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Thanks @@Geoff - Love Kwando from my trip there! How come though? Is Selinda just more expensive or has the game viewing dropped?

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Thanks @@Geoff - Love Kwando from my trip there! How come though? Is Selinda just more expensive or has the game viewing dropped?

 

 

My opinion of course and some (many) might disagree. I'm also ignoring the expense of the Selinda camps.

 

The images in this thread were taken whilst the Selinda was in a dry cycle. When I first visited Selinda (1996) the Savuti Channel still had water for a distance from the Zibalianja lagoon. By 2004 the lagoon had shrunk considerably and the spillway almost completely dry. Game viewing was brilliant (I consider my 3 weeks there in 2002 comparable to the Mara), and predators were easy to locate waiting at the available water points. But that all changed from 2005 with renewed waterflows into the spillway & lagoon. The amount of water in the system now makes traversing the area much more difficult and the game far more spread out.

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@@Bush dog Fabulous set of images Mike. I've got a suspicion we've met too. I think you were staying at Selinda camp when I was at Zib in 1998.

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madaboutcheetah

I'm of the opinion that there has been a change in the tectonic plates again - For instance some parts of the Eastern section of Kwando that have been more and more submerged underwater over the past few years are getting dry again. It might still take 2-3 years though to be back in it's prime.

 

I may have mentioned elsewhere - October 2013, was largely disappointing at Kwando ...... While June/July 2014 was phenomenal .......... it's all a cycle, perhaps and the predator dynamics are constantly changing too - 2014 has suddenly seen Lions everywhere in the Kwando concession and I haven't had such good viewing since 2005. Okay - 2007/2008 was partially good when Milky Eye and his pride were more at Lebala - but, they too took off to Duma Tau/Savuti eventually and never came back.

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@@Geoff

 

Perhaps, Geoff. I was in Botswana from the 11 to the 27th of July.

Thanks a lot for your comments.

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@@Bush dog Yes, the timeframe fits. Do you remember this sighting July, 1998, both Selinda & Zib vehicles were there. This is when i think I met you. From memory you had a 300mm f/2.8 lens and I asked how you went handholding that lens (or something to that effect).

 

 

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@@Geoff

 

What a memory you have, Geoff, after 16 years! I'm sorry, but honestly, I do not remember.

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Interesting stuff @@Geoff ...Lebala is quite close to the spillway but seemingly not as affected. Interesting there is also a lion influx @@madaboutcheetah. I believe this may be as a result of the hunting ban (for lions, it was 2008 I believe?) if it takes 4 or 5 years for them to fully mature, we'll be seeing the effects now-ish then.
Hopefully Kwando will remain resilient with great dog and cheetah sightings, and not suffer the apparent drop in their numbers like @@Safaridude mentioned at Mombo.

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madaboutcheetah

I don't think the Lion density is that high like mombo ....... IMHO there is always cheetah around. You just have to track and find them.

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Lion's mock charge (scans from slides) in Welgevonden some time ago.

 

post-48450-0-81564700-1416913442_thumb.jpgpost-48450-0-37161000-1416913459_thumb.jpgpost-48450-0-11693800-1416913475_thumb.jpg

 

 

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Very interesting discussion on the merits of Kwando vs Selinda @@Big_Dog @@Geoff - we flew into Lebala in Nov 2007 on the same plane as @@africawild but whilst we moved on to Lagoon and had great sightings including cheetah, leopard & wild dog, he went onto Zib. When our paths crossed again a few days later in Kwara, his words were along the lines of "we struggled to find a zebra", the wildlife was that scarce!

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Very interesting discussion on the merits of Kwando vs Selinda @@Big_Dog @@Geoff - we flew into Lebala in Nov 2007 on the same plane as @@africawild but whilst we moved on to Lagoon and had great sightings including cheetah, leopard & wild dog, he went onto Zib. When our paths crossed again a few days later in Kwara, his words were along the lines of "we struggled to find a zebra", the wildlife was that scarce!

 

Your memory is perfectly right Ian , I still remember the day we met again in Kwara and how i regretted having gone to Selinda where we barely saw 3 elephant, some buffalo and our only predator was a wild cat while you were telling me about the fantastic sightings that you had enjoyed at Lagoon !!!

 

Great photos from the archives by the way all of you ! . My time as slide photographer ended the year before i took my first safari in 2003 . It would be fantastic to sit with a cold Tusker and have a slide show with some of this photos , i still make some family slide shows with my slides from Thailand or Egypt , too bad no African slides !!!!

 

Keep them coming !

 

Paco

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@Africlan : Really interesting, such diversity and difference in such a small area (relativley)!
@@Bush dog - awesome Martial Eagle.

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All very low res scans from slides. Selinda during the late 1990's then a few taken in 2002.

 

@@madaboutcheetah Hari, After much searching I've finally found some images on a very old external harddrive. These should bring back some memories. Sad to think that all these individuals would now be long gone.

I'm not into naming wild animals but from memory there is Letotse (one of the 3 bros), Jade & Sparky and a few others I have no idea about.

The first 3 images I believe are the earliest ones I have of the 3 boys. In the 2nd image you can just make out the 3rd cat still feeding on the ground.

 

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Down at the lagoon near Savuti channel hence the green grass

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With the cheetah throttling the impala we saw the kill from go to woah but at the precise moment the capture was obscured by some bushes. The mother (in the background) caught the impala but allowed her son to throttle it.

 

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Jade & Sparky

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madaboutcheetah

Thanks @@Geoff ........... The cheetah cubs in this post, what year was this? 2004/2005? If so, that may have been Jade. That's what John told me they called her in Selinda.

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madaboutcheetah

@@Bush dog - Mike, I'm still searching for a good Martial Eagle shot all these years later .......... That's superb!

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Thanks @@Geoff ........... The cheetah cubs in this post, what year was this? 2004/2005? If so, that may have been Jade. That's what John told me they called her in Selinda.

 

Nope it's 2002. On one morning drive I saw eleven individual cheetah. Amazing considering the 2 large lion prides in the vicinity at the time.

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Strong stuff this nostalgia.... I am feeling a little bit emotional after reading all this and I have never been to any of these camps - only went to Botswana once in 2010. :rolleyes:

 

@@Bush dog.. You have some fantastic photos from those days. Classics!

 

@@Safaridude and @@Geoff... I could say similar.

 

Great thread - please keep going!

 

@@Game Warden... You should make this pre-2004 so @@africawild can join in, although I like the 2000 cut-off date because nearly everything "serious" before then was film. Hmmm... you decide!! :D

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@@Bush dog - Mike, I'm still searching for a good Martial Eagle shot all these years later .......... That's superb!

Thanks Hari. I think you will find some pictures of my next topic, very interesting???

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@Big_Dog@pault

 

Thanks a lot for your comments!

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Some pictures, still scans from slides, from Central Kalahari (3 first one) and Gemsbok NP.

 

post-48450-0-91286500-1417508189_thumb.jpgpost-48450-0-21732400-1417508199_thumb.jpgpost-48450-0-18685000-1417508216_thumb.jpgpost-48450-0-17146700-1417508231_thumb.jpgpost-48450-0-46532500-1417508241_thumb.jpgpost-48450-0-83286900-1417508254_thumb.jpg

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@@Bush dog That last lot are as good as it gets Mike.

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