Just Another Day at Mombo
Mombo is located on the northern tip of Chief’s Island in the heart of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Many claim it has the best big game viewing in Botswana, so I had to find out for myself. The welcoming committee was certainly an impressive start—apart from the lovely staff at Mombo, we were met by a massive elephant that was leisurely grazing right beside the entrance to main camp. It only got better from there.
The next day we set out on an early morning game drive, but didn’t get very far. Our guide told us that some lion cubs were lounging on the staff’s soccer field a short distance from camp. The cubs were from a large pride of 28 lions, made up of 11 adults and 17 cubs. As the sun rose over the soccer field, the cubs began to get restless. From the distance we could hear another lion calling and the cubs soon formed a somewhat orderly line and followed the calls. They eventually met up with one of the adult females from their pride. Given that her face was covered in blood, it was a pretty safe bet that she was rounding them up to take them to a kill.
We followed the procession of lions to the scene of the crime—one zebra, DOA. Now one zebra isn’t really a substantial breakfast for 28 lions, especially when four of them are large males with big appetites and bad tempers. As we sat engrossed by the pride’s mealtime etiquette (or lack thereof) the scene quickly took a turn for the worse; in walked a very brave nomadic male lion looking for a free meal. Absolute chaos swiftly ensued as the lions began fighting the nomadic male and each other. The roars were deafening and we were so close to the action that I could feel the sound reverberating through my body.
After what seemed like an eternity, the lions finally calmed down. As the dust settled, we saw the nomadic male sneaking off with some tasty zebra take-away. Our guide speculated that due to his poor condition, the four large males did not see him as a threat, so they had let him live … whew.
When my heart finally stopped pounding and the ringing in my ears had passed, I realized that Mombo had proven its point. It can legitimately boast of a game viewing experience that’s hard to beat.
Lori Toledano has joined the Trufflepig family as one of our new Africa planners, putting together safaris that will leave your own heart pounding and ears ringing.
