Hwange cheetahs

[Bush dog]

First of all, more than 25% of the images in this topic show cheetahs (four excellent sightings), hence the title of this one. 

 

Here, in preamble, are some first pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had arrived six days earlier in Victoria Falls with the Ethiopian Airlines flight and then I normally had to go straight to Kasane for my Mack Air flight to Selinda.  Only at the airport, two flights having arrived shortly before mine, the queues for the immigration formalities were extremely long.  Moreover, I was dealing, to put it mildly, with an overzealous immigration officer.  However, I do not wish to dwell on this subject.  In the end, ninety minutes had elapsed between the arrival of my flight and my exit from the airport with the consequence that I was going to miss the Mack Air flight.  My agent then took the case in charge and then told me that Mack Air would wait for me.  So I was able to get to Selinda as planned instead of spending the night at Vic Falls or Kasane.  Thank you to Mack Air and my agent, Inspiration Africa (http://inspirationafrica.travel/), whom I highly recommend to those who wish to organize a trip to Botswana or Zimbabwe.

 

After Selinda, I came back to Vic Falls where I spent a night at the Victoria Falls Hotel.  One can see on this picture, taken by means of my smartphone, that, by the "smoke" rising from the falls, the rains were heavy.

 

 

The next day, I was transferred by road to Hwange Main Camp where Edison, my Linkwasha guide, was waiting for me.  In Zimbabwe, in the green season, I favor road transfers because I find that flights are very quickly cancelled as soon as the weather gets a bit overcast.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks for starting this report, Mike ........  Cracking first post, especially love the SB Stork!

 

Hmmm - I was going to look into the VFA flight from Addis too for next time to transfer to Kasane - 

 

Look forward to the cheetahs ...... 

[Peter Connan]

Tree-climbing Cheetah, but that stork is fantastic!

[Soukous]

I don't know why it is @Bush dog but although I really enjoy almost all your photos the ones you post of birds always seem to raise the bar in terms of image quality. The stork and the secretary birds are gorgeous.

[Ritsgaai]

Excellent start...Thank you.

Hwange is looking good in the green season. 

[Game Warden]

Seeing a cheetah in Hwange with @Safaridude was a magical and everlasting experience. Looking forward to more @Bush dog. Funnily enough I mentioned to someone this week how much I'd love to explore more of the park. Great photos and I'm sure a seductive apéritif before the main dish... 

 

Matt

[Bush dog]

@madaboutcheetah

 

Thanks, Hari!  You should consider the VFA flight from Addis.  It's only one hour, sometimes a bit more when there is a lot of people at the border, from VFA airport to Kasane.

 

The best cheetah sightings are in the second part, the Camp Hwange part.  On the Linkwasha concession, only one sighting.

[Bush dog]

@Peter Connan

 

Thanks a lot, Peter!  Who said that cheetahs are not climbers?

[Bush dog]

@Soukous

 

Thank you so much for your kind words!

[Bush dog]

@Ritsgaai

 

Thanks!  Though you have to struggle sometimes to see animals, especially leopards, Hwange is very good in the green season.

[Bush dog]

@Game Warden

 

Thanks, Matt, for your comments!  Talking about @Safaridude, I wonder why he is not very active anymore on this forum.  I miss his excellent and very original photography.

[Bush dog]

LINKWASHA

 

I decided to go back to Linkwasha, where I had stayed two years ago at the same time of the year, because I really like the area that is very similar to Selinda with its large open expanses and many ilala palms.

 

Pictures made on the way from Main Camp to Linkwasha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were already well advanced in the concession, when we saw, walking in the same direction as us, a group of seven lions. But we did not linger because these, after giving way to us, disappeared into the dense vegetation.  During the three days that followed, we still saw quite a lot of lions.  With the first seven, twenty-five in all, one more than in Selinda, but in worse conditions: very early in the morning or very late in the afternoon, in a very bad light or far enough in the high grass.

 

[Bush dog]

The only sighting of a cheetah, a female, on the Linkwasha concession was made early in the morning under an overcast sky.  The light was poor.   A vehicle from Little Makalolo had already spotted it during the afternoon of the previous day but by the time we reached them, it had disappeared in the dense vegetation.  We had missed it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful @Bush dog

[Bush dog]

@Peter Connan

 

Thanks again!

[Grasshopper_Club]

@Bush dog Wonderful report und great pictures as always. The saddle-billed stork with that little frog is a dream and the cheetah on the termite mound extraordinary....seeing all that details with the claws out, stunning!

 

Thanks for posting!

[Bush dog]

When one leave the camp and head towards the most easterly point of the national park, you first cross a beautiful teak forest that sables, roans and elands love.  Leaving the forest, one come out on the Ngamo plains and pans where one find animals in large numbers :  wildebeests and zebras but also elands, giraffes, ..... and many birds.  This intense animal life attracts predators.  The railway line Bulawayo/Vic Falls runs along this plains.

 

Nuele and Butcher rule over this area on both side of the line and dominate the Ngamo pride.

 

This is Nuele and it obviously waits for the train.

 

 

The Ngamo pride (ten lions without the males) was finishing a kill made during the night.

 

 

 

 

 

Elephants coming to the water,

 

 

Drinking,

 

 

And leaving the place.

 

 

Crowned cranes family.

 

 

[Bush dog]

@Grasshopper_Club

 

Thanks for following this report!

[Kitsafari]

1 hour ago, Grasshopper_Club said:

@Bush dog Wonderful report und great pictures as always. The saddle-billed stork with that little frog is a dream

 

x2!

 

 

[Bush dog]

@Kitsafari

 

Thanks for following this report!

[Bush dog]

Some more pictures at Ngamo.

 

A very friendly black-backed jackal.

 

 

 

Ngamo also has large troops of baboons, often followed by impalas, for safety reasons I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

Zebras.

 

 

 

[Marks]

Add my praise to what's already been heaped upon your excellent stork photo - what a moment!

Looking forward to cheetahs galore.

[Bush dog]

@Marks

 

Thanks a lot for your comments!

[marg]

@Bush dog  It was not until our second trip that we finally spotted a cheetah.....in the Linkwasha concession.  Thanks for the trip report and the beautiful photos!

[Africalover]

Pardon my language - but damn good pictures. Keep it coming ??