By: Gabby Albright, Roanoke College
There is nothing better than rain on a hot day, especially in one of Botswana’s hottest dry seasons since 2018. We were sitting under the KPR common area when all of a sudden it started to thunder and rain, and with the sun still fully shining on us we ran out to greet it. I sat on top of one of the cars and watched the rain hit the delta. The sun was starting to set and the animals started to come out of hiding in the cooler weather. I watched as a flock of Southern carmine bee eaters landed in front of me, their red bodies shining in the reflection of the water. Over to my right was a lone Reedbuck, standing and keeping an eye on me for several minutes until running behind a bush. A herd of Impala also came out to drink some of the water and to graze. There are so many things you can notice about a place if you take the time to see it for what it is, not for what it is supposed to be.
There were a lot of fun things that happened in KPR. We were able to stop by the Baobab tree, a massive 20 meter tall tree whose reach extended way beyond that of any other tree in the area. We looked like ants compared to its size and it was hundreds of years old. One afternoon we took a trip to see a wild dog den, where we got to see the mother laying under a scrub for shade on a really hot day. You could hear the chirps of pups inside of the den, where the mother would go inside to check on them and then come out. On the way back from the wild dog den we saw a huge group of hippos all together in a waterhole. The hippos would open their mouths to give a warning and show dominance, and eventually started to walk towards our car. They were so big, yet could disappear right into the water, with only their little ears sticking out after a certain period of time. We went fishing with SB and Lebo, who showed us how to fish with just a hook and fishing line. I got my feet in the mud with the hippo grasses and swung the line myself to try to catch a fish. We only caught small fish so we released them all back, and then drove back to the sight of a baby elephant only a year old. Alex and I baked a loaf of bread three of the nights there for everyone to enjoy and it ended up being delicious.
One of the coolest sightings were the lions we got to see. On our first transect, Alex and I saw a pride of six lions resting under the shade of a tree just 10 meters away from the car. There were two 6 month cubs who were there as well, resting with the adult female lions. They would rub each other to greet one another and to exchange scents with one another. Another sighting was on my second transect, which was a lone adult male lion who was taking a nap in the shade of a tree. He eventually woke up, his mane all ruffled up, and walked to drink water in the nearby waterhole. We were also able to see baby Giraffe, Elephant, Impala, and Spur-winged geese. We even caught sightings of some more uncommon animals such as Roan and Duikers. I think it’s easy to forget how cool the things we get to see out here are because we are seeing them so often, but looking back at my experience in KPR I can’t believe some of the things I saw.