Well, have these two guys got a safari story for you – oh wait, make that 17 Lions with a story to tell!

It was all part of a “perfect storm” of wildlife sightings this last summer when my wife Alex and I went to 5 camps in 3 countries over 19 days…for this edition of my “Safari Stories”, let’s spend the morning in the Okavango Delta of Botswana!

SO Many Lions It Was Hard To Count Them All!

Here are five Lions lounging in the Okavango Delta – and as you can see, one was on his back with his legs up in the air – and there were many more scattered around them!

For those following along, my wife Alex and I went on our first safari last summer, and it was a life-changing trip for so many reasons…

That’s Alex in the white coat, interviewing our incredible Guide / Tracker Jacob at the terrific Wilderness Qorokwe lodge in Botswana’s Okavango Delta!

That’s me next to Alex in our safari Jeep, with our new friends Singeetha on the left and her husband Karthik on the right…Singeetha’s sister Aravinda took the photo…this was after an exhilarating adventure, which was why Alex was interviewing Jacob: to document one of the greatest moments of our trip, when Jacob was given a challenge one morning…Alex explains how it unfolded:

Yes, we wanted to see Wild Dogs, Spotted Hyenas and Baby Lion Cubs…now, we weren’t putting any pressure on Jacob because we had all discussed that, when the animals control where they show up whenever they want to show up, all Jacob can do is use his instinct and expertise to search them out – and he loved the challenge!

We had all loaded up at 6:30a to head out on our first tracking mission…here’s what it’s like driving through the wilds of Qorokwe:

It was cold, but the sun was shining and we were all in great moods – and Jacob was on the lookout! In fact, just a few minutes into the trip, Jacob told us to hang on and gunned the engine – because the chase was on to track a pack of wild dogs on the run!

Hold on – and look at what I got!

We were able to follow the wild dogs for about fifteen minutes – Jacob expertly tracking them at fairly good speed before they left the preserve and headed to their hiding out spot…flush with excitement, Jacob amped it up a notch when he found a spotted hyena a moment later!

These are rare to spot as well, but he did – here’s video!

Well, that left just one more goal for the day: lion cubs!

After driving along the very sandy road for about fifteen minutes, Jacob suddenly pulled over, got out of the Jeep and stared intently at the ground – here’s what he told us:

You see, Jacob counted 17 Lion tracks in the sand….wait, SEVENTEEN? How could you ever make out so many different animals? Hey, but we knew to trust Jacob, because within ten minutes this is what we saw:

Yes, Lions everywhere! Jacob had tracked a pride of Lions who were getting ready to nap after having hunted their last meal…this guy was well on his way to sweet dreams:

We saw alot of close interaction between the pride – here is video of them cleaning each other up!

The pride was so large, and scattered all around us, that is was difficult to count them – but we did fulfill our last goal – as we saw several adorable cubs like this one:

The Lions were enjoying their day – wandering all around us, while we sat in the Jeep and tried to count them! Listen to our effort!

It’s a bit unsettling: so many Lions so close to us, but they didn’t have a care in the world, just relaxing and getting ready to sleep. However, listen closely – as Alex explains that the pride of Lions had some very vocal critics nearby:

You see, some nearby Baboons began to bark at the Lions, which warns everyone of danger nearby…

I will be sharing part two of this story, because this encounter turned into a Lions vs. Baboon “battle royale!” That story is coming soon!

In addition to this wild day of fun, our group of five also bonded this way as well:

Yes, we took a serene cruise on the Okavango Delta in these classic African Mokoro canoes…click here to see just how magical it was:

I have another take on our Mokoro adventure – and how close we were to having this happen!

That story coming next week!

I already shared a story about how they greeted us at Singita Boulders in South Africa on our first night, plus a look at the festive food welcome we got when we arrived…see it here!

And most importantly: South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe are all working hard to fight animal poaching – see more on how they work to use our tourism dollars to save these wild animals and their way of life!

I also shared some of the highlights of the trip, including video of a very noisy Lion who went very close to me as he was griping about something…you can see that v video and more here:

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Categories: Africa, documentary films, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, Pop Culture, safari, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir

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