Animal encounters, part of the thrill

A little story about a previous animal encounter 

How we once got enough...

Ihaha Public Campsite in Botswana
We're caught in the zoo on the wrong site of the fence!

Most places, you only have peaceful animals in the camp. However, one time we got enough! We were camping at Ihaha Public Campsite in Botswana. We had a leopard outside the tent at night, had to keep baboons at a distance with stones while eating and at night they were examining our tent from the outside. We were invaded by beetles, and early morning, a whole bunch of elephants walked through our camp while we had breakfast (!) We decided to break up camp and head for a luxury lodge. You can read about our experience in Danish at this link (link). In English:

Help us: We're caught in the zoo on the wrong site of the fence!

Ihaha Public Campsite, Botswana 2012. 

We didn't really think it could get worse considering our previous animal encounters on this trip. We have had threats from a big male leopard resting on the water tank in our camp in "Grassland Safari Lodge Campsite", Central Kalahari. A Kalahari lion outside our tent at Sunday Pan, Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Most recently, hippos outside our tent at "Third Bridge Campsite", Okavango Delta (just to mention a few of our previous animal encounters). Now, we have all the animals at the same time and many more here in our camp at Ihaha Public Campsite (except Kalahari lions).  

We are surrounded by animals everywhere - and in large quantities. They wade right through our campsite. Yes, we feel like we are the food in a large zoo. There are practically elephants all over, big flocks of buffaloes, sable antelopes, impalas, kudu, hippopotamus, wild boar, zebras, and others.

The baboons are the worst. They came at sunset just as we were supposed to eat. They were extremely cunning! They sneaked in from all sides and keept a close eye on us, or perhaps more correctly, our food. They would not mind stealing our food directly from the table while we are eating. I manage to chase them away with stones, while my wife and two children heroically try to eat dinner "peacefully". It turns out to be a completely hopeless project - the food is thrown into the mouth accompanied by a stone throwing and shouting father, while the baboons laugh, now from a high tree just above our camp. As the food disappears from the table, the situation seems more calm. But then, suddenly big black beetles everywhere in the camp! We are trapped in a big cloud af beetles. Finally, we realize they are attracted by our camp lamp. After turning off the light, we get some peace, now sitting in complete darkness, still with the baboons above us in the tree. We surrender to nature and decide to head for our beds. It feels somewhat more safe inside the tents. 

This night, me and my wife are awake most of the time. We hear leopards, hippos and elephants not far from the tent. The leopards have a characteristic coughing sound! The baboons sneak around our tent and look for openings and food. Not very comfortable with a big baboon sneaking around approx. 3 centimeters from your head just outside the tent cloth! I knock on the canvas and can hear it jump to the side. Also, there are lots of other "creepy sounds" outside. Actually, we feel it´s an advantage that we do not know exactly which animals they come from. The kids are sleeping deeply on the roof of the car. They always seem confident we can manage any animals (!?) Or maybe not this time. Next morning, for the first time, our son said "I could hardly sleep, did you hear all the animals?" At least some justice! He has slept safely during all the previous nocturnal animal visits while we have been wide awake. 

We decide to leave Ihaha Public Campsite and head for a luxury lodge - one day before planned!

The baboons are the worst. They came at sunset just as we were supposed to eat.
They sneaked in from all sides and keept a close eye on us.
This picture was taken just before invasion!

Elephants in the camp, children stil in rooftop tent