The document describes experiences at several safari camps in Botswana. At one camp, a lioness had killed four newborn cubs. The author relates to the mother lion's grief over losing her cubs, as the author recently had a miscarriage. At other camps, there were signs of new life among the animals, including mating lions and baboons. The author finds the safari cures her sadness and immerses her in the pristine natural surroundings.

2. I’m sure, if you had been mating every 20 At safari camps, signs of
minutesforfourstraightdayswithoutsleep- peace and peril
ing or eating.
It’s amazing how close we could get By Jenny Hontz
to lions in love without causing them any
upset. Apparently, as long as you’re in the At Duba Plains safari camp in Bo-
safari truck (which has neither windows tswana’s Okavango Delta, there was
nor guns), they don’t view you as a threat. fighting within the pride. A rogue
Step out of the vehicle, and all bets are lioness had killed four newborns, and
off. Puts things in perspective, envisioning their mother, breasts still engorged
yourself as lion lunch. with milk, cried out over and over for
The Kalahari Plains Camp near Decep- her cubs.
tionValley was the most remote stop on our I tried to hide the tears welling in
trip. During the three-hour drive from the my eyes, feeling it was silly to humanize
dirt airport runway to camp, we passed a a lion. But I knew how she felt. Just a few
snake so poisonous that if we’d been bitten, months earlier, I had lost a pregnancy at
we probably would have died before reach- the midpoint, my first attempt at having
ing help. a baby ending abruptly in despair.
Much more pleasant were the herds of With the worst of the agony behind
odd-looking oryx. These antelopes, which me but the wounds still raw, this trip Near Xigera camp, a giraffe’s hide gets a
appeared to be part horse, part cow, are with Wilderness Safaris was an effort to once-over from small birds searching for
thought by some to have been the inspira- restore my spirits. I had always dreamed insects.
tion for the mythical unicorn. So many of of visiting Africa, and I knew a safari
them populated the desert that a jaded Ger- would be tough to pull off once a baby shout, “Get a room!”
man tourist started calling out,“Just another arrived. Though I never would have The lions at Xigera were also getting
oryx.” The sturdy herbivores finally earned asked for it, now was my chance. busy. Or so we heard. It took us three
his respect after we watched a group of My husband couldn’t get away, so days to find them. We’d spotted a huge
themchaseoffacheetah,turningtowardthe my former college roommate, Heather, dazzle of zebras and elephants that tried
spottedcatandbravelyadvancingenmasse. joined me on the journey. We decided to but failed to hide their girth in the bush.
The Kalahari Desert is so barren and visit three safari camps: the brand-new, We’d taken a traditional mokoro canoe
dry most of the year, it’s hard to believe that solar-powered Kalahari Plains Camp and ride through water lilies and papyrus
anything or anyone can survive there. But two spots in the lush Okavango Delta, reeds, passing giraffes munching along
life is possible even in the most unlikely Xigera and finally Duba Plains, where the shore. But where were the lions?
places.TheindigenousBasarwapeople,also the lion and the buffalo go head to Where were the buffaloes?
known as San and Bushmen, traditionally head. Game drives can be an exercise in
endured the relentless sunshine by digging It was summer in Botswana, hot and patience, hardly my strongest quality.
for roots filled with water. wet. Signs of life -- and death -- were It’s not like a zoo. You can tool around
And the harsh desert landscape always everywhere. The day before we arrived for hours and spot nothing more
springs to life again after the rains. Grasses at Duba Plains, a pride of 10 lions had than some fancy antelopes and a few
sprout, flowers bloom and butterflies flit downed a buffalo, and vultures had al- warthogs. The good news is, you won’t
across vast open spaces. Ducks swim in the ready picked the carcass clean. Nature’s see any sign of human beings, either.
puddles of the dirt road.We even saw a giant cruel efficiency. I was happy to have For days, our view was never marred
bullfrog dive into the water beneath our sa- missed the kill. by buildings, cars or trash. Nothing but
fari truck. So strange to encounter a frog in As luck would have it, we witnessed miles and miles of pristine wilderness
thedesert.Theyhideundergroundformany lots of life being created instead. At and elephant dung.
months, emerging only when the sky opens Xigera, a tropical oasis on Paradise Island I eventually learned that if I just
and the birds start to sing. overlooking a river, it was hard not to relaxed and took it all in, things would
Back at camp, the Basarwa tribe blush at all the activity. One afternoon, work out. There wasn’t a single day we
members on the staff also sang in praise on the raised wooden walkway lead- didn’t experience something new and
of the rain, stomping the earth around our ing to my tent, an entire baboon fam- invigorating. And in those rare moments
campfire. I sang, too, imagining the rain ily confronted me. I backed up as they when you’re the one to identify some
washing away my grief, determined to carry advanced, but I finally froze, holding my distant movement in grass, you will feel
this moment forward. On parched nights ground a few feet from the babies. Then as if you’ve just dug up hidden treasure.
pregnant with longing, such memories can they all hopped to the ground, and the On our last morning at Xigera, we
give one hope. parents started mating. I was tempted to went on a wild ride in search of big