Africa Part V: Two Leopards, Ten Wild Cats, and One Universal Language

[Laura this time…]

Our third and final camp was called Sango. Leaving Kala, we did the reverse of arriving: truck to boat to plane. The pilot told us that the runway near Sango had flooded because of the abundance of rain that year, so we had to land at an airstrip a bit farther away. After a 20-minute flight, we were met by yet another Land Cruiser and headed for Sango, about an hour’s drive away. At this point, Land Cruisers were beginning to feel like our primary mode of transportation.

Where Kala is surrounded by water, Sango is on a river, but the activities are much more land-based.

The first evening, we drove into the bush on what had now become the familiar Land Cruiser safari. Our guide said that there was a leopard cub in a particular area, so we spent quite a while driving around looking for it. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find it. Leopards, apparently, are under no obligation to keep appointments.

One thing we did see, though, was a family of hyenas. There is a hyena den in this particular area, and when we arrived, two females were hanging out with four pups. This was our first hyena sighting, so it was great to see them up close. They looked so soft! We resisted the urge to pet one.

While we were watching the hyenas, our guide got a call on the radio that the leopard cub had been spotted. We immediately took off to find it.

When we arrived, the leopard cub was already surrounded by eight trucks. As with the lions in Chobe, it was as if the trucks and their occupants were invisible to it. People were mostly quiet, but every few minutes another truck would pull up, and the leopard never seemed to notice.

In fact, at one point, it decided to hunt a ground squirrel. It was a very strange sight: the leopard cub crouched in hunting position, slowly making its way toward the squirrel while literally surrounded by 12 Land Cruisers carrying an average of five people each. Nothing says “subtle and stealthy” quite like an audience of 60 tourists.

Lucky for the squirrel—and a bummer for the leopard—the hunt was unsuccessful. There was definitely some cognitive dissonance in watching the cub behave as though it were completely hidden while all 60 of us looked on.

By the time we turned back toward camp, it was dark. One animal we only saw after dark was the African wildcat. These small animals look just like house cats in the US (and the Netherlands). They weigh only four or five pounds and are nocturnal, but they were Alex’s favorite. We saw them a few times, and after one sighting, Alex said, “I’ll take 10, please.” We did not have enough room in our luggage.

When we were almost back at camp, our driver noticed another jeep a little way off the road. He veered toward it, and in our headlights was a full-grown female leopard. It was pretty amazing to see two leopards in one night!

Sango is near the Moremi Game Reserve, which is known for its pride of lions. The following morning, we went into the reserve. On the way in, our guide noticed that the lion tracks were actually leading out of the reserve and into the village. Of course, there was no way to know whether the tracks were old and the lions had already returned, or whether they were recent and the lions were currently exploring the neighborhood.

We drove around Moremi for a while. We saw giraffes and got close to zebras—something we hadn’t done yet—but we did not see any lions. They had apparently made other plans.

During the break between the morning and evening activities, we did something we try to do on many of these trips. We often bring soccer balls, along with small pumps because inflatable soccer balls are considerably less useful when flat, and try to find a group of kids to play with.

This tradition started when Mike and I were in Bhutan and Mike joined a soccer game there. We also brought balls to Peru, where we visited a school high in the Andes and Alex and his friend played soccer with the kids.

At Sango, we found about 10 kids and went to a field where they had made small goals out of wood. We played for about an hour, then all piled into the Land Cruiser—possibly skirting a few regulations with 10 kids plus all of us—and went to get cold drinks.

It was a fun afternoon, although Alex was a little embarrassed that he got scored on a couple of times by kids who were barefoot. It turns out soccer is the universal language, and apparently shoes are optional.

Here's a link to a video of the soccer game.

That night, we returned to the area with the hyenas and the baby leopard. Late in the drive, we saw the leopard cub again. This time, there were only three cars around, so we felt pretty lucky. We also saw the hyenas being a little more active, which was fun.

While Sango was nice, it was our least favorite of the camps. We saw some great wildlife there, but by the third day, we were ready to begin the journey home—and, perhaps, spend a little less time in a Land Cruiser.