Month: November 2013

Tau Pan November 2013

Published November 30, 2013 by Kwando Safaris

Most of the Kalahari’s canids are denning, including the Cape fox, bat-eared foxes and black backed jackals. In a few weeks time, we stand a chance of seeing the young pups of these animals playing in the green grasses that the promise of rain brings. The Kalahari is all about big skies, and there is no better place to view those skies and electrical storms than from the deck of Tau Pan camp. Built on a vegetated sand ridge, its elevated position gives a breathtaking view to the far horizon. There have been some amazing cloud formations, and isolated rain falls, but by the end of November, there was still very little water collecting. The springbok had not, as yet, dropped their young, which they are likely to do in the next week or so. All the summer migratory birds are here: Montague’s and Pallid harriers, Levaillant’s and Diederik cuckoos, yellow billed kites, and the white storks (perhaps they are the ones that carry in the springbok babies??!)

An offshoot of the original Tau Pan pride – two adult lionesses, one big male and one young male – were found on the Matswerewere Road. This group spend a lot of time away from Tau Pan itself, and only seem to come back to the area to drink. A few days later, we found a male and a female with two young males resting next to the Passarge Pan.

Back at Tau Pan, roaring and growling could be heard during the night, telling the tale that there was another lion event happening. The next morning, a coalition of three male cheetahs was found having killed a common duiker, but soon lost the kill to the two young male lions. Unfortunately for the youngsters, they didn’t get to keep it long either, as the big male arrived on the scene and grappled it away, keeping this meal to himself.

In the middle of the month, staff noticed some untoward action from the edge of the camp, and realized that lions had killed a giraffe during the day, not far from the camp. Spreading the word to the guests in camp, vehicles were ready to take the guests out on an impromptu game drive, to see the lions begin their feast. The managers and guides were more than a little surprised to discover that some of the guests were shocked that the camp would think they would want to see such carnage… The lions spent five days eating their way through the meal, with some guests enjoying the sighting, and other guides studiously avoiding the area…. a kill is something so many want to see – until they see it!!!!

There were also several sightings of cheetahs this month – both solitary males and females in the Tau Pan area, and two male cheetahs around Letiahau waterhole.

In terms of unusual sightings, it was a lucky day for guests on the 5^th November – its not often you get to see a pangolin and an aardvark in one day! Naturally, both animals were very shy, so each sighting was short, but it was great to be able to see such oddities at all!

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Nxai Pan November 2013

Published November 30, 2013 by Kwando Safaris

Dusk and dawn in Africa are intoxicating times of day, with light that changes from soft and delicate to vibrant shades of red, yellow and pink. It was even more magical one morning at Nxai, when a dense mist covered short grass plains. Through the mist, two zebra foals were gambolling about, seemingly for the sheer joy of it – one tiring, and then the other encouraging more play. Not far from them, a female cheetah appeared out of the mists, focused more on the waterhole in front of camp than the gallivanting zebras. She slunk down to the pan to have a drink, and then moved off into the bushes as the mist lifted, and the heat of the day began.

The first of November was a busy day in Nxai, not just the cheetah above, but a large number of ostriches were near the camp waterhole, as well as the normal elephants. Further afield in the Nxai Pan itself, bat eared foxes, jackals, and hundreds of springboks moved around the plain. A herd of over forty wildebeest, and a similar number of elephants kept a watchful eye on the six lions that were resting not far from the waterhole.

A few days later, dark clouds promising of an afternoon thunderstorm moved in, but rain failed to appear. Instead, two big male lions that seemed new to the Nxai Pan area, moved towards the waterhole and then began roaring. In the far distance a faint rumble was heard – difficult to tell whether it was answering lions or distant thunder!

Without rainfall, animals have to toss up between a desperate thirst, and the risk of attack when approaching the waterholes. Thirst normally wins out, and so it was the case when a hundred impalas and springboks were queuing at the waterhole on the 10^th. They all seemed oblivious to the two lions that were waiting on the western side. Or perhaps, realizing the lions were too busy mating, they would not be interested in taking a break for a light meal!

However, mating lions is one thing, but four lionesses are a completely different story. Resting in the shade after a drink, the lionesses watched the antelope approach the waterhole to have a drink as well. Soon, the lionesses switched to alert, and began stalking the antelope. A slight change in breeze, and the prey realized what was happening, and bounded safely away, having to wait for another time when there were not such focused predators around!

Wild dogs made an appearance again this month, and this time, they brought four puppies with them… They went through the area in front of the camp, to try and drink, but the elephants had made the edge of the water too deep for them to get to safely, so they waited in the shade patiently. After a while, they moved off, and were seen in the area around the main gate camp site a few days later.

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Lebala November 2013

Published November 30, 2013 by Kwando Safaris

An adult male leopard was located heading north from Lebala camp in the cool of the morning. The cat was looking very hungry, and after only ten minutes of us following him, he spotted a herd of impala. Sadly, the wind was not in his favour, and the impalas smelt the danger, fleeing in bounding leaps .

The same leopard was then seen again the next afternoon, having just killed a zebra foal. This male appears to have taken over from the resident male of the area, which we have not seen in some time. As the sun began to set, a single hyena approached the kill, and the leopard moved off for five minutes before returning. There was then a very unusual sighting of a hyena feeding at one end of the kill, and, not 50cm away, a leopard feeding at the other end! Neither seemed too bothered about the other!

A morning visit to the hyena den produced an unusual sighting of five adults and three young out of the den, resting in the shade. Since it was late morning, the cubs would normally have been hidden away in the depths of the den, but obviously sought some comfort from the presence of so many adults.

On the fifth, the pack of five wild dogs were located next to the Old Hippo Pools during the afternoon drive. They were actively hunting, and made several attempts on impalas and tsessebes with babies, but had no luck. The next day, the same pack were more successful, and we watched them hunt and co-ordinate to kill a steenbok. Towards the end of the month, the Lagoon pack of dogs paid us a visit – killing and feeding on a fully grown female kudu.

Its not only wild dogs that hunt in packs and work well as a team: three of our trackers spent an hour and a half tracking indistinct footprints of a solitary male cheetah that was hunting. Eventually, the tracking paid off, and the male was found – it was tricky to identify if this was the male from the two brothers, or from the coalition of three. He was fully grown and well fed!

Lions have also been active in the area, and although two big males were found sleeping in the already hot temperatures of late morning, they proved their reputation of laziness wrong when they both got up and started walking. One began to roar and mark his territory, obviously responding to something that was far to distant for us to hear.

The King of the Jungle – the lion. Such a mighty beast: capable of pulling down adult elephants if they work together. Imagine what can happen if you get eight of them working together to catch a …. Dwarf mongoose? Yes, that’s right. Something that is roughly the same size as a small squirrel. Sad to say – though not for the mongoose – eight lions simply couldn’t manage it. All of them were chasing round trying to be the first to catch the mongoose, banging into each other whilst doing so. Whilst they were busy banging heads, the mongoose made its escape, and the lions returned to their fierce-looking demeanour.

Although the breeding herds will start moving off now, the bull elephants will stay in the area. One bull ele was caught napping – literally. It’s tricky for elephants to lie down for any length of time as their body weight places a lot of strain on their internal organs. It’s not uncommon however, for them to lie at an angle along a termite mound. Obviously, one ele was deep in slumber and did not hear the vehicle approaching until too late, and then it was a quick jump to the feet, seeming to say, no, I was not napping!

Two of the smaller cats were seen on the 7^th – a shy African wildcat, who disappeared quickly off the path, and a strangely relaxed caracal, that eventually moved off into the bushes. Another wild cat was seen a few days later, this time with two kittens. But it was a very sad event, as a black mamba managed to kill one of the kittens, and the mother escaped with only one.

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Lagoon November 2013

Published November 30, 2013 by Kwando Safaris

Lions were found almost every day this month, with the two male lions being seen nearly every second day, including when they were found feeding on a buffalo they had killed. Two females were found on the same day, also feeding. There was a pride of three females that were also seen regularly, once feasting on a warthog kill.

The pack of nine dogs (four male and five female) were seen just three minutes from the camp, with a fresh kill. We also watched whilst they moved to drink water from the pan along Old Lebala road. A pack of five dogs (four male and one female), more commonly seen in the Lebala area, were also found closer to Lagoon in the middle of the month. However, at the end of the month, the pack of nine appeared to have lost one male – they were seen twice with only 8 members. Perhaps one was injured and unable to keep up with the pack as both sightings were of when the pack was hunting. That may just mean that the rest of the dogs go back to him later, and regurgitate food for him.

This month was also good for leopard sightings, with a lovely male that allowed us to watch him and follow him for about an hour, before he slinked off through the bushes. Two different females were seen on consecutive days hunting for impala. One female was found resting in a sausage tree, and then clambered down some minutes later. She looked rather hungry, and disappeared off into the bush on a hunting mission.

The three cheetah males made a return and were seen just five minutes from camp, well fed, and then again the next day. Their irregular visits to the area continue to baffle us!

With the first sprinkling of rain, the herds of elephants decide to try their chances in the mopane woodland, where the trees would have their fresh leaves, and the water will have collected in the clay soils that mopane favours. Although they are right in thinking the mopane will have nice leaves at the moment, there has not as yet been sufficient rainfall for much water to collect in the pans, so they are likely to still need to ‘commute’ and come back to the rivers edge to drink. Similarly, the buffalo herds – although still congregating in large numbers – will slowly start to disperse, looking for a wider range of grazing grounds as the new grass shoots start to emerge.

Although most of our guests like to focus on the comings and goings of the larger animals, it is sometimes easy to overlook the hierarchy of the bird world is also running alongside this. This month, we had a wonderful sighting of a martial eagle – the largest raptor in Botswana – feeding on a monitor lizard that it had caught. Waiting ‘in the wings’, so to speak, was the slightly smaller tawny eagle, hoping for any off cuts or dropped bits!

Lovely herds of eland, zebra, roan, sable and giraffe were seen this month. We also saw two porcupines in one night – one whilst out on drive, and another only a few minutes from camp.

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Kwara November 2013

Published November 30, 2013 by Kwando Safaris

The first couple of day of November in Kwara, it was left-overs for dinner each night for two male and one female lions – the hippo they had killed right at the end of October still had enough food left for them. Two days later, four males spent a couple of days feeding on a buffalo they had killed. In fact, there were only two days this month that lions were not found – so it’s hard to detail which sightings were the most interesting. The four ‘Marsh boys’ the big males that ousted the members of the Magnificent seven returned to the area with a female and two sub-adults in tow. They were also found feeding on a hippo.

On the 4^th, the pack of 18 wild dogs (11 adults and 7 young) were seen feeding on a lechwe – a big antelope, but a quick meal when split amongst 18 individuals. An even smaller snack for them was a single impala we saw them hunt a couple of days later. With a pack this size, they will normally hunt and catch two to three impala a day, but sadly not always whilst we are watching! From the middle of the month the pack moved out of the easily reached areas of the concession, perhaps seeking new hunting ground, but returned at the end of the month with all members alive and well.

A few months ago a bush fire tore through a section of the concession. At the time, these can be worrying, but there was sufficient water and open areas with less vegetation for it to stop well before it got close to the camps. The area is now like an enormous well-maintained golf course, with a carpet of short bright green grass. Delineated by the tracks, where the fire was unable to cross, the yellow/grey tall moribund vegetation on the other side of the track shows a stark contrast. The problem with playing golf on one of these areas is you are more than likely going to hit an animal. Herds of zebra, wildebeest, tsessebe and other grazers have moved in to consume the luscious grass. Towards the end of the month, these herds were joined by the addition of lots of little hooves: the impala had dropped their young – usually all within a few days of each other – and now there were lots of small bouncy animals ricocheting around the herds on their stick-thin legs. Sadly, this is also a time for predators to be like kids in a sweet shop, with lots of fairly defenceless bite-size morsels readily available.

Game drives are always popular in the Kwara concession, because the variety of animals on offer is so great. However, the mokoros also provide unusual sightings outside of the normal water-lily and bell-frog viewing. A stop on a bank to stretch legs and have a cup of coffee during one mokoro outing provided a complete game viewing experience when a reedbuck was noticed swimming along in the water, being followed closely by a pack/slither/menace (what is the correct collective noun??) of crocodiles…. She escaped unharmed, coming out on a far bank, but the reason for her morning dip was spotted standing on the other side of the Lagoon – a pack of six wild dogs!

In the Tsum Tsum area, an elephant passed away, leaving a true feast for all and sundry. It was an unusual meeting of feeders, with hyenas eating on one side, vultures feeding on top of the elephant, and seventeen crocodiles – some several metres in length – feasting on the other side! Since there was enough meat to go around, there was no squabbling between the sides….

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