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Edition 47: Summer 2009 Lyndal Brown of Brisbane, Australia had one experience in the Okavango Delta that she wanted to share with Travel Africa’s readers.
It was our third day in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and Peter and I were being driven from Stanley’s Camp to the start of our ‘elephant experience’, where we would be meeting Doug and his three charges: Jabu, Thembi and Marula. The waters were still rising, so it was slow going in some parts. That was until our hearts started racing.
We’d just rounded a bend on the sandy track when we spotted her – a leopard lurking in the shade. She looked at us without too much concern and continued on her way down the track, as if enjoying the soft sand under her paws. It was at this point that we noticed she was limping.
Our guide turned the Land Rover around, and we slowly followed her until she attempted to hide in a clump of tall grass. Before moving on to our appointment with the elephants, we watched her as she settled in, and subsequently started licking her front left paw in earnest.
Later that day, as the sun was lowering we tried to track her down again as we were all concerned about how she was coping with her injury. Although the guides had kept an eye on the area where we’d spotted her earlier, it took some serious bush bashing to catch another glimpse of her. On the move, she soon disappeared further into the scrub.
A short time later, we found her sunning herself in the late afternoon light, spreadeagled on the branch of a dead tree. We were clearly of little interest to her as she looked out to the grasslands beyond. Eventually she rose, danced along the branches and through the tree’s twisted limbs before vanishing again. Both her glowing beauty, which had been intensifying with each minute in the setting sun, and obvious grace enthralled us, leaving us mesmerised and lost for words.
Upon our return to Stanley’s that evening, we were told by one of the guides that she had been seen walking in the vicinity – and she was limping no more! |
