Wednesday, 6th March. While our guides were not licensed for Botswanan wildlife trips, there was nothing to stop them explaining things if we took established boat rides from Chobe Safari Lodge within the Chobe National Park. So at 9 a.m. we set off for the first of two boats rides today – in which we saw lots of elephants! On the whole, to begin with, we kept to the south bank of the Chobe River.
Facing north. Darter and reed cormorants.This little fellow, a wire-tailed swallow, hitched a ride for a short while.Red bishop. So striking.Brown-throated weaverJacanasGiant kingfisherNile crocodile, not very big, only about 5 feet (1.5 metres) long…
When we saw elephants, I took enormous numbers of photographs and videos. Just a very few are here.
Play fightingThis big bull isolated himself to his own mud bank, very near to us.The eyes have it.Not threatening nor hassling, just cooling I think.I had this taken just to prove that I was really there. I’m still on the boat!
We continued on our way, to a ‘lovely’ muddy area.
Glossy ibisTwo glossy ibisesWe had pulled in, nudging the bank. The local guide had to draw this to my attention – right under my nose. Squacco heron.The Flanders and Swann song is, I believe, about hippopotamuses. Clearly elephants like mud too.As do Buffalos (or Buffaloes – take your pick)
We started wending our way back, mainly along the northern bank of the river now.
These impala were on the far southern bank.
White-crowned lapwingThere’s a water monitor in there
The we became aware of lots, and lots, and lots of elephant lining the southern bank.
On the northern bank was already this leader, presumably the matriarch of at least some of them. She summoned them over.
And they came. The elephants here are well-known for swimming across the river.Just as mum holds her trunk out of the water, so does her tiny baby, keeping very close to her right ‘hip’.Still therePresumably those that crossed were all of the same family.And after a good wallow for some, they continued on their way.
Monday 4th March. Breakfast was to be at 8 a.m., we were told, preceded by a pre-breakfast walk round the grounds at 7 a.m.
Woodland kingfisherFascinating to see that what we have in our museum locally in the UK, as a remnant of rural transport hundreds of years ago, is still commonplace in rural Namibia. And so ecological.I was very ‘interested’ to meet this little chap. At the time we saw him, his sound was quite normal and reasonable and pretty. At 6 a.m. … well, you didn’t need to set an alarm, and it wasn’t pretty!Here he is again, a White-browed robin chat. My book says , ‘Considered by some as the best songster in Africa’. Hmm. His song perhaps, but definitely not his early-morning call!Bradfield’s HornbillAnd another. They appeared to be talking to each other.
Yes, breakfast was scheduled for 8 o’clock, but they hadn’t told us it was to be on a boat cruising along the river! What a lovely surprise!
This was the double-decker boat, and it was great to be able to go to the top deck to observe the wildlife along the way after we had finished eating.
Egyptian geeseDarterNile crocodileWater thick-knee. (Strictly, it’s the ankles which are thick, not the knees.)Hippo headMeves’s (aka long-tailed) starlingsBushbuckBuffalos, with cattle egret, and, I suspect, an oxpecker
After this, it was time to pack and move on from the Mahangu Lodge eastwards along the Caprivi Strip. We travelled on a main road which bisects the Caprivi Game Park, and saw some interesting wildlife on the way.
WaterbuckReedbuck
We stopped for lunch at a lodge overlooking the Kwandu River.
African Openbill (stork family)The first domestic cat I had seen since leaving home. Even I, felinophile, am not convinced they have their place in the middle of so much wildlife.
We resumed our journey.
Weaver birds’ nests. There are many kinds of weavers, and many kinds of weavers’ nests.Yup, another grey Go-away-birdLevaillant’s cuckooMeat-sellers, through a rather grimy lens
In due course (we did 340 kilometres that day, temperature 36°C max) we arrived at Zambezi Lodge, on the Zambezi River. Opposite was Zambia.
Sunday, 3rd March. Botswana at last, but only for a day trip for now. But first, breakfast. We always ate outdoors at Mahangu Lodge, for the three days. We did wonder where we would eat were it to rain, as we couldn’t see anything like a dining room, but the situation didn’t arise.
We set off to drive the short distance to the Botswana border to the south of the Caprivi Strip.
Lesser striped swallow
It was not long before we reached the border and went through emigration and immigration controls.
Never miss a chance to observe wildlife.
Scarlet-breasted sunbird
Everyone stood around taking photos while this hardworking dung beetle made its way over to a kerb, an impossible obstacle. With reassurance from leader Neil that it could do me no harm, I picked the beetle up and placed it where it appeared to be heading, then carefully placed its dung ball by its ‘nose’.
We moved on, into Botswana. We had just one purpose in making a day trip into a different country, which was to see a particular bird, very rare.
In due course we arrived at Drotsky’s Lodge, where we would in due course have lunch, but first we were to take a trip from there on the swamps of the neck of the Okavango Delta. The 17 of us were on two open boats, seated one person each side of a narrow gangway, with no shelter from the sun. We had been well-warned to protect ourselves as much as possible, and for me the breeze from the movement made the experience quite pleasant.
Some, by now, familiar and some less familiar birds.
White-fronted bee-eaterLittle bee-eatersAfrican jacanaCattle egretLong-toed lapwingsFan-tailed widowbird aka red-shouldered widowbirdGlossy ibisPapyrus and a convolvulusGymnogene aka African harrier hawk
After a while we saw the very bird we had hoped for, a Pel’s Fishing Owl, way up in a tree by the bank of a river we were travelling on. It’s a large bird, and the colour of a ginger cat! To quote from my bird book, ‘… cinnamon underparts and rufous-brown upperparts …… Strictly nocturnal; spends the day perched in the dense foliage of a large tree ….. When flushed, flies a short distance and resettles in another tree, from where it watches the intruder.’ Which is exactly what it did while we watched it.
Having admired the magnificent bird, we meandered back along the channel, in and out of another one, and went back to the lodge for lunch.
After lunch, retracing our route, we went back though emigration (Botswana) and immigration (Namibia) controls.
And I was pleased to see elephant on the opposite bank from Mahangu Lodge, where we were to spend our third and last night there.
By the way, if it seems that there are awful lot of birds in these posts, these are just a sample! We were given a list at the outset of 538 birds we might see, potentially, as they had been spotted on previous Naturetrek trips here in previous years. By the end of the two weeks, collectively we had seen or heard about 375 of them, and added two more to the list, one a lifetime first for leader Neil, a Red-throated twinspot. (I didn’t see it, so no chance of a photo. Indeed, I doubt if I saw half of the total myself, and I took photos of many, many fewer, concentrating mainly on the larger ones.)
Saturday 2nd March. There was no wifi in our rooms at the Mahangu Lodge, only in the bar/dining area. And breakfast was not until 7 a.m. But I discovered that they served coffee from shortly after 6 a.m. there.
This morning, we went for a game drive in the Mahango Game Park. It was reasonably cool to begin with.
As I’ve said, there is elephant dung everywhere. Here are dung beetles making the most of the fact that a vehicle has already processed some.Warthogs, youngster kneeling to feed.Roan antelopeWarthog familySeeing this just makes me long to be back there.KuduPurple-banded sunbirdsKalahari tented tortoiseJacobin cuckooPearl-spotted owletGrey hornbillOur starling is beautiful when you really look at it. Africa’s starlings don’t need any study to show the same quality. Long-tailed starling.Red-billed spurfowlBurchell’s glossy starlingBroad-billed rollerBlue waxbillWattled cranes (‘uncommon resident’) – very far offIt was getting hot now. Paddling with these Southern reedbuck would have been very welcome!Frustrating not to be able to capture the image of this vervet monkey more precisely, but…… there were some of his companions across the wayAfrican fish-eagleDartersNile crocodileSouthern reedbuckRed lechweBaobab treeChacma baboonsCarmine bee-eater
We had been out for four hours, and were ready for our lunch.
Friday 1st March, late afternoon cruise on the Okavango River, upstream from Mahangu Lodge. For the most part we hugged the opposite bank, which I think formed part of the national park.
As we move off, we look over to the lodge and its double-decker boat. We’re on the single decker one.WaterbuckDisappearing bushbuckMalachite kingfisher, with preyGreat white egretThis very large elephant seemed extremely angry as he ripped up the grass. Anthropomorphism on my part, no doubt.Little egretEgyptian geeseAfrican jacanaWhat a difference in light when I swing my camera to the opposite bank.Squacco heronDarterWhite-fronted bee-eaterOn the other bank, two go-away-birdsAyre’s Hawk-eagleLittle bee-eater and White-fronted bee-eaterLittle bee-eaterAfrican jacanaStaring out at us, a juvenile Black-crowned night-heronBuffaloBushbuckAfrican Fish-eagleMalachite kingfisherPeople were very excited to see this, an ‘uncommon resident’, a White-backed Night-heron.The light was falling, and the boat hastened us back to the lodge. My camera had difficulty with the light level as I pointed it at these hippos, … … and at my colleagues as they relaxed after a fascinating couple of hours. Time to look at photos rather than take them.
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