Lions and Dogs and Baboons, oh my: Botswana February 2013 Trip Report

[marg]

sort quickly and write soon!

[SafariChick]

StokeyGirl, yes, I was very lucky with the weather, it was beautiful for most of my trip! Thanks for the nice comments everyone, and marg, both my kids need me to take them shopping for various things today and we've lost an hour of course, but hopefully I can get back to it late afternoon or tonight.

[SafariChick]

I was excited about Lagoon because of course it's known as one of the best places to see wild dogs, which was my biggest hope on this trip. I also knew though that they were easier to find closer to the denning season, and that there were no guarantees of course. I felt lucky to have seen them already, first the lone one at Mombo, then the single one at Vumbura, and then the pack at Chitabe twice. I hadn't seen a real greeting ritual or ceremony yet, which I hoped for, or to see them play a bit, perhaps in water. These were hopes I had in the back of my mind for Lagoon. I also knew it was possible I might see some of a hunt, but I felt much less optimistic about that idea, knowing how fast they go and how they tend to go off through the woodlands, making it very difficult for vehicles to follow or keep up. I had requested Spencer for my guide, having heard so much about him.

 

I flew to Lagoon with one of the couples from Little Kwara who had been in the other vehicle there. They were a very nice retired English couple. When we arrived at the Lagoon air strip, we were greeted by another guide, Carlos I think it was, but he told us he was not going to be our guide, he was just driving us to camp. Camp was only about 15 minutes away, and I was wondering when I'd find out who my guide would be. When we arrived, we were greeted by none other than Spencer himself, who told us he was going to be our guide (all 3 of us). We were all quite happy! We then were greeted by the manager, a very nice young woman (I think her name was Mapilo - spelling may be completely wrong!) and taken to our rooms. As many know, Lagoon was remodeled a couple of years ago and I found it really lovely. Some photos of my room:

 

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the bath looked pretty but I never used it. I might in winter, though.

 

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My deck:

 

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Spencer had told us to come to tea at 4:00 and then we'd set off on our drive. I got down there about 4:03 and was surprised to only see Spencer, our tracker, and the other couple I had arrived with, no other guests or guides. It turns out that the other guests who'd been there already for a day or more had decided to go out early on their drive. We didn't know this was an option, or we'd have been happy to do it too. Spencer seemed antsy to get going (I found in general he was always excited to get moving quickly for our drives!) and we were too, so we had a quick glass of lemonade and snack and set off about 4:10.

I had of course told Spencer of my main interest being the dogs, and my vehicle-mates (I'll call them J and C as I don't know that they want their names used) were very accommodating to my wishes, and they knew that dogs were what Lagoon was known for as well. So when we set out, we were heading in the direction that Spencer knew the dogs had been seen not that morning but the day before, as I don't think anyone had been looking for them that morning if I recall correctly. But first, we saw a vulture and an eagle looking around when we started out, and we went off road to investigate what they might be looking at. We found a headless monitor lizard body - apparently dropped by a bird there and not recovered. We continued on for a little while, when suddenly the radio crackled to life. We heard another guide talking and Spencer responding; It was Bali, the other guide who'd left early with his guests. He'd been driving along the same track as us, but because he'd left earlier, he was farther ahead, and had run right into the dog pack lying on and near the road! Spencer told us that we'd want to hurry to get there as they could wake up and start becoming active at any time. He told us to "Hold on Please!" and I knew we were in for some excitement!

 

We all held on and Spencer began driving at a very fast clip. It was a lot of fun, we were going over bumps and up and down small hills in the road and I just hoped we'd get there before they got up! I think we were driving for maybe 15 minutes at this rate, and when we arrived at the dogs' location, they had already woken up and were in the midst of a greeting ritual or ceremony (I don't know what the agreed-upon term is, it seems to me I've heard both used). I was of course thrilled that we'd found them. This was a much larger pack than the Chitabe pack I'd seen. That pack had been ten, about half of them pups, but this pack was I believe about 22 dogs.

 

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it seemed to me all of a sudden, the dogs all started walking in one direction with a purpose. I didn't see any sign that was given to do so, it's fascinating to me how they communicate.

 

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They did a little sniffing around

 

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I think this is the alpha female

 

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Suddenly they started moving off more quickly. Spencer told us that we could TRY to follow them but he doubted we'd be able to keep up. Bali, the other guide, started following in his truck also. Of course they moved into the wooded area and we were going off road. The dogs split up a bit and we saw some of them getting ahead of us to the point we couldn't see them any more. Bali's vehicle went a slightly different route than ours, and then we lost them all together. Spencer kept going and was very determined and after a few minutes we started to come into a clearing and saw a dog running towards us with what looked like an organ in its mouth!! I couldn't believe it, did they just make a kill in that short amount of time we'd lost sight of them (probably no more than three minutes)? Apparently, they did! We pulled up a little further and saw this:

 

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They had just taken down an adult female warthog! We later learned from the other guests and Bali that they had also killed a baby warthog (I assumed it was a mother and baby pair) and they must have already eaten the baby by the time we got there as we never saw the baby - wow! Bali and his guests had kept up with the dogs better than us and they had actually arrived at the kill while the mother and baby were still alive and squealing. To be honest, I was actually glad that we hadn't. I was thrilled to get to see most of the hunt and then the process of them eating their prey as it was so interesting, but I didn't particularly relish watching the prey struggling and dying. So for me, the way events unfolded was actually perfect.

 

We pulled up beside the dogs - unfortunately for us, Bali had positioned his vehicle with the sun behind them, so we had the sun in our eyes, making for difficult photography and video conditions. But I wanted to take a few pictures and videos anyway. here's a video of the first few minutes after we arrived. In the beginning, you can't even see the warthog but the feeding frenzy and noise is quite spectacular. Sorry again about the lighting - and it looks like my camera lens is dirty too, how embarrassing! But I'm still glad to have the video as it reminds me in a way that the photos don't the visceral nature of the whole experience. You can hear me commenting with various exclamations as it really was quite a startling experience, especially as we were SO close to them - you can see the vehicle edge in the video and how close the dogs are to us.

 

 

 

I took a few other videos of the action but I haven't uploaded them yet. Will look at them to see if it seems worth it, but it might just be repetitive.

 

I think this was the alpha male, he was pulling on this one part trying to get it to come off forever!

 

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a little pause in the action to look up at us

 

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things starting to wind down:

 

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From the time we arrived at the kill, we were with them for about 40 minutes. It was starting to head towards sunset and they had finished off most of the animal, so we decided to leave them and head off for some sundowners. After we drove out of the area, we stopped and Spencer and our tracker got out some icy cold bottles of water and drank them in a big gulp! I needed one too - we all had just had our adrenaline racing from the time we got the radio call until now, for over an hour. Spencer told us they only see a kill about once a month, and he hadn't seen the dogs take down an adult warthog for probably about six month. What an incredible experience! I knew that whatever else happened at Lagoon in my remaining five drives there, going there had been worth it just for this!

[twaffle]

My goodness, what an exciting ride you had. I really like the photo of the dogs all starting to walk off with purpose, a really nice environmental picture.

[Sangeeta]

Wow, that was some introduction to Lagoon. I like that photo of the many walking dogs as well - with their curved backs, they remind me of fleas in profile!

 

We saw the same rapidity of a hunt & a feed all being finished in mere minutes in Mana as well. Quite amazing how quickly they do that. I think your timing was good too

 

Kwara sounds a bit disappointing, but sometimes sightings from what was apparently a slow day are the ones that stick in your mind. Though it's going to be hard to top this day.

[marg]

Thanks for moving along so quickly. The dogs in action are great! They are also my favorite animals and to follow them hunting is always an exticing game drive. This is a perfect bed time story.

 

Night......

[SafariChick]

A couple more from the scene of the kill. Dog looking rather pleased:

 

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Tuckered Out:

 

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At our sundowners we saw a lot of hippos in the water

 

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and several out of the water on the drive back to camp. Definitely saw the most hippos at Lagoon than anywhere else on the trip!

[twaffle]

Love that last hippo shot, excellent timing.

[Simba]

Superb trip report. I could almost be there. That's how safaris are. Solo the wild dog reminds me of Newky also on u tube. Similar circumstances. Oringinal Solo adopted by Hugo van Lawick. Let's hope this Solo o.k. Updates would be great. Again, superb. Many thanks.

[SafariChick]

Thanks so much, @@twaffle and @@Simba and @@graceland and everyone who's continuing to read and comment!

 

Back to Lagoon. The next morning, we went to look in the area we'd last seen the dogs but signs indicated they'd gone further north, which Spencer felt meant that we'd have lost them for a day or two. This made me even more glad we'd seen what we did the previous day. The morning drive was fairly low-key. We saw a hippo out of the water, running, and it really is amazing, they are so fast!

 

We saw two different journeys of giraffe - in one, an older bull was trying to chase off a young bull. Then he was engaging in some behavior which I would not have recognized, but Spencer said he was asking a female to give him a urine sample so he could smell it and see if she was in heat, which she did - fascinating.

 

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The other group was a nursery group with one female watching some young ones - very cute.

 

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We went into some mopane forest with more taller mopane trees than I'd seen before. I found it quite a magical setting, and although we only saw general game such as zebra and impala, it was very scenic and enchanting.

 

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In the afternoon, we were driving around an area where leopard are sometimes seen, to see if we could find one. We didn't - but we found not one, not two, but three different leopard tortoises. I happen to love turtles and tortoises as I mentioned earlier in the report, so I took pictures of some of them. Really glad we didn't drive over any of them.

 

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We seemed to have quite a few insects and arachnids in the vehicle - a praying mantis was hitching a ride on the back of PD's tracker seat, so we stopped and took a picture of it too before putting it out on some tall grass.

 

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We saw an Osprey with a fish in its talons, an African Hawk eagle, and some elephant,

 

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and more giraffe

 

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and that was it. It seemed at Lagoon it was either a feast or a famine in terms of predator sightings but Lagoon was quite scenic and I enjoyed Spencer's personality and insights, and J & C and I had a good time despite the quieter day. As it turned out, we were to encounter the dogs again, but not until the following day ...

Edited March 12, 2013 by SafariChick

[graceland]

Enjoyed the day right along with you...I always love a good giraffe snap!

[SafariChick]

Thanks, @@graceland

 

The next day was our last full day at Lagoon, another beautiful sunny day as all the days had been for me at Lagoon. I am trying to remember if this was the day that we had a run-in with a hippo on the way to breakfast! It was either this day or the day before. I was getting ready to go to breakfast. I should explain first that the Lagoon management/staff kept changing their minds about whether we should walk to breakfast on our own and what time breakfast would be, but on this morning they'd said wake up at 5:30 and walk to breakfast on our own at 6 as it would be light enough. I heard J & C, whose room was next to mine, walking out and then shouting to me to not come out because there was a hippo on the path to my room! So I said ok, I'll wait a few minutes. After a few minutes I shouted to them again that I was going to go out and check the situation. I crept out very slowly and I think they did as well and we did not see a hippo outside my room - but as I went a few steps towards the main area, we did see it, it had gone about one room down. We stood there debating as to what we should do. We decided we should shout for someone to come get us! But just as J did so, Spencer appeared! He had figured that we might be in need of assistance as we hadn't shown up. By this time, the hippo seemed to have wandered off in the bushes towards the water, so we finally were able to head to breakfast - that was as much excitement as I needed before having my morning cup of coffee!

 

I forgot to mention that the previous day, we had been joined by another guest who was traveling on his own, a nice fellow from Lichtenstein. Spencer had proposed for this day, and we had all agreed, a plan to take us on an all day trip with a packed lunch to a valley in the northwest where he hoped we would see more - maybe another pack of dogs that could be in that area or cheetah. It was an area that hadn't been used much in a long time, but they had recently made about three trips there and I think they had found some predators on two of the occasions. But on leaving camp we immediately found leopard tracks, so we went off road to investigate before heading to the valley. We found a impala in a tree but could not find the leopard that had put it there. We looked around a bit but decided it would be better to go on with our plan for the day, and come back and look for the leopard in the evening.

 

We did not see much on the way to the valley other than a Pel's spotted owl. We had to drive through woodlands to get to the valley, and saw almost nothing in the woodlands At the start of the valley, we saw a quick glimpse of some Roan, but they soon ran away. In the valley itself, we saw some zebras, a baby giraffe, a brown snake eagle, Buffalo and hyena tracks that were very fresh, and a number of a bird called a Golden Bishop which was a beautiful bright yellow and black bird I had not seen before. We saw some Tssessebe & Zebra and noticed very green, shorter, almost fluorescent colored grass here (it reminded me of how you described the grass in November @@graceland ). It turned out there had been a fire there so the grass was shorter and newer. We made a loop around the valley but it did not produce the predators Spencer had hoped, so we decided to turn back, thinking we might change our plan a bit and try to go somewhere else.

 

On the way back we saw warthogs and ostrich and the best view I've had of a Steenbok - it was through tall grass but it was quite close and not skittish. They're so cute:

 

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We decided that our plan was twofold. First, we'd go look up north for the dog pack we saw on our first drive as the tracks yesterday indicated they went north. But we first had to head back to camp since we'd gone on a track that only went Northwest and there was no way to cut over. Just after we got back off that track and in the area of the track that would take us north to where we thought the dogs had gone, we turned towards the river to find a spot for our packed lunch as it was about noon. Driving along, we ran into a Kwando vehicle driving the opposite direction from us transporting a bunch of BDF (Botswana Defense Force) guys whose vehicle had broken down. I didn't know before I visited Lagoon but in case you don't know this either, there is an army outpost alongside the Lagoon concession as it borders the Caprivi Strip and Namibia is just across the river. The BDF guys told Spencer they'd just seen the dogs running along the road about a kilometer away!! So we raced on and soon found them lying under 2 trees just off the side of the road, resting with full bellies.

 

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There was a little bit of rolling around

 

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and even a bit of getting up

 

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and looking fierce (not sure what happened exactly that warranted this look):

 

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and then a bit more rolling around

 

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We hung out with them for about fifteen minutes, and felt a bit relieved that this would make our further plans for the day easier as we didn't have to drive up north to look for the dogs! (We had also considered going to look for the Lebala pack which we heard had been seen, but that would be another long drive, this time to the south, and we'd already done a long drive to the valley and back so we were all pretty pleased to have found the dogs so close to camp). We decided to go eat lunch, and then go back to camp and take a break even though we'd not originally planned one as this was so close to camp. We could then come back to the dogs after tea time and see if they got up to go hunt or just become active.

 

As we drove over to go have lunch, we saw some vultures and went to see if they perhaps were at the site of a kill the dogs had made earlier, but we didn't find it. I snapped a few pictures of a young Lappet-faced vulture.

 

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Then, finally, we went and ate our lunch.

 

After lunch, I realized that I couldn't find my new/second-hand/scratched up/donated Maui Jim sunglasses. Which were still the only ones I had at this point on the trip. We decided to retrace our steps in case I'd dropped them somewhere. I thought I remembered having them before we got to the dogs, but first we went to look where the vultures had been - no luck. Then we went back to the dogs - and they were there! PD saw them on ground and we all joked about his excellent tracking skills in tracking my sunglasses! I told both PD and Spencer that they should NOT risk life or limb to get them back, but Spencer maneuvered the vehicle in such a way that he could open the car door and just lean out and grab them, with the open car door between him and the dogs and with them not really seeing him leaning out as he was blocked from their view by the door. When he gave them back to me, we all noticed some indentations on the end of one earpiece that hadn't been there before, which were essentially bite marks. It seemed that the end of one earpiece had been chewed on or played with a bit by a dog or dogs, which we all thought was a wonderful souvenir for me to take home!

 

Tired but satisfied, we headed back to camp and got back around 2 pm. We all had a LOT of grass stuck in our clothes - this high grass just sticks on to you as you drive by it and gets everywhere! It was nice to be able to go shower and change and take a little break. To be continued .....

Edited March 13, 2013 by SafariChick

[madaboutcheetah]

You are making me Homesick with this report, SC ........ just got home myself recently, so won't complain ...... Heard enough and more all of last week about this, "Valley" ...... what did you think of it? Did it live upto the billing? - apparently, that's where the 3 boys disappear to for months at a time. They are just getting too lazy and comfortable that they seldom venture long distances to defend their territory. Hence stay put for long periods.

[SafariChick]

@@madaboutcheetah welcome back! I can't wait to hear about your trip! For us that day the valley didn't really live up to what we hoped, though I could see how it could be a great area! I actually never saw the cheetahs at all at Lagoon but hopefully you saw earlier my report about your boys at Little Kwara! And I can't complain at all about Lagoon, in fact I loved it, as I had such wonderful dog sightings there, which is what I went to see.

 

Going through my photos now to try to finish up the report, will get back to it tonight or tomorrow ...

[madaboutcheetah]

Ofcourse, I Saw your images of the Three boys in brilliant light (although, at Splash) .......... and Hobbs too...... I haven't seen him in a while.

 

Is the valley scenic atleast? or mostly woodland?

[SafariChick]

Yes, it was scenic, as I recall it was plains-like. You went through woodland to get to it but then it was more open once you were in it. This is where there was shorter grass that was newer as I believe there had been a fire there. It was pretty.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks for the info ......... Will have to read your report in full over the weekend. Just read the Lagoon part with morning coffee ......... (in a Kwando mug from the gift shop)

[SafariChick]

After a refreshing shower and change of clothes to clean, non-grass-studded ones, we had a spot of tea at 4 p.m. and then headed back out to look for the dogs. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. This is the Green Season in Botswana:

 

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Made a brief stop on the way as I wanted to take a photo of an interesting spider:

 

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We found the dogs in basically the same spot we'd left them, still resting, some of them lying in the road, w/one other vehicle watching them.

 

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We settled in and just watched them for about forty-five minutes occasionally get up to answer nature's call or reposition themselves, then flop back down.

 

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Finally, a greeting ritual began and it was very cute, I really enjoyed watching it as this was the first time I'd seen a full one.

 

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I took this video of the scene:

 

 

The alpha female:

 

Lagoon Alpha Female

 

After everyone was fully awake, it looked for a minute like some wanted to go pursue something ... but then they didn't. Then the puppies all started playing in and around a small water hole - well, really more like a large muddy puddle! I tried to take some photos but I had a hard time getting very good ones as they were moving around so much.

 

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But I did take these two videos:

 

 

 

All of this - the greeting ritual and play time - lasted about another forty-five minutes, so we'd spent a lovely, uninterrupted hour and a half with them, and I was absolutely thrilled. It felt very peaceful and intimate and that they were letting us in on their hanging out, family time, and I just felt very lucky to have had this experience. At that point, it was getting towards sunset and we left them to their evening and went to drink some sundowners. To be continued ....

Edited March 14, 2013 by SafariChick

[SafariChick]

Lovely sunset at sundowners:

 

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I was just trying to drink it all in, the sight and sounds, knowing it was my last one of the trip

 

After sundowners, we went to follow up on the leopard whose kill we'd seen in the tree in the morning. It was basically dark by now. The impala was as the leopard had left it that morning - back legs & organs gone, resting in the same position in the tree. We and another car searched around off-road and couldn't find the male whose kill Spencer thought it was, but suddenly another guide/tracker driving around the same area as us found a female leopard! We followed her for a few minutes with spotlights as she walked through the tall grass, but the guides felt she was getting stressed and by this time it was after 8 pm anyway - we certainly didn't want to stress her, so we immediately stopped and went inside for dinner.

[twaffle]

How I would love to sit with the dogs in a scene like this, it must have been just the most wonderful experience and you captured it well as I really get the idea.

 

That last sunset brings a lump to the throat.

[stokeygirl]

The Lagoon pack are awesome dogs- that's them in my avatar photo.

[graceland]

Reading this while sitting in animal hospital waiting for lab's ultrasound.....nice to have a diversion watching "happy dogs"

Playing and socializing,

 

And a great sunset!

 

love green season, I'go back tomorrow

 

great report,SC!

[madaboutcheetah]

Spencer recently mentioned to me that, the pack was going for warthog, impala and kudu this wet season. Might switch back to buffalo during the winter again when the herds have some young ones amongst them.

[SafariChick]

Thanks @@twaffle @@stokeygirl @@graceland @@madaboutcheetah for the comments. These dogs really captured my heart, maybe because I saw them so many times, I don't know, but it made me want to go back and see them again when they have more puppies. I know I can see dogs elsewhere but I got the feeling of wanting to "follow" THESE dogs. Spencer was pointing out that the alpha male is quite old and this may well be his last breeding season coming up. I felt sad for him, especially in an episode coming up from the next morning, and have this urge to go back in high season and see him and the new pups in case it is his last season. But there's no way I can go again that soon Next installment after I walk my own wild dog. And Graceland, I was wondering how yours is doing, poor thing and poor you - please let me know!

[SafariChick]

Meant to get back to this earlier today, but the day got away from me.

 

On our last morning, the first thing we did was drive to check on the impala carcass in the tree - it was gone and we found no sign of the leopard(s) so we moved on.

Next, we drove to where we left the dogs last night and found only the alpha male alone still sleeping/resting there. Spencer thought that the rest of the pack must have gone to scout for food and left him, which he said is unusual but it shows how vulnerable the old Alpha is becoming. He's old and tired and Spencer felt the fact that they would just leave him there meant his power is fading. His teeth have gotten dull and Spencer thinks this winter will be his last breeding season. Poor guy! I think our arrival woke him up a bit, enough for him to get up, look around and sniff and realize the pack was gone.

 

I THINK this is the alpha male based on the timing of when I took the photo compared to the later photos, but I could be wrong. I found the alpha female easier for me to identify visually.

 

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Spencer thought the pack had gone towards the river to scout for hunting opportunities, and so did the alpha as he started heading that way. We did too. We didn't follow exactly behind the alpha but rather went on a parallel route. We soon found Spencer's instincts were correct and we caught up with some of the pack in that direction. They were just hanging out.

 

P1110938 by marinarorysmom, on Flickr

 

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After we watched them for a few minutes, the rest of pack joined them, and there was a mini-greeting ritual. Spencer said they were telling the others that they had not had success in finding anything.

 

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Meanwhile, we didn't notice when he arrived, but the alpha male had caught up with them too and all lay down to rest again.

 

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I was glad we'd gotten to see them one last time before I left. After watching them rest a few minutes, we said farewell and left them on that note.

 

Here are some more photos from this last drive:

 

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It was very hard to leave.

 

I will do another kind of wrap-up post about the travel home, which was just funny in terms of the ineptitude of Air Botswana.