From Dawn Till Dusk - A Botswana Green Season Mobile

[LarsS]

10 hours ago, twaffle said:

I'm reminded that I have my own Botswana TR to complete so this will spur me on.

 

This TR was a reminder for me as well. Got really inspired by this report to start writing my own. Especially now we have reached the Khwai part of the journey, really brings back memories.

 

 

 

Great leopard shots @michael-ibk! You might have had to work a bit, but it really paid off with a nice variation of photos. At first I was really impressed by the way you spotted it... if it were true   for me, you don't need an excuse to put in some impala shots, they deserve to be in trip reports.

 

Good sighting of the hippo out of the water. You don't get to see them so clearly out in the open in full daylight.

 

The vultures on the carcass may not be the prettiest sighting, but a special one for sure!

 

 

Where in Khwai did you stay? At one of the Magotho campsites or in an other area?

[michael-ibk]

2 minutes ago, LarsS said:

Where in Khwai did you stay? At one of the Magotho campsites or in an other area?

 

Thanks Lars. See, I was just about to ask you the same thing in your report, but will nag you there later. No, in a very different section than Magotho. If we are talking about the same thing - on my map that´s Mogotho and in the very East of Khwai? Our campsite was apparently a pretty new spot, roughly in the Mochaba area,  much more to the North-West and only accessible from the main road connecting Khwai with Chobe and Moremi.

[LarsS]

1 minute ago, michael-ibk said:

 

Thanks Lars. See, I was just about to ask you the same thing in your report, but will nag you there later. No, in a very different section than Magotho. If we are talking about the same thing - on my map that´s Mogotho and in the very East of Khwai? Our campsite was apparently a pretty new spot, roughly in the Mochaba area,  much more to the North-West and only accessible from the main road connecting Khwai with Chobe and Moremi.

 

Yes, Mogotho/Magotho. On my map it says Mogotho as well, but I remember our campsite being pointed out as MAG3. Both names mean the same area, apparantly. Indeed in the very east of Khwai. We didn't get into the Mochaba area (I found it on the map), we drove not too far from it though, so may be we've been driving on the same roads if you've been to the east.

[colbol]

Hi Guys

Interesting regions you traversed, certainly wetting my appetite to venture into these parts, studying my Tracks 4 Africa Botswana map and plotting your course as you post

Nice pic's of the hyeana's and vultures, they don't usually get too much attention some from some people . Must agree -the hippo grazing is a great shot.

Cheers Colbol

[michael-ibk]

Oh absolutely Lars, on our first morning we did the long Khwai river drive and started even East of Mogotho and did pass campsites 1-7 if I am reading my map correctly. That´s a really beautiful campsite you had there so close to the river, great spot! Ours was probably more secluded (in the woodlands) but certainly not as pretty.

 

We enjoyed our morning coffee at one of Khwai´s beautiful lagoons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later during the day more clouds were gathering, and the beautiful golden green of the morning faded to more muted colours.

 

 

 

 

Close to the airstrip there are extended floodland plains with hundreds of Red Lechwe. We also hoped to see Wattled Cranes there but only found three very distant birds. Another of my favourites was much more cooperative:

 

 

A Saddle-Billed Stork. A male here, the female has yellow eyes. We watched it for quite a while, and our patience was rewarded - a successful hunt after all:

 

 

There is still hope!

 

 

I can escape, just gotta be quick!

 

 

That´s what quashed hopes look like.

 

 

I mentioned this area is Red Lechwe central, and lots of them there indeed. I don´t have shotlists for trips in general but one thing I really would have liked to get was one of those iconic Botswana images of a Lechwe jumping a watercourse. In perfect golden morning light of course, with the water splashing. Well, was not to be, all they did was trot around aimlessly and just staring at us with a pretty mean "Look at us all you want, we won´t lift our hooves more than 10 cm from the ground" look.

 

 

 

I´d get another chance next morning but the bastard Lechwe did not have the decency to wait for the car to stop!

 

 

 

Well, as @Alexander33 succinctly put it, a good excuse to get that Lechwe shot properly next time.

 

 

 

African Openbill with its favourite meal.

 

 

 

A very distant shot but a bird I was very happy to see - a Greater Painted-Snipe.

 

 

A busy-building Red-Headed Weaver.

 

And that´s enough Khwai from me - back to @Alexander33!

[offshorebirder]

Excellent Saddle-billed Stork sequence @michael-ibk.   And the Kudu photos in the previous post were outstanding.   Nice that y'all saw a Red-headed Weaver building a nest.

[colbol]

Nice hippo shots and that Weaver is certainly a red hed !! I have not seen one before -so thanks

The saddle billed stork with it’s snack is a great sequence-man those lechwe’s can jump  how rude not to wait for you guys !!!!

Cheers Colbol 

 

[Alexander33]

On 6/11/2019 at 12:20 PM, michael-ibk said:

 

What do we have here you ask? A beautiful young Leopardess.

 

 

 

 And we were told by other cars where to find this gorgeous animal. ;-)

 

 

 

Indeed, we were told by others where to find the leopard while we were stopped nearby watching these:

 

 

 

 

 

Doug had received reports of a very large pack of wild dogs in the area, but we’d have to suffice with these (I’m counting 5?), which were lying at the edge of the shade of a large tree and were rather spread out.

 

At one point, one of the dogs got up and made its way toward a nearby pond.  I had hoped that it would spur the other dogs into action, but they stayed put as the stray disappeared into the reeds.  He must have just gone down for a drink, as he soon reappeared and joined back up with his companions in the shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t the ideal situation, so I contented myself with making a few portraits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still, it was great to see wild dogs again, in any number and in any stance, as I hadn’t seen any since a visit to South Africa in 2015.

 

[Alexander33]

I agree wholeheartedly with @michael-ibk that Khwai was sublimely beautiful.  It really resembled what I had envisioned the Okavango Delta to be like.  Apologies if some of these photos are near-exact duplicates of Michael’s and @AndMic's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elephant Handshake

 

 

 

 

 

Wide-angle View of Goliath Heron

 

 

 

African Openbill with Snail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red-headed Weaver Building Nest

 

 

 

Woodland Kingfisher, whose beautiful call punctuated the landscape throughout the trip.

 

 

 

 

[Alexander33]

We encountered these flowering vines several times.  This is the flame lily (Gloriosa superba – I don’t normally get into Latin names, but I love that one).  This, incidentally, is the national flower of Zimbabwe.  How’s that for some trivia?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by Alexander33

[Alexander33]

I am not above being exceedingly jealous of Michael’s photos of the Saddle-billed stork gulping down the frog.  No, not at all.

 

My photos of the sighting go from this….

 

 

 

……to this:

 

 

 

My EXIF data shows that over one minute elapsed between these two photos, during which time the stork obviously tossed around and finally swallowed the frog, which Michael captured perfectly in his awesome photos.

 

The question I have is: What in the world was I doing while all the best action was going on???

 

I remember asking Doug what kind of frog the stork had captured, and then making a note of it.  And, upon reflection, yes, I think that’s what I was doing.  While Michael was nailing the fabulous photos, I was talking to Doug and jotting down the frog ID – and, to add insult to injury, for the life of me, I now can’t find the note.

 

Aaargh! 

 

Nice work, Michael.  (No, I’m not jealous in the least).

 

[Alexander33]

Shortly before lunch, Doug informed us that a few sleeping male lions had been spotted some distance away.  Did we want to go see them?  In another sign of our compatibility, we all unanimously agreed that, no, we’d prefer to try our luck with something other than sleeping lions in the middle of the day.

 

However, as the sun started to wane, the lions reportedly were still in the same location, and this time, we decided to go find them, in the hope that, as evening came on, they might become more active. When we arrived, there were several vehicles parked in a semi-circle around two male lions splayed out in the brush and moving only occasionally.

 

 

 

To his credit, Doug suggested that we traverse a small waterway and have our sundowners in the vehicle, on the hunch that if the lions did rouse, they likely would amble toward the channel for a drink, in which we’d be facing them and their reflection in the water.  That suggestion proved most prescient, as one of the lions soon got up and walked straight toward the watercourse, just as Doug had predicted.  Unfortunately, the lion stopped just short of taking a drink, instead lying back down on the cool ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still, it was a nice scene to take in as we enjoyed our drinks and reflected on the day. 

As an added bonus, once night fell and we started to make our way back to camp, we intercepted the two lions on the road, one of which decided that the spot right in front of our vehicle was the perfect place to lie down and repeatedly roar into the darkness.  He was so close to the vehicle that I couldn’t even see him over the bonnet.  The incredible, guttural roar of male lion, bellowing into the pitch blackness of the African night – a quintessential African experience and the perfect way to cap our evening drive.

 

Except that our drive wasn’t quite over just yet.

 

[Alexander33]

One of the things I loved about Khwai, aside from its natural beauty, is the fact that we could take night drives there, the only one of the four locations we stayed where that was possible. 

 

As it turned out, the two lions were not our last cats of the day.

 

 

 

We spent several minutes with this African wild cat as it emerged from behind a termite mound, pausing to sit and groom itself, before disappearing again into the nearby vegetation.

 

Now we could return to camp.

 

[Atravelynn]

Hilarious about the frog and your notes, @Alexander33.   The wildcat at night helped make up for it. 

The rufous bellied heron flapping was a great catch.

I admire your "More Impala in reports" spirit, @michael-ibk.

Nice macros on the national flower of Zimbabwe.  One more reason to love the green season!

 

Khwai is lovely, especially in your nice weather.

[Africalover]

Fantastic TR - love reading it, but why  would one bring in a top notch guide from Zimbabwe.

Botswana has many fantastic local guides. I have always used locals and always had lots of super sightings.

No offense , just curious 😀

[Alexander33]

@Africalover

 

I will let @michael-ibk expound, as he and @AndMic set up the arrangements, but they had been guided by Doug on several occasions before (and not just in Zimbabwe) and had developed a good relationship with him. No matter how qualified a particular guide is, there’s always a certain leveling in that you have to go through the first time you are paired together. That can take several days or even longer. Sometimes, there can be a level of comfort in being guided by someone whom you know, because of past experience, will already be primed to focus on your specific interests and preferences from the very start. 

[ice]

to add some info:

 

the pack of 5 dogs was most likely the (usually) resident Khwai Pack. Last year in July they consisted of 13 adults and 12 pups. A few months later they apparently split up, though. 

 

The bigger pack consisted of 12 dogs when I saw them around Easter this year, half a dozen adults and half a dozen subadults from last year's den. They are called Mababe Pack, because that's the area / concession they usually hang around. However, given the low number of members in the Khwai Pack, it seems like the Mababe Pack has taken over their traditional territory as well, driving the Khwai Pack deep into Moremi (which is, for those who don't know the area that well, on the other side of the Khwai River).

 

The female leopard might very well be who the guides call "Magotho Female", if she was seen in the area near the campsites. She's a daughter of Mmatsebe, a very famous leopard in Botswana.

[ice]

part of the Mababe Pack in April 2019, near Khwai River

[Alexander33]

@ice

 

Thanks so much for this background information!  It adds a lot of helpful context. 

[ice]

sure thing

[michael-ibk]

@Africalover

 

Pretty much what @Alexander33 said. Certainly don´t want to give the impression that it´s in any way necessary to bring in an external guide for a mobile to Bots. As I mentioned Matambo (from Letaka Safaris) was a great guy and an excellent guide on his own, and I´m sure we would have had a fantastic time only with him just as well. And we have plenty of Bots mobile reports  here on Safaritalk which all prove that the local guides are always doing a super job. We simply enjoy Doug´s guiding style and company, he knows very well what we like to do on safari (my birding craze for example), we chatted about Botswana during our last Zim safari together and one thing lead to another - and the surcharge for having him along was very reasonable.

 

@ice

 

Good to know more about our predators, thank you. Matambo mentioned some of this stuff but since I long stopped taking notes on safari forgot all of it.

Edited June 13, 2019 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

14 hours ago, Alexander33 said:

As an added bonus, once night fell and we started to make our way back to camp, we intercepted the two lions on the road, one of which decided that the spot right in front of our vehicle was the perfect place to lie down and repeatedly roar into the darkness.  He was so close to the vehicle that I couldn’t even see him over the bonnet.  The incredible, guttural roar of male lion, bellowing into the pitch blackness of the African night – a quintessential African experience and the perfect way to cap our evening drive.

 

 

That was a pretty cool thing indeed. It´s been a while since I had a Lion go in full roaring mode that close, really goes all through your body. Just turn up the volume and you´ll get an idea what it was like:

 

 

Peter mentioned how much Khwai met his expectations on what the Delta would be like. Indeed, what´s more "Delta" than swimming cars?

 

 

Or Jacanas and Lilies?

 

 

Or just all-about great lush scenery?

 

 

Some more photos - find Waldo!

 

 

 

Lazy Baboons

 

 

Reedbuck, surprisingly common and approachable in Khwai

 

 

Very easy to hide in the long grass but this was one was relaxed enough to not bother.

 

 

Long-Toed Lapwing

 

 

Martial Eagle, one of Africa´s most powerful birds of prey.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Time to finish the Khwai chapter:

 

 

 

 

Double-Banded Sandgrouse

 

 

 

Kudu are among my top three Antelopes (with Sable and Gemsbok), so it was a good thing that they enjoyed posing in the morning light.

 

 

One of our last sightings was a rather sad one:

 

 

This Tsessebe calf was a bold little thing, and did its very best to try to follow its mother. But its right frontleg was obviously broken. And Khwai with all its Lions, Dogs and Leopards is certainly not a place which is kind on helpless little things. I´m afraid it won´t have made it through the night.

 

Yes, I am a cheerful guy, ain´t I? To change the mood:

 

 

I hope you all went "Eeeew" right now and forgot about the doomed Tsessebaby.

 

 

I´m not only working on Impala respect, Waterbuck deserve more appreciation just as well:

 

 

 

It´s a tricky thing to look regal with a toilet seat on your bum but this guy just about manages to pull this off:

 

 

 

 

Another iconic African bird - Fish Eagle. We saw lots of them but they were not particularly accommodating this time, no really close photo opportunities.

 

 

Not as famous but even more common and giving us a better show - Yellow-Billed Kite.

 

 

Purple Roller

 

 

African Sacred Ibis

 

 

 

Onwards and upards now - let´s cross the Bridge on the River Khwai and move on to Moremi!

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by michael-ibk

[Alexander33]

We tend to prefer traveling slowly.  Only once can I recall thinking that I had scheduled too much time in a single locale, and that was certainly not on this trip.  This comparatively was quite a fast-paced trip for us, and I would happily return to spend more time in any and all of the four areas we explored.  But of all of them, I was most reluctant to leave Khwai.  We had only two nights, and I could have spent a week there.

 

However, it was time to move on, and Moremi awaited us.  We reached the Khwai River and crossed it to commence our journey forward.

 

 

 

 

 

I mentioned in the Savuti section of this report that I tend to identify a photographic target and then stick with it until the bitter end.  In this case, the target presented itself just as we were transitioning from Khwai into Moremi.

 

 

 

This green wood-hoopoe presented itself in beautiful light and with a perfect pose to entice me. But there’s that annoying branch and the busy side elements that detract, and from this point forward, I made it a goal to nail a good green wood-hoopoe photo.

 

And that was the moment that the gods started laughing, and giving me things like this:

 

 

 

Wonderful opportunities in deplorable conditions.  Poor @michael-ibkand @AndMic would now have to put up with my insisting we stop at every possible opportunity for me to get a good photo of a green wood-hoopoe.  Would I find success?

 

(Hint: No. But I would never give up.  Poor Michael and Andreas.)

 

Moremi awaited.

 

Edited June 14, 2019 by Alexander33

[Alexander33]

As we made our way, the landscape became more arid, and the challenges became even more vexing.  We came across this Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl and African Paradise Flycatcher in the same stand of trees.  Good to see, but hard to photograph.  (I’ve been after that Paradise Flycatcher for years, and still no success.).

 

 

 

 

 

A small group of wattled cranes kept their distance.

 

 

 

It took longer than we expected to reach our intended spot for lunch.  It was almost 3:00 when we finally stopped at a point beside a large waterway.  We took some time afterward to explore, and came across these black egrets hunting in their peculiar style. 

 

They would stalk their prey, and then use their wings like an umbrella just as they went in for the kill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to confess that, by this point, I was quite weary.  The photos aren’t the best, and the conditions weren’t what I would have preferred, so even though I had wanted to see this behavior for a long time, I feel like I just wasn’t entirely into it at the time.

 

Maybe @michael-ibk was better inspired than I was at the time.  I know from taking a peek at his Big Year posts that he has additional information to share on this interesting bird.

 

No pressure!