Botswana: Completing the Big Five

We drove from Zimbabwe to Botswana on Friday. It was under two hours and the border crossing was easy. We’re staying at Elephant Valley Lodge, a tent camp situated around a watering hole. During our stay we saw elephants (of course!), impalas, baboons, cape buffaloes and even a hyena stop by.

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We headed out for a game drive. We saw a rare sable antelope, many elephants, and a giraffe near sunset.

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Then… a leopard! They are the most elusive of the big five (elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo, leopard) and the only one we hadn’t seen. It’s a cub in a tree that’s found a bird’s nest with some fresh food (likely fish). The bird is in the tree and making quite a ruckus, but the leopard is obviously not threatened.

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The cub then started mewling for his mama. She came along and lay down under the tree.

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