Kwando Lagoon/Lebala June/July 2014

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks - Yes, I've never seen that kind of behaviour before .......... I assume they are trying to get rid of ticks/fleas.....

[madaboutcheetah]

Guess what ........ I will throw in a cheetah "sunrise" silhouette. They certainly did co-operate ............ We left camp early wanting to find them before they make us chase them around after their "tracks" ....... True story - we found a Leopard and cub by the Staff village - yet, we just drove away wanting to get to the cheetah in time (that's why we set out early). Other vehicles starting a little while later could not track them (leopards) down. Most guests are obsessed with wanting to see Leopard! We radioed camp right away to pass the message to the guides ..... too bad- they only left after morning tea etc etc., and I'm guessing the endless chatter around the fire!

Edited July 16, 2014 by madaboutcheetah

[FlyTraveler]

Great cheetah silhouettes against the rising sun, Hari!

[madaboutcheetah]

Some varied plains game and assorted stuff .........

[madaboutcheetah]

Quintessentially Lagoon .......

[Marks]

Oh, I love that elephant flinging mud! What an incredibly joyous-looking expression.

[SSF556]

Hari what equipment are you using?

[madaboutcheetah]

Hari what equipment are you using?

Nikon D4 with 500mm

 

D800 with 70-200mm

[penolva]

Guess what ........ I will throw in a cheetah "sunrise" silhouette. They certainly did co-operate ............ We left camp early wanting to find them before they make us chase them around after their "tracks" ....... True story - we found a Leopard and cub by the Staff village - yet, we just drove away wanting to get to the cheetah in time (that's why we set out early). Other vehicles starting a little while later could not track them (leopards) down. Most guests are obsessed with wanting to see Leopard! We radioed camp right away to pass the message to the guides ..... too bad- they only left after morning tea etc etc., and I'm guessing the endless chatter around the fire!

Endless chatter! That's why we gave up on those lodges, when you can't afford a private vehicle and now self drive or try Moses and Unlimited Safari as we will next year! Love the pics Hari, so lucky once again to spend quality time with Spencer . Pen

[johnkok]

Thanks - Yes, I've never seen that kind of behaviour before .......... I assume they are trying to get rid of ticks/fleas.....

 

All I ever see the tsessebe and topi do are stand around :-)

[madaboutcheetah]

 

Guess what ........ I will throw in a cheetah "sunrise" silhouette. They certainly did co-operate ............ We left camp early wanting to find them before they make us chase them around after their "tracks" ....... True story - we found a Leopard and cub by the Staff village - yet, we just drove away wanting to get to the cheetah in time (that's why we set out early). Other vehicles starting a little while later could not track them (leopards) down. Most guests are obsessed with wanting to see Leopard! We radioed camp right away to pass the message to the guides ..... too bad- they only left after morning tea etc etc., and I'm guessing the endless chatter around the fire!

Endless chatter! That's why we gave up on those lodges, when you can't afford a private vehicle and now self drive or try Moses and Unlimited Safari as we will next year! Love the pics Hari, so lucky once again to spend quality time with Spencer . Pen

 

 

I actually bumped into Moses in Maun airport on my way out ........ brief chat to catch up!

 

I much prefer the East African model, where coffee is brought to your room as part of the wake up call - there is no wasting time (and precious morning light) drinking coffee and chatting away ............ Also in Kenya, there is no High Tea - they have a proper lunch and then dinner when you return. Again no wastage of time -

 

I suppose in Southern Africa everything is Wildernessized to a standard product?

[madaboutcheetah]

 

Guess what ........ I will throw in a cheetah "sunrise" silhouette. They certainly did co-operate ............ We left camp early wanting to find them before they make us chase them around after their "tracks" ....... True story - we found a Leopard and cub by the Staff village - yet, we just drove away wanting to get to the cheetah in time (that's why we set out early). Other vehicles starting a little while later could not track them (leopards) down. Most guests are obsessed with wanting to see Leopard! We radioed camp right away to pass the message to the guides ..... too bad- they only left after morning tea etc etc., and I'm guessing the endless chatter around the fire!

Endless chatter! That's why we gave up on those lodges, when you can't afford a private vehicle and now self drive or try Moses and Unlimited Safari as we will next year! Love the pics Hari, so lucky once again to spend quality time with Spencer . Pen

 

 

Re Spencer - I think we are lucky to have met him all those many years ago. He's now a very close friend of mine and close friends/family from home .......... No words, really!

[madaboutcheetah]

Interlude:

 

A very odd incident at Lagoon camp. During our stay at Lagoon ....... there was a very sweet elderly couple from the UK who are absolutely obsessed about India/Indian culture/people/travel .......... subsequently, we turned out to be a novelty item for them. They liked Bandipur of all parks? and that was the ironic head scratcher for me (while they were IMHO in the Kwando concession - one of the best wild spaces in Africa) ......... go figure!!! (I only write this here, because I'm pretty confident they don't or won't ever bother with this report or safaritalk for that matter).

[johnkok]

Interlude:

 

A very odd incident at Lagoon camp. During our stay at Lagoon ....... there was a very sweet elderly couple from the UK who are absolutely obsessed about India/Indian culture/people/travel .......... subsequently, we turned out to be a novelty item for them. They liked Bandipur of all parks? and that was the ironic head scratcher for me (while they were IMHO in the Kwando concession - one of the best wild spaces in Africa) ......... go figure!!! (I only write this here, because I'm pretty confident they don't or won't ever bother with this report or safaritalk for that matter).

 

Or perhaps they were being especially sweet, kind and polite because you were there?

Just a thought

[madaboutcheetah]

 

Interlude:

 

A very odd incident at Lagoon camp. During our stay at Lagoon ....... there was a very sweet elderly couple from the UK who are absolutely obsessed about India/Indian culture/people/travel .......... subsequently, we turned out to be a novelty item for them. They liked Bandipur of all parks? and that was the ironic head scratcher for me (while they were IMHO in the Kwando concession - one of the best wild spaces in Africa) ......... go figure!!! (I only write this here, because I'm pretty confident they don't or won't ever bother with this report or safaritalk for that matter).

 

Or perhaps they were being especially sweet, kind and polite because you were there?

Just a thought

 

 

Haha - doubt it. They were scandalized that we were not vegetarian ......... Had a huge list of questions on just that subject

[SSF556]

Interlude:

 

A very odd incident at Lagoon camp. During our stay at Lagoon ....... there was a very sweet elderly couple from the UK who are absolutely obsessed about India/Indian culture/people/travel .......... subsequently, we turned out to be a novelty item for them. They liked Bandipur of all parks? and that was the ironic head scratcher for me (while they were IMHO in the Kwando concession - one of the best wild spaces in Africa) ......... go figure!!! (I only write this here, because I'm pretty confident they don't or won't ever bother with this report or safaritalk for that matter).

Hari...we ran into some obsessed British and Canadians as well...they cornered my wife and I and wanted to talk American politics in particular why we have the 2nd Amendment. It was rather uncomfortable for my wife and I as we generally do not talk politics. I did talk politics with the Canadian for about an hour, but after not seeing eye to eye I called the conversation off and headed to my cabin for an afternoon nap. I swore at that moment to avoid all talks of politics with other guests. So not the same but similar to your interlude.

Edited July 17, 2014 by SSF556

[madaboutcheetah]

 

Interlude:

 

A very odd incident at Lagoon camp. During our stay at Lagoon ....... there was a very sweet elderly couple from the UK who are absolutely obsessed about India/Indian culture/people/travel .......... subsequently, we turned out to be a novelty item for them. They liked Bandipur of all parks? and that was the ironic head scratcher for me (while they were IMHO in the Kwando concession - one of the best wild spaces in Africa) ......... go figure!!! (I only write this here, because I'm pretty confident they don't or won't ever bother with this report or safaritalk for that matter).

Hari...we ran into some obsessed British and Canadians as well...they cornered my wife and I and wanted to talk American politics in particular why we have the 2nd Amendment. It was rather uncomfortable for my wife and I as we generally do not talk politics. I did talk politics with the Canadian for about an hour, but after not seeing eye to eye I called the conversation off and headed to my cabin for an afternoon nap. I swore at that moment to avoid all talks of politics with other guests. So not the same but similar to your interlude.

 

 

My fellow guests were very sweet. We were not uncomfortable at all ....... We were just shocked that despite all their travels, there was a lot of stereo-typing ....... They had been on some 15 or 20 visits to the sub-continent.

[penolva]

 

 

Guess what ........ I will throw in a cheetah "sunrise" silhouette. They certainly did co-operate ............ We left camp early wanting to find them before they make us chase them around after their "tracks" ....... True story - we found a Leopard and cub by the Staff village - yet, we just drove away wanting to get to the cheetah in time (that's why we set out early). Other vehicles starting a little while later could not track them (leopards) down. Most guests are obsessed with wanting to see Leopard! We radioed camp right away to pass the message to the guides ..... too bad- they only left after morning tea etc etc., and I'm guessing the endless chatter around the fire!

 

Endless chatter! That's why we gave up on those lodges, when you can't afford a private vehicle and now self drive or try Moses and Unlimited Safari as we will next year! Love the pics Hari, so lucky once again to spend quality time with Spencer . Pen

Re Spencer - I think we are lucky to have met him all those many years ago. He's now a very close friend of mine and close friends/family from home .......... No words, really!

And it was because of you I got to spend two days sitting beside him in the front seat chasing after wild dogs! Now that was fun.

[madaboutcheetah]

Double vision.......

[madaboutcheetah]

Double vision.......

[nikethana]

Great pictures! Especially love the lions in the pink evening light and the pride feeding.

 

Too bad we missed the pangolin and the lion pride while we were at Tau Pan and Little Kwara. Such an incredible 2 weeks this was!

 

Spencer and Mr Moe are superstars! Really lucky to have had them guiding and tracking.

 

P.S: I was one of the two first-time-in-Botswana friends of Hari's on this trip

[madaboutcheetah]

@@nikethana is a cheetah fan now ....... Welcome to safaritalk!!!!!

[nikethana]

@@nikethana is a cheetah fan now ....... Welcome to safaritalk!!!!!

Thank you!

 

Huge Cheetah fan! Probably the one big(ish) cat that's actually all out to entertain you all day.

 

At least the ones we were following in Lebala were out to put on a show. Fantastic experience observing their behavior for those 4-5 days.

 

First tracking them, and then the show: patrolling (termite mounds, logs, trees: you name it, they posed on it), marking territory, all the failed hunts, coordinated ambush, finally after 2 days, they got a warthog piglet, leader-follower dynamics, even the greeting and grooming. What was most fascinating to me was how they sort of desperately chirp to find each other when one of them loses the other.

Edited July 19, 2014 by nikethana

[SafariChick]

@@nikethana welcome to the forum!

[madaboutcheetah]

The Cheetah boys now ....... They do have a huge home range (Thanks to facebook I've learnt from guides at both Selinda and Duma Tau that these boys traverse their concessions too) ..... Phew! A huge territory - from the Savuti river to the marsh/Selinda/Kwando ........ Yet, very similar to the old blood brothers. Puts in perspective that we were lucky to have them during our time in the concession. Perhaps (in hope) wonder if they will spend more time in Kwando when they start dominating the Lagoon grounds too?