Sighting:  Kalahari Lions - 24 in two days!
Location:  Kalahari Plains Camp, Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana
Date:  15-17 January 2010
Observer: Kurt & Moira Eggmann; Heidi & Ulrich Mohn, Brigitte Cross
Photographer: Kurt Eggmann

Having heard wondrous tales about game concentrations in the Kalahari after the summer rains rejuvenate the pans and valley floors, I (BC) gathered four fellow wildlife enthusiasts, so we could see for ourselves and headed for a two-night stay at Kalahari Plains Camp as part of a wider northern Botswana trip. 

On our first drive, braving the heat, a long trek to Deception Valley, and the threat of deluge from towering thunderheads, we set out from Kalahari Plains with our guide Willie. En route we passed springbok dotted here and there, or congregating in small herds; more than a hundred majestic gemsbok on grassy plains, black-backed jackals, lone blue wildebeest, bat-eared foxes, kori bustards and others. We won't dwell on the spectacular cheetah sighting - it has been expertly documented in another sightings report recently - we will, however, boast about OUR lions!

First, at around 07h00, we encountered two lionesses in Deception Valley but things were only going to improve as we continued on our adventure. Admittedly, we followed a lead generously shared by another vehicle, but it took OUR guide's vigilance and intuition to turn that ONE lion into the sighting of a pride of 11 gorgeous Kalahari lions: two adult males, four adult lionesses and five cubs of varying ages (all under a year old). This was further north, around Sundays Pan at around 10h00.

Full of pride (the pun is unintentional), we returned to camp to boast.

Next day we repeated our adventure, but this time we headed south along the fossil river valley of which Deception Valley is a part. This time in the Lekhubu area at around 10h00 we found another magnificent pride of 11 lions: one adult male, three adult females and one sub-adult male, three juveniles and three young cubs.

You can imagine our boasting after that and Willie was dubbed "he who smells lions" by Heidi.