Saturday afternoon, 2nd March. I was delighted to see as I got up from lunch to return to my room for a siesta, that there were several Sable antelopes on the opposite bank.
Such beautiful long horns
I took a few photos of and in my room.
Camera had difficulty in the darkish room. This was not the most luxurious of our lodges. Perhaps that was why I felt very much at my ease there. More pillow embroidery
This is the lodge’s bar area.
And here is a Go-away-bird in the tree beside me as I waited there for us all to assemble for another drive in the Mahango National Park. Many had really been hoping to see a cheetah these last two days. For myself, I had seen – just – one before, but I had never seen a leopard. We had been told that still might see one of these later in the trip, but this was the last time we might see a cheetah.
I do love the mohican hairstyle.
We covered the same ground as we had in the morning but in very different light.
Oops, I failed to note the name of this bird.Common impala (i.e. not Black-faced ones)Inside of am old termite mound, giving just a hint of the amazing engineering which keeps the mound – which is mainly below ground – aerated and cool.Little bee-eaterThis morning’s three wattled cranes again – presumablyRed lechweBlue waxbill. It’s a very small bird.Red-crested korhaanTsessebeWarthogs. They must have toughened ‘knees’.More Tsessebe, in evening light. (Being so near the equator, about 18° South, sundown is early, even in summer.)Lanner falcon
Thursday, 28th February. Before sunrise, all the others went off, after a coffee, for a bird-watching walk around the grounds of the Lodge. Being rather birded out, I allowed myself a few more minutes in bed, though still had had my breakfast pretty early, well before the others got back to have theirs. I filled in time by wandering round the grounds on my own in non-birdwatching mode, and then visiting the ‘Reptile Walk’ of the lodge, which had sadly seen better days.
The bar, where we had had our lunch on the two days we were there.Trees often grow through termite mounds, apparently because of the greater fertility of the soil, and possibly their greater water contentI didn’t go looking for birds, but sometimes you just can’t avoid them. Red-billed hornbill, in still poor, early morning light.Anchieta’s dwarf python. Quite big. actuallyBlack mamba. Not very big, but I’m glad there’s glass between me and it.Later, as I went to join the vehicles to leave, this family of striped mongooses, very much at home in the grounds of the lodge, were taking advantage of the hose water.
We covered a lot of ground this day, 430 km/267 miles. It was pretty hot (35 degrees C max) , and thunderstorms threatened, never amounting to much though.
Weaver birds’ nests. Even a refuelling stop is the opportunity for birdwatching.Ooh, and here we are at a sewage works.Fortunately, the problem with Jakes’s vehicle (a tyre I think) arose in a town, Tsumeb. Jakes explains it, Neil listens, and the mechanic mops his brow.Namibia is rich in minerals.
Our lunch was taken at a Roy’s Rest Camp, whose proprietors have a wacky sense of humour!
Looks fairly normal to begin with, just a little run-down. (It gets good reviews though).Just two examples among many of eccentricity.The dining area seems normal, until you start noticing little curios. No pictures because I was eating…… and then keen to get back to chat with this man. A Scot, who had lived in Australia for the last 40 years (though you’d think he’d never left Renfrewshire from his accent) who is travelling the world with just a 150 cc bike, (there in front of our right-hand vehicle), a mobile phone, and virtually no plans. Is nearly at the end of his years-long odyssey. Amazing fellow. I got this photo, with his permission, but didn’t like to ask his name.
Once we got going again, there was little time to stop for wildlife photographs, and I snatched such pictures of Namibian rural life as I could through the windows of the vehicle.
When we were nearly at our next destination, near Rundu, a dust storm arose as we went through the town. “Windows closed please!”
Shortly afterwards, we arrived at Kaisosi River Lodge on the Okavango River, with Angola on the other side.
Four rooms in this building. Mine was downstairs, in the nearer half, the river beyond.From the riverside, No 3.Just so peaceful after a long day’s journeying. View from the ‘French’ window.View from the verandah by the dining room.
But the dining room was not – yet – for us. After settling in, we went out to visit ….. a sewage works.
Homeward bound in the shower with firewood.Black-crowned Night-heronsRed bishop. The first we had seen, but we were to see more.Embroidery on my pillowcase. Pied kingfisher.
As I walked back to my room at Mokuti Lodge for a rest after lunch, I felt uncomfortable, not for the last time, to see lawn-watering going on for the pleasure of tourists, in a country so afflicted by drought.
In due course, we went out for our late afternoon drive.
Blacksmith lapwings, impala, and the only elephant who visited this watering hole while we were there.… Though more elephants were hanging around at a distance when we arrived, facing in both directions, and took some time to move off. It was as if they couldn’t decide whether to come closer. (I refrain from making current political analogies.)Marabou stork and White-backed vultureThe vulture (which is tagged) does not seem bothered by the giraffe passing behind it.A grey heron lords it over the blacksmith lapwingsI don’t think you can have too much of giraffes.Pied avocets. (It’s not for nothing that in French the avocet is ‘Avocette élégante.)Grey-headed gulls
We moved on – as I recollect to a sewage works.
The Marsh terrapin hangs his legs out to air the rest of his body, as I see it.
As we drove back to the lodge, I tried to capture some of the termite mounds which were to be seen almost everywhere.
KuduThese korhaans started a lekking display but moved off into the privacy (?) of the bushes so we were unable to observe it. Pity!A kudu in our wayBurchell’s sandgrouseDouble-banded courserThe weather threatened…… and came to nothing. Tawny eagle.But still kept threatening. Pale chanting goshawk.
We spent our second night at Mokuti Lodge, to move on the next day.
Musiewild's blog 