A Doggy Dog Start to the New Year; A trip tracking Dogs, Spots, stripes and more ....... A green season visit to Botswana- January 2023......

[Biko]

great pictures of the dogs walking off with a piece of the warthog(?)

[Atravelynn]

Head of bacon.  Quite the series!

[BRACQUENE]

Fabulous Hari I just discovered your report and incredible pictures this early morning and it makes my day 

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot @BRACQUENE@Bikoand @Atravelynn

 

 

This, that and the other ...... Lebala way !! 

[madaboutcheetah]

Continued ........

 

We didn't stay long with the  feeding Lions - certainly not in tall grass........ 

 

One of my favourite areas in Lebala, especially for a lovely relaxing sundowner is to go a place they call "the stadium" where the lechwe are in huge numbers.

[madaboutcheetah]

Iphone picture of our Tracker KB at the sundowner stop ........  He says striker the lioness took down the lechwe ram 

Edited January 20, 2023 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

the quintessential lebala setting …. Dead leadwood at skimmer pan by the airstrip 

[Zubbie15]

Great photos, especially if the wild dogs @madaboutcheetah. 

[ElenaH]

@madaboutcheetah, amazing pictures! Especially I like two "smiling" cheetahs 

waiting to be continued!

[marg]

@madaboutcheetahThis is most enjoyable!  So green.  And, it is nice to see that the new wild dog female is in control.

[AKR1]

Brilliant pictures, Hari!  Well done. 

[michael-ibk]

Awesome stuff Hari, fabulous pictures!

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot for all the kind words ...... @michael-ibk@AKR1@marg@Zubbie15@ElenaH

 

Swamped at work so the editing is slow..........

 

Back to the report........

 

Our transfer from Lebala to Lagoon .........  Not long after we say our goodbyes bright and early in the morning at 5:15 am with bags packed, we bump into a wild cat that crosses the road!! Hmmmm ...... what's in store today???? 

 

It turns out to be a slow drive until we hit John's Pan (Half way almost to lagoon) .......  Spencer and KB are excited as they see real fresh leopard tracks.  This is "JUST NOW" and we are going to track them down they say ....... Mornings like these are why I think the guide/tracker system is the absolute best safari experience and it still thrills me all these years later .........  Here goes -  a mating pair in the woodland besides John's pan after about a good 30 minutes of tracking. A real big Tom Cat Male Leopard with his mate.

 

Lots more to come from this morning as we spent quite a few hours with them ......... Will get back to the editing. 

[ElenaH]

she is rather a small cat in comparison to him. At least looks like. Awesome sighting!

[Biko]

great to see the two together and to be able to compare the difference in size and posture

[marg]

@madaboutcheetahHari....I think that we saw the female in August.  Spencer spotted her and she was hunting.  He thought that she was about two.  I have been comparing the facial markings and they look the same.

[madaboutcheetah]

@marg- it does look like her.  Do you remember where you saw her?

 

Here's a few more that I edited last night ...... (To be continued) from the same morning.

 

 

 

 

 

[mopsy]

Great report and fabulous photos so far.

 

Most enjoyable!

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot for the kind words .... @mopsy @Biko @marg

 

Rounding out the morning with the Leopards ..... As it got warmer, they got down onto the ground and into the long grass to rest in the shade.  We were still a long way away from Lagoon so we opted to head off .......... 

 

My mission at Lagoon was to track and follow cheetah so, with the distance of John's pan from camp it wasn't possible for us to follow up on the mating leopards ...... However, there's more leopards to come. .....  I will have to look at my older photos - I do believe I've seen this big Tom male leopard in Lebala just prior to the Covid lockdowns where he was a little bit skittish back then.  When the second car arrived, he fled.  

Edited January 26, 2023 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

After a leisurely lunch and siesta, we went out for the afternoon drive.  At lagoon, was a University intern - OP, who was helping out at lagoon for 3 months and he mentioned that this was his last day.  I asked him if he had been on game drive during the 3 months and he said just to hand over bush picnics or to sundowner set ups.  With Johnson's permission, I got him to jump into the truck with us .... after all, he should experience what guests from round the world come to Botswana for!  

 

The cheetah brothers were sleeping at their now usual resting spot in the Kalahari apple leaf -  The boys are now getting older and they are less active and just hang onto their main central territory in the heart of Lagoon.  They are always around, but, unfortunately lazy Ala special .... (the lazy single male in Kwara).   

 

Here's how the rest of the afternoon went.... 

[Kitsafari]

the mating pair sure provided plenty of photo ops!

 

excellent photos and sightings Hari!

[marg]

@madaboutcheetahWe saw her on a morning drive heading south on a mission to find the cheetah brothers as they were headed up to Lagoon.  We first stopped to view lions feeding on an elephant carcass about 30 minutes from camp that we had seen two days prior on the transfer from Lebala to Lagoon.  Then spotted her about 1 1/2 hours later.   Three hours later after a minor vehicle repair we found the brothers, then the dogs.  We were quite a distance from camp at that point about 1 1/2 hours away. Thank goodness for being able to set the time on our cameras.

[marg]

@madaboutcheetahGreat leopard photos!

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @Kitsafari

@marg- yeah, John's pan area will be approximately that distance from lagoon with stops.  It's possibly her ...... Spencer did mention that the male has a very large territory. 

[madaboutcheetah]

Interlude .....

 

the most camera friendly Little Bee eater in the midst of the cheetah tracking (cheetah valley around the Zebra pan grounds)