Hwange cheetahs

[Bush dog]

@Safaridude

 

Sorry for the late answer but I was travelling.  Happy to see that you are still around.  Indeed, we missed each other.  Washy told me that you were with him a few weeks before I was there.  I would like to see some of the pictures you made then.  Anyway, thanks you so much for your comments.

[Bush dog]

@Davesg

 

Thanks a lot for your comments!

 

You will certainly enjoy your stay in Hwange.

 

Personally, I would stay one  or two more days at Deteema because it's close to a very interesting area, the Tom's pans and Salt pan area and also there is less vegetation than around Gweshla allowing you to have a better and more distant vision of  the surroundings.

[Bush dog]

Three days after having seen it for the first time, at about the same time, Washington spotted it on a ridge, scanning the surroundings.  The first picture was taken with my smartphone.

 

 

 

 

Then it decided to move to control its marking spots. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We quickly guessed where it was going

[madaboutcheetah]

Mike, thanks for the continuation .......... marking cheetah!  Always a perfect sighting!!! 

[Bush dog]

Yes, it was back to the tree and the neighbouring fallen tree where we had found it three days earlier.  I guess one of its favorite marking spots ?

The pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Soukous]

10 minutes ago, Bush dog said:

Yes, it was back to the tree and the neighbouring fallen tree where we had found it three days earlier.  I guess one of its favorite marking spots ?

The pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

Indeed they do. It must have been wonderful to watch

[Bush dog]

@Soukous

 

Thanks for your comments!

 

It was indeed wonderful to watch and to photograph even if I must admit that cheetah is one of the easiest animals to photograph, just posing like a top model.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

[Soukous]

It is good to see someone else who rates Hwange highly as a green season destination. I find it too dry and dusty after August but in the months March-June the birds are terrific.

[Bush dog]

@Soukous

 

Thanks once again for your comments!

 

Hwange is a all year great destination even after August when, like you say, it's dry and dusty and also extremely hot (particularly October).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

[Davesg]

On 5/29/2018 at 3:53 PM, Bush dog said:

Personally, I would stay one  or two more days at Deteema because it's close to a very interesting area, the Tom's pans and Salt pan area and also there is less vegetation than around Gweshla allowing you to have a better and more distant vision of  the surroundings.

 

We tried to get more time at Deteema @Bush dog. Unfortunately the 2 nights is all they had available. 

[Bush dog]

After exhausting all possible ways of marking territory, it decided to get off the tree to go to the fallen tree, and start a new marking ritual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving the fallen tree, it decided to go a little further to settle under a bush where we thought it would spend the rest of the day.  So we left it.

[Geoff]

Good stuff Mike.

[offshorebirder]

13 hours ago, Geoff said:

Good stuff Mike.

 

X2!

[Bush dog]

@Geoff @offshorebirder

 

Thanks

 

 

Here is a selection of birds.

 

Blacksmith plover.

 

 

Three-banded courser.

 

 

 

Black-headed heron.

 

 

 

Hamerkop.

 

 

African hawk-eagle.

 

 

Black-shouldered kite.

 

 

Grey heron.

 

 

[Bush dog]

A batch of non-birds pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father (or mother) and son (or daughter)?

 

 

Solar breakthroughs.

 

[Bush dog]

A last series of saddle-billed storcks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ginny]

Black-headed heron photo is terrific.....can even see the spiderwebs!

Also....Saddle-billed stork is one of my favorites and these are beautiful

pictures.  Thank you ☺

Ginny

[Kitsafari]

 such a wonderful series on the marking cheetah and in the saddle billed. 

[madaboutcheetah]

Superb SB stork series, Mike ....... 

[Bush dog]

@Ginny @Kitsafari @madaboutcheetah

 

THanks a lot for your kind words!

[Bush dog]

A last batch of birds.

 

Blue-cheeked bee-eater.

 

 

 

 

Dark chanting goshawk.

 

 

Woodland kingfisher.

 

 

Kori bustard.

 

 

 

 

Grey heron.

 

 

White stork.

 

 

Golden bishop.

 

 

Spur-winged goose.

 

 

[Bush dog]

Some pictures taken with my smartphone.

 

 

 

The teak forest is, in the green season, a place that I really love.  When I’m in Camp Hwange at that time of the year, I ask to go there daily.  It is a beautiful and peaceful place steeped in a lot of serenity.  The colorful flowerbed and the blue teak flowers give it a slightly magical atmosphere.  There are many bird species including a colony of more or less 30 shy racket-tailed rollers.  At the end of the dry season, it only looks like a skeletal forest.

 

 

 

This is also part of a guide’s job.

 

 

 

[Bush dog]

To close this report, cats!

 

As I already said when I start this report, lions were totally absent from the concession.  So, Nehimba allowed us to go on their concession to watch their lions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went back, in the afternoon of the day we saw the cheetah for the second time, to the place we had left it, it was still around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all of you!

 

[Peter Connan]

Thanks to you @Bush dog! Stunning photos, each and every one.

[mtanenbaum]

Your photos are so amazing! Are you a professional photographer? I am planning a trip to Hwange for March 2019--to take advantage of the Green Season specials, with my daughter, who has never been to AFrica. It will be my 3rd trip but first to Zim. I think we're going to do a mobile camping in Botswana with & Beyond, 6 nights, with 4 in the Okovongo Delta and 2 at Nxai Pans, and then overnight at Vic Falls, and then 5 nights in Hwange. I am thinking 3 at Somalisa Expeditions and 2 at either Camp Hwange or Nehimba. Do you have any thought on those camps at that time of year? I had first thought I would take my daughter in May but the prices are so much lower in March--also I really want to see the zebra migration at Nxai Pan! 

 

I have never done green season in Southern Africa, but I was at the Masaii Mara in January of this year, and it was quite green there--it was gorgeous, like a golf course with lions everywhere. I loved the colors and we saw tons of animals even with some rain. Do you think even in Green season by combining those 2 destinations that my daughter will be able to see plenty of animals?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!