Home » Zambia » Day 11. Tue 27th April Sunday Pan.

We grab a quick breakfast and set off at seven for a drive. The usual springbok, oryx, wildebeest and red hartebeest, but no predators.

Day 11. Tue 27th April Sunday Pan.

DaveMidgley
2005-10-22 10:31:09

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We grab a quick breakfast and set off at seven for a drive. The usual springbok, oryx, wildebeest and red hartebeest, but no predators.

We drive up to Deception Pan, close to where Mark and Delia Owens had their camp. Deception Valley is the remains of an ancient river that last flowed about 16,000 years ago, but was left as a "fossil" river bed when the climate turned arid.
On the way back we see three black-backed jackals quite close to us.

Deception Pan is a huge, perfectly round, clay salt pan, that in the wet season is filled with water. It was given its name by the San because when it is dry the grey clay soil in its bottom creates the illusion that it is still full of water. Mark and Delia Owens reported in their book "The Cry of the Kalahari" that the illusion is so complete that they saw migratory water birds drawn to it during drought.
I can stop worrying about my "diginocs" as the camera now registers "full", so I must now wait to return to civilisation to see what I've got.
We return to the camp and I offer my incendiary skills again, but this time fail to get a fire going. I go for the firelighters, but Ken loses patience and shows me how to do it, by getting a great fistful of dry grass in one hand and shoving his cigarette lighter into it with the other. He dumps it unceremoniously on top of last night's ashes, chucks a couple of handfuls of sticks on top and has a roaring blaze going in about 20 seconds. He then tells us his trick for getting a fire going in the wet when you have no matches - siphon petrol out of the vehicle onto the wood and then light it by attaching the jump leads to the battery and shorting them out. I think I'll stick to firelighters.

Ken makes beefburgers for lunch, and we have another lazy afternoon, all of us ending up fast asleep in our tents.
At five we set off for a game drive.
For a while we see only the usual springbok and wildebeest, but then suddenly we round a bush and find three young male lions lazing in the grass right next to the road.

Ken stops the Land Rover so that we can watch them. This is quite scary as Pete, Kathy and I are on the roof. One of the lions gets up, stretches, and begins to saunter towards us. We hear the Land Rover starter motor turn - and miss. A second time it fails to start. The third time it fires, to our great relief. However, by this time the lion has lost interest and wanders off down the road, shortly followed by the other two. Ken reckons they are probably brothers looking for a pride. They look well fed and have probably killed recently. If they find a pride they will fight the other males, and if they win, will take over the pride in coalition, sharing the favours of the females, although they may kill any cubs.
Once the sun is down we dig out the spotlight and I get to sit at the front and wave it about. The trick with the light is to look for the reflection of eyes glowing in the beam. It is often difficult to work out what is behind the eyes, usually just a bemused springbok, but after a while a gleam and a snuffle right next to the road turns out to be a porcupine, a rare sight as they are very shy animals. True to form this one immediately shuffles off into the undergrowth. We drive around the trees but fail to pick it up again.
The rest of the drive is uneventful, and we return to the camp well satisfied, and still very excited about the lions.
Ken gets the fire going and we have rump steak and mashed spuds for supper, after which we sit and finish off the remains of the J. D. until eleven - a late night!