Lions – Clancy Abroad

KAA cut line to KAA camp

After leaving our camp on the KAA cutline, we continued North-west. After 9km we stopped to talk to three people who were surveying lions. A South African, and two Botswanan trackers. They were looking for lions so they could work out the distribution. The Botswanan trackers told us how they tracked the lions, and they showed no fear of tracking the lions quite close.

We got to the KAA gate of the Kalahari Transfrontier Park around 1pm. The gate was surrounded by fences, all the gates closed, to keep lions out. We camped at campsite number 1, which had a toilet and a (broken) shower, and a basin with bore water. We were warned that there were lions around.

We setup overlooking the pan, there were no other campers around. We went to bed that night keeping a lookout for lions, but leaving a fair bit of stuff outside. During the night we heard lions several times. In the morning karen told me there were noises outside, so I got up and opened the camper door, to find three lions. Two of the lions were about 1.5m away taking turns to try to pull apart the folded up shower tent with their teeth and claws.

The three lions left. We didn’t see or hear any lions until four nights later, our last night at KAA campsite. We were awoken around 4:30am by two lions passing a couple of metres from the camper. We woke up again at 5:30am and drove to the nearby waterhole, but were stopped about 150m from our campsite by two male lions sitting either side of the road waiting in the dark. At dawn we followed the two lions to the waterhole, and watched them drink. Then we followed them in the camper up the road where they met up with the rest of the clan – in total 7 lions. Two males, three females and two cubs.

The two cubs who dragged the shower tent away from the camper and continued to try to rip it apart.

The jackel which visited camp several times

Putting out the solar panels early to get power.

One of the two lions we found waiting in the dark, about 150m from camp on the last morning

the two lions having walked up to the waterhole

One of the lion cubs amongst the 7 lions that we found another 100m away

Another couple of lions from the group of 7

Mubuasehube Pan to 60km along the KAA cut line

We spent two days at Mubuasehube Pan campsite 4. There were lions growling both nights. The lions spent both nights at the neighboring campsite about 200m away. We could see the lions walking along the pan the next day. We left Mubuasehube Pan and headed north to where the Tracks4Africa map showed it intersected with the KAA cutline. However before we got far we bumped into the people from the adjacent campsite, who said the road was blocked. We turned around and headed for the Mubuasehube gate. We headed north, stopped after a while to pump up the tyres, and eventually got to the KAA cutline. We headed about 40km along, stopping at a pan that crossed the cutline. We stopped about 2pm. About 7pm that night the first vehicle that we had seen drove past, and turned into talk to us. It was a ranger from KAA camp. He was worried about lions, and that we were too far from the track. We told him we would get going the next morning. We didn’t see or hear any lions that night.

Our Australian flag tyre cover, coated with dust.

Karen doing her digital nomad thing working.

Camped on the KAA cutline

50km west of Makopong to Mubuasehube Pan

We got going early, by 7:20am. We back-tracked towards Makopong, taking shortcuts along some fences where we knew the way. We were at a gate when a Toyota Landcruiser bakkie rolled up with a South African manager on board. He had noticed our tracks the previous day. He had left the front gate, the first we encountered, unlocked, because he was off firefighting. As a result we drove in. He kindly drove back to the front gate to unlock it (it was now locked) to let us out. It was great to chat with him.

We then drove the 40km back to Makopong, and then pumped up our tyres. It was then down the road to Tsabong. We refueled at Tsabong, then got some apples at Choppies, and then headed north to Mubuasehube park. The road was not too bad, but about 40km south of Mubuasehube, it got very sandy. Lower the tyre pressures again, and continue on getting to the gate at 3:30pm. We got our permit and headed to Mubuasehube Pan and our campsite for two nights.