Little Vumbura Camp
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
We arrived before lunch and drove to our the lodge in an open truck. The drive took us to a boat dock, and then we took a boat a short distance to the Camp’s dock. We are at the bird pin on the map.
We noticed right away that the terrain was different, more open grassland and larger trees from the mopane forest that was dominant in the area around DumaTau. It wasn’t long before the road became submerged and we were driving through several feet of standing water. Our guide had told us not to be concerned.
The map scale can be changed with the plus and minus buttons on the left side. There is also a button at the upper left that, if pushed presents satellite views.
On the drive to the dock, we came across more elephants. Mom and her baby are crossing the road in front of our truck.
Here is the view from our shuttle boat to the Camp.
Here is the view from our lodge. Lots of grass, water and sand.
After lunch, we went out in one of the Camp’s boats. This is a large channel!
We soon came across a large tree with a lot of birds and nests.
These are African Sacred Ibis.
Sundown was great. The water is very calm and the trees had nice reflections.
The next morning, we set out for the truck dock and our guide drove us out to see more of the countryside. This is a young Bateleur Eagle.
This photo shows some of the vegetation and wary zebras.
This is a Marabou Stork.
These are Sable, an endangered species. Note the two on the right side of the photo.
The two Sable were rubbing their antlers together. It made a distinctive, “whoompa, whoompa” sound. Our guide wasn’t sure if they were fighting or having fun.
We chose Little Vumbra Camp to stay at because it is known that visitors have a reasonable chance of seeing Sables, the most distinctive antelope. We told our guide we had an interest in seeing them, and he drove a long way to find them. He said we were lucky to find them in an open area and not in a shady forest.
These are Helmeted Guinea Fowl aka Botswana chicken.
Next up was a Tsessebe, another new species for us.
Here is another view of Sables.
Another elephant mom and her baby.
Here our truck faces a common situation—a part of the road is under water. We didn’t have any problems, and on several occasions over our three day stay, the “snorkel” proved essential!
Our guide spotted these two Hamerkops on our way back to lunch at our Camp.
After lunch, we set out again in our truck and came across this baboon.
Our guide spotted this Water Monitor and we got a quick photograph before it leaped out of sight into the grass.
Friday, our last full day at the Camp, started with all of the guides hearing lions roar before and during breakfast. So we set out to find them, and found this fellow on the move. We followed him for quite some time, and even while he waded through swampy ground. Eventually, he entered an area too wet for our truck, so we set off to look for other cats.
Soon, we came across a Cheetah mom and her three cubs.
She was escorting them across a flooded field. The cubs were not as sure about the water as mom.
They eventually came to a creek. Mom showed them how to jump over it. The cubs looks a bit uncertain.
They eventually jumped, one at a time.
Next, we came across this lone Pink–backed Pelican.
Our sharp guide noticed this female leopard laying near a tree.
Her beautiful cub was about 50 meters away near another tree. This was our first time seeing a leopard cub, only having seen adults before. A successful morning, with lion, cheetah and leopard.
After lunch, we went out on one of these little Mekoro canoes near our Camp. Alas, the camera broke and so we have no photos of the excursion. Here is a photo of what it looked like the day we got to Little Vumbra.
Saturday, the next day, we packed up for our flight to Cape Town. We did a game drive on the way to the air strip. This is a beautiful Saddle–billed Stork.
We also came across a large pack of African Wild Dogs. Here is a photo of just four of them. They ran a lot and made the guide do a lot of off road driving.
Our last look at Ostriches.
At the air strip, we saw our plane for Maun.
We flew to Maun (the airplane pin on the map at the top of the page) via one other camp air strip, and transferred to a jet for the two hour, thirty five minute flight to Cape Town.
On Wednesday morning, we flew out to Little Vumbra Camp, where we will stay for three nights. The area is swampy and we will be riding around in both trucks and boats.
