During September, Nxai Pan was a popular spot. A pride of five lions, including three lionesses and two cubs, were often seen strutting around the camp in the evening, especially around 7:30 pm when guests gathered for drinks near the bar and dining area.
Persistent tracking led us to a leopard stealthily on the trail of steenboks along the boundary road between the park and the Phuduhudu village. We watched the leopard for a while before it disappeared, leaving the outcome to the whims of fate. We also located male cheetah tracks along the main road leading to Baines’ Baobabs.
The stunning onset of spring in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
Nxai Pan has a stunning landscape with open grounds and diverse acacia trees. As spring arrived, blackthorn and water acacia trees started to bloom, adding a charming and colourful tinge to the landscape.
As always, the Baines Baobabs’ region offered a breathtaking panorama of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. During hotter spells of the day, mirages appeared on the faraway horizon, creating the illusion of water in the distance.
Evenings were equally enchanting with spectacular displays of stars and familiar constellations visible, including Canopus, Scorpio, the Southern Cross, and the Two Pointers. Guests and guides also witnessed meteors and meteorites, adding an unforgettable awe to celestial observations from the deck at Nxai Pan Camp.
As temperatures climbed through the day, elephants, buffalos, and warthogs found respite in the mud by wallowing at the waterhole to regulate their body temperatures. Other animals, such as wildebeests, zebras, springboks, and giraffes, were also seen. Steenboks, scrub hares, black-backed jackals, honey badgers, and yellow mongooses were also repeatedly encountered throughout the month.
Various raptors were logged onto our sightings report, including pale chanting goshawks, black-chested snake eagles, secretary birds, greater kestrels, and the impressive white-backed and lappet-faced vultures.
(Please note: For the safety of the animals, we do not disclose the precise location of either rhino or pangolin sightings. Accompanying pictures are from our Kwando Photo Library which consists of all your great photo submissions over the years, it may not be the most up to date, but we felt it was worthy of a feature alongside this month’s Sightings Report!)