Wednesday, January 17, 2024
We both woke a bit before dawn but stayed in bed. We heard thunder at night but no lions. We did hear hyenas. Heavy rain fell as we got ready for breakfast. Luckily, rain ended right at breakfast time. We ate and got into the trucks for a long day of interesting game drives.
Pete and others in the front saw a leopard very briefly right off. We drove around hoping for it to reappear and saw one in a tree that we watched for a while. We had an extraordinary view of a hippo pond and stayed there a long time watching hippos maneuver a dead young hippo and interact with a small crocodile. We saw a few topis, hartebeests, lots of impalas, good birds (3 fish eagles, 2 bateleurs). We ate lunch in the LC around 3:30pm. We saw cheetah in distance, screened by brush. (At least Pete got a good look at it.) Back to camp at dark. Joyce went straight to bed, Pete and Gayle were very tired again but ate dinner before bed. Rain again overnight. Roads are extremely wet and muddy.
