The Virtue of Punctuality
They say punctuality is a virtue and that it is something that helps us rise above the beasts. They also say that lions in Chobe don’t climb trees. Well, some people will say absolutely anything…
This may seem like a strange opening statement for this entry, but just bare with me as, funnily enough, the two aforementioned statements are curiously linked in a safari-going kind of way. End of May and an SGS boat cruise has left late and is cruising (at a very leisurely pace) up the Chobe river. Those aboard were tucking into the second gin and tonic of the afternoon (with quite a magnificent sunset) and taking the mantra of “you’ll see the animals if you relax, take it easy and don’t worry too much” to a whole new level. Having just seen a number of white fronted bee-eaters framed spectacularly in the sunshine the guide then casually pointed out that we should look away from the elephants and focus our attention on the feline cubs that had appeared down by the water. It’s amazing how quick people will sit up when you say “lion”. 2 lionesses appeared accompanied by 2 cubs that made their way lethargically towards the water before deciding to take a break in the shadow of a wooly caper bush.
As we floated up and down the river at a respectful distance from the cats someone mentions to the guide “well, we’ll let you off with not seeing that leopard then.” The guide smiles back, and with noteworthy sang-froid says; “you won’t have to, she’s over there.”
The leopard came down warily through the bushes no more than 100 metres from the where the lions had sat down and at first it appeared that none of them were aware of each other. This put those lucky enough to be present in the rather unique situation of being able to see 4 of the big 5 (some buffalo further up the hill completed the panorama) without hardly having to turn one’s head. It is at this point that the lions pricked up their ears (and their noses). The leopard saw the writing on the wall immediately and like greased lightning went up the nearest mahogany tree, finally perching herself high up in the branches. One of the lionesses ran over and without much hesitation jumped straight into the tree! As she tried to climb further up the leopard positioned herself on an even higher branch (now about 15 metres off the ground). The lioness however wasn’t looking quite so dexterous and after some rather unladylike twists and turns finally gave up and jumped out of the tree. She turned once more (in the beautiful late afternoon sunshine – this was getting way to Nat Geo) to glare at the leopard and then wandered off to ensure her clubs were safe. The leopard decided to maintain her vigil and as the sun went down and we floated away she looked like she might take to nesting there…
The morale of this tale is that, although punctuality might be a virtue, if someone hadn’t lost their wallet, whereby delaying the cruise by 15 minutes, we might never have seen this spectacle. So while tardiness is not to be condoned, go easy on someone arriving late (especially if it’s Africa), you never know what it might lead to.
National Geographic movies might have you believe that this happens all the time, and perhaps it does. However, this was a once-in-a-lifetime moment and it was a testament to the sighting that those of us in the boat were so taken by the whole event that almost nobody raised a camera. As for myself, my camera battery had run out about 10 minutes earlier (typical) but I was grinning from ear-to-ear and thoroughly enjoying my birthday.