We were up predawn sipping hot tea and eating some cookies while we waited for our driver. We were excited. After all, we were going on a lion hunt. Just to be clear, we were hunting with our camera.
Up until this point, all of our safari activities had been self guided. The hotel we were staying at had included two safaris in the room price so getting a guided hunt was no problem at all. Our location was the 11,700 sq km Chobe National Park in Botswana.
We arrived at the gates to the park right at dawn. Our first sighting was a troop of Chacma baboons, followed by some Guinea Fowl, Cape Buffalo, antelope, some elephants and two lions!
The lions were well in the distance and nearly hidden by the deep grass. Mission accomplished. We were satisfied as we had a successful lion safari that morning.
It was about that time when our driver got a message over his radio that a leopard had been spotted several kilometres from our position. He immediately looked back at us and said "Hold on!" and we were off.
We arrived to find our leopard resting comfortably in the shade only a few metres away. We took as many photos as we could. As other safari jeeps started so arrive, our leopard had had enough and it was time to move. Fortunately her path led right back to us before he disappeared completely into the brush. All in all, it was an experience that we will never forget.
