Sometime before 7 A.M., as the sun is just starting to stretch shadows across Botswana’s Okavango Delta, it occurs to me I am about to witness a lion kill. My head is heavy, spinning with jetlag due to the 30 plus hours of travel I endured over two days prior. In addition, we arose at a painful 4 A.M. today to look for the “extremely rare” routing aardvarks but had no luck.
Our luck appears to have changed though. A pride of nine female lions are tracking a herd of buffalo. Confidently, strategically, the lions trot behind the herd. The buffalo keep moving aware of the danger but seem unfazed. Another day of cat and mouse in Africa, or more accurately, a game of very big cat and very big buffalo. In nine trips to Africa, I have never seen a lion kill, let alone a buffalo get stalked, so I am starting to clear my fog as anticipation and excitement crest.
The herd of roughly 200 buffalo wade a lagoon, powerfully bounding through the water. To my amazement, the lions pursue – so much for the feline fear of water. It seems they are hungry. The chase is immanent and we will be front row to this phenomenon of natural selection as we cautiously shadow the events from the safety of an open-aired Landcruiser.
On any trip, there is often a magical period or defining moment that swirls in our memory banks longer. It can be an adrenaline-fueled or a blissfully relaxed experience but it seems to etch it upon our souls. They are the memory gems that often beacon us to travel again, to want more. For me, these gems often occur toward the end of the journey when I have become more in tune and settled with the rhythms of a location. Serendipity aligns with awareness, the exhausting logistics of getting from A-B have worn off and then it happens; A lifelong memory or possibly even a transformative experience.
As a professional photographer who has made a career or traveling to far-flung places in over 50 countries to document stories for the likes of the National Geographic Society and many other publishing entities, I have collected a wide range of such memory treasures that vary in size and scope. For example, in a five-week kayaking trip to Antarctica, swimming (very briefly) for fun in the 32-degree F Antarctica Ocean in just my underwear is one gem that percolates to the top of the string. On the flank of Mount Everest, getting bucked off a yak in front of a group of Sherpas who buckled over howling is another. And in the Horn of Africa, getting escorted by the US Embassy to the airport after getting kicked out of the country of Djibouti is a less shiny gemstone but equally as profound.
When I went to Botswana this last spring with Journeys Unforgettable, a travel company that specializes in customized photography safaris, I had no doubts I might add some wildlife encounters to the string of memory gems. It was a short eight-day trip though with lots of travel time involved so I feared jetlag and general fatigue would interfere with my experience (I had prior work commitments that unfortunately shortened my stay). On day two, when the first lion initiated the chase, I quickly changed my mind. Watching this pride communicate somehow so that one would attack and push the weakest female buffalo into the other eight, was something I would never forget.
I depressed the shutter on my camera and let the motor drive burst to life as the attack unfolded just 100 yards from our vehicle. The first lion leapt on the buffalo’s back and clung on until two others caught up, leapt, clung, dragged and then finally hurled the mother to her demise. To our surprise, the lions ate little. Apparently in the Dubai Plains Reserve, the one location in the Okavango Delta where lions are known to stalk buffalo, hunting is as much sport as it is for survival.
Still reeling from a bit of jetlag fogginess, I marveled out what we saw. The defining moment of the trip, maybe of any of my African wildlife trips – right out of the gates on day 2.
I was wrong.
The lion kill was just merely a preview. After seeing an elephant parade through camp, baboons do gymnastics on termite mounds, reed frogs nearly kiss my camera lens and feet stomping local dances, our group reveled in awe. I mentioned one night how I had never seen a leopard or wild dogs, but only to make a point that they are not easy to spot. I had no serious hopes of seeing them since I was already oversaturated with experiences I will fail to describe and yes, there was infamous team lion hunt. No need to be greedy. I had my memory gem and more. In addition, everyone in the group had spectacular images to go with them since we took the time and patience properly needed to produce powerful imagery. And in my opinion, the more you take to capture a moment photographically, the more you see.
On my last game drive of the trip, everything in the bush seemed active. We observed some frisky elephants in a lagoon, then an owl steal a hawk’s guinea fowl dinner. We moved on as the shadows grew. A single female lion we had seen earlier in the day was basking in the setting glow as zebra, giraffe, gazelle and kudu meandered in front of us. Everything was busy, but seemingly relaxed.
Powwww!
The world erupted around us. Everything darted, sprang, and leapt. Fear coated faces. The whites of eyes exploded with desperation. A small herd of gazelle nearly sprang over our vehicle clearly running from death itself. Even the giraffe lumbered off hastily. Nothing followed – but our guide knew the signs. “Wild dog,” he muttered. We quickly drove toward the point of danger, but saw nothing. We circled. Still nothing. Everything was quiet. Everyone had fled or froze in shear panic.
Then we saw it. A sinewy pack of muscle ran toward the sun. Ears pointed high and forward, it was obvious – a brown and black spotted wild dog. Hurriedly we pursued and within a few minutes we came across the pack mechanically devouring a helpless kudu. With little noise, they eviscerated the animal as if the pack was one giant, carnivorous being. Our cameras whirred and the light gently softened and the sun turned orange. I marveled at the ferocity, teamwork and beauty of these dogs.
And just as I started to mouth the odds of seeing such a site, our guide shouted, “Look, there, left…!” We turned. The lone lioness we had seen early was suddenly bounding across the lagoon in front of us – plunging into the depths and exploding out in bursts of water, eyes and paws poised. In just four leaps she crossed the water and the dogs fled – leaving few scraps.
As they turned to watch their loss, some baboons began to bark nearby. Then some hyenas appeared, squealing and laughing. The sun continued to drop and it quickly dawned on me that this was another one of those fleeting moments – which I will never fully be able to neither imagine, understand nor forget. Our guide hollered again… “There… across the lagoon… leopard.” I almost fainted. We drove across the lagoon for a better look. Sure enough, I lone leopard came for scraps too but thought otherwise when he noticed the lion. So he watched, like us. As the sun sank into night, the lion relented to the growing aggression of the hyena pack. And just as the sky turned pinkish orange, a crocodile shimmied up the bank to test the territorial game with the hyenas. Memory gem overload. I couldn’t comprehend the spectacle, this dance of the predators. It was pure magic. It was and probably always will be a defining moment with wildlife experiences. What a privilege to witness such grace and raw power in nature. It will always make me want to return to Africa and/or work to protect such wonders.
Welcome to the world of “Journeys Unforgettable” !
No words can describe my sincere gratitude to Journeys Unforgettable and Wilderness Safaris for this life changing experience.
Warmest Regards,
Pete
www.petemcbride.com
