Month: January 2014

Tau Pan January 2014

Published January 31, 2014 by Kwando Safaris

The last days of December had a little surprise in store for Tau Pan – a sighting of two wild dogs at Makgoa Pan! The two males were very relaxed, and we were able to get some good photos of them. We are not sure whether they are from the pack of seven that we have seen a few times in 2013, or they are two individuals that have come from even further afield.

The first of January, a new year, and a new tactic from a lone black back jackal – hunting on his own, he managed to catch and kill a young springbok lamb – something that is not far off his own size.

A couple of days later, a lion and lioness were seen around Tau pan, calling to the rest of their pride. They have not managed to find their relatives in a couple of weeks, as the pride has moved out on a patrol of its territory now that the game is plentiful and there is sufficient water available for them to travel longer distances. In the absence of the pride, a female cheetah is having an easier time of things, and snuck down to the water hole to drink.

We were lucky enough to see another four cheetahs walking along Aardwolf road – this coalition we have not seen before, as we normally see a group of three brothers in the area. It will be interesting if the four are just passing through, or if they are intending to make a base in the area.

January, in many parts of Botswana, is regarded as the ‘quiet’ season – historically it was the time when camps were closed, often remaining closed until May or June. Those days are long gone, as visitors realise that the green season is a wonderful time to visit Botswana, and for the Kalahari, this is definitely the case. Deserts are officially classified as such depending on the amount of rainfall they receive annually. The Central Kalahari receives a little more rainfall than some of the other famous deserts, and as such, the early months of the year burst out in green, as the worlds largest biomass takes over the sand: grass. Not growing as tall as in other parts of the country, January is the prime time to see it in its lushness, with multitude of types that are the first things the hungry antelope are waiting for. giant crows foot, cats tail, finger grass, buffalo grass, saw-tooth love grass, turpentine grass… even the wonderfully named Panicum maximum, which sounds as if it’s walked straight out of the pages of an Asterix comic book, but has a rather duller English name of Guinea grass…

And with this grass arrives all the counterparts: springbok and oryx in large numbers, congregate on the pan during the day, huddling in the shade of the newly leaved trees when it all gets too hot. Bright green young armoured crickets – looking somewhat like extras in a B-grade sci-fi movie – hop from stem to stem, munching anything in their path (including each other if need be). Following them, and other insects or frogs that the rain might encourage, come hundreds and hundreds of marabou storks, and for a short period, thousands of white storks seem to be tottering through each patch of grass, looking slightly confused as to what they are doing there. For them, the Kalahari is a transit route on their travels, and such insects provide a good protein boost on their journey. An even more confused solitary flamingo arrived at Tau Pan as well at the end of the month – staying just a day before continuing on to the salt pans around Nata, where most of his colleagues were already waiting.

It was a rather exciting, but slightly alarming, end to the month of January in Tau Pan, when the ‘youngsters’ from the Tau Pan pride set up camp at the waterhole. They are at an age where it’s a point of contention whether to call them adult, or still sub-adult, but to the average eye, they are certainly large enough that you wouldn’t want to meet them face to face at ground level. They still retain a youthful character however, and in the absence of more sedate lions, they don’t pass up an opportunity to play. The young males (already with substantial manes) wrestled and tagged each other, whilst their sister looked on. Finding her own source of amusement, she decided to climb a tree. Lions are not well known for their tree climbing abilities, but they can all do it. They are actually very good at climbing trees, and can quickly clamber up a trunk and onto a branch. The problem they have is getting down again, as they can never seem to figure out if they should go down forwards, backwards, sideways, or a combination of all three, usually with a bit of hissing and a very clumsy landing. So it was to the surprise of the guests, guide and tracker that suddenly there was a lioness sitting ‘comfortably’ in the tree.

The biggest surprise – and what made everyone slightly anxious – is that the tree the lioness had chosen to climb was hanging right over where the vehicle was parked. The lioness herself appeared unbothered by the people seated below her, and after a few minutes of perusing the horizon, clambered back down, thankfully somewhat more elegantly than most of her relatives could manage. Everyone finally remembered to breath, and the guide moved the vehicle off to an area that didn’t have any overhanging branches.

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Nxai Pan January 2014

Published January 31, 2014 by Kwando Safaris

The second day of the month looked dark and stormy, but we headed out on drive that morning anyway, to see what we could find. Soon we came upon a male cheetah, that was very relaxed, and patrolled around the pan. That morning we also saw three lioness with three young, and lots of general game, including some of the hundreds of zebras that have moved into the Nxai area, bringing their young with them.

The very next day, we were lucky enough to see two cheetahs mating – quite a rare event to behold. After mating, the male tried to leap out of the way of the snarling female, but was not quite fast enough and received a cut to the nose as she slashed her paw across his face!

January is definitely all about zebra – as they come in Nxai Pan for the fresh green grass that is growing. This provides sufficient nutrition – and plentiful water – to ensure the health of their young, before moving into other areas as it starts to dry out in a few months. It’s a little it and miss – we never know when they are going to arrive, and how many, as it is totally dependent on the rain fall. But this year, they came en masse, and were prolific in January. Hundreds and hundreds, more likely several thousand, have made their way to Nxai this year, with zebra roaming on every plain, and resting under each shady tree. After the rains, there are several natural waterholes with enough available for them to drink, without having to rely on the two pumped pans in the park. But with so many zebra, all watering places have a steady stream of animals moving in and out to drink. Each herd clears out of the way quickly should a dusty grey elephant arrive, as they are liable to throw their weight around in a rather rough manner when it comes to water access …

And its not just the antelope and zebra that are having babies – a lioness was seen walking from tree island to tree island, calling to her little cubs, and moving them from one location to another, after finding a safer hiding place. And when you are a lion, everyone is looking at you – not just the tourists. Another lioness was found lying down trying to relax, but totally surrounded by zebras, wildebeest, springboks and impalas, who were all alarm calling and trying to get her to move out of the area for their own safety!

Cheetahs were also seen several times this month, often around the water hole, stalking the many antelope that are still coming there to drink. Lions were also resting in the area nearby, so the waterhole is still a focus of action in spite of the several pans having water. The cheetah did manage to bring down a springbok, although we did not see the actual kill, we found the cheetah feeding. We were lucky enough to see leopard on the same day.

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Lebala January 2014

Published January 31, 2014 by Kwando Safaris

The first was a lucky day for a leopard that managed to catch a young tsessebe and take it up a tree to feed on. Sadly for the mother, she wandered around the area calling to her baby, but with no answer.

The pack of eight dogs meant business when they came across an adult warthog in their travels. Intent on hunting it, they chased the warthog, who quickly made his escape down a hole in the ground. Backing in, and then facing out to meet the dogs, the warthog made a successfully ferocious stand, and the dogs realised he was too aggressive a prey to deal with that day!

A most unusual sighting on the night drive one evening, with an even more surprising out come: for some reason, a honey badger and an aardwolf (an animal that looks a little like a small hyena, but eats only ants and termites!) took a dislike to each other and began to fight. What is even stranger, is that the honey badger – one of the most aggressive smaller animals that will happily face off with a leopard – appeared to be the loser of the party, but not before leaving a very pungent stink in the vicinity!

And hundreds of elands were also seen in Lebala area! This phenomenally shy antelope is occasionally seen in small herds, but the summer rains have brought them out in large numbers, gathering together to feed on the grass. Still shy, we have to keep a large distance between us, in order to view them.

The large amounts of rain that began the month, although life-giving to many animals, created an unfortunate situation for a herd of elephants. We came across a large pack of hyenas that were feeding on a baby elephant, that had died some time before, as a result of being stuck in the mud. No doubt that its herd had tried their utmost to free the baby, but it had tired and died. The adult elephants would have remained in the area after the baby died, and the hyenas would not have been able to feast until they had moved off.

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Lagoon January 2014

Published January 31, 2014 by Kwando Safaris

In early January two of the three females of Lagoon Pride were seen often near Watercut, looking in good health. They were seen moving from Watercut to the grass pan and cutline, as the prey disperses. At the end of January, we realised why they were spending a lot of time in the Watercut area…. Tiny mewing sounds could be heard from a clump of bushes a short distance off the road. Another two or three days later, and one of the lionesses felt comfortable enough to encourage her new cubs out of their den, aged only about 4 or 5 weeks old. The three lion cubs suckled happily, whilst mum relaxed in the shade, everyone totally oblivious of the vehicle watching.

For several years, the Lagoon area lions have led a fairly nomadic existence, with no dominant male able to hold the territory for any length of time. The birth of cubs indicates a healthy, stable lion population. The risk is, of course, that any of the nomadic lions that still pass through will take any opportunity to kill the cubs. We hope that this does not occur, and the three cubs have a chance to grow up and add another generation to the lion family.

The lionesses managed to kill an adult kudu, but were forced off the kill by a large pack of hyenas that we found feeding on the carcass. With small cubs in the area of the kill, the lionesses needed to be careful not to let the hyenas anywhere near their den site, so would have retreated quickly rather than stand and face off over the kill.

The pack of 8 wild dogs (3 males and 5 females) were seen at John’s pan, hunting from a pack of impala. They were not successful however, after a few attempts, and then sat down to relax. Later in the month the same pack were seen hunting a warthog, but again no luck as it escaped down a burrow. They then moved on to a herd of wildebeest, but the herd defended it’s young, and the wild dogs lost out again! There were also tracks of the large pack of 20 dogs seen in the north of the concession, but this pack remains very shy, and although we did extensive tracking, we were not able to catch up with the pack.

An absence of the large buffalos this month, as they have moved into the mopane areas. It will not be long before they return, but the lions are having to choose other prey whilst they are away. The elephants have made their return, however, and lovely breeding herds are coming down to the river to drink and are also seen crossing near the camp – some having a little swim as they go. It’s lovely to have them back in good numbers – apart from, of course, when they set up camp during the day IN the camp, and then it’s a little less lovely once they have left not so little packages along the pathways!

Although Secretary birds are present in the area the whole year around, it is always exciting to see some new behaviour and in January we located a nesting bird, that we will be keeping an eye on in the coming weeks. At this stage, we can only imagine how ungainly the chicks will look with their exceedingly long legs!

It’s definitely baby season for most species, with lots of little giraffes, zebras, impalas and tssessebe running around. Warthog have a reputation for looking a little on the ugly side, but one mother was seen with four tiny piglets – probably born in the past day or two at the most – and nothing could be cuter than these little miniatures trotting after their mum.

This month, great sightings of eland! Herds were found around Grass pan and John’s pan – unusual to see so many – and with lots of young calves. And the rarest sighting of the month – a mole rat on a night drive! It’s exceptionally unusual to see one of these animals as they live almost entirely underground. Only the little mounds of fresh dirt that appear in the mornings indicate where they have been!

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Kwara January 2014

Published January 31, 2014 by Kwando Safaris

Early January and we came upon a lone lioness as she walked along the Shindi main road, heading towards the marshes. As she walked, she made low contact calls, as she has obviously hidden her cubs in the marsh area, and wanted to let them know that she is on her way. Although we were unable to locate the cubs that day, two days later, we were able to see two lionesses along the same road, this time, with all seven of their cubs (of varying ages) with them.

Two cheetah brothers were found in the hippo pool area of Splash, quietly watching a herd of zebra and wildebeest, each with young. Although they spent some time and watching and eventually stalking, they were not successful this time, and the zebra and wildebeest moved away.

On the 7^th, a pack of 17 wild dogs (including 7 sub-adults) were seen in the area with blood on their faces, having just eaten. They were moving at speed, heading north, and being followed by hyenas, who were obviously hoping such a large pack would soon need to hunt again.

Four male lions attempted to bring down a hippo, but even four of these big males were unable to achieve this, and the hippo, although injured, fought back and managed to get back to the safety of the water. Elsewhere, two lionesses and two lions had better luck and brought down a zebra, and were able to feed on it for two days, being joined by their two cubs.

One game drive we came upon an elephant that was trumpeting and “stomping” up and down as only a very unhappy elephant can. It was only by watching him carefully, that we realised he was upset about something that was in the bushes, as he kept charging to and fro… On closer investigation, we discovered there was a large male lion lying under the fever berry tree! Thanks to the elephant, we got a lovely sighting of a relaxing lion – and presumably relaxing even more when the elephant gave up and left. The next day it was the other animals that indicated to us where a lioness was: three giraffes standing still and staring, and others running away. We were then able to spot a lioness moving through the marshes until she reached a den with a tiny cub waiting.

It’s not just the lions that have the cubs this time around: a very lovely sighting this month of one genet cat with three kittens. The genet was unusually relaxed, sitting in a sausage tree, with her young, and feeding on a tree mouse which the kittens were fighting over.

A relaxed serval cat was found hunting. We were lucky enough to see the kill being successful, and she caught a baby scrub hare. And as with last month, another rare sighting of a water mongoose.

There was plenty of general game in the area this month, with the region around the airstrip and towards the third bridge providing particularly good sightings, with lots of relaxed animals, and the young impala being suckled.

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