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Tag Archives: Egyptian goose

Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 20

18 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, Geology, Photography, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Cattle egret, Egyptian goose, Glossy ibis, Little egret, Livingstone, millipede, Nile crocodile, purple gallinule, red-backed shrike, Safariwise, swamp hen, three-striped skink, Victoria Falls, whiskered tern, Zambezi River, Zambia

Our leaders had pity on us, the morning of this our last complete day. Breakfast was up to as late as 8.00, and there was no pre-breakfast walk.

On the way to breakfast:

From my terrace
Looking back at my accommodation
(Taken mid-afternoon)
A millipede I nearly trod on

I was the last to arrive at breakfast, at 7.30, and was greeted by Neil with ‘Good afternoon!’, to which I reacted with appropriate indignation.

We set off for the day’s activities at 9.00.

A pool at the roadside. Glossy ibis and, I think, Egyptian geese

We drove through the town of Livingstone. Difficult to capture images describing the place.

Surprise, surprise, we arrived at a sewage works. I didn’t take many photos, except of terns in flight – most unsuccessfully.

A row of egrets and whiskered terns
Nile crocodile
The best I could do
I never did sort out sewage works in southern Africa. They seem to grow things there. I suppose the soil may be, in due course, particularly fertile. With lakes much enjoyed by wildfowl and waders, they’re clearly not on the same model as our sewage works.
Glossy ibis

African purple gallinule, aka swamp hen

We then undertook a long and bumpy journey.

Red-backed shrike
Three-striped skink, on a rock, not a buffalo or hippo
The bumpy road led straight through a village. It would have been so nice to stop for a while.

We were aiming for a lunch place (a lodge of course) some miles down the Zambezi River from Victoria Falls, overlooking the gorge. Leader Neil was disappointed that we were not giving it more attention, but the fact is that it was much cooler in the shade, and, perhaps more significantly, most of us were deep into our phones and tablets, having access to wi-fi for the first time in 48 hours. Our super luxury lodge had been without the service since our arrival. Not their fault, but the local tower, or whatever-you-call-it, was out of action. As we were due to depart the following day, people hasd urgent and less urgent need of communication with the rest of the world.

That said, everyone did look at the gorge for a while at least.

I remarked to Neil that I was surprised how slow the water flow was, given the amount and speed of it over the Falls. ‘Or perhaps it’s a matter of scale?’, I asked. ‘It’s a matter of scale,’ he said. ‘Look at those kayaking.’ I hadn’t noticed the tiny little dots. They were moving, very fast, and were much further down than my brain had registered.

Having lunched and, er, used the facilities, (which were totally respectable)

we set off back to the Lodge for a siesta.

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Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 17

14 Sunday Apr 2019

Posted by Musiewild in Cats, Countryside views, Photography, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

African fish-eagle, Botswana, buffalo, Cattle egret, Chacma baboon, Chobe National Park, Common waterbuck, Egyptian goose, elephant, giraffe, Goliath heron, hippo, Kasikili, leopard, Namibia, Nile crocodile, pied kingfisher, Puku, Reed cormorant, Sedudu, vervet monkey, warthog, water monitor, Water thick-knee, waterbuck, white-crowned lapwing

Wednesday afternoon, 6th March. Vervet monkeys hung around the lodge. Indeed we were advised not to leave our sliding doors open. I did go onto my balcony a couple of times to look, but I didn’t see any. These were in a common area.

After a rest it was out on the boat again, in the same direction. Some familiar wildlife and some new. One very special.

Reed cormorant
Chacma baboon
Water thick-knee
Young Nile crocodile. Looks almost benevolent.
White-crowned lapwing. This time the reason for its name can be seen.
Water monitor
The first and last time we saw this animal, a Puku
Pied kingfisher
Yes, we saw lots of elephants, but I didn’t take lots of photos
I was intrigued and, I confess, slightly amused to see this flag. I had noticed it in the morning, but this time I asked Neil for confirmation that it was indeed the Botswanan flag. ‘Why is it there?’ ‘To show that the [uninhabited] island belongs to Botswana.’ And I recalled from my previous reading that, while the boundary between Botswana (then the Bechuanaland Protectorate) and Namibia (then German South West Africa) had been settled between respectively the UK and Germany (I find myself indignant on behalf of the Africans) in 1890 as, at this point, the ‘main channel’ of the Chobe River, no determination had been made of which channel either side of this island was the main one. The two, by now independent, countries took the matter to the International Court of Justice in 1999. The ICJ studied the geography, including depth and speed of water flow, and determined that the main channel was to the north of the island, so it belonged to Botswana. At the same time it recalled to both countries that seven years previously, they had reached an accord whereby each would have unimpeded rights of way on the river on both sides of the island, known as Sedudu in Botswana and Kasikili in Namibia. Interestingly, leader Neil, Namibian, referred to it as Sedudu.
A very scarred back
African fish-eagle
Egyptian goose
Common waterbuck

Goliath heron
Buffalo and cattle egret
‘A long time’ since we’d seen a giraffe
Vervet monkey family

These last two pictures had been taken while the boat was moving fast, with, unusually, no stopping, and at a time when I would have thought we would be turning round. Yet the boat sped on, further and further from the lodge.

After a short while all became clear. A leopard! Those local boat steerers/guides keep in touch with each other!

I hadn’t given my hope of seeing a leopard – which would complete my big cat ‘list’ – a thought for days. But given this opportunity, I, like everyone else, took zillions of photos, of which here are a very few. It (I don’t know whether it was male or female) was a long way off, but once you knew where it was, there was a clear view.

At least she (no, sorry, I have to give the feline a gender) was alert, and not stretched out fast asleep
We dreaded that there might be/hoped that there would be some leopard/warthog action…
… but neither seemed very interested in the other in the event.

I moved to the upper deck of the boat, and by the time I was there, she also had moved.

Short of seeing her catch prey and dragging it up a tree (the chances of seeing that from a boat were slim to non-existent, I would imagine) this was the best possible view we could have had. From these pictures, I extract the following enlarged portraits.

It was now indeed a race to get back to the lodge before the (Chobe) national park shut. I don’t think we made it in time (there were no physical barriers) but I didn’t hear of the boatmen being fined either.

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Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 14

08 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by Musiewild in Cats, Photography, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Bradfield's hornbill, buffalo, Caprivi Strip, Cattle egret, Darter, Egyptian goose, Grey go-away-bird, hippo, Kwandu river, Levaillant's cuckoo, Long-tailed starling, Meves's starling, Namibia, Nile crocodile, Openbill, oxpecker, reedbuck, Water thick-knee, waterbuck, weavers, White-browed robin chat, Zambezi Lodge, Zambia, zebra

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 kingfisher
Fascinating 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 Hornbill
And 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 geese
Darter
Nile crocodile
Water thick-knee. (Strictly, it’s the ankles which are thick, not the knees.)
Hippo head
Meves’s (aka long-tailed) starlings
Bushbuck
Buffalos, 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.

Waterbuck
Reedbuck

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-bird
Levaillant’s cuckoo
Meat-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.

From my room
As night fell

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Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 10

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, People, Photography, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

African fish-eagle, Ayre's hawk eagle, Black-crowned night-heron, buffalo, Bushbuck, Darter, Egyptian goose, elephant, Great white egret, Grey go-away-bird, hippo, jacana, Little bee-eater, Little egret, Mahangu Safari Lodge, Malachite kingfisher, Namibia, Okavango River, Squacco heron, waterbuck, White-backed Night-heron, White-fronted Bee-eater

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.
Waterbuck
Disappearing bushbuck
Malachite kingfisher, with prey
Great white egret
This very large elephant seemed extremely angry as he ripped up the grass. Anthropomorphism on my part, no doubt.
Little egret
Egyptian geese
African jacana
What a difference in light when I swing my camera to the opposite bank.
Squacco heron
Darter
White-fronted bee-eater
On the other bank, two go-away-birds
Ayre’s Hawk-eagle
Little bee-eater and White-fronted bee-eater
Little bee-eater
African jacana
Staring out at us, a juvenile Black-crowned night-heron
Buffalo
Bushbuck
African Fish-eagle
Malachite kingfisher
People 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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Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 1

17 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, Photography, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

African monarch, black-winged stilt, blacksmith lapwing, dikdik, Egyptian goose, Grey go-away-bird, little grebe, Namibia, Naturetrek, Pale chanting goshawk, purple roller, Safariwise, Verreaux's eagle, violet wood hoopoe, Waterberg Plateau, wood sandpiper

Saturday night and Sunday morning. (23rd/24th February 2019). We’ll gloss over the sheer panic I had felt for two hours on the Friday afternoon when a trespasser on the railway at my local railway station made me miss my long-haul flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, and I saw my two-week safari in three countries melting away before my eyes. I’ll just thank Naturetrek for speedily booking me onto a flight 3 hours later, and for having arranged the timing of the whole journey such that I was still able to take the intended onward flight to Windhoek, Namibia, (formerly South West Africa) at the same time as my prospective 14 companions.

At Windhoek, we were met by Neil, the proprietor of Safariwise, and the other leader/guide, Jakes, both Afrikaans-origin Namibian nationals. They drove us in two vehicles to the Waterberg Plateau, halfway to Etosha, where we would spend the night. From my leaving home to arrival at our lodge there, it had been some 27 hours.

The scenery changed during the four hours
Approaching the Waterberg Plateau. Termite mounds were everywhere throughout the trip.
Pale Chanting Goshawk, a bird we were to see many times in the two weeks. Even I came to recognise it.

Here is a map to explain our itinerary.

From Waterberg we were to go onward to central Etosha for two nights, eastern Etosha for another two, and onward to the north-east border of Namibia to stay for one night in a lodge in Kavangoland, on the Okavango River, with Angola on the other bank. We would then move for three nights to a lodge at the western point of the Caprivi Strip. From there we would make a day visit into Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland), after which we would move on further east within the Caprivi strip for a night in a lodge on the banks of the Zambezi River, and then spend two nights in Botswana itself in Chobe National Park. Our last two nights would be spent just over the border in Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) and we would fly back home, via Johannesburg, from Livingstone, near Victoria Falls.

The following, Sunday, morning, we started as we went on most days – getting up very, very early, with a pre-breakfast walk. This makes sense because it is around dawn and dusk that wildlife is most active. Like us, the creatures do not like to move around in the middle of a hot day. (Daytime maxima during the fortnight varied from 33°C to 38°C, night-time minima from 18° to 22°.) We followed a track near to our accommodation, which was considerably higher than the surrounding plain, but still with the plateau looming over us.

Verreaux’s eagle

The sun was not yet up.

But arrived during our walk
Purple roller

A word on captions. I only started systematically noting the names of the birds I photographed about halfway through the trip, so certainty about the names is not always guaranteed, depending both on whether I was able to check them out after the event, and also on whether I noted them correctly (the latter going for the second half of the trip also). Anyone with better information than I is very welcome to make corrective notes in the comments!

Grey Go-away-bird. These were common, its name deriving from its call.
Violet wood Hoopoes
I found their movements quite amusing (3 secs)
These sweet little Damara dikdik were all around the rooms – this one was feet away from mine after breakfast – and were quite unafraid of humans.
Fork-tailed drongo eating African monarch butterfly, which we saw it catch while we were waiting to leave

After breakfast we set off for our next destination, Etosha National Park. This is one of the two vehicles we travelled in. Everyone had a window seat, most also having the chance for a better view if they stood when the roof was up.


As we travelled our guides kept their eyes skinned for anything of wildlife interest and stopped for us to look and take photos as appropriate. The rule seemed to be that the longer we were taking to get anywhere, risking our next meal, the more significant the creature had to be for us to stop! I was just amazed at what Neil and Jakes noticed and immediately identified as they drove along.

Even before we left the lodge’s grounds we stopped to look at colourful butterflies, and more particularly a Rüppell’s parrot of which I did not get a good photo
The African monarch butterfly, quite unlike the one seen in N America and Madeira
Monarch butterflies on a plant which is highly poisonous to other creatures, including us, which make the butterfly in turn toxic

We diverted to a sewage works – not for the last time in the fortnight! I was the only traveller not principally and passionately interested in (and knowledgeable about) birds, my interest in wildlife, and the countries visited, being more general. And I was to learn that sewage works are fantastic for birdwatching, as they are made up of a series of ponds which attract waders and other birds.

Wood sandpiper
Egyptian geese, little grebes and (BL) garganeys and black-winged stilts
Blacksmith lapwings and … ?
The beautifully elegant black-winged stilt

Neil and Jakes also removed some illegal traps set to catch birds at the sewage works.

We had lunch at a safari lodge en route. We did not starve in the 14 days!

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Tanzania 1

28 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by Musiewild in Cats, Photography, Travel, Wildlife

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Bat-eared fox, Blacksmith plover, Common jackal, Dik dik, Egyptian goose, Fischer's lovebird, flamingo, Francolin, Genet, Grant's gazelle, Hyena, Impala, Kori bustard, lesser flamingo, Lion, Lovebird, Ndutu, Ngorogoro, Ostrich, Serengeti Select Safaris, Spotted hyena, Superb starling, Tanzania, Tawny eagle, Thomson's gazelle, White stork, Wildebeest, zebra

This Saturday, 27th February, I returned from a fortnight-plus-travelling trip to see the wildlife of Tanzania.

P1170877

Ostriches

Over the next two or three weeks  I shall be sharing just a very few of the photographs I took of the rich wildlife that the country is conserving in its national parks.

We landed at Kilimanjaro Airport late in the evening of Wednesday 10th February after a violent rainstorm.  February is the middle of the wet season in Tanzania, though it has slightly less rain than the months surrounding it. Our leader, IW, had been fortunate in previous visits at this time of year in not having experienced much rain.  We had a fair amount over the two weeks though it only affected us seriously during the last part of our visit.

We (IW plus eight of us) left our overnight hotel in rain, which continued for much of the five-hour journey across the Ngorogoro Conservation Area to Ndutu Safari Lodge. We had first sights of many animals, but weather conditions did not make for good photos. We were pleased to be able to settle in our accommodation, and that the weather had cleared considerably.

P1170890

We enjoyed the view.P1170891

After lunch and a good rest, we went out for our first safari drive.

P1170918

Egyptian goose

P1170926

Blacksmith plover

P1170940

Tawny eagle

It was the time of the great wildebeest migration, and we saw hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these animals during our stay.

P1180014P1180016

P1180041

Bat-eared fox

It was not long before we came across our first lions (thanks to the expert knowledge of the drivers of Serengeti Select Safaris who were with us for a week).

Apologies to those of a sensitive disposition. The male had two lionesses with him, mating with each turn by turn every ten minutes. The stand-off at the end of the encounter is because it hurts the female.

P1180053P1180090P1180107

P1180192

White storks

P1180222

The knee-high Dik dik

P1180208

This beautiful nocturnal creature is a not a feline but a genet, related to mongooses.  We should not see it, but for years three of them have been visiting the dining room of the Lodge each evening, no doubt because they know that the kitchen will see them alright if they do.

P1180238

The following morning dawned grey and overcast, but we hoped that, as the previous day, it would clear up later. Our first viewing of the spotted hyena led us to consider that it was fluffier than it seems on TV, and not nearly as ugly as we had hitherto thought, even when carting off a baby Thomson’s gazelle to eat.

P1180341P1180359

P1180374

Almost immediately afterwards we saw a Grant’s gazelle in the minutes before and after giving birth.

P1180408P1180414P1180424

She had cause to be worried about hyena and jackal, but her only concern about this wildebeest is whether it will tread on her calf.

P1180431

P1180434

Kori bustard

P1180448

Common jackals

P1180482P1180504P1180512

P1180537

Lesser flamingos

P1180549

P1180555

One of the most common birds around, the Superb starling

P1180580

Impala

P1180587

Francolin/Spurfowl

P1180594

Fischer’s lovebirds

Back to the Lodge for lunch.

(To be continued)

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