event. Max, having predicted the dog’s movements to a tee, took off along a parallel dirt road in time to catch them re-emerging in a clearing. Despite the dogs moving at around 65 kph (40 mph), and the truck moving at around 50 kph (30 mph), I managed to catch a few shots of the dogs tracking down the antelope before they disappeared too far away for me to catch.
Photographer’s Comment: While borderline miraculous, this photograph and the four that follow it are the result of using proper camera settings (namely, appropriate shutter speed, and servo settings), equipment familiarity (auto-focusing the lens on a fixed point and quickly switching to manual control to avoid focus creep), and lots of seat time with an extremely heavy lens. Some of these photographs were taken at a full-frame equivalent of 800mm, and I have to think the only reason these came out was from vast experience photographing greyhounds in low-light over the years.
53. Savuti #39
54. Savuti #40
55. Savuti #41
56. Savuti #42
57. Savuti #43
Having lost the wild dogs, we tracked down this pair of male lions we assumed were waiting for the results of a female-led hunt going on somewhere else. Shortly after arriving, the pair awoke from their sleep, and made their way within a couple meters / yards of our vehicle (so close, in fact, the mid-telephoto lens I had on my back-up camera was too powerful for one or two close-in shots!) The following seven shots are from the same encounter.
Photographer’s Comment: This encounter came towards the end of the day after the sun had already entered twilight, so the quality isn’t where you may expect it to be. The big cats typically become active right around sundown, so be prepared for this if you go to Africa. I could have prepared for this encounter a bit better with a faster lens I had in my bag (f/1.8, 2x zoom), but it was certainly one of those cases where we came around a corner and we were a very short distance from these rather large animals. As the first lion headed straight towards our truck, I thought it perhaps a bad time to check settings (could have perhaps dialed in another 1/3rd or two of a stop) in case it decided to leap in with up. All-in-all, I was pleased with the results 1) after sundown, 2) with a mid-range telephoto, and 3) on my nearly 10-year-old “back-up” camera body. As they say, the best camera is the one you have, and that certainly applies in this case!
58. Savuti #44
59. Savuti #45
60. Savuti #46
61. Savuti #47
62. Savuti #48
63. Savuti #49
64. Savuti #41
65. Savuti #42
Making our way back to our campsite, we came across the wild dogs from earlier. A few of them were resting in the dirt track, which led our guide to believe their hunt was unsuccessful, as dogs will all share in a kill.
Photographer’s Comment: We came upon the dogs very slowly, which gave me time to swap out for my super fast f/1.8 2x lens - this explains why this shot and the following one are so much better lighted than the lion encounter several minutes previous to this.
66. Savuti #43
The kori bustard is the largest flying bird native to Africa.
As we pulled near our campsite, we came across a few kori bustards in a field. Typically nocturnal, catching one out-and-about is a rare treat (even if it does pale in comparison to a close-up lion encounter or a wild dog hunt!)
