Okavango & African Finale - September 6

Our safari compatriots agreed to an earlier departure for our last morning drive in hopes of seeing the elusive leopard. A stupendous sunrise greeted us! The muffins were late for breakfast because elephant Jack was blocking the path from the kitchen to the deck. Godfrey delivered the warm muffins just as we were pulling out on our boat launch for the 4x4. The morning was cool and beautiful. Shortly after beginning our drive, Timothy picked up prints in the sand of a leopard and cub which we followed for 1 1/2 hours. Timothy told us that the cub would give away the mother's location....and sure enough...there was the cub playing in the open savannah. Pulling our 4x4 slightly forward we found the beautiful mother laying behind the shrub. Ecstasy....as we watched for a good hour, the only 4x4 in the reserve to capture this moment. The playful cub and adoring mother were a sight to behold - with cub venturing out and mom signaling him back, mom cuddling and licking the cub, and both walking together across the savannah to climb into a tree (as we followed them) where mom stretched out on a branch and won the safari prize for Miss Photogenic! It was clearly the crescendo of our Okavango safari! As anticlimatic as the rest of the drive may have seemed, we were provided opportunities to see wildebeast, a bird-cobra kill, a stunning elephant that seemed posed to charge our 4x4, and more birds....we felt as if the plentiful wildlife was giving us a great African send-off.

A farewell brunch awaited our return and then it was time to pack and bid farewell to the Jacana family - a simply marvelous group of very warm and hospitable people. Timothy took us by boat and 4x4 to the Jao landing strip which had to be cleared of zebra for our on-time plane to land and take us to Maun, Botswana for our connecting flight to Johannesburg and our 20 hour flight back to Atlanta. After 8 hours and 45 minutes of flight across Africa, we landed in Dakar, Senegal for refueling and customs inspection before our 8 1/2 hour flight to Atlanta. We sailed through customs and made our connection to Raleigh-Durham and arrived home about noon!