Botswana Day 4: Lion Love at Lagoon

Our three nights at Tau Pan in the Kalahari were up so it was time to move on to Northern Botswana. We were staying two nights at Lagoon Camp, on the border of Botswana and Namibia. Because we had a plane to catch, we got to sleep in a bit until 7a. This caused us to miss the dominant male and a lioness who were seen at the waterhole that morning. But it did allow us to have a huge breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast, as well as do a little shopping in the camp gift shop. Our flight was at 10a so we left for the air strip shortly after.

Our pilot this morning was Jacob from Poland.

Leaving Tau Pan.

Taking a little bit of sunburn from the Kalahari.

We made a quick stop at Nxai Pan, a Kwando camp we did not visit, to drop off our two Swiss friends. We would see them later in the trip. We then landed at Maun to drop off a guide for a doctor's appointment and to pick up some freight and a new passenger. Finally, we arrived at Lagoon Camp about 1:30p. We were met at the air strip by our guide, Carlos, and tracker, Timo. We headed to camp to check in.

Elephants on the way.

We arrived at camp and were shown to our tent, right on the lagoon.

We had a little time before our game drive to relax on the porch and watch the elephants bathing in the lagoon out front.

Our game drive began at 4p and our fellow passengers were John, a travel agent from Reef & Rainforest, and Louie, an annoying know-it-all who liked to tell us about everywhere he had been including Antarctica.

Our first sighting was the impala.

And lots of baboons.

Lilac-breasted roller.

Then we came upon these two guys, lazing around in the road. We had to turn around as they wouldn't budge.

This one was lying around like men everywhere do.

As usual, I spent the afternoon trying to stay out of the sun.

As the light started to fade, we sighted a lion mating couple, taking a break.

The break didn't last long and they were back at it.

Then they spotted something.

An uninvited lioness was approaching.

This did not sit well with the male and he let her know with a roar and charge.

It seemed to be all bluster though as they all settled down.

After this excitement we stopped for sundowners.

On our way back to camp we saw a civet, another rare safari sighting. Unfortunately, no one was prepared with a camera.

We arrived back at night. In the Kalahari, no night driving was allowed but this was a private concession owned by Kwando which meant we could stay out later. Dinner was a beef filet with gravy, rice, and veggies. After dinner we had some drinks around the fire with Carlos then headed to bed around midnight.