Days 15 thru 23

(Dan’s comments are italicized)

Having introduced Frank in the last post, there’s one more thing to know about him; Frank is a super tracker! He’s a whiz at finding tracks, being able to tell how long ago they were made, and going into the bush, off the beaten track, to find them.

But that’s not all he could track; we had been watching some African Wild Dogs one evening after sunset and then followed a spotted hyena for a while before heading back to camp.

It was dark…so the trainee guide was devastated to realize her bifocal glasses had fallen from the truck somewhere along the way. Frank told her not to worry as he’d find them in the morning. We thought he was crazy and that he stood a snowball’s chance in hell of finding them; but find them he did!!! I would like to emphasize that there is a LOT of grass EVERYWHERE!!! And Frank had taken us off-trail to see these animals. I’ve lost large frizbees in grass half as short and in an area the size of a pickleball court. I have no idea how he was able to see a pair of glasses in an area the size of the Okavango Delta!?! 🤯🤯🤯

But wait, there’s more. About half an hour later, I asked Dan for my phone (his was stolen so he was using mine for the camera)…and he realized he didn’t have it any more. In fairness to me, I remained calm on the outside!!!! Frank immediately turned the truck around and sped back toward camp. Remember that snowball?? Frank did it again; somewhere along the way he slammed on the brakes and there, at the side of the dirt road, deep in some grass, was my phone!!!! I was devastated that I was responsible for another lost phone. Frank is a man that has the eyes of an eagle, and the intuition of a dog. I place so much trust in him that I am virtually fearless. I really believe that if I had randomly thrown my wallet out of the truck and told him later that day that I had lost it, he would have found it buried in the mud 30 minutes later, he is that good. I cannot thank him enough for saving me from my stupidity of losing another phone.

Back to ‘normal’ tracking. The most exciting were a pack of 7 African Wild Dogs (which are highly endangered), a solo male lion, and a group of 3 male lions (which Frank tracked on 3 separate occasions!)

These beautiful creatures are horribly vicious; they tear away at the prey’s flesh even as they’re running away.

I felt such affinity with our first lion; he was old and limped along (I think he had arthritis 😂). It was sad but though he was obviously  very hungry, even the zebra watched his approach without running away. The unique aspect of this lion is not only that he was not splayed out sleeping, but that we were the only people to track and watch him for almost an hour!

It made me sad that it comes to this for all…even the king of the jungle!

The next 3 lions were much younger and stronger. Because of Frank’s tracking expertise, we had time alone with the handsome creatures before any other car arrived.

Amazingly, Frank found them again the following morning!

And as the predators slept, some of the prey could relax and feast.

The cats are Dan’s favorite animals, but tomorrow I’ll be sharing mine…elephant and giraffe.

We had spent over three hours watching the three males during the course of the day. But we spent the evening in camp listening to the warning cries of all the animals that had to continue their vigilance. I had never heard the sharp cries of baboons, the wailing warnings of elephants or the whooting calls of hippos before. I think every animal was aware of the danger, so I don’t think the lions got a meal that night!