Reigning cats and dogs! Hellish heat, battling bugs, balky boats: A Botswana safari in early December

[janzin]

9 minutes ago, mvecht said:

@janzin Just caught up with your excellent trip report. Stunning photos as to be expected from you

I had expected more bird photos. Can you please comment on the quality of the birding?

I have several times considered a green season trip to Botswana, but I am afraid that it will be too hot for my wife and I.

Any comments on the food and wine?

Thank you! Funny you should mention that about birds...I am just working on the following day which is mostly birds! We weren't seriously birding on this trip, and while we did stop for some birds we didn't really stop for the LBJ's. Until towards the end--coming up   In the heat of the day there wasn't much bird activity around the camps, and it was too hot to wander around much. I also have some bird photos I was saving up for putting together in one post as they sort of interrupted the flow of the cheetahs   I'll do a full bird list at the end...I am finding new birds to add to my list as I go through my photos!

 

It WAS very hot for several days, until the rain broke the heat somewhat. I was really anxious about it before going as I don't do heat well either. I brought portable fans (which I used!) and hydrating packets to add to water (which I didn't use.) I also was VERY smart to request rooms close to the dining area, and I did that at the last minute too--about a week before when I saw the weather report of 100+ (40C+) every day. That was a huge help, as some of the tents can be far and in the heat that makes a big difference. I survived, but I'm not sure I'd go again in that season to be honest. If I go back to Botswana I'd like to try to go during dog denning season, but that of course is more expensive

 

Food and wine--food was plentiful for sure, and while not gourmet, always hearty and tasty. Lots of options for vegetarians, in fact I think I ate more vegetables than I do at home. Certainly never went hungry (well except the night I skipped dinner due to the termite invasion!)  Wine was limitless at dinner, although I did not partake, as on safari I am usually just too tired to drink wine with dinner. I stick with Amarula But hubby said it was fine--always South African of course.

[mvecht]

Janet, thank you for the detailed reply.

Looking forward to the bird section.

You must definitely try to see the Wild Dog puppies. They are great fun.

[John M.]

6 hours ago, janzin said:

If I go back to Botswana I'd like to try to go during dog denning season, but that of course is more expensive

 

 

   You should try. Spending time with the dogs at their den was a highlight of four of our trips. The old Selinda was particularly good.

   From the quality of your images, if you were interested, I'd suggest photo sales (maybe you already do). A good rule of thumb: one photo=one extra day on safari.

[janzin]

Splash camp full day 2. Is it really only the 2nd day? Seems like we've seen so much here already! Well, day 2 was rather "for the birds", as it were. In the a.m., we had no particular destination or agenda--there still were no new reports of the dogs, so we just meandered around. And to be honest, we saw mostly birds. 

 

In fact, the very first sight of the day was this Verreaux's Eagle-Owl perched on a mound. There was still very little light and he was a bit distant but you could see those pink eyelids!

 

 

 

In no particular order, more birds.

 

 

 

 

Common, but one of those birds we always neglect to photograph.

 

 

Also common and heard everywhere, the ubiquitous and musical Rufous-naped Lark.

 

 

A plain bird--Plain-backed Pipit.

 

 

Okay here's a non-bird to break it up a bit. I really liked the way these Waterbucks were posing.

 

 

Always one of these around.

 

 

And these, but we saw few adults.

 

 

Some birds in the marshy area.

 

 

 

 

I never noticed before how iridescent the Comb Duck is.

 

 

Poor frog!

 

 

 

to be continued next post...

Edited February 2 by janzin

[janzin]

A couple of birds (and a reptile) around the camp at lunch break.

 

 

 

 

For the afternoon drive, Thabo suggested we head down towards the Khwai concession where the dogs were last seen. Perhaps they'd wander back into Kwara-land--you never know.  It was quite a ways and we didn't see too much on the way...except for more birds.

 

 

 

 

 

But this bird was quite exciting for us, as it was one of the few life birds we got on this trip. Shaft-tailed Whydah, and a beauty too!

 

 

Deserving of two photos.

 

 

A couple of Dagga boys. Well, there are birds here too--Red-billed Oxpeckers.

 

 

 

We got to the boundry of the Khwai concession--still no dogs.   We saw the boundry sign and I thought we were going to turn back--but no, Moz decided to take a quick look just around the other side...they had seen some dog tracks....looking fairly fresh. There was an abandoned camp and no vehicles in sight...shhhh! Don't tell anyone!   So we did go into Khwai for a short ways, did a bit of a circuit for about 20 minutes and came back out into Kwara but no luck, no dogs.

 

Time to head back to camp.

 

 

Just a Springhare on the way back.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2 by janzin

[janzin]

The plan for the following day was to do take the boat ride to the rookery in the morning--Moz said it was still active with large heron and stork fledglings. (We couldn't do a boat ride from Lagoon as there wasn't enough water in the river there; besides, with only two safari days there we didn't want to forfeit a drive on the boat anyway.) Originally I wanted to go in the afternoon, but Moz said it would be better to go in the morning because from Splash, it's a long way and we'd have to leave at around 2:30 in the heat of the day. So okay, we'll head out in the morning.

 

But first--you folks clamored for Battling Bugs #3 so tonight was the night!  Actually as I mentioned, it was more of a comedy of errors. It all began when we got back to Splash camp and--lo and behold--dinner was to be in our room! ARRRRGH!! or more precisely, on our deck overlooking the (dry) pan.  In theory, I know they meant well! It's romantic! Lantern light! In practice-pretty much a disaster!

 

First of all, the way the "tents" are in Splash, to get to the deck you have to go through TWO doors--a real door into the tent (it's not really a tent anyway, but more of a concrete "cabin.") Then from your living space there is a sliding glass door to your deck. So of course to get all the food outside--and tables! and chairs, and lanterns etc--meant lots of open doors. Thankfully this was not a night of termites or moths...but of very pretty little beetles. (Fortunately they weren't blister beetles, as far as I know. Most of them were black with white spots, but there was a variety.)

 

Meantime we are attempting to eat out on the deck with lanterns for illumination, but dozens of little beetles (very pretty ones! with spots! Like larger ladybugs!) landing in our food and on the plates and in the glasses.  It was just impossible--so we brought our plates inside to eat--balancing them in our laps because they'd taken the table outside! And--to add to the comedy of errors--the sliding glass door came off the track and we couldn't get it closed. So now we are attempting to eat in darkness--we did pull the thick drapes over the open doorway to help keep the bugs out.  (I didn't have the presence of mind to take any photos...too busy trying to eat dinner in this chaos...!)

 

Then of course the staff came to collect the stuff, but we'd barely started eating as all this swatting and moving stuff inside took time. So we told them to come back in 15 minutes. Eventually we managed to eat some food--mostly beetle-free (and it was really good--lamb tonight, my favorite.)  The guys were able to get the door back on the track, but of course this all meant more time with doors open.

 

Thank goodness Splash has a great mosquito netting as we definitely needed it that night (and I did not want to kill any of the pretty beetles.)

 

Next up--the boat ride--maybe???

 

 

[JimS]

In my youth I thought surprises were romantic and would try to plan such events for my (now) wife. She corrected my behaviour, letting me know very clearly that she prefers not to have someone else impose on her things they’ve decided she should like. 
 

These camp hosts I’m sure have the best of intentions, but really should just ask people what they want!

[KaliCA]

Wow! Not in all our years camping in Africa did we ever have a bug problem like you had. Maybe it had to do with time of year? After some rain, the bugs needed to spread and multiply…

But it sounds as though both of you were good sports about it and it makes for a nice anecdote for us to hear while sitting on a sofa on a Friday afternoon….

(Speaking of bugs…I was close to 5 alligators today, one big one in our community along a sidewalk, and 4 smaller ones in the preserve ).

[janzin]

@JimSindeed, I emailed the management on my return and suggested that they ask before doing "dinner in the room." But they never responded

 

@KaliCAI'm sure the hatch outs were weather dependent and due to the rain, but we've never had this happen before in 8 or 9 safaris. Actually the last time I recall a lot of bugs was also at Lagoon on our first trip there 9 years ago.  

 

[Kitsafari]

AWwwwwwwww on those cheetah cubs and your photos are just brilliant. 

 

I've been to Bots twice during the green season and we never had the bug problems you had, so I really feel so bad for you! I learned to always turn off  lights in the tent/room before we head out to dinner, after finding lots of insects in the tent in one of my earlier safaris . I think it was at Mwamba when we left a light on in the room. Finally, we left one of our portable lights in the outside bathroom and turned off all the lights in the tent to get most of those bugs out. those bugs somehow can find an opening somewhere in the tent even if you have zipped up or closed all doors and windows! 

[madaboutcheetah]

@Kitsafari- I think stuff like termites are particularly active for a very short duration during the early green season when they all come out together.

[John M.]

   It surprised me that we never suffered swarms of bugs in Africa.  I was amazed on my walking safari in Chizarira NP that there were no flies.

   In the Australian bush, we sometimes had to wear masks to counter the bush flies (especially when trying to focus a camera). 

[Towlersonsafari]

Really enjoying your report @janzin-and apart from being bombarded with beetles in the Kruger-but thankfully not in our chalet we were once in a bush tent in Kenya and were invaded by a trail of very determined but very  teeny tiny ants that found a way through the zip-and marched onto Jane's bed- whuch is how we -or jane-discovered them! -Bodyshop body spray was the only think on hand to stop them in their tracks!-well it hadn't been tested on annimals until then. We did have a babbon spidfer inside the mozzie net 2 night running once but i managed to knock it/them into my hat and asked it/them  to leave (Jane has a spider phobia)

[janzin]

3 hours ago, Towlersonsafari said:

Really enjoying your report @janzin-and apart from being bombarded with beetles in the Kruger-but thankfully not in our chalet we were once in a bush tent in Kenya and were invaded by a trail of very determined but very  teeny tiny ants that found a way through the zip-and marched onto Jane's bed- whuch is how we -or jane-discovered them! -Bodyshop body spray was the only think on hand to stop them in their tracks!-well it hadn't been tested on annimals until then. We did have a babbon spidfer inside the mozzie net 2 night running once but i managed to knock it/them into my hat and asked it/them  to leave (Jane has a spider phobia)

oh god, spiders are my phobia too! Thank goodness I don't think we saw a single spider! Worst experience I had with spiders was in Kruger, some sort of long-legged spider running around outside our chalet, I was jumping on the table LOL.  Oh and then there was that tarantula in the shower in Ecuador once...I didn't shower the whole time we were at that lodge!

Edited February 4 by janzin

[janzin]

The next morning we head out to pick up the boat for our ride to the rookery. The boat is "docked" about 15 minutes away from the camp.

 

On our way, we stop at the Side-striped Jackal den, as they are up and about. They really are quite handsome.

 

 

Jackal and young'un nosing around for termites, I imagine.

 

 

 

We don't stay to long as we have a boat to catch!

 

But first we see our first--and only--Secretary Bird of the trip.

 

 

And more Burchell's Sandgrouse in the track. I know I posted them before (they are quite common here, it appears) but this male was especially colorful.

 

 

 

We arrive at the boat and Moz and our tracker get everything loaded on. We are ready for a nice relaxing morning on the river!

 

But wait! Moz says "we have a small problem." Uh-oh, words you don't want to hear. The small problem was that the mechanics gave him the wrong key   Apparently they had changed the motor just yesterday, but didn't replace the key on the keychain.  But no big deal--Moz radios the camp and says they will send someone with the correct key.

 

So we wait on the boat about 20 minutes and sure enough one of the staff shows up with the new key. Let's get going!!

 

Uh---no, this key doesn't work either

 

Moz is now really annoyed and we've lost a lot of time.  No one seems to know where the correct key is After a bit of conferring between Moz and our tracker, a suggestion is made that we do the boat ride in the afternoon after all. They will locate the right key and during lunch, someone will move the boat back up to Kwara camp.  That way we can leave Splash at the usual time, get to Kwara in about 1/2 an hour and take the boat from there, from where it is a much shorter ride to the rookery (why they didn't suggest that in the first place I don't know.)

 

So this seems like a good plan, it's cloudy this morning anyway, and we will have a boat with a brand new motor. What could possibly go wrong now? (you'll see...)

 

For now, we gather all our gear, disembark the boat and it's back in the jeep for a morning game drive after all.  And this turned out, in the end, to be VERY fortuitous...because...

 

THIS!

 

 

Get ready for leopard overload, coming soon.

[mtanenbaum]

Really enjoying this trip report!!!!

 

[KaliCA]

Those jackals are adorable and I have yet to see that kind.

We always pack a lot of "patience" when visiting Africa! it comes in handy many more times than we think...

 

OOOH a leopard sequence! I'm so ready to see it....

[janzin]

As promised, leopard overload coming up.

 

According to my GPS, we were actually closer to Kwara camp than to Splash when we found him--way on the other side of Kwara. We were so lucky as there were no other vehicles around and we spent a long time following him

 

At first he was in the high grasses. My Nikon Z9 (and Z8 too) impressed me with capturing the eye in focus even with the grasses.

 

 

 

What a handsome boy. If he has a name, I don't know it. But he looks like he's been around awhile.

 

 

 

He started to emerge from the grasses

 

 

Yes, definitely a boy. No doubt about it.

 

 

We followed. He seemed on a mission, but to where?

 

 

 

He stopped to sniff or mark this tree.

 

 

This shot reminds me of some of the jaguar shots I got in the pantanal...just a head emerging from the green.

 

 

To be continued in the next post...

 

 

Edited February 6 by janzin

[janzin]

He was heading towards the marsh. Moz warned us if he goes into the marsh, we won't be able to follow.  Yeah, we've already gotten stuck in the mud once this trip!

 

 

 

 

We couldn't go in but we watched him from the edge...leaping across the channels! Not a cat that likes to get his feet wet.

 

 

 

Sadly he finally leapt away from us, heading into the deep marsh.

 

 

Flying leopard.

 

 

Wow, we were thrilled with this leopard sighting--all to ourselves--and we wouldn't have had this except for the boat key fiasco!

 

So much on safari is due to serendipity!

[mtanenbaum]

love this leopard sequence! The contrast with the bright green grass is gorgeous....perhaps he was off to see a girlfriend....

[Pangolin]

Great leopard shots. Nice to have it to yourselves.

[KaliCA]

Great sequence! He looks really good in the greenery, but my fav is the vertical one against the dark background. He looks a little frayed around his ears. Must be older, but still spry!

Beautiful captures of YOUR leopard. 

[Zim Girl]

6 hours ago, KaliCA said:

 but my fav is the vertical one against the dark background. 

 

I agree.  Stunning picture!

[TonyQ]

A beautiful Leopard sequence.

[janzin]

Thanks @KaliCAand @Zim Girl, your comment made me look back at the post and I realized I didn't include my favorite shot (which is the one I thought you were referring to!)

 

So here it is now