Karongwe – Day one

After a five hour drive our next stop was Karongwe staying at Chisomo Tented Camp. The Karongwe landscape is dominated by a backdrop of the Drakensberg mountains. We were staying for three nights at the Chisomo tented camp. In very spacious luxury tents raised on stilts above the ground.

Wildlife in the Karongwe area have free access through the camp and a track through the camp lead to a waterhole where Hippo and Fish Eagles could be seen.

Late Afternoon in Karongwe

After lunch we were off on our first game drive. Grazing beside the track were groups of Zebra, Impala and Wildebest, whilst Nyala and Waterbuck turned their backs to us and disappeared into the bush. Warthogs dug in the mud, before running, with tails erect, into the nearest cover. A family of giraffe, with Oxpeckers clinging to their backs, ambled slowly across the track in front of our vehicle. We were off to a good start.

Lions Cubs at Play

The track led along a grassy ditch with some trees and shrubs on the high side. Hidden amongst the vegetation we could see movement. Looking more closely you could see a Lioness and four cubs and what appeared to be a carcass of a zebra. The cubs entertained us by clambering over each other and jumping on their mother. We sat in the vehicle and watched their behaviour for about ten minutes before we moved on to allow another vehicle closer access.

Fading Light

As the light began to fade. We we spotted a Verreaux’s eagle-owl in a nearby tree gazing down at us. We returned to the Lions to see them still playing, pushing each other off a large branch and then coming down into the ditch.

Cubs practicing hunting techniques or just a cub at Play

With the light now gone it was time to head back to the camp for the evening meal. After the evening meal we headed back to the tent accompanied by a guide to protect us from any animals wandering around in the camp. We strapped the tail camera  to one of the stilt legs of the tent platform where there appeared to be a track going under the structure down the slop

Trail Camera catches a Civet using the track