Night visitor

After sitting round the fire, baking bread on leftover coals, we turned in.

Lying in bed that night, we listened as grass rustled gently on grass in the cool Kalahari breeze. Intricate night sounds played out to each other under a deep moonless night sky, each to their own tune and in their own code.

A distant jackal broke the restless air with its wailing, marking the start of another night in the deepest Kalahari.

Not an hour later, a soft padding close by broke into the night tunes. Sitting up gently in the rooftop tent, we gazed down into the darkness searching for shifting shadows. In the faint starlight glow a white-tipped, curling tail gave the game away − leopard!

In the first light of the next morning, the small pugmarks were all around the Landy – he had returned in the night.

Shortly thereafter, from the rooftop tent we watched a pair of wailing jackals on the pan near the camp. A magnificent black-maned male lion was on a mission down the length of the pan, jackals in tow. We could not have dreamed up a better start to a Kalahari day.