Selinda, a ten years' love story

[Bush dog]

@@marg

@@Game Warden

 

Well, thank you for those kind words, you never know, perhaps in a near future?

[Bush dog]

2000

 

Continued

 

Cheetahs’ kill

 

 

To be continued

[Bush dog]

2000

 

Continued

 

Here is a series of pictures taken in July, showing lions’ cubs. They, and also others shown with their mother on pictures to come, all died of starvation, in consequence of the September fire.

 

 

 

To be continued

[michael-ibk]

Gorgeous pics, but a sad post. Hard looking at these cubs knowing they all perished...

[enstein]

Sorry if you've answered this before, but your lens and camera?

[Bush dog]

@@enstein

 

The material used between 1998 and 2007, as far as I remember, was the following ;

 

EF 600 F4 IS

EF 300 F2.8 IS

EF 500 F4.5

EF 500F4L IS

EF 100-400 IS

EF 24-70 F2.8

EF 70-200 F2.8 IS

Extender 1.4 & 2X II

EOS 1

EOS 1V HS

EOS 1DS MKII

EOS 5D

[Bush dog]

@@enstein

 

All Canon of course.

[Bush dog]

@@TonyQ

 

Many thanks for your comments!

 

@@michael-ibk

 

Thanks to you also. Indeed, a sad fate as that of those cubs.

[madaboutcheetah]

Oh Wow - those 3 boys in their hey day!!! awesome........

[Bush dog]

2000

 

Continued

 

Girafes licking a termite mount to extract the mineral salts required for their welfare.

 

 

The wind can be hard and cold in July. Those squirrels are protecting themselves from it in the hollows of a tree. For the same reason, this lion is having a nap behind a termite mount.

 

 

When we spotted that unwise hippo, we thought it was dead. It’s only when we were very close to it, that it woke up and got up. It could have been easily caught by the lions ! It had perhaps been expeled from its pod after a territorial fight.

 

 

 

To be continued

[Geoff]

@@Bush dog

 

Mike, Was that hippo located down at the lagoon near the Savuti channel?

I did not visit Selinda in 2000 but i do remember a hippo lying in a similar spot in other years. Possibly the same one?

[Big_Dog]

Great photos. The Cheetah kill is superb, and I like the hippo in his little sand wallow. Shame about the cubs, but it is a gripping and unexpected chapter in the story of this fascinating place.
Of course, love the hyaenas too. In earlier days they were often shot - out of boredom, fun or frustration instead of a trophy - and used to be evry shy in a lot of areas, I suspect like the leopards as hunting receeds they become more visible too.

[Bush dog]

@@Geoff

 

Honestly, Geoff, I do not recall.

[Bush dog]

@@Big_Dog

 

Thanks a lot for your comments!

[Bush dog]

2000

 

Continued

 

Some more cheetahs seen this year

 

 

 

To be continued

[Kitsafari]

@@Bush dog that;s such a tragic story about the Selinda pride and the fire. i'm so amazed by how resilient the animals are, and how they survive in tough conditions.

[Bush dog]

2000

 

Continued

 

Some other residents : yellow-billed hornbill, red-billed francolin, ostrich, red lechwe, zebra & bat-eared fox.

 

 

 

To be continued

[michael-ibk]

Very cool angle on the Hornbill, and love the Bat-Eared-Fox.

[Bush dog]

@@michael-ibk

 

There will be more bat-eared foxes with young ones later!

[Marks]

Gorgeous pics, but a sad post. Hard looking at these cubs knowing they all perished...

My thoughts as well. Though it is nice to have a record of them.

 

Enjoying the updates, @@Bush dog, esp. the hyena, cheetah, and recent hornbill.

[Bush dog]

2000

 

Continued

 

To close the 2000 chapter, lions

 

 

Females’ portraits

 

 

The day of my departure, when I arrived at the airstrip, the entire pride, without the males, gathered together on one of the islands (those huge and extremely old termite mounts). I like to think they were all there for my departure, to wave goodbye to me ? As the plane was late, I asked Kanawe to go to them in order to make some last pictures.

 

[Bush dog]

2001

 

For my fourth visit to the Selinda concession, I was once more at main camp - I will only visit Zibalianja camp for the first time in 2004 - and again there was a new manager.

 

After Alan Williams in 1998, Riaan Pretorius in 1999 and John Van den Berg in 2000, Vaughn Volker, all of them being South Africans. Vaughn will stay until 2004 surely, perhaps 2005, I do not remember. He will, during those years, also manage Zib and the Walking Trails.

 

Unlike his three predecessors, he is older and he will stay more than one year in the company. The reason of the only one year’s stay of the three others, from what I heard, is that their partner or wife, who were as young as they were, found hard to stay for months in such a wild and remote place, without any contacts with their close relations and friends. Those women were just there because accompanying their husband or partner. Those were all professional guides, loving the bush of course and thereby very motivated to work in a wide, remote and pristine wild environment, quite different from the South African one, where there is always a fence, village or any other human foundings close by.

 

The last manager of main camp, a German guy, Michael Schwarzer, was also the first not to be a professional guide and in this the first one not to be a wildlife expert.

 

In the nineties and the early 2000s, and this is valid for a majority of camps, you had to be a professional guide to manage a camp or lodge. Wildlife and its discovery were highlighted. The product « African safari camp», with a capacity of 6 to 12 beds, was a mainly a niche product, attracting real nature lovers. In the mid 2000s , with the development and growth of eco-tourism and the infatuation for ecology as a general rule, the demand for such a product dramatically increased, but it had to be adapted to north-american and european standards of modern convenience. All the pioneers of eco-tourism, like Brian Graham, Robin Pope or Colin Bell, sold their business to group of investors, pension funds or financial holdings. Lloyd Wilmot had already stopped some years previously. The only one, that I know, that is still independent, despite the proposals of purchase he probably should receive, is Chris Fox. With regard to the Selinda, I do not believe the new owners, when they declare that they are not investors but well conservationists. Of course they are, but surely also investors. But admiting this would be politically inaccurate and commercially unwise.

 

So now, wildlife and its discovery are still highlighted, but also details of the rooms and bathrooms, of what you are going to find in your plates, if there is a wine cellar, and so on……… Being a wildlife expert is not anymore required to manage a lodge or a « tented hotel », but well a hostelry degree or similar experience.

 

 

I was with Kanawe when we came across two dogs, cruising. Kanawe decided to follow them . It was not too difficult until we arrived on uneven ground. A hyena was also following them. It’s not unusual to see hyenas behind wild dogs. Indeed hyenas know that their hunts are more successful than those of any other predator. The ground was becoming more and more broken and the grass higher. This combined with the acceleration of the dogs made the pursuit more and more laborious. In addition, they went, and us with them, close to an unhappy and trumpeting elephants’ herd. At last, they disappeared in the tall grass, and we lost them. Most of the pictures were taken when they were still on normal ground.

 

 

 

To be continued

 

[Geoff]

2001

 

For my fourth visit to the Selinda concession, I was once more at main camp - I will only visit Zibalianja camp for the first time in 2004 - and again there was a new manager.

 

After Alan Williams in 1998, Riaan Pretorius in 1999 and John Van den Berg in 2000, Vaughn Volker, all of them being South Africans. Vaughn will stay until 2004 surely, perhaps 2005, I do not remember. He will, during those years, also manage Zib and the Walking Trails.

 

 

The last manager of main camp, a German guy, Michael Schwarzer, was also the first not to be a professional guide and in this the first one not to be a wildlife expert.

 

 

 

 

@@Bush dog Vaughn & Shirley Volker were not managing Selinda Camp in 2005. I think it was a German couple but do not remember their names. I must admit that the 2005 managers had the camp surrounds looking the best of any of my stays at Selinda Camp. Though I stayed at Selinda camp a few times from my experience Zibalianja is the best basic (rustic?) camp that i have visited in Botswana and had a nicer, more intimate feel than Selinda camp.

[Big_Dog]

Lovely to see to wild dog photos, nice shots.
Very sad to hear of the transformation of safari to something less authentic and former camps 'selling out; as it were. Though, the remaining one, 'Chris Fox', you mentioned. Do you know what sort of camp he runs and where?

[Bush dog]

@@Geoff

 

If it was a german couple, it was probably already Michael Schwarzer and his wife Bastienne.

I agree with you, Zib was the best rustic camp that I know. Though, there must have been some others in those days?