There they spread slowly to form the Okavango Delta, which, at its maximum flood, extends over an area larger than Wales. Jolting back to the dusty present, memories of the water evaporated as Newman stopped the 4WD and reached for his binoculars. The other two passengers, Delicia and Don, keen photographers from Vermont, were already straining to follow his gaze. "See the white dot near the fork in the dead leadwood tree," he began, as we realised that a leopard was ahead, reclining in a skeletal tree.
We edged closer and soon became distracted by another, smaller leopard, probably the lounging female's cub, who was toying with the remains of an impala carcass. We sat quietly, spoilt for choice with a content cat on either side. As is the norm in Botswana's private reserves, no other vehicles disturbed us. Chitabe Reserve stands next to Moremi National Park, and is one of many private reserves that have been used as hunting areas. Even in the last decade, the rights to limited hunting quotas in this area were regularly auctioned to the highest bidder. However, in recent years, the demand for safari camps has increased steadily, and photographic safari companies are increasingly buying the right to use such areas without hunting. We agreed to forgo the traditional safari "sundowner" ritual of finding a vantage point to watch the sunset, and instead stay with the leopards.
The cub, apparently disagreeing, took a chunk of meat and climbed onto the low bough of a sausage tree, enjoying it in the last, red rays of the day. After demolishing the meal, we watched the cub stalk a wily dove, and then roll over like a kitten when its prey flew away. Soon, I too took to the air, arriving onto the grass strip near Lebala Camp in the Kwando Reserve to be met by the jovial Steve Kgwatalala and his tracker, Moeti Madibela. Bordered on its east side by the Kwando River, this reserve is only just bigger than Hertfordshire, but in the late dry season, more elephants congregate here than live in the whole of South Africa. As part of the government's "high revenue, low volume" strategy for tourism, this reserve is limited to just 28 human visitors at any one time. Typical of Botswana's camps, Lebala is not cheap, but it is very good. You get a canvas suite the size of a good two-bedroom flat, plus great guiding in a pristine area We drove out after afternoon tea.
