Moremi Game Reserve - Day 3

Wed 16th June
We had a lie in until 7:30am, it was cold again last night but I went to bed with roasty toasty legs due to the large campfire we had been sitting around. Lenti had gone off into a village about 1/2 and hour away so their were no lights that they usually leave lit from the car battery, he went to watch the Brazil game, he reckons they are going to win again. Celso decided to sit around the fire for longer than Tris and I and he was rewarded with a brief sighting of a grey Bush baby that scuttled up the tree right by our fire and then leapt away.
After a breakfast of hot rice pudding we set off on a game drive to see if we could find the pride of lions that had kept us awake from about 4am with their roaring. Lenti explained that they only roar for 3 reasons; 1, they have made a kill and are just happy; 2, they are calling together all their members after an unsuccessful hunt; or 3, they are confident and advertising their presence and ownership of the territory. To Tris and I it had sounded like they were only about 400m away but Lenti thought they were more like 3km away. He said that if they are within 15m or so you can actually feel the vibrations of their roars through the ground!
We found one pair of lions, an (about) 5 year old male and a female, we are not sure if this was the lion that made all that noise or not, but he was magnificent anyway even though not yet fully grown. We later saw tracks for more lions with cubs and another set for a Cheetah but we couldn't find them.
We took a track along the edge of the river but it was completely flooded and at times I was sure we were going to get stuck as the water came up over the wheels and the exhaust farted from under the water, but Lenti got us safely through. We saw some Red Lechwe antelope that live in or around water, about twice the size of the Impala and with no black markings. We had taken that route because it is prime habitat for leopards in the trees above the water as they sit in wait for animals to come down to drink; no luck for us though. We thought we had found a large kill when we saw vultures circling and then coming down to the ground, we got fabulous pictures of them hunched in the trees; but as we approached 'the kill' we found that it was a dead 3m Rock Python, perhaps killed by a Honey Badger, or maybe it died of old age, but anyway the vultures were enjoying it! There were three types of vulture, 1 Hooded vulture that flew off as we approached, 1 White Headed vulture and perhaps 20 or so White backed vultures, they are such ugly-beautiful creatures!
Later we came across a couple of elephants sunbathing and looking completely blissful and unaware of our presence.
By 11am we had found our way to the park entrance gate to collect some more water for camp. We met a couple of German guys there who had spent all night in their rented 4WD stuck in a river, all their documents and money had been in the safe in the floor of the car and they were completely soaked so they were trying to dry out passports, money and visa papers in the sun. Fortunately their 4WD was one of those with a pop up sleeping section so they had managed to get some rest up and out of the water but it must have been absolutely freezing and a scary time. They were pulled out this morning by a passing truck and were now waiting to be towed back to Maun to see if the vehicle can be fixed.
We are now back in camp and sitting in the sun. Lunch will be served soon! Celso has spent the last hour photographing a strange little beetle thing, first found by Tristan when we went to get water but now we find them everywhere. They have two antlers and a long stick thing down their backs but they are less than 5mm long, we haven't a clue what they are and we have no insect book so we will have to wait until we can get some Internet access before we can discover what they are.
The afternoon game drive was a bit unsuccessful, we saw plenty of Impala and baboons, but some Meyer's Parrots were too shy for us to get a real close up look or even a distant photograph. We were specifically looking for leopards, which in this tree filled area can sit up to 6m above the ground, so we spent the drive squinting up into the trees but with no luck.
When we returned to camp the hippos were honking and a female lion made its way around the camp through about 130 degrees (but over 2km away), roaring as she went and occasionally answered by a male, I wonder if it was the same 2 we saw this morning.
After dark we had a brief glimpse of a Bush baby but he/she was far too fast, up into the canopy and off, leaping and jumping. Later another came to lick the sap from the tree bark just above our fire and we managed to get a few snaps before he/she too leapt away.