Kwando`s Green Season

[Atravelynn]

And here I always considered a mekoro ride to be relaxing. Those lion cubs are truly adorable and so full of energy. You really captured their spirit in stills and video. Blondie's face at night and the watchful eye of mother are tremendous closeups.

 

I like reading that you did not want to delay your pm game drive. Real go-getters! You can rest on the plane.

 

I can just picture that goofy choir in safari clothes.

[SafariChick]

That is hilarious about the group of 12 serenading you with the Sounds of the Sound of Music. As an American, I apologize too though it's true, it is one of the most beloved musicals we have here in the U.S. despite it starring that wonderful Brit Julie Andrews! The cubs are just adorable - love the photo of the baby taking it's mama's tail in its mouth.

[The Bear]

Michael, I had actually managed to forget the group of Americans, why did you remind me?!?!?!?! (They were all really nice but boy were they loud)

 

You asked about my sightings after Lagoon earlier, our luck continued at Kwara where we saw lots and lots of mammals including a cheetah. Again lots to see at Pom Pom including another Leopard who was very obliging with the photos. (In the end saw 8 different leopard on our trip - very lucky I know). I'd love to do a little trip review but I just don't know where to find the time.

 

Mark

[Big_Dog]

Great pics as ever! And a dramatic spider hunt...
Your tale of the americans also had me laughing out loud, hilarious stuff!

[USCHIG]

hi, new kid on the block ... Uschi from Germany,

we stay in botswana in March and met michael in Kwara and the relatives of madaboutcheetahs at lagoon - it had a great time the with paul - but we don´t see so much leopards, wild dogs and lion cabs - but we are very satisfied with the gamedrives.

[USCHIG]

hi, michael, we are waiting for the next step ... victoria falls ... by the way thanks for the information "safaritalk". Grossartige fotos mit deiner Canon ... Gerhard

[SafariChick]

@@USCHIG welcome to Safaritalk!

[michael-ibk]

@@USCHIG

 

Hi, Uschi and Gerhard, great to hear from you and welcome to Safaritalk. Thanks to the www it really is a small world.

 

Have fun exploring this place, you will find lots of fantastic wildlife stuff here.

 

Where did you take that pic of the yawning leopard? Awesome photo! How was Chobe?

[graceland]

@@michael-ibk

 

Just catching up after a week away...LOVED all the photos, most especially the cubs! I could watch them all day! Of course the dogs are always captivating, but I am such a cat person.....leopards, lions and cheetahs... your pics were very special.

 

I am flinching imagining the image of the serenading group @@The Bear ...Oh my...they needed to go to a baseball camp to sing, not a bush camp

 

Lagoon looked amazing. I wish I had gone there in lieu of Little Kwara. My experience was so inferior compared to every report thereafter (and before!) though I had a brief glimpse of three cheetah. So "one" positive memory.

 

And, I do love Botswana! Thanks for bringing it back to me

[michael-ibk]

After a very relaxing afternoon spent on our deck watching Bee-Eaters, Woodpeckers and Kingfishers it was time for our afternoon safari again. Our last afternoon safari!



At first it was very quiet, Lilac-Breasted Roller, Hornbills, a pair of Wahlberg´s Eagles. Then we found a big Elephant breeding herd, more than 40 or 50 of mothers, aunts and little ones.

They were moving very fast (it´s incredibly how quick animals that huge can turn invisible again), and Paul had a hard time following them offroad through the thickish, he had to return more than once because the way was blocked.

A teenager bull then tried to throw his weight around and gave us a slightly half-hearted performance of a mock-charge.

Still, he was impressive enough, came very close, and our new jeep companion was quite afraid. But I just watched Paul, and as long as he was relaxed, so was I. Just trusted him.

Then the young bull realized that he couldn´t scare us off, and so gave up and ran off.




We (=Paul and James) found lion tracks again and searched for them. In the distance Paul spotted a big cat relaxing on a termite mound, and laughed. "Good tracking, just 5 minutes for the lion, eh?" I hated to burst his bubble of pride, but after a thorough scan with my binocs I told him that he was wrong.

In a very good way, because we had found an even more interesting cat than a lion. Leopard!! We slowly approached, but one really can´t sneak upon the prince of stealth within a noisy car going offroad, and this was a very shy specimen, probably the same one we had seen on our first afternoon. He dashed off, and though we tried to follow him, he was just too fast for us. All we got was this:

Damn!

After scanning the area for another 15 minutes James and Paul had to concede defeat, and stopped. We debated what to do now, still try to follow him or return to the road? After a few minutes James started to laugh. Didn´t get it, what was so funny?

Well ... the fact that none of us had noticed that another leopard had been sitting five metres next to the car ever since we had "parked" in this spot:




A female, very small, not even half the size of the male before, and significantly smaller than the female we had seen the day before. She was quite nervous, apparently because of the scent of lions in the air.




We followed her, and she kindly allowed us to keep her company, walking in a leisurely pace. Pretty much every time she passed a tree she seemed to contemplate if she should climb up.








The afternoon had been pretty cloudy and dark, but now the sun came out for a minute. Ms. Leopard decided that we deserved a better look at her in this magnificent light and posed on a tree stumb. Pretending to scan the area, but I just know she just went up there to say "Look how beautiful I am."
















After a while she stopped again on a termite mound.






After sitting here with her privately for a good while finally the two other cars arrived after Paul had radioed in our find. Thankfully, the group of Americans did not sing to her.

Oddly, the fact that three cars were now admiring her seemed to soothe her, she appeared to become less and less nervous and lay down on the mound.

When it became darker and darker she suddenly decided that she had given us enough of a presentation now, jumped off and was quickly gone. This was our last shot of her:



We had (very late) sundowners at a little pond, celebrating this sighting. What could be better for a final afternoon game drive than leopards and Gin Tonic?

[michael-ibk]

@@graceland

 

Thanks very much for your kind words. Yes, I remember your Little Kwara misadventures, really a shame your Bots safari had such a rocky start. Fortunately it got (very much) better for you as we all know from your terrific report.

[madaboutcheetah]

Hmmmmmm - Leopard on a termite mound. How fantastic!!!!

[graceland]

That leopard is incredible. What shots; love the video..what do you use to take vids? (since I am a renowned I-phone photographer, Ha Ha)

 

I am promising myself that I am purchasing either video - camera combo or just a better camera for my Zim adventures in Sept. We have a Canon with a 70-300 lens and DH (Greenlantern) uses that; I am so visually impaired I can never change settings; get frustrated and give up as I want to watch the animals as much as "shoot" the pics.

 

I want an easy p&s with zoom...any suggestions? I really need more than an iPhone ..

[USCHIG]

@@USCHIG

 

Hi, Uschi and Gerhard, great to hear from you and welcome to Safaritalk. Thanks to the www it really is a small world.

 

Have fun exploring this place, you will find lots of fantastic wildlife stuff here.

 

Where did you take that pic of the yawning leopard? Awesome photo! How was Chobe?

Hi Michael, may be the leopard looks familar to you - it`s one of Wonder-Pauls`s friends in Kwando Lagoon nearby Lebala.

Chobe was total different to all the other camps. The Chobe Game lodge is the only Lodge direct in the Chobe National Park and it was very, very luxurious comparing to the tend camps. Not everybodies taste - but at the end of our safari we enjoyed it very much. The gaming was really good, especially lions, elephants and a lot of birds. (But you have to get up early in the morning at 4:30 !!). Later I would like to found out how to poste some pictures on safaritalk.

[SafariChick]

@@graceland so as not to divert from this TR, check out this thread re cameras http://safaritalk.net/topic/11996-what-camera-should-i-buy-pros-cons-of-each-type/

 

I am thinking of a new P&S (also called bridge) camera myself and there are some good suggestions here from those who know what they are talking about (i.e. not me!) One even has it's own zebras!

 

@@michael-ibk gorgeous leopard photos! what a great trip you had!

Edited May 18, 2014 by SafariChick

[graceland]

@@SafariChick - thanks for the link...I had perused it and my eyes blurred but think I will get some sort of Canon. That is what my DH likes so will keep it in the family. Its really NOT the camera but the person using it, so I have quite a ways to go....however, after looking at so many amazing pics here I feel I can slow down and take my time and not just click, click click and hope ONE comes out!!!!

 

Of course I have not made the three travel photog. books I had been planning to do all winter...Mara, Bots, Tz...and I know I won't get to them this summer. Oh well.....

I have the rest of my life.

 

That leopard's face did give me chill bumps, @@michael-ibk!

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

 

"but I just know she just went up there to say "Look how beautiful I am.""

She was right!

A very beautiful lopard and some graeat photos of her

I really like the video of the mock charging elephant as well!

[michael-ibk]

That leopard is incredible. What shots; love the video..what do you use to take vids? (since I am a renowned I-phone photographer, Ha Ha)

 

I am promising myself that I am purchasing either video - camera combo or just a better camera for my Zim adventures in Sept. We have a Canon with a 70-300 lens and DH (Greenlantern) uses that; I am so visually impaired I can never change settings; get frustrated and give up as I want to watch the animals as much as "shoot" the pics.

 

I want an easy p&s with zoom...any suggestions? I really need more than an iPhone ..

 

@@graceland , I use a Canon Powershot Sx50 powershot, also for video. (Many of the pics in my report are shot with a canon eos 600d with a sigma 120-400mm lens, though.)The automatic settings work fine, (though you can of course make use of all the manual settings as well if you want) and the optical zoom is just incredible (equivalent to 1200 mm). Bought it (for my Pantanal trip) because @@Atravelynn recommended it in one of her reports, and when in doubt about anything Safari, I´ve long decided to just copy everything she does.

 

Really good value for non-serious photographers, I think:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Digital-Camera-2-8-Inch/dp/B009B0MZ1M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400483063&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+sx50

[michael-ibk]

 

@@USCHIG

 

Hi, Uschi and Gerhard, great to hear from you and welcome to Safaritalk. Thanks to the www it really is a small world.

 

Have fun exploring this place, you will find lots of fantastic wildlife stuff here.

 

Where did you take that pic of the yawning leopard? Awesome photo! How was Chobe?

Hi Michael, may be the leopard looks familar to you - it`s one of Wonder-Pauls`s friends in Kwando Lagoon nearby Lebala.

Chobe was total different to all the other camps. The Chobe Game lodge is the only Lodge direct in the Chobe National Park and it was very, very luxurious comparing to the tend camps. Not everybodies taste - but at the end of our safari we enjoyed it very much. The gaming was really good, especially lions, elephants and a lot of birds. (But you have to get up early in the morning at 4:30 !!). Later I would like to found out how to poste some pictures on safaritalk.

 

 

@@USCHIG

 

Wow, 04:30 is a bit nasty. Why so early?

 

If you´d like to post pictures, look here:

 

http://safaritalk.net/topic/14-posting-images-in-the-text/

 

And here:

 

http://safaritalk.net/topic/29-creating-your-gallery-album-and-uploading-images/

 

I

[Big_Dog]

Those leopard photos, especially in the orange light, just take the cake michael.
Was this the final page or did you see anything on the way back?

[michael-ibk]

@@Big_Dog

 

Thanks again.

 

Still one last morning drive and two nights in Vic Falls to come.

[The Bear]

Lagoon. The camp that keeps on giving!!!

 

Mark

[USCHIG]

 

 

@@USCHIG

 

Hi, Uschi and Gerhard, great to hear from you and welcome to Safaritalk. Thanks to the www it really is a small world.

 

Have fun exploring this place, you will find lots of fantastic wildlife stuff here.

 

Where did you take that pic of the yawning leopard? Awesome photo! How was Chobe?

Hi Michael, may be the leopard looks familar to you - it`s one of Wonder-Pauls`s friends in Kwando Lagoon nearby Lebala.

Chobe was total different to all the other camps. The Chobe Game lodge is the only Lodge direct in the Chobe National Park and it was very, very luxurious comparing to the tend camps. Not everybodies taste - but at the end of our safari we enjoyed it very much. The gaming was really good, especially lions, elephants and a lot of birds. (But you have to get up early in the morning at 4:30 !!). Later I would like to found out how to poste some pictures on safaritalk.

 

 

@@USCHIG

 

Wow, 04:30 is a bit nasty. Why so early?

 

If you´d like to post pictures, look here:

 

http://safaritalk.net/topic/14-posting-images-in-the-text/

 

And here:

 

http://safaritalk.net/topic/29-creating-your-gallery-album-and-uploading-images/

 

I

 

Thank you very much for the links - we will try it as soon as possible. As an older couple with limited knowlege in english we are not familiar with blogs - safaritalk is our first experience!

 

The reason to get up very early in the morning is the unique position of the game lodge inside the Chobe Nationalpark. So they drive around with their guests till 7:00/7:30 when the park get open for the public and then we drive back to the lodge for a incredible breakfast - mhhhhhhh - at 8:30. The afternoon drive started at 4:30 till 8:00 pm.

In the meanwhile you can walk on the boardwalk along the Chobe River with a lot of wildlife viewing or you can take a boatride on the river - both is wonderful!

[graceland]

 

That leopard is incredible. What shots; love the video..what do you use to take vids? (since I am a renowned I-phone photographer, Ha Ha)

 

I am promising myself that I am purchasing either video - camera combo or just a better camera for my Zim adventures in Sept. We have a Canon with a 70-300 lens and DH (Greenlantern) uses that; I am so visually impaired I can never change settings; get frustrated and give up as I want to watch the animals as much as "shoot" the pics.

 

I want an easy p&s with zoom...any suggestions? I really need more than an iPhone ..

 

@@graceland , I use a Canon Powershot Sx50 powershot, also for video. (Many of the pics in my report are shot with a canon eos 600d with a sigma 120-400mm lens, though.)The automatic settings work fine, (though you can of course make use of all the manual settings as well if you want) and the optical zoom is just incredible (equivalent to 1200 mm). Bought it (for my Pantanal trip) because @@Atravelynn recommended it in one of her reports, and when in doubt about anything Safari, I´ve long decided to just copy everything she does.

 

Really good value for non-serious photographers, I think:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Digital-Camera-2-8-Inch/dp/B009B0MZ1M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400483063&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+sx50

 

Thanks Michael! I believe I read in the past months another ST report with fab photos using the same camera. That is going on my birthday wish list; though I do not celebrate birthdays --presents are always welcome from my DH!!

 

I am definitely not a serious photographer as you and so many others, but with a special trip to Mana coming and my Panasonic lumix giving out on me in Bots (which is why my pics were of poor caliber trying to learn a DSLR!)..it is time, and....

 

I hope to be better prepared in Sept.

 

And you are SO right, @@Atravelynn is the one for all things safari!

 

@USCHI--- Chobe was our very first park before flying to the Sabi area years back; we saw on the first drive.....lions.ellies, leopard (strolling along side us forever), buffalo, a rhino, oh- and a snake. The addiction began! Loved the ellies snorkeling across the river at sunset. Amazing. Never forget your first game drive! Ever.

 

I had a terrible time learning how to upload my gallery, so just be patient; it will come. And ask questions; everyone is so helpful

 

 

Thanks again, Michael....looking forward to MORE.

[Kitsafari]

 

The evening was all but quiet, a newly-arrived group of 12 Americans stormed in like a whirlwind and wanted to hear all about our morning, Spencer had told them. These quite loud, but very nice people provided me with one of my most surreal experiences ever. Once we had established that I was Austrian they all wanted to talk about the musical film "The Sound of Music", some weird piece about the singing Trapp family. All were utterly and completely shocked when I told them that I had never seen it. And even more shocked when I explained that no one back home has. Though it is apparently very popular in parts abroad it´s virtually unknown in Austria, I know practically no one who has seen it - though we are aware that it exists. And no doubt presents a very accurate picture about all things Austrian.

 

Anyway, my neighbours at table decided that I would have to be converted to the greatness of this movie history´s jewel. And sang no less than three songs out of it to me. And all 12 of the group joined in. And went all "My Favourite Things", "The Sound of Music" and - very befittlingly - "No Way To Stop it" on me.

 

Needless to say, I needed lots of whine and whiskey that evening to cope with all this.

I've just finished this page.

 

Sound of Music is so famous in Asia - I know many of the songs by hard. Julie Andrews became an icon after that, and so was the scenery of Austria. I'm just surprised that Austrians have never watched it, since I grew up with it - a long time ago.

 

Those cubs are so cute.