Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 18

Tags

bateleur, black-backed jackal, Botswana, buffalo, Chacma baboon, China, Chobe river, coppery-tailed coucal, elephant, hippo, Impala, Kori bustard, Lion, lioness, marabou stork, osprey, red-billed hornbill, Trumpeter hornbill, White-fronted Bee-eater, Zambezi, Zambia, zebra, Zimbabwe

Thursday 7th March, morning. As mentioned already, Neil and Jakes were not licensed to lead game drives in Botswana, but we had the opportunity to go on an optional (= paying) game drive organised by the lodge, leaving at 6.00 a.m. Most of us decided to do so, but in the event found we very much missed the quality of our own guides. We were again in two vehicles, open ones this time, and with a couple of other people staying at the lodge in each as well.

With a start at 6.00 a.m., it was still far from fully light.

The guides were clearly not interested/didn’t see birds at all, and it was the German lady in our jeep who spotted these and asked to stop for photos.

Marabou storks

The tour laid on by the hotel clearly caters for the general public just passing though, not knowledgeable (well, most of them) fanatics like us! But we did nevertheless see some interesting and new things, before we got back for a hasty breakfast at 9.00 a.m., and departure as soon as possible afterwards. For we were to leave Botswana finally for a brief sojourn in Zambia, before setting off on the long journey back to the UK.

It was interesting, for example, to see the Chobe River from a different angle than from the river itself.

Impala

Lots of impala

Chacma baboon

Here was a new one – a coppery-tailed coucal

A string of buffalo

I would have liked a chance to get a better picture of these Kori bustard, but the jeep didn’t stop.

This next was perhaps the most interesting sighting of the game drive. A black-backed jackal came trotting towards us, clearly carrying some very fresh meat. It stopped, dropped the meat, scrabbled a bit, and then moved on – without the meat – and passed behind our jeep. What was going on?

Over there is a hippo, but again the jeep didn’t stop

I think this might be a not-quite-adult female Bateleur, but I’m not sure

White-fronted bee-eaters

Perhaps this was the reason the jeep was rushing. We found ourselves in a bunch of at least a dozen other vehicles, all straining to catch a sight of…

.. a handsome male lion padding across at a great distance.

He was followed by a procession of five or six of his females – I lost count.

But they were a very long way off. On the other hand, had we not had the very good lion sightings earlier on in the trip, we would have been thrilled to see even these.

We turned round, and on the way back for breakfast caught sight of …

Zebra and impala

Buffalo

and Osprey

…………..

Crossing from Botswana into Zambia (the former Northern Rhodesia) was a more complicated affair than nipping between Namibia (the old South West Africa) and Botswana (the old Bechuanaland) had been.

I’m not sure what took the time at the Botswana emigration post, but hanging around gave us the chance to observe this Red-billed hornbill.

Entering Zambia involved crossing the ‘mighty’ Zambezi River. We hadn’t the time to wait for this bridge, being financed by China, to be completed. [Edit, 12th April 2020. I have discovered, quite by chance today, that this bridge, the Kazungula Bridge, is being financed not by China, but by the Japan International Co-operation Agency and the African Development Bank. How easily we accept that China is behind all development in Africa. And indeed China is financing much of the railway which will use this bridge.]

So we were going to cross by this.

Which was actually more fun.

Our vehicles were dwarfed by the HGVs also waiting to cross by ferry.

We were not allowed to stay in the vehicles,

But had to walk on, and stand for the crossing. Which was also more fun.

Looking east, please see Zambia (ex-Northern Rhodesia) to the left and Zimbabwe (ex-Southern Rhodesia) to the right.

And looking west, there are Botswana to your left and Namibia to your right. [Edit 12th April, 2020. No, Botswana and Namibia are left, only Zambia on the right. See map in article here.] Whether you can see them or not. The sun on Neil’s left shoulder appears to be coming from the north. That’s because it is – we’re south of the Equator.

We had been warned that here we would have to wait for anything between one hour and three. (Neil had FOUR sets of taxes to pay at different offices!) In the event it was two hours, in great heat, but at least we were in the roofed vehicles by now. There were some interesting things going on, like women picking up really heavy bundles of foodstuffs from the side of some huge HGVs which the latter had carried across the river in addition to their main freight, then putting them on their heads at walking off. I would love to know the story behind that, and I have no idea why I didn’t take photos. Perhaps because of a general reluctance to intrude on people’s daily lives.

Fortunately it was not too long, once we set off, before we stopped for lunch. Though at one point we all leapt up from table (outdoors of course) to seek out a trumpeting Trumpeter hornbill, of which this was the best photo I could get!

Would you even know it was a bird?!

We heard, and indeed saw, plenty of these – very loud – at our next and final lodge.

Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 6

Tags

black-backed jackal, black-winged stilt, blacksmith lapwing, Blue crane, elephant, Etosha agama, European bee-eater, gemsbok, giraffe, hoopoe, Hyena, laughing dove, lilac-breasted roller, northern black korhaan, oryx, Ostrich, Pale chanting goshawk, pearl-spotted owlet, red-eyed bulbul, vulture, Wildebeest, zebra

After as early a breakfast as the hours of Mokuti Lodge would allow, we set off for the morning’s drive.

Very near the roadside and indignant at being disturbed.

Lilac-breasted roller. I seem to have taken a lot of photos of this species. They seem to be quite co-operative. And pretty.

?

?

Risking the slight irritation of my birdy companions, I asked if we could stop for a photo of these palms, which we had seen the day before without stopping. My companions were in fact quite pleased, in the event, since …

… they spotted in one of them what we would note at the of the day as a white-backed vulture.

?

Northern black korhaan. If I were to go by my bird book I would say it might be a White-quilled bustard but that is not on our checklist, and it has a different Latin name.

Blue crane

Black-winged stilt and very blurry ‘duck’. ?Teal?

We came across a lot of ostriches.

Many, many ostriches.

A male (black) and a female (brown)

To me they seem rather sinister when you can only see necks and legs

Strutting their stuff

Showing their irritation I think. We had hung around for a while.

We stopped for unexpected mid-morning hot drinks, prepared and served by our leaders.

Any stop provides an opportunity for looking out for birds.

African red-eyed bulbul

Someone said, rather patronisingly, that this bird was far too far off for me to be able to take with my small camera. Well, ya boo shucks! Pearl-spotted owl(et). Book says ‘appears dumpy, large-headed and short-tailed’. Yup!

Laughing dove. Soooo pretty!

And we continued on our way.

European bee-eater

How leader Neil managed as he was driving along to spot this motionless creature by the side of the road, so well camouflaged against its background, I couldn’t say. ‘Experience’, they said.

Etosha Agama (lizard)

Hoopoe

Pale chanting goshawk

We arrived at a waterhole, where we were to observe wildlife drama. Wildebeest and zebra were standing around, preparing to drink, but then along came an elephant troop.

A hyena sloped off.

Indeed, two elephant troops arrived – and merged.

To take over the pool entirely. I love the way giraffe’s heads show up against a treeline.

After drinking, mud baths are in order

A gemsbok/oryx arrived, but did not yet go near the pool.

Wildebeest hold back

As do giraffe. The bolder zebra were soon ‘discouraged’.

Two of which took it out on each other.

In due course the elephants did move off…

And the first to drink in the, by now very disturbed, waters were a black-backed jackal and a blacksmith lapwing.

It was time to return to the lodge for lunch and a siesta.

Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 5

Tags

black-backed jackal, Cattle egret, elephant, Etosha National Park, European bee-eater, flamingo, gemsbok, giraffe, greater flamingo, grey heron, honey badger, Impala, Kori bustard, leopard tortoise, lilac-breasted roller, Lion, Mokuti lodge, Namibia, Namutoni camp, northern black korhaan, oryx, Ostrich, Pale chanting goshawk, red-billed hornbill, red-necked falcon, Safariwise, Spotted hyena, Striped mongoose, swallow-tailed bee-eater, warthog, white rhino, Wildebeest, zebra

Tuesday 26th February. Today we were leaving Halali Camp and moving on to Mokuti Lodge at the eastern end of Etosha National Park in time for lunch, and to stay two nights. While we were waiting for our vehicles to collect us, some of us were amused to see a honey badger arrive at the row of bins opposite us, (all closed at that stage), sniff at each, and, clearly much practised, neatly flip open the lid of the end one – holding it open with its back leg to prevent it falling shut – go inside and take out this packet of meat, then calmly tear it open and eat the contents, slice by slice. It then proceeded to do exactly the same with a packet of cheese slices. Not the way you really want to observe wildlife, but a clear illustration of adaptation to human presence. They were there first!

We set off through the national park, taking our time, stopping at the roadside and waterholes, making for our new lodge.

Lilac-breasted roller?

Impala

Kori bustard (BL)

I was in Jakes’s vehicle this day, and he was particularly excited to see this rhino. It is a White rhino, quite rare (and, as I discovered later, a reintroduction). ‘White’ is a corruption of, I believe, Dutch ‘wijd’, referring to its wide mouth. The White rhino also has a prominent neck hump. It is noticeably larger than the Black rhino. The Black rhino is also called the Browse rhino.

Hooded vulture (BL)

Spotted hyena

At the roadside

European bee-eaters

Oryx. Answers also to the name Gemsbok

It’s not only giraffes who have to splay their legs to drink. So do impala

When we saw elephant approaching from our right, we not only stopped, we backed up a little. We were clearly in the path they were going to take.

This is how near they were, even as they were going away.

When we were only a few miles from or next lodge, we stopped at Namutoni Camp, a former German colonial fort, now another government-run lodge.

There was a small museum there, and a family of striped mongooses.

But our next lodge was privately run, and a distinct notch or four up on those we had already stayed at. After a leisurely lunch, and a siesta, we were due to go out, though this was put slightly in doubt by rain, the first of only two occasions when we wondered whether our plans might be affected in this way. But the storm was brief, nothing like enough to help do anything about the drought, and we went out at the planned time.

Southern red-billed hornbill

Leopard tortoise

Red-necked falcons

Signs of the recent rain soon disappeared

Our first ostriches. We were to get better views in later days

Swallow-tailed bee-eater

Northern black korhaan (aka White-quilled bustard)

Adult warthog

But it was nowhere near these three little hoglets we saw later, running out of a culvert, no parent in sight

Pale chanting goshawk

Black-backed jackal

Wildebeest and cattle egrets

All of life is here! Impala (as far as I can tell), zebra, giraffe, grey heron, and just two Greater flamingos. But for the drought, there would have been huge flocks of flamingo we were told. As it was, we were very lucky to see any.

Although it was very warm, we had little sun all afternoon, and rain threatened much of the time, though never fulfilling its threats. Such rain as there was anywhere was very localised. This part rainbow accompanied us for a good while as we made our way back to the lodge in the late afternoon. I wondered whether its curious shape was because the sun was so high, but this theory was well disproved nine days later.

Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 3

Tags

black rhino, black-backed jackal, blacksmith lapwing, elephant, Etosha National Park, Etosha Pan, glossy starling, Halali camp, Hyena, Impala, kudu, laughing dove, Lion, marabou stork, Namibia, red hartebeest, rhino, Rock kestrel, Scops owl, secretary bird, Spotted hyena, Springbok, Striped mongoose, whydah, zebra

Monday, morning, 25th February. Here is a map of Etosha National Park. “>http://a href=”https://www.etoshanationalpark.org”><img src=”https://www.etoshanationalpark.org/media/Etosha-Map2.jpg” alt=”Etosha National Park Map” title=”Etosha National Park Map”/></a>

It’s huge. Etosha Pan itself is 75 miles/120 kilometres long. This is a dried up lake, the salt from which affects the land to its south. We had entered the NP by Anderson Gate, in the middle of the Park, and Halali Camp is a little over a third of the way along the Pan to the northwest of the Gate. The map shows the many waterholes.

After a very early breakfast, we went out for a ‘game’ drive. It was not quite as light as my camera made out to begin with.

Black-backed jackal

Our first lion, a female with a nasty but healing wound. She seems to have the remains of a kill.

Springbok and Striped Mongooses

Secretary bird, the last we were to see

Our first elephant, much further off than it appears from this maximum zoom photo

The Pan in the middle ground

Rock kestrel?. No, a lesser kestrel according to BL.

And then we heard a lion was on its way. Our leaders positioned the vehicles near the pool it was thought to be heading for.

What a handsome beast!

He roared for his females. It was loud! Nothing like the gentle huffing in the following video taken from a new spot we had moved to

He stopped, examined us …

… and then moved off. We did not see his females.

We continued on our way, and I’m starting to recognise a blacksmith lapwing.

What’s that venturing its head out of a (dried up of course) culvert?…

… A spotted hyena

Another black rhino – or rather two!

When we got back to Halali Camp, it was still relatively early, and we had a couple of hours off. The Camp had no free wifi, but our vehicles did, and I spent some time in one of them (as it was being driven to get fuel and then parked somewhere in the camp) catching up with vital home political news. (For those interested in such things, I learned that THAT vote, due already for the nth time on 27th February, was being put off again for two weeks.)

Before lunch, the group walked five minutes to the waterhole a few had visited the previous evening. En route we saw in the camp grounds, among other things, …

a Cape glossy starling (we were to see many varieties of beautiful starling in the two weeks),

and an African Scops owl, trying to sleep, a bit fed up with the attention. To quote from my bird book, ‘ … its cryptic colouring makes detection difficult. This camouflage is further enhanced by its habit of depressing its fathers to appear long and thin, raising its ear tufts and half-closing its eyes, creating the illusion of a tree stump.’

Once at the waterhole, where we were comfortably seated, we saw plenty of life.

Kudu and Marabou stork

Red-billed teal

Kudu

Laughing dove and Long-tailed paradise whydahs (?)

I think this is the male of a species of Paradise whydah in transition to breeding plumage, but I’m not sure

Impalas practising. Elephant dung gets everywhere.

Marabou stork

Long-tailed Paradise-Whydahs, male and female

The pool was not empty for long

Red hartebeest

And this I how the pool was when we left for our lunch.

It had been quite a morning!

Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 2

Tags

African Paradise Flycatcher, black-backed jackal, Blue crane, Crowned lapwing, Etosha National Park, flap-necked chamaeleon, giraffe, Gnu, Halali camp, Namibia, Pied crow, red hartebeest, red-crested korhaan, rhino, scrub hare, secretary bird, Sociable Weaver, Spotted thick-knee, Springbok, Wildebeest

Sunday 24th February, afternoon. This trip was timed to be the end of the ‘green season’, i.e. after the rains. Everything should have been lush, in fact making ground-living creatures more difficult to see, thus the particular interest of birders in this trip. But as were told right at the outset, the region had now suffered from seven years of drought, and areas that should have been marshy, and even flooded, were not. This was not only having an adverse effect on wildlife, but farmers were losing cattle, and entering into penury. For us however, shrinking waterholes were ideal for observing wildlife, not just birds. So after leaving our lunch spot…

… we visited a couple of waterholes, though many of the following pictures were taken from the roadside on the way to our first lodge within Etosha National Park.

African Paradise flycatcher, a small bird with (in the male) a very long tail.

Red-crested Korhaan (id. PM and BL)

Sociable Weaver nest. It’s huge, being the nest, as its name suggests, of many birds.

Pied crow

Common Wildebeest, aka Brindled Gnu

Blue cranes, in front of Springbok

Secretary bird, about the size of a (skinny) turkey – with long legs in breeches

Crowned lapwing

I was thrilled and surprised to see a black rhino (its name has nothing to do with its colour), given that I had only ever seen one before, and that at a great distance.

Spotted thick-knee, right by the side of the road, hoping its camouflage would protect it

Red (Leiwei) hartebeest

Secretary bird

Neil spotted this at the side of the road as we were driving along, and backed up for us to have a closer look. Another creature hoping its camouflage will protect it – a Scrub hare. It didn’t move for the five minutes we were beside it. Reminds me so much of Dürer’s 1502 painting.

A troop of Springbok crossed the road in front of us.

This Flap-neck Chamaeleon is green in the pictures you see in internet searches. But here it is crossing the road, so… It had a strange rocking movement, designed to put predators off. We were worried that it might be crushed on the road, but since vehicles were few and far between, this was unlikely.

Springbok almost as far as the eye can see.

Black-backed jackal

Our first giraffe, the Southern sub-species

After a long and tiring couple of days, we were very pleased to reached the Halali Restcamp, dine, and go to bed. Except that a few of them didn’t immediately, but walked to the nearby waterhole and saw lots of elephants. And apparently missed a leopard drinking there an hour later.

Tanzania 6

Tags

black kite, black rhino, black-backed jackal, buffalo, elephant, flamingo, great white pelican, hippo, Kori bustard, lesser flamingo, lioness, Ngorogoro, Ngorogoro Crater, rhino, Tanzania, Tarangire, Thomson's gazelle, weaver bird, zebra

We moved on, and I was thrilled now to see flamingos taking off from the lake,

rising higher and higher and higher.  I was mindful of a documentary I had seen on TV about some Great White Pelicans taking off daily from a lake with no fish, using thermals to rise over some mountains to get to another lake where the food was plentiful.

As I followed these flamingos with my eyes, I seemed to me that they were doing the same thing, for whatever reason, and I watched them fly off from the crater and over its rim.  Others more interested in photographic opportunities than wildlife behaviour  did not get as excited as I was.

Kori bustard, display

Black-backed jackal

We found ourselves in an area with many lionesses – and many jeeps.  The former just ignored the latter except when they had to go round them.  Reactions of other wildlife were mixed.  Some seemed to realise that the felines were not hunting, but were just in a quest for water. Others – the Thomson’s gazelles perhaps – maybe could not even see the danger.  Truly hunting lions would not have made themselves so obvious.

We were all excited to see in the distance a black rhino, something we could certainly not have counted on.

Black rhino. The name has nothing to do with the colour.

Black-backed jackal

To the ‘Hippo Pool’ where some of us were fortunate enough to find some shade and a place to sit to have our lunch, amused by two kinds of weaver birds.  We were advised to keep our food well covered or it might be snatched by black kites.

Hippo pool

Two kinds of weaver birds

Black kite

We started to climb – in our jeeps – out of the crater after lunch, to make our way to our next Park, stopping only to pay tribute to those  who over the years had lost their lives in the service of wildlife, killed in the main not by animals but by poachers.

Climbing up the side of the crater

At the top

A tribute to those who have lost their lives in defence of the area’s wildlife

 

(Coming: Tarangire National Park)