Kwando`s Green Season

[michael-ibk]

I blatantly disagree with remote controlled game drive rules!!! Surely, there is plenty to go find/do and see in such a game rich area ............ instead of waiting in the queue and to enforce others to leave, when things get interesting....... very bizarre!!! is all I can say.

I have not spent quality time at Kwara since maybe Feb 2011. I was there for 24 hours last October, when there were lots of cars going to 4 Rivers to find wild dogs that were seen that very morning - we stayed away........ We went away to Tsum Tsum to find cheetah.

 

 

Wow - lucky you!!! I haven't seen Ras since maybe 2005. He was a full time guide back then and a brilliant one!!! ...... Great GTG with @@wilddog and a Charles sighting too!!! All fabulous .........

@@madaboutcheetah

 

Well, I think it would have irked me more if I would have been in the waiting queue. As it was, we went on to a very nice sundowner, so I didn´t mind that much, especially after I had heard the lions gave up their hunt. I think "no more than three cars" is a good rule in itself, but it´s a bit unfair to the "finders". As mentioned, this was the only incident when the rule came into effect as well, and I expect it would only be a Kwara thing, since they have the most cars there. Or does it happen at Lagoon/Lebala, too? (We went in the Lebala area, but had all our sightings there to ourselves.) But I agree, not much fun sitting around in a queue, as a Non-Brit I don´t like queuing nowhere.

 

Ah, "Ras", not "Russ". They all only use no-more-than-4-letter-names and still I get them wrong. And yes, brilliant guy.

[madaboutcheetah]

Haha - Yes, Ras ...... Many safaritalkers will remember him either from his old Kwando days or in more recent years camp manager at Tau Pan. In-between which he was manager at both Kalahari Plains and Vumbura ...... Btw, @@michael-ibk did you meet the lady Hostess - Lebo who is now at Big Kwara? She's brilliant too!!!

 

Thankfully Lagoon and Lebala are very far from each other - by the time you get to the other side (will likely have to be an all day drive with packed lunch unless it's only half way i.e., John's Pan etc etc.,) the others will have already seen the sighting (and by the time you get there, the animals may be sleeping under a bush)......... If the sighting is say, south of Lebala camp closer to Selinda it won't even make sense to go that far from Lagoon.

Edited May 8, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[Marks]

 

 

The Mixtures looked quite funny, but as Alex told us, there´s a more serious reason for them to do that ... safety in numbers is a cross-species-concecpt. Actually I felt kind of sorry about the wildebeest doing that. There were so few of them, and always on their own. I wonder, is this because their numbers crashed so badly after the fences have blocked their migration routes, or has it always been like this in Botswana? I always got the impression of "last survivors" with them...

 

 

 

Good question on the wildebeest. I doubt they've ever been as numerous in Southern Africa as Eastern, but just how hard the fences hit them...unsure. One for Richard Estes to figure out!

 

 

 

I'm currently reading Estes' The Gnu's World. Not sure if this helps, but this is what he has to say on the subject:

 

The Kalahari Desert…formerly supported one of Africa’s great plains-game ecosystems…During the wet season, a large migratory wildebeest population dispersed throughout the Kalahari savannas. When these areas became waterless for several months during the dry season, and especially in severe drought years, the wildebeest concentrated near permanent water in areas such as Makgadikgadi Pans, the Lake Ngami depression, and the Chobe River in Botswana; the floodplains bordering the Okavango Swamp in Botswana and Namibia; Etosha Pan, Ovamboland, and the Caprivi Strip in Namibia; along the Cunene and Cubango Rivers in Angola; and formerly along the Limpopo River in Botswana and South Africa and the Orange River in South Africa. This vast region may have been occupied by a single wildebeest population…its size will never be known, but it must have comprised at least several hundred thousand individuals.”

 

He then goes on to say how the game fences decimated this population.

[SafariChick]

I'd agree michael, I think dry areas are better for game viewing, and as a predator man Lagoon is superb. Lebala is actually really close by, and sometimes if there's something of interest drive routes may overlap.

 

I hope the 'Mad Barbet of Kwara' becomes a big thing...

 

The Mad Barbet of Kwara reminds me of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, from Sweeney Todd! Hopefully this barbet isn't mad like Sweeney was though and restricts his madness to his reflection!

[michael-ibk]

Btw, @@michael-ibk did you meet the lady Hostess - Lebo who is now at Big Kwara? She's brilliant too!!!

 

 

I don´t think so, Hari. I remember GT, who was called a manager, and Lets, the receptionist. BTW, is there a difference between "lady Hostess" and "Manager"? Tau Pan only seemed to have one manager, Mapilo, all other camps had two "managers" (Duff & Lizzie at Nxai Pan, Ras & GT at Kwara, Obi and Mr. P at Lagoon). What is Obi (and I´m sure I got that name wrong as well ) at Lagoon, for example?

[madaboutcheetah]

same thing - Lady hostess and manager .............. I have never met GT - maybe someone new.

 

Not sure - maybe Maipilo's counter part had to head off to Maun for personal reasons? Is she full time at Tau pan these days or just in relief? (I think, could be wrong - she normally is part of the relief team to fill in when the regular manager heads off on leave - she does the entire circuit though......). She and Dux were our managers at Lagoon last year and they were fabulous!!!

 

Obi is the manager too - She was away on leave last time when I was at Lagoon.

 

I've not met Mr.P either......

Edited May 9, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[michael-ibk]

In the afternoon we had decided to do the boattrip. It was time to stop angsting about leopards and cheetahs, and a soothing water trip was just what was needed. Mokoro trips are offered as well at Kwara, but we didn´t want to sacrifice two game drives. And since we were told about a horrific, almost fatal hippo accident at Pom Pom just five days before we chickenly went for the boat.







Thoroughly enjoyed it. It´s really not so much about watching animals (though there always is the odd chance of finding a Sitatunga), but rather just about gliding through the beauty of the Delta and taking it all in.








Taking photos isn´t easy on a boat, especially on the upper "deck", where it´s quite shaky. Most birds do fly away before coming into photo range, anyway, it´s better just watching here. We did see an elephant ashore, and a family of Cape Clawless Otter who dove away as soon as they had noticed us. I especially enjoyed a Malachite Kingfisher, a little lightning streak of colour. And the Beeeaters of course who luckily were more accomodating for pics.




Hippos were a regular sight as well.









The boat drive (with our guide as "captain" and tracker KP coming along as well) leads till and across the borders of Kwara concession. This is actually already in Moremi Game Reserve:





All in all a very nice way to spend the afternoon, especially since the weather was great, too. We returned to the cars at about 07:00 p.m., the drive back to camp was uneventful.

[michael-ibk]

Not sure - maybe Maipilo's counter part had to head off to Maun for personal reasons? Is she full time at Tau pan these days or just in relief?

 

I don´t know but she told me she still had two months at Tau Pan before her leave. (I seem to remember they work three months and have one month off, right?)

[Kitsafari]

so sorry you had no luck with cheetahs/leopards/doggies so far. i hope the last game drive delivered??! still you had a very scenic stay in kwara camp.

 

i read backwards to refresh my memory and how did i miss the dark and handsome March boys? their manes are gorgeous and thick. the mad barbet of kwara? poor birdie, i do hope he will make friends with his nemesis one day, it must be so painful pecking at the glass.

 

the boat ride looks serene. but i'm still not that sold on boat rides, it'll probably too quiet for me. glad you had a GTG with @@wilddog, speaking of which, did i miss her TR? i've got to check it up......

 

you have such lovely panaromic pictures of the green season sprinkled with the wonderful golden light that I didn't or couldn't get.

[michael-ibk]

Birds, pt. 8 (Long-Legged Wading Birds)


White Egrets are a bit of a headache. They all look pretty much the same, colour of beaks and legs does help to distinguish them. Except the colour changes when they´re breeding.

Anyway, this one is easy, the buff plumes on crown give it away as Cattle Egret. Ubiquitous.





Enjoying a ride.


A bit larger, yellow bill and blackish feet - a Yellow-Billed Egret.




Very slender, black bill, black legs - Little Egret




This one looks very similar to a Black Heron (the one with the cool umbrella hunting technique), but the greenish-yellow legs are diagnostic - it´s a Slaty Egret.



Also seen were Black Heron and Great Egret.


In Nxai Pan we had this sighting of a very distant Goliath Heron, the largest one.




The Grey Heron occurs worldwide. And it´s not afraid of no hippo.






These Black Storks were seen near Elephant Camp, Zimbabwe.




An Abdim´s Stork in Nxai Pan:




For some reason I thought Yellow-Billed Storks would be a common sighting. They weren´t, just saw this one at Kwara. In German they are called "Nimmersatt", insatiable, not a very flattering name.




One of my personal highlights was the sighting of this Saddle-Billed-Stork. A stunning bird.








African Spoonbill, Lagoon




These Hadeda Ibis are an extremely noisy bunch - they often gave a very special morning "concert" at Lagoon camp.



Wattled Crane, Kwara.

[wilddog]

@@Kitsafari No you did not miss it; it is still in the making. Part of the Kwando chronological series.

[michael-ibk]

Our last morning at Kwara dawned.



We were going to the Splash area again. This drive was very quiet, even Giraffes and Zebras were reluctant to show themselves, only Impalas and Tsessebes to be seen for quite some time.




I was not too hard on Alex this morning, my wish was easily fulfilled - a pic of a sausage tree.




We found fresh cheetah tracks and searched and searched for what seemed like hours. At one point Alex and KP both left the car and tracked on foot. After we couldn´t even see them anymore for more than 15 minutes we started contemplating who of us would be able to drive the jeep here. No need to worry, they did return - but without cheetah in tow unfortunately.

(It´s just the luck of the draw with these things, we were later told by guests at Lagoon that they had seen two cheetah brothers in this very area the very next day.)

After our coffee break we slowly returned to the airstrip, our jeep buddies were to depart at 10:00.

 

We had another hour till our plane arrived, and so did another circle in the area nearby. Where we promptly found the lionesses. The cub was there as well, but being as shy as usual, stayed hidden in the bush.














We ended our stay at Kwara with a quintessential Delta scene - a wonderful, quite close Red Lechwe sighting:

 

Then it was time to say good bye to Alex and PK (here at Four Rivers).



Both had been great, KP is a very earnest, hard-working tracker and Alex is just a fun guy to be with. Always in a good mood, and always successful in lifting our spirits even if cheetahs, leopards and dogs were not complying with our wishes. Which should not reflect on their qualities as guides/trackers, afaik no car at Kwara/LK found any of those during our stay there.

I would be lying if I said otherwise, our lack in finding them was a disappointment to me. Still, as other guests told me they are definitely around, and the Kwando sightings reports confirm that, too. But even without them I loved the Delta, it´s a wonderful, serene landscape, the most beautiful place I´ve ever been to. And I very much enjoyed Kwara Camp, so I definitely will be back. Hey, Alex promised me mating leopards, cheetahs with cubs, hunting wild dogs, sables and roan for our next stay. I will take him at his word.

[michael-ibk]

so sorry you had no luck with cheetahs/leopards/doggies so far. i hope the last game drive delivered??! still you had a very scenic stay in kwara camp.

 

i read backwards to refresh my memory and how did i miss the dark and handsome March boys? their manes are gorgeous and thick. the mad barbet of kwara? poor birdie, i do hope he will make friends with his nemesis one day, it must be so painful pecking at the glass.

 

the boat ride looks serene. but i'm still not that sold on boat rides, it'll probably too quiet for me. glad you had a GTG with @@wilddog, speaking of which, did i miss her TR? i've got to check it up......

 

you have such lovely panaromic pictures of the green season sprinkled with the wonderful golden light that I didn't or couldn't get.

 

Thanks, @@Kitsafari , as you now see, the last drive did not deliver. But there´s still one camp to come, and I have a feeling some good stuff happened there.

 

I understand what you mean about the boat drive, I was pretty torn about doing that myself. Surely, if out on the water terrific things would happen at game drives, and I would all miss it. Was quite convinced of it. (Luckily that didn´t happen. )

 

But the "too quiet" aspect you mentioned is the whole point of the boat trip, and I really, really enjoyed this totally different vibe of activity. It felt good to just relax and enjoy the sund and the calm beauty of the Delta waterways.

[madaboutcheetah]

Hmmmmmm - I wonder if you just ran short of tracking time that morning!!! So sorry that you missed the two remaining old boys ....... re the boat ride - it's super productive when the Heronery is active. Also, it's nice to experience the delta scenery.....

Edited May 9, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[michael-ibk]

A little coda to the Delta, from our very nice flight to Lagoon. Since we had a stop on the way the plane was flying quite low which made for lovely viewing.



Kwara Airstrip



















Mapula Lodge - at least I think so.

[michael-ibk]

Hmmmmmm - I wonder if you just ran short of tracking time that morning!!! So sorry that you missed the two remaining old boys .......

 

We ran short without a doubt Hari. I´m sure Alex and KP wouldn´t have given up, but with the plane to catch we just had to abort.

[AKR1]

Thanks for an excellent report@@michael-ibk.

The Kwara part in particular brought back some great memories. I am surprised you did not see the cheetahs as we had multiple sightings including a start to finish Red Lechwe kill at four rivers and an exciting failed hunt with the 3 cheetah brothers in Tsum-Tsum. Also, 6 of the magnificent 7 lions ( long gone I understand) walking together about 200m from my tent sit out at Kwara. No dogs during our Feb 2012 trip.

 

Do you have any details on the Hippo attack on guests in a mekoro at Pom-Pom camp?

[michael-ibk]

Thanks, @@AKR1

 

Yes, I remember your awesome report and your fabulous cheetah sightings. From what Alex told me, at least at the moment cheetahs are far from a certain thing at Kwara, probably seen in one out of four weeks. Chances would of course be better with a private vehicle like you had, but according to camp staff getting to Tsum Tsum would have been very difficult with the amount of water around.

 

I was told about the mokoro incident by my jeep buddies in Kwara. They had come from Pom Pom, and all mokoro trips had been put on hold there. From what they heard, a hippo turned a mokoro and bit one of the people in it. Tales were conflicting if it was the guide or a guest, but apparently only the presence of a surgeon in camp who stitched the victim up saved his life.

[AKR1]

Wow, I would definitely have had problems with getting into a mekoro in the delta after that.

[michael-ibk]

That´s why we didn´t.

[Kitsafari]

Wow, I would definitely have had problems with getting into a mekoro in the delta after that.

Ditto that.

[graceland]

What a Magical Safari you had @michael-ibk; your photos make me feel like i've been along for the ride.

 

I do love Botswana in Green Season. The rains just made it all the more mystical and romantic.

 

Looking forward to more!

[SafariChick]

@madaboutcheetah @michael-ibk I met Maipilo last year when I was in Bots also - I think at Lagoon. Continuing to really enjoy this report! Really looking forward to the last camp!

Edited May 9, 2014 by SafariChick

[SafariChick]

 

Wow, I would definitely have had problems with getting into a mekoro in the delta after that.

Ditto that.

 

Me three. I had trouble with the idea of a mekoro even without hearing that - after hearing it, wow, I definitely don't think it's for me. How lucky is it the surgeon was in camp (and had the proper equipment to do stitches?! I wonder was it just another guest who happened to be there? Would love to know more details.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks for an excellent report@@michael-ibk.

The Kwara part in particular brought back some great memories. I am surprised you did not see the cheetahs as we had multiple sightings including a start to finish Red Lechwe kill at four rivers and an exciting failed hunt with the 3 cheetah brothers in Tsum-Tsum. Also, 6 of the magnificent 7 lions ( long gone I understand) walking together about 200m from my tent sit out at Kwara. No dogs during our Feb 2012 trip.

 

Do you have any details on the Hippo attack on guests in a mekoro at Pom-Pom camp?

@@AKR1 - from these images here of the new 4 males ....... I don't think those 6 or 7 could hold a candle to these guys! MASSIVE ......

 

From following reports of the remaining two cheetah males, seems they tend to hang around Splash a lot now - their territory is being challenged by the hour! what with Tsum Tsum being prime Cheetah land and all ......