Tales and memories from the Kwando concession Sept 2015

[madaboutcheetah]

Ah! You are sharp! I hadn't seen that!

[Marks]

Marvelous kudu!

[madaboutcheetah]

Kwando's Elephants ........ I may have already mentioned - the herds are more and more relaxed these days - this particular series of Elephants in evening light (while waiting for the dogs to wake up).

 

Throw in some Giraffe pictures too

 

(all of these images are from Lagoon)

[madaboutcheetah]

Well ........ One particular day, we hung out with the cheetah boys (assuming it was their hunting day) - this young lady apparently got a monitor lizard right in front of the game drive vehicles ....... Later in the evening, when we went to find her - this is the best photo I could come up with. She was content to stay in the tall grass and she makes it appear like it was green season! Luckily, we were able to find her again later - more images to come.

 

Oh and the boys were probably waiting for another impala to come to them - they didn't move an inch!!!

Edited October 30, 2015 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

"You snooze, you lose"; "The Early Bird catches the fattest worm" ......... Anyone who's been on safari with Spencer will know that these are his "punch lines"

 

We had hardly driven 400 metres north of Lagoon camp, that we came across another pack of wild dog. We had the Lagoon pack run through the staff village the previous evening around dusk - we found the pack right around camp and we followed them for a while until we lost them in the mopane woodland and they were really moving....... (4 males and one female in this pack). Not only is the western mopane woodland home to other packs of wild dog, but, so too up north in Muvumbi where our mighty cheetah boys hail from.

 

Well ........ en route - they take us through second lagoon, where they find the pride of 7 moving about in the early morning. They get a little bit of a reaction from one of the sub-adult males (the rest of the pride couldn't be bothered) ....... After which, it was a full speed retreat into the mopane woodland for them.

 

Second Lagoon is where a lot of action was happening, since it has access to water - on one particular day, we had Lion/Dog/Leopard and cheetah all within a one KM radius from here.

Edited October 30, 2015 by madaboutcheetah

[kittykat23uk]

Wow!! Sounds amazing.

[AKR1]

Hari

Beautiful pictures. The sheer volume adds to us readers experiencing some part of Kwandos superlative concessions. Thanks again for posting these.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @@kittykat23uk and @@AKR1

 

That the dogs had already done the tracking for us, we had to see what the Lions were upto ..... It soon was obvious that they were going to hang around second lagoon waiting for the plains game to come down for a drink; in order to ambush someone.

 

Note one of the sub-adult males banged up by possibly the nomadic male coalitions (which one exactly is hard to tell, because we saw so many different coalitions around this pride)

 

They ended up staring at a few giraffe that were not threatened by their presence ......... we packed up and left for the day, now that the light was gone - the other vehicles stayed with them for a while longer ( I think they made an attempt at Kudu is what I was told by Hobbs and Sugar later at dinner).

[madaboutcheetah]

This, that and the Other ........

[madaboutcheetah]

Interlude: I just read a camp review on safaritalk here and just for clarification sake make some pointers - I don't want to hijack the other thread so will make more of a few common pointers here in my report

 

(the pointers I make here stands valid for Lebala/Lagoon) - two of my absolute favourite camps

 

The Landcruisers that are currently operated have three rows specially designed so that you only sit two to a row. There is never 3 to a row anymore (which was the case previously in the URIs).

 

True - 3 car max rule for sure..... but, I have never seen a queue for sightings and for sure no one will be bumped off when a sighting is interesting or something special is to happen (example., cheetahs going to hunt etc etc.,) ....... The only time they are super strict is, two cars only at a dog den (that you will have to plan ahead to rotate). The moment the game drives become remote/radio controlled and just vague and boring, I will be the first to stay away - instead, the Kwando concession still continues to deliver a supreme experience! and I am just as chuffed with my sightings as ever before ........ The guides are professional enough to know what ticks and what doesn't.

 

Finally, towards the later part of the dry season the Kalahari sand made tracks in the area get really deep and powdery. It gets further deep the more north in the concession you go. It further gets deep with the Botswana Defense Force who patrol the area using their big army/military truck on the tracks ....... there might be a time when you get stuck (it happens with the best of guides too and has happened to us a few times over the years). It's part of the adventure and you just dig your way out and soldier on ....... The Kwando concession is large, wild and Wide ........ Enjoy it for what it is!!!

Edited October 31, 2015 by madaboutcheetah

[kittykat23uk]

Sounds great Hari!

[SafariChick]

@@madaboutcheetah wow! Super stuff. Love the photos of the dogs in post 132 - beautiful setting!

[johnkok]

Just got through your wonderful TR Hari.

 

Hobbs and Sugah (Sugar) are 2 guides I have had in Kwando so it sure brings back memories. As of course do the Boys. There was many a day where we stayed with them throughout, only to have them do nothing. You sure found the sweet spot - impala ambush point must be the new name for that location :-)

 

Among all your fine pictures, the first one of the cheetah (silhouette) against the setting sun is exceptional. I can just imagine it printed large and gracing a wall somewhere.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot, @@SafariChick @@johnkok and @@kittykat23uk

 

I still have tons of images to edit - hopefully will eventually get it all done. I will have to travel for work in a week's time so shall try and get atleast a few good series in prior .......

[madaboutcheetah]

Now to that Pelican colony ...... (The light wasn't particularly flattering this particular day; besides i think this is probably mid-morning too )

[madaboutcheetah]

Back to the Cheetah Boys ....... They aren't the perfect posers - yet, they try

[madaboutcheetah]

This male Kudu near the staff village at Lebala deserves his own segment. He was round the corner from camp in the Kalahari apple leaf and he didn't bother getting up from his siesta when we pulled up next to him - although, the composition is off on this photo, I wanted to get a close up of his double spiral horns. Mr.Moe mentioned that he wanders through the staff village a lot and he really can't be bothered by anything.

[madaboutcheetah]

I was spell bound by this Lion Fight .......... I can't find words to describe the scene - the intensity of the power of these beasts; the 2x2 jab like a boxing match; the noise; the dust .......... The photos don't do justice to the sighting - simply Surreal.

 

 

[johan db]

Hari, those are the kind of sightings one likes to see

 

Action which happen suddenly is always difficult to capture ... but your photos tell a story.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[madaboutcheetah]

Hi Johan - thanks so much. It wasn't easy to photograph with all the dust and tall grass around the lions .... And as you say it happened out of the blue.

[SafariChick]

the lion fight photos are amazing - wow - I can almost hear the roars!

[marg]

@@madaboutcheetah...were you frightened at all for the survival of one of them? Did they just walk away with cuts and scrapes? I am sure that the growling/roaring alone must have incredible.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks guys .....

 

@@marg - no this happened for maybe just a few seconds and they walked away .... Not sure about what happened before we found them because they already had cuts and scrapes when we found them. Looks like an even match up in terms of size - maybe neither party wanted to risk it?

 

Next segment will have one of the males chasing a lioness in a pride takeover attempt

[johnkok]

Now that's a sighting worth the price of admission - a fight between two evenly matched lions. Wow & wow

[madaboutcheetah]

Yes John - was totally awesome! Now Lions are just next to cheetah in my book for photographic subjects.