We headed to the gate to top up with water, which we had been offered when we entered the gate. As we went down the track towards the gate camp we saw Lion footprints on the road. When we got to the gate camp the staff were reluctant for us to get water saying they didn’t have much. They told us about water near Mpayathutlwa Pan. So we headed off for the approximately 20km to the pan. The directions we were given were not very good, but we met a park worker near the pan who gave us good directions. We loaded up with probably an extra 60 litres of water.
Then we headed south to Bosobogolo Pan the most remote pan of all the pans in Mubua, 25km away. We passed the turnoff to Nossop, which was around 150km away. We arrived at Bosobogolo Pan campsite No. 2. It had an A frame shelter but no toilet. It had a great view of the pan, but it was hot. We put up the awning for shade and settled in for the 3 nights we were going to stay. There was not much in the way of animals on the pan. The first day we had a german couple arrive saying that they had booked three nights in the same campsite as us. We had heard of this before. It is so difficult to book campsites with Botswana parks, and when you do they sometimes double book. Liz suggested they go to Bosobogolo Pan camp 1, which they reluctantly did.
Night two looked like nothing would happen. It was really hot so we wanted to sleep with the door open and fans blowing in air. Liz thought we should have something in the door in case something came along, so with some reluctance I found the lid of the pressure cooker box and jammed it at the end of the bed. All was quiet until 1 am when we both got up to go to the toilet. The first problem was that Liz couldn’t find one her thongs. This was odd because I was sure there were two when we went to bed, but it was 1am, and I was trying to get a flood light working so Liz borrowed one of my shoes. Liz went to the front, I went to the back. I was about 4 metres from the back of the camper, swinging my spotlight around, but I got attracted to four owls who were in a tree some distance away. One of the owls flew right over me only about 2 metres above me, it would have made a great picture. I followed the owl with my spotlight and then as it flew past I swung the spotlight down to the ground and behind me, to see a leopard sitting in the A frame about 5 metres away. I backed away back to the camperwhile asking Liz if she was inside. The Leopard casually got up and walked across the campsite and into the grass while I followed it with a spotlight.
That was not the end. The Leopard came back. I opened the door only about 5cm to look down at the leopards face about 1 metre away, and looking, at least to me, as if it was going to pounce. I snapped the door shut!
Liz opened the door a crack and saw the leopard a couple of times, and we got a very grainy picture from a video. During this time it stole one of my sandals , bit the other one, and bit one of Liz’s sandals. It destroyed three pairs of shoes in total.
The next night we barricaded the door, but the leopard did not return. We headed out after three nights and headed south to Tsabong.
