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Selinda, a ten years' love story


Bush dog

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1998

 

Continued

 

Notwithstanding the presence of lions, I had some good cheetahs’ sightings.

 

Resting after a good meal

 

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Just after a kill

 

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Girafes have always been in great number all along those 10 years. Red lechwes were everywhere in 1998 and 1999. Then, they almost completely disappeared. For what reason? It’s still a mystery for me. I had a few sightings of sables in 1998 and no more the years after. I am not sure, but I do not think that I saw buffaloes in 1998.

 

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To be continued

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This is excellent, loving the story and pictures and eager for more.
Also something of Joubert vibe about it; classic Botswana photos.

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@@Shrivant

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

When I was in Selinda, I asked them if they had to pay for the lease of the concession. The answer was that it was free of charge. Their only obligations were to keep the environment as it stand, to build a lodge or tented camp that can be dismantled and to produce, every two years, to the Wildlife Department, a report including a succession of information concerning, amongst others, rainfalls, wildlife census, tse tse flies traps, and so on......

So if the laws are still the same, increase in luxuriousness is mainly profitable to the shareholders of the companies that own those camps!

thank you for the information!

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@@Bush dog. Yes, Selinda, the land of lions, and big lion prides but even so it's your elephant images that are so evocative to me. You could go a day or so without seeing the cats but elephant were everywhere during those years, with at times huge aggregations in the hundreds.

 

Thoroughly enjoying the images, the sunset shots brought back memories of the Zib lagoon and how it changed over the years, from a vast expanse in 1998 to a mere warthog wallow (a slight exaggeration) by 2004 and then with almost a flick of the switch the flowing of the spillway and renewing of the lagoon and Savuti Channel. Magical place. Eagerly awaiting the next instalment.

 

I saw roan every visit, including one poor individual that had a broken foreleg. It lasted about 2 weeks before the lions ambushed it trying to get a drink along the spillway & put it out of its misery. Like @@Bush dog i remember good sable numbers in 1998 but only rarely after that. Andre was quite a character and some of the stories he told me whilst we sat one evening near the old mokoro at Zib camp had me enthralled.

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Thanks for your comments.

 

I did not see a lot of roans, certainly not as much as Geoff

 

I was at Chobe Chilwero before going to Selinda. I remember the manager, Alex, a fantastic guy, that had a tragic destiny. Indeed, one or two years after, he died in a road accident involving a bus in which he was.

 

Andre was the concession manager. So, he was only coming to the camps when necessary and he was not often guiding. I’ve been with him, on game drive, only a few times but what a blessing! I began to see him more often in 2001, 2004 & 2005. I was, once, even invited to dinner in his wooden house that was located near the C.M. U. (Central Management Unit). From its balcony, the view on the plains was fantastic. He had built this house on piles with his own hands. He was a hard worker. I have always been fascinated by his hands. Their lines were more looking like canyons than lines. I’ve never seen someone with hands that were so damaged and horny.

 

Andre, as a South African citizen, spoke local languages like Zulu & Shangaan. When he settled in Botswana, he decided to learn Setswana. In 2004, I think, he applied for the citizenship of Botswana that he obtained. I remember, I was there when he received the official confirmation of it, he was so happy and proud.

He was deeply affected by the sale of Linyanti Explorations. He was a great wildlife and nature expert.

 

For sidelights on history, Brian Graham was, in 1975, the year before he started his own business, guide at Chobe Game Lodge. There, he had the privilege to be the private guide of the couple Burton/Taylor, who spent their second honeymoon there.

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1998

 

Continued

 

One morning, I spotted a serval. The morning light was superb. This sighting is still the best I ever had of a serval.

 

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Fantastic images and recollections. Another classic ST trip report.

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Many great sightings. Interesting to read about the differences as well. Crazy to think that 1998 could be considered historical, and yet that's nearly twenty years ago...that's probably an eternity in the tourism market!

Very cool to be on ST where so many of you have many years' safari experience and can take us back in time now and then...

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@@Bush dog ~ Lovely serval series. I've never seen one at Selinda. Though with Kanawe i had a good caracal sighting in 2005.

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@@Bush dog I love all these historical trip reports and yours is no exception. It brings the nostalgia, the grand old days when game was aplenty, when safaris were still the rustic gems of true safari-lovers, and makes me long for those days that I've never seen myself, and makes me so regretful that I did not start my safari addiction years and years ago.

 

thank you for bringing us down this wonderful memory lane.

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@@Kitsafari

 

I think that you are perfectly right, "safaris were still the rustic gems of true safari-lovers". I like the phrasing.

 

Thanks a lot for your comments and for following this thread.

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@@Geoff

 

Thanks Geoff, I had a fantastic caracal sighting (female and two kittens) with André in 2004.

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1998

 

Continued

 

A few words on Ian Mc Coll and Alan Williams.

 

I met Ian Mc Coll, the Australian “Lion Man”, when he was managing Xugana in the Okavango. Ian is an attractive and enthusiast personality but also very touchy. Unfortunately for him, he was at variance with his management and he had to leave Linyanti Explorations. He was bored at Xugana and for a very good reason, not many lions. He was also sick not to be working anymore in the Selinda. He was so mad about lions that when he had some time, he was spending it in their company. He told me that the lionesses were so used to him that when they gave birth, like domestic cars do, they came to the car to present their tiny cubs to him, putting them down near its door.

 

Alan Williams is quite different, very kind and cordial. Alan collected skulls that he found on the concession. I remember one day, on a game drive, he tied up a dead serval, almost completely devoured, at the rear of the vehicle and dragged it to the camp. When I was there, he was recovering from a broken arm that had been caused by a fall from a tree. Seeing a leopard’s kill on a deciduous tree, he decided to climb to collect the skull, but the leopard, that he had not seen of course, was still there, on high branches. The leopard was not ready to abandon its prey. The only alternative for Alan was to jump down and promptly run to the car, with a fractured arm. I still have in mind the image of him, standing on the car, waving us goodbye with his jacket, while the plane was taking off.

 

 

In the reeds of a dry marshy area, the lionesses had killed a big male kudu that provided them food for a few days. Their presence was causing a lot of edginess among the elephants’ herds that were passing close by, with as a consequence clouds of dust and trumpeting.

 

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To close the 1998 chapter, two pictures that show that the mornings can be quite cold in July.

 

A fluffy lilac breasted roller in the cold early morning.

 

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A black-backed jackal that shelter from the cold wind behind a termits’ mount .

 

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1999

 

I was there in September. The lions’ presence was overwhelming. The new rulers had been very active and cubs were seen on almost every game drive.

 

 

There were still a lot of elephants. Some places in the woods along the lagoon were looking like a battle field with all the trees destroyed by them.

 

Like in 1998, wild dogs and leopards did not show themselves when I was there. I will be more lucky with the wild dogs in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Concerning leopards, at least as far I am concerned, Selinda has never been the place to go. Indeed apart from one or two glimpses at night, I only had one good sighting in 2004. I have a feeling, broadly speeking, and not only for the Selinda, that it was harder to see a leopard in those days than now. In the meanwhile, do their populations increase or are they less shy because of the multiplication of lodges that made them more familiar to a safe human presence ?

 

I saw cheetahs but it was not their best year, and buffaloes’ herds.

 

Compared to the previous year, the level of water in the lagoon was lower.

 

The big males

 

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Lions disturbed by elephants

 

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To be continued

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All so stunning.
I'd say with leopards, unless they're hunted, they were likely just shyer in older days and so harder to spot. (no pun intended.)
Did you ever have much to do with hyaenas at Selinda?

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@@Bush dog

 

I've been away for awhile and I come home to this! Thanks for a great trip down memory lane. A beautiful part of Africa, Selinda.

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@@Bush dog @Big_Dog 

 

I definitely believe that if leopards don't want to show themselves, we won't see them. I agree with the habituation theory.

 

I also think that the number of baboons is a factor. My own un-scientific belief is that the baboon population used to be much more robust in the past in northern Botswana (I think it's just due to ebb and flow)... and this used to make leopards even more nocturnal than they are normally (baboons can be a menace to young leopards). Just a half-baked opinion.

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@@Safaridude : Leopard and Baboon populations do play into each other, but in the other way. Something interesting from East Africa is that areas where Leopard numbers have declined then showed a rise in baboon numbers, which destroy crops (at a much greater rate than leopards ever took livestock). Similar situations also happen with bushpig and lion.
Baboons are indeed a worry for leopards, but I'd suggest the primates are more at risk than the cat! :)

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Am loving this report @@Bush dog - your photos and report are taking me back to the few wonderful days I spent at Zib in August 1998.

 

Lloyd and Sue Camp were managing the camp and all game drives were with Lloyd and Mompati. There were three lionesses one of which was pregnant but we saw only one male. There were seven wild dogs 4 males and 3 females including the dominant female who was pregnant and a guy called Wayne was filming them. Also saw a leopard, wild cat and a serval but no caracal ! and I'm still yet to see one!

 

Saw a few roan, and a herd of 32 sable but I don't recall large numbers of lechwe - in fact probably only individual lechwe. My notes refer to bat eared fox and both black backed and side striped jackals and I'm wondering if they're correct about the presence of both jackal types. There's no reference to buffalo in my notes either.

 

One night @@Big_Dog we had a hyaena prowling around our tent.

 

 

 

Love all the photos but find the lagoon with elephants and sunsets particularly evocative. Looking forward to more.

 

 

 

 

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madaboutcheetah

Hi Mike, Just catching up with this awesome report ............ Speechless!!! Thanks for starting this thread and all I can say is WOW.

Just love the whole neighbourhood ........... Been to Selinda only once - but, through your report I feel like I've gone back in time.

Oh! Lovely cheetah!!!!!

Regards

Hari

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@@Big_Dog

 

Concerning hyaenas, I heard them a lot at night, as usual, but also saw some, 2000 being the best year.

 

 

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On 2/27/2015 at 3:10 PM, Safaridude said:

@@Bush dog @Big_Dog 

 

I definitely believe that if leopards don't want to show themselves, we won't see them.

I entirely agree with you!

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@@madaboutcheetah

 

Thank you Hari. Are you back from a trip? Kenya?

 

Selinda has always been a good place for cheetahs, the most famous ones being the three brothers with one being one-eyed.

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