We sleep great, getting up at 5:45 a little before our mandatory 6 am wakeup call. It is quite cold, about 40 degrees, so we put on cold weather layers and head to breakfast. 7 am we are in the truck and bumbling down the dusty tracks. Isaac declares that today we will look for painted dogs that have been denning in the area. First though we stop to watch a few jackals hunting doves by the watering hole and to visit a half dozen lions who are alternatively feeding on the elephant carcass we’d seen the day before and playing.

From there, we drive a bit further away from the lodge where we immediately come across a large pack of painted dogs. There are something like a dozen adults and nine puppies. We got there are a perfect time and the puppies are just starting to play, racing around tackling each other, and even climbing around and under our parked vehicle. Meanwhile the adults are wandering the perimeter keeping a keen watch out for other predators (like lions and hyenas) that might try to make a meal out of their babies. A while in, one of the mothers shows up and vomits up a pile of meat chunks to the delight of the pups who grab pieces and run around trying to make sure they get their own share. A combination of them playing and eating and us watching commences for 45 minutes or so before we call it good.

We make our way to a coffee and biscuit break and then arriving back at the lodge at 11 seeing number of fun things including: steenbok (very small antelope), kudus, our first roan antelope (very large antelope), a couple small owls, orange horn bills, korre bustards (the national bird), wildebeests, lilac breasted rollers, and more.

After lunch, it is now quite hot, so we go in the plunge pool and lounge on the deck watching giraffes cautiously drinking at the watering hole and spotting a small family of three warthogs. Tea at 3 and back in the truck at 3:30.

First stop is down south by a hill with a cliff face to see some 300 year old rock paintings. Isaac is afraid of heights and very much is not in favor of us doing this activity, including making reference to a previous guest having an accident doing it that when we asked other guides for details could not be confirmed actually happened. After attempting to convince us we could just use binoculars to see them from the ground, the 6 of us climbed up the rocky embankment 50ft or so. It was a bit slippery but more like steep hiking then climbing. From the ground, Isaac yelled out descriptive information about the painting.

Safely back on the ground, Isaac is relieved. Back in the truck he gets a call on the radio, leopard sighting near by. He asks us to hang on because we need to rush a little. The roads in Savute are very sandy, like the kind of fine sand you find on an exotic beach. The trucks form deep tire tracks in the sand and when you go fast the vehicle fish tails about, particularly when cornering, as the tires try to find traction and naturally trend towards settling in the middle of the existing wheel tracks. Diane and Derek are on the top-back seats for this drive which amplifies all the bounce and motion of the truck, it is quite a fun ride. About 5 minutes later Isaac pulls into the bush and positions us so we have a beautiful large male leopard walking straight at us with perfect evening light!

The leopard is starting its evening hunting, so it is walking slowly, but purposefully up toward and then up The Sand Ridge. Isaac repositions us a few times to keep getting good shots of the leopard walking into the sun. As the leopard starts heading up the hill, things start getting interesting for the trucks as the ridge is aptly named as it is made of soft sand with patches of dry grass and scrubby bushes. Isaac is gunning the engine, barreling up the hill trying to maintain momentum while avoiding stumps. Alas, we get stuck. Isaac attempts to free us but really just digs us deeper. The leopard is still visible, climbing the ridge. There are other trucks in the area that we can hear, but everyone is trying to get a view for their guests, so rescuing us is not a priority right now.

We keep an eye on the leopard, who is a safe several hundred meters up the hill sitting down and looking away from us scanning the area for food, while Isaac retrieves his emergency shovel and starts digging out the wheels. A few iterations on this and he successfully frees the truck and we are back in business. Isaac repositions and goes barreling up another section of the hill going well higher than some of his peers, trying to get us in position on the ridge. We don’t quite make it but have a view of some impala that we are all hoping might be on the menu. We wait patiently. Then one of the impala, closest to where we’d last seen the Leopard, starts making warning calls and looking that way. The group of impala run away. The alerting impala stands his ground making it audibly clear that he knew where the leopard was and wasn’t going to get eaten.

We see other trucks on and over the ridge so there is a way around. Isaac reverse back down and then traverses around to the side of the hill and does another high speed made dash up the hill. It is a beautiful scene, tall golden grass, sun directly in our faces, fish tailing around in the sand avoiding stumps. We make it over and around and relocate the leopard who is now just resting and waiting for another try at the hunt, presumably once all the trucks have gone home.

Time for sundowners. Only 100 meters away, at the top of the ridge, the camp has set up a surprise bar in the bush that they are calling Leopard Bar for the evening. What luck that they happened to set it up just where we were going to see a leopard. The cat is actually continuously visible from the site for the duration of our drinks. Nice cold GnTs, beautiful sunset, some chicken wings and biltong snacks, and a leopard in the distance. Pretty great first full day at Savute.