Day 11

After packing and late (8 am) breakfast we left the Pelo camp and embarked on our 3-hour boat journey to our next camp. The ride on the water is calm and scenic and we only got stuck twice. With a long stick they managed to get us free. We passed by two other camps, Jacanda and Jao, and a few boats with supplies and people. We didn’t see anything new – the same multitude of birds and familiar animals. Our final camp, Tubu, is secluded among large trees, with elevated tents/huts and walkways. It consists of two parts – Little Tubu (where we are staying), which only has 3 tents, and Tubu Tree, the main camp with 9 tents. Tubu (both parts) are rated a level higher (more luxurious) than the other camps we stayed in. Our tent is very large, the shower cabin has glass doors (not sure why this is more luxurious), it has a big outdoor shower as well with two showerheads, a big viewing terrace overlooking the open plain where you can view animals that come close to the camp, and it also has a tree house, which can be reached from the terrace by climbing two sets of steps. The tree house has two day beds so you can relax there and maybe also look at the stars in the evening. They told us (like in the Linyanti and Gomoti camps) that we have to be careful because baboons can come and visit our tent so we have to always lock the doors. After our afternoon rest, we embarked on what we thought would be a long drive. Instead, within 15 minutes we came upon leopard cubs in a tree. Our guide said that the mother left them to go hunting and told them to stay and wait for her return. So we waited too. There were two cubs, a male and a female, both about 4-5 months old. Supposedly leopard cubs become independent when they are 18 months old. The cubs were not very active, they mostly slept and occasionally changed positions and location. We took a lot of pictures of leopard cubs and waited a long time for mommy to return but to no avail. We then drove back to the camp with the obligatory stop for drinks. Dinner was excellent and we were joined by Dave, the camp director, a really nice guy from Pretoria.