Mana Magic and Hwange Highlights

[michael-ibk]

Thanks, @@Atravelynn, @@Marks , @@Alexander33 , @@Zubbie15 , @@TonyQ and @@optig !

Peter, I´m not sure how Elephants and Sable numbers correlate, our guide Edwin told us that the Elephant pressure on (young) trees would be a problem for all browsers. However, I´ve also read that it´s actually the number of buffaloes that is an important factor in the Sable decrease. Even in Kruger where Sables are going pretty much extinct I think the why is not exactly known, though. Enduring habitat degradation or continuing high predation pressure are often cited. It´s also been suggested that the opening of artificial water holes brought more water-dependent animals like Zebras and Buffaloes into former Sable and Roan strongholds, and more predators with them. Sable are known to be picky eaters, eating only certain grass species and even then only nibbling on selected parts of the plant. Zebra and buffalo are more like mowing machines, cutting a swathe through all types of grass. All of which could also apply to Hwange, of course - but the number of Roans seems to be stable.

Anyway, on to Day 3:



We soon found a part of the lion pride near camp, they were just starting to get active in the morning light.



The concession has a "super-pride" with more than 25 members, but they rarely are seen all together. Here we counted 12 of them.



Off-roading is not permitted in Hwange, so getting close to animals is not always possible - but in this case the lions were very generous and passed us by very closely.



How close? This close:



I can gladly tell that even after our on-foot-encounters with predators in Mana the thrill of having a lion walking past you in an open car, only metres away, has not diminished at all.

And they were beautiful in the warm morning light.







For some reason I particularly liked this one:



Such a shy, timid expression on his face:





This young fellow must have been naughty - and been reprimanded with a smack on his face by his elders.




The pride settled down again, and their body language clearly told us that they had no interest whatsoever in entertaining us further, so we moved on.

[michael-ibk]

The plan for today? We had told Edwin that we would like to try for Roan, and he was quite confident he could deliver. At some lesser visited pans and to the west of the concession chances should be good. Let´s see.

 

Not a very good photo but a very pretty bird - Golden-Breasted Bunting:

 

 

Lots of Steenbok out today:

 

 

 

We passed Little Somavundhla pan on the way. There are some animals here you wouldn´t expect to find in Hwange - Hippos!

 

 

And you shouldn´t expect to find them here because they are not occurring naturally. Parks Management brought them in the 80ies simply for tourist´s sake IIRC, to add to diversity. According to the game counts, their numbers are actually increasing though I´m not sure if they reproduce or if park management is "restocking".

 

It has been done with Crocodiles as well - less successfully apparently. After more than 100 animals counted in 2003 there were none in the following years, then again 13 in 2012 and 4 in 2014.

 

 

We saw lots of Kudus on the way to Broken Rifle Pan, one of the more remote waterholes, including this magnificent bull:

 

 

 

Edwin had been right - two Roans were at the waterhole, but just as we were arriving they were unfortunately retreating.

 

 

Not because of us - an elephant herd was coming to drink. In this part of the concession they are not as used to cars and therefore more edgy, so we had to keep more of a distance.

 

 

They had a tiny, still pinkish baby with them:

 

 

The little one could only be days old.

 

 

Very cute little fellow.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2015 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

We moved on to Ngweshla Pan, just outside the Wilderness concession. This is an area open to the public, and there´s also a picnic site here. But no worry about crowds - we met one self-driving couple here, and they told us that they had seen very few other people. In the concession itself we almost never would encounter other cars.

 

The picnic site was a birding hotspot, and I tried my hand at getting shots of the more interesting species, with varying success.

Magpie Shrike

 

More heard than seen on this trip - the Grey Go-Away-Bird ("Kwoahhh!")

 

Violet-Backed Starling

 

Lil... ah, you know who.

 

Green Wood-Hoopoe

 

Meyer´s Parrot

 

Red-Headed Weaver

 

Greater Blue-Eared Starling

 

But my main price was the Crimson-Breasted Shrike. A tantalizingly fast bird which gave me quite a battle cause it would never hold still:

 

But - got it!

 

[Atravelynn]

You got your Crimson-breasted Shrike! Nice going with the other birds too. That baby ele still had pink ears.

 

We might all know the LBR, but still, it was a flying LBR!

[michael-ibk]

 

We spent some time sitting at the waterhole just waiting what could come by. After lots of baboons a dazzle of Zebra did.

 

 

 

A very peaceful scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was already about 10:00 now and a long drive back to camp so Edwin told us we should start moving. But we didn´t get far - one minute in the car what was coming to drink?

 

 

Our target animal for today - Roan.

 

 

 

Four of them, and they were heading straight to the waterhole.

 

 

 

 

They were not really comfortable about our presence (though we were quite far away) but obviously had no choice but to come to drink.

 

 

They form harem groups with one dominant male. Not sure but probably the one on the right - males have darker face masks.

 

 

 

Though not as elegant or regal as their Sable cousins I think they are very impressive animals - of all the Bovids only Buffaloes and Elands are larger. And they are beautiful - we were happy about this sighting.

 

 

 

Love the "Clown-mask".

 

 

 

 

 

On our somewhat rushed way back to camp we found more members of the lion pride, including their boss - This is "Bubesi".

 

 

He´s under a lot of pressure from without and within the pride we were told, Edwin thinks it´s only a matter of (not much) time until his reign will end, and years of stability for this super-pride will be a thing of the past.

 

Last sighting of the morning: Synchronized Kudus.

 

Edited December 16, 2015 by michael-ibk

[Atravelynn]

Perfect timing for the roan. That shot of the distant zebra does a good job of showing the excitement of a new and sizable arrival to the waterhole. It is so much fun watching a herd come in, knowing they are on their way to drink--and of course pose.

[xelas]

Eh, Michael, you have seen it all ... and photographed it all. Now what?? I think only a hunt for a Zorilla with @@Tom Kellie will be good enough challenge for you ! Or a self-driven safari !

[Marks]

Great job with the birds; I like the red-headed weaver.

That little elephant is impossibly cute.

[Kitsafari]

what an idyllic shot this was. i could sit there for hours just watching this placid and beautiful scene of the full moon smiling on the elephant and stork...

 

[Kitsafari]

as i enjoyed the steenbok, little did i realise the sad story behind her seemingly frozen stance. and the sad reason for the pelican as well. the little stories you tell of these animals add such depth to your reports.

 

Cheetahs and Dogs on your first two drives? beautiful elegant sables and the funny valentine roans (simply love the ears) - how in the world are you going to top that for the rest of the stay??

[Zim Girl]

@@michael-ibk

 

All your tricks must be out of the bag by now surely!!

 

Wonderful pictures of the Sable and Roan and love the zebra at the waterhole.

[elefromoz]

@@michael-ibk, Oh that little baby Ele is just so tiny and fragile. There are some beautiful photos of Roan and Sable on reports at the moment, for those of us that have never seen either species, a real treat.

[Safaridude]

@@michael-ibk

 

Glad you got your species you went for Hwange for… and in droves!

 

By the way, those four roan antelopes are all cows. Note that all four of them have the black part of their "muzzle mask" stop just below the eye-line when viewed from the front. In mature bulls, that black part goes anywhere from even with the eye-line to all the way to the base of the horns.

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

Well done with the roan - perfect timing and beautiful photos. I think you did really well with the birds

But the baby elephant - so tiny, so cute!

[SafariChick]

@@xelas don't forget that @@michael-ibk and @@AndMic have gorillas coming up - that could top it all!

 

Michael, you've been so busy posting while I was away and I'm glad as I got to read this whole Hwange portion of the report last night andtoday! Wow, such a successful stay there so far - the cheetahs were amazing, the dogs fabulous - so great to get to see them play so much - that's one of my favorite things to see animals doing. And I agree with others on the scenic beauty of the elephant, stork and moon but such a sad story about the stork, I could hardly stand it. :-( And so sad about the steenbok's mate too. Nature can be very hard. So many relaxed sable and roan, really wonderful!

[Alexander33]

@@michael-ibk

 

So glad you got your roan. And add me to the list of fans of that baby elephant -- just irresistible!

 

Interesting statistics about the hippo and crocodile introductions, especially with regard to the differences in how they have fared in the intervening years.

 

Crimson-breasted shrikes gave me fits, too. But, wow, that magpie shrike. Would love to see!

[vikramghanekar]

What a fabulous trip report . Amazing. That shot of elephant with moon in the background is just stupendous.

Vikram

[michael-ibk]

Thanks, @@Atravelynn , @@xelas , @@Marks, @@Kitsafari , @@Zim Girl , @@Safaridude , @@elefromoz , @@TonyQ , @@SafariChick , @@Alexander33 and @@vikramghanekar !

 

And special thanks to the Dude of course, I have learned more about Antelopes from you than from all of my books I think.

Edited December 19, 2015 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

The afternoon was "Strictly Elephants". Lil Makalolo has a woodpile hide at the waterhole, and Edwin suggested to give it a try. To be honest I was not totally convinced. We had seen so many elephants by now, and had so close encounters on the flood plains especially that I was not sure this was something I still needed to do. But since the hide was free, and we could be quite sure no other guests would want to use it in the next few hours we agreed and took our positions.

A good decision, because this is pure magic, and I´m really glad we did that. We didn´t have to wait for more than five minutes until the first herd arrived, and then it was Elephant parade. Herd after herd was coming in, we were glued to our hide and stayed there for almost two hours for non-stop Ele photo fun.

 

The little ones were especially endearing of course. Edwin told us you can tell the age of a baby by if it still fits under Mum like this one or not. Unfortunately I forgot up to which age they fit.

 

 

We´d see more than 100 elephants this afternoon, easily. What I found interesting that they would come to drink in a very orderly manner, it was one family herd after the other, without pushing each other. When one herd was leaving the next was arriving. Obviously some herds were waiting a bit away until it was "their turn". Fascinating how they are managing this, there must be some kind of communication about who´s next.

The water birds did not mind the Grey Behemoths - Egyptian Geese, Cape Turtle Doves, Cattle Egrets and Red-Billed Teals mostly.

 

The babies have not yet learned to drink with their trunks, so they just jumped right into the water.

 

It had taken some convincing from Edwin to even get us in here - now he had a hard job getting us out of it, but finally we left the Eles.

 

[michael-ibk]

Actually we left the Elephants for more Elephants - we wanted to get to Airstrip 2 Pan again to see the sunset. When we left the poor Waterbucks were still waiting for an opening inmidth all the Ele mayhem to finally get a drink as well.

 

 

We passed Madison pan on the way. Little Makalolo has a sleepout platform here. Not that tempting - the "heartbeat of Hwange" so close defies the point of sleeping under the "wild African sky" a bit IMO.

 

 

A Black-Backed Jackal was apparently trying to get our attention.

 

 

And we soon saw why, they had pups - which unfortunately retreated to the den as soon as we came closer.

 

 

Hwange´s Golden Hour...

 

 

 

At Airstrip 2 Pan we enjoyed our sundowners - and what a place for sundowners it was today:

 

 

 

 

Admittedly I spent more time lying on the ground than enjoying G&T and fingerfood this time!

 

 

 

 

The Aardwolf didn´t wanna play again, we saw the regulars on the way back ...

 

 

... Hundreds of Springhares! Their numbers are incredible here.

 

 

And one new species for this trip - Southern Reedbuck (who wouldn´t hold still!). Interestingly they are strictly nocturnal here in Hwange according to our guide.

 

 

[Atravelynn]

Parade is a good term for the entrance of the elephants, followed by performance. What a performance it was! The drinking order herds is something I have also noted at waterholes.

 

That dark b&w springhare is a charming photo.

[Kitsafari]

beautiful pictures of the elephants at the hide. THe hide (that's the one on the right with aluminium chairs?) is surprisingly very open! don't the elephants see you? amazing that they are so habituated that they will go close as a family unit to the hide.

 

the springhares are really charming. I hope to see them one day!

[Alexander33]

An Elephant Extravaganza!

 

What a great experience at the hide. I can understand how you might have become a bit fatigued, as I might have as well, but then we just regroup, don't we? The day one gets tired of elephants is the day one should hang up the pith -- and I don't see that happening for you for a while!

 

Lovely sunset silhouettes as well.

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

What a wonderful sequence of elephants at the hide (and it is surprisingly open!)

I love the baby that hasn't yet learned to use its trunk.

Great sunset elephants as well - for us it was worth you missing your snacks and drink!

[Marks]

What a perfectly idyllic elephant encounter on the previous page. Just beautiful!