This morning is noticeably warmer than the previous two days, although still cold enough for puffer jackets and beanies. The morning drive is pretty quiet. The lion pride is on the move but walking inconveniently in some thick brush parallel to the main roads, then periodically crossing and disappearing again. All the safari drivers are racing around trying to find and keep track of them. We get a few fleeting glimpses in the bush and one spot of the crossing the road. Otherwise we generally just enjoy the pleasant weather, scenery, and lesser animal sightings.

Isaac is a wealth of knowledge and when the game viewing is slow he is constantly finding interesting things to show us and tell about. He stopping at a large elephant foot print and asked us if we wanted to learn how to tell the age of an elephant? He measured the circumference of the footprint with a wire, 130 cm. You then take this, divide it by two and subtract 5. So this elephant was approximately 60 years old! You can also estimate its height by multiplying the circumference by 2 and that is their height in ft. Interesting. We also stopped at a buffalo skull and Isaac hopped out an gave us another anatomy lesson.

At around 9 we stop for our final coffee break and Andrew and Louise get transferred to another vehicle that will take them back to camp to finish packing while we get driven to the airstrip. Flight is a 10 minutes late or so, and Isaac keeps joking that we are on Africa Time. Our truck was on wildlife clearing duty for the runway so we were positioned at the far end. Several minutes before the flight arrived 2 giraffes and 4 kudu lazily wandered across the runway.

Quick 25 minute Safari Air flight to Xakanaxa Airstrip and we are back to safari. Camp Moremi is about a 20 minute drive from the airstrip and right on the water, the Xacanaxa Lagoon. Initial impressions are that it is a very nice camp with large traditional esthetic safari rooms, the style of which we like very much. Lunch is delicious, then we go for a dip in the frigid pool at 2, tea at 3, and on the truck at 3:30. The couple who will be sharing our guide decide not to go this evening, so it just the four of us.

It is a great first drive. Tom and Angela rack up a ton of firsts. Right off the bat, 5 minutes from the lodge, our guide, Lasty, surprises us with a set of 8 lion cubs that have been residing in the area for a few days. We are the first vehicle on this scene and they are just waking up to start feeding. Absolutely adorable😍.

Several hundred digital photos later, Lasty drives us another 5 minutes and locates a group of Hippos that are out on the bank sunning themselves. There are also 3 babies in the group which are chubby and adorable at well.

We get really great shots of a giant Fish Eagle, another set of Hippos running from grass back into the water, and a rather impressively large crocodile on the bank.

Next up is a pack of Vervet monkeys.  Angela is starting to hyperventilate with all the excitement and wielding her oversized camera lens.

We stumble across a group of 6 zebras in great setting sun light. Three of them line up perfectly for a triple profile shot in good light. You can always use one more photo of a beautiful zebra.

For sundowners, the camp has setup the Hippo Bar, which is a fully bar in between two large lagoons that are filled with hippos with the sun setting beyond a picturesque tree line. Absolutely beautiful. A great first evening in Moremi and a very different climate and set of wildlife from Savuti even though we are just a few hundred kms away.