Lower Zambezi : River & Forests

[BRACQUENE]

@Bush dog

 

Absolutely loved your photos and report ; when we were in Tafika in 2014 our English friends Judy and Ian ( they joined us also in Ruaha in 2017 ) went from there to the Lower Zambezi staying at Old Mondoro and were enchanted by that lodge , the natural beauty of the Park and the river safaris !

[Bush dog]

This post is about baboons.  Their population is mostly present west of Jeki.  I did not see many east of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are excellent to spot leopards.  In this case, we were having our bush breakfast (I was leaving camp very early in the morning) in a fairly open space at a few dozen meters from a tall tree with very dense foliage.  At the foot of this tree, there were some who constantly look up while barking sometimes.  Ryan then took his binoculars and after two minutes he had spotted the leopard.  A few days later, we spotted another leopard with the help of the baboons.

 

 

 

[Bush dog]

@BRACQUENE

 

Thanks a lot for your kind comments.  I have been to Tafika too but that was also a long time ago, in 2001.

[Bush dog]

@michael-ibk

 

Thanks, Michael!  Well, you need 6 weeks to heal 90% of this type of accident and 6 months for the remaining 10%, especially when you getting old.

[shouldbewriting]

Loving your report and pictures!

[pault]

Brilliant stuff as usual @Bush dog Sorry you were on one leg but it doesn’t show in the photos! I love your diving hippo and the discussion with Ryan that follows it. The elephant dusting is a great subject too. 

[Alexander33]

Nice sequence with the baboons. Indeed, they are some of the very best leopard spotters!  Looking forward to more. 

[Bush dog]

@shouldbewriting

 

Thanks a lot for your comments!

[Bush dog]

@pault

 

Thank you!  With so many elephants, we could only have so many dust or mud (much less because of the drought) baths.  

[Bush dog]

@Alexander33

 

Thank you!  I seize the opportunity to tell you that your Svalbard pictures are fantastic especially the bears and the seal.

[Bush dog]

Some pictures of elephants in the woods and the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took this picture so that we realize the height of the trees.

 

[TonyQ]

It is really enjoyable seeing the elephants in their environment 

[Bush dog]

This post and the next one are about my second trip to the Jeki area.  It began with an elephant in a haze, a mixture of dust and smoke from fires in the hills, walking towards a tree to shake it.

 

 

 

We then encountered a herd of buffaloes which, though not huge, was of some importance.

 

 

 

No, this one is not on the back of one of its congeners but well on a termite mound.

 

 

Cattle egret in breeding plumage

 

 

Couple of fish eagles

 

 

Waterbuck

 

[Towlersonsafari]

beautiful photos of a beautiful place @Bush dog

[Bush dog]

@Towlersonsafari

 

Thanks a lot!  Your comments are very appreciated.

[Bush dog]

Last pictures from the Jeki area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For both excursions in the area between Jeki and Old Mondoro, we saw only one leopard more exactly caught a glimpse of it.  It had been reported to us by a guide from Old Mondoro that we had met on the road.  It had to be along the same road in a gully.  We found the place that actually is a labyrinthine network of small gullies dug over time by the flow of rainwater, some of which being deep enough to hide any animal taking refuge there.  To better understand, it must be said that the road overlooks the forest below (as shown on the last picture of this post).  Thus some of these small gullies open on the slope.  I hope it is clear enough or tell me please.  We did not see it straight away. Then suddenly its back and half of its head to just under the eyes appeared to us to disappear as quickly ( so no pictures).  We then vainly tried to see it again until a hyena shot out of one of the small gullies.  I think this hyena was not there when we arrived but came from the forest and got engulfed in the network by an opening along the slope. It looked very excited and looking for something, probably a fresh leopard prey from which it had picked up the scent.  After some time, the hyena gave up and went back to the forest.  We did not have the arrogance to do better than and so did not insist.

 

 

 

[Alexander33]

The haze is what it’s all about. I especially love that first shot of the elephant in the Jeki area in post 38, as well as the second, more wide-angle photo of the buffalo herd, but they are all very atmospheric. 

[Kitsafari]

Love that last post of the elephant chewing on some stuff, engulfed by the even more giant trees. Lovely atmospheric photos. 

[Bush dog]

@Kitsafari

 

I like that picture too, one of my favorite on this trip.  It gives the impression that the trees are going towards the infinity, beyond the top edge of the picture, and the elephant is not that big.  And if you erase the baboon, this impression is reinforced.

 

 

[Bush dog]

@Alexander33

 

Lower Zambezi is in fact a very atmospheric park.

[Bush dog]

And now the leopards!

 

I saw this female during my first night drive.  It was stalking impalas.  The next morning, we find it at about the same place.  It had managed to kill one of them.  The prey was well hidden in a thick bush.  A young one was with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another one

 

 

 

One more

 

 

 

This one was still with its mother.  They had killed a male impala the night before.  Its mother was on the ground.

 

 

 

No photos of the others because of poor conditions :  bad light, thick bushes, too many branches,……  If I add to the six mentioned above the two spotted by the baboons, one more with a dead impala and the one near Jeki, the total is ten.

[Kitsafari]

@Bush dog I didn't even notice the baboon in the ele photo!

 

fab leopard shots, as always. 

[Bush dog]

@Kitsafari

 

Thanks!  Indeed, a discreet baboon.  I had not noticed it myself from the beginning.

[Towlersonsafari]

The wonderful scenery, the ellies and the leopards are what we rememeber from the lower zambezi and you capture all of that wonderfully @Bush dog

[Bush dog]

A second batch of birds.

 

African pied wagtail

 

 

Malachite kingfisher

 

 

Darter

 

 

Glossy ibis

 

 

Fulvous ducks

 

 

Crowned hornbill

 

 

African fish eagle (immature)

 

 

Great white heron

 

 

 

Giant kingfisher