Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 17

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.

Namibia/Botswana/Zambia 11

Tags

African fish-eagle, Baobab, Blue waxbill, Broad-billed roller, Burchell's glossy starling, Carmine bee-eater, Chacma baboon, Darter, dung beetle, grey hornbill, Jacobin cuckoo, Kalahari tented tortoise, kudu, Long-tailed starling, Mahango National Park, Mahangu Safari Lodge, Namibia, Nile crocodile, pearl-spotted owlet, purple-banded sunbird, Red lechwe, Red-billed spurfowl, roan antelope, Southern reedbuck, vervet monkey, warthog, Wattled crane

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 antelope

Warthog family

Seeing this just makes me long to be back there.

Kudu

Purple-banded sunbirds

Kalahari tented tortoise

Jacobin cuckoo

Pearl-spotted owlet

Grey hornbill

Our 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 spurfowl

Burchell’s glossy starling

Broad-billed roller

Blue waxbill

Wattled cranes (‘uncommon resident’) – very far off

It 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 way

African fish-eagle

Darters

Nile crocodile

Southern reedbuck

Red lechwe

Baobab tree

Chacma baboons

Carmine bee-eater

We had been out for four hours, and were ready for our lunch.

Tanzania 7

Tags

Baobab, elephant, grey-headed kingfisher, Helmeted guinea fowl, leopard tortoise, lilac-breasted roller, Masai giraffe, Pygmy falcon, Superb starling, Tanzania, Tarangire National Park, Tarangire Safari Lodge, Tawny eagle, vervet monkey, Von der Decken's hornbill, White-headed buffalo weaver, yellow-collared lovebird

Tarangire National Park.  How’s this for a view from your accommodation?

Next morning was Wednesday 17th February.  Actually, I think I’ll just let these pictures, taken during our morning outing, speak for themselves.  Suffice to say that if I had been sad not to have seen many elephants before this, these two days in Tarangire National Park more than made up for it – though you can never have too many elephants.

These are baobab trees. They store enormous amounts of water in their ‘trunks’, and can be centuries old.

Tawny eagles

Helmeted guinea fowl

White-headed buffalo weaver

Lilac-breasted roller

Yellow-collared lovebirds

Von der Decken’s hornbill

Superb starling

Pygmy falcons

Vervet monkey at breakfast stop, one of many such to ‘greet’ us

Wistful? Melancholy? No, pondering what mischief he can next get up to!

Leopard tortoise

Focus on foreground!

Sand bath

Grey-headed kingfisher

 

Tanzania 5

Tags

cape buffalo, Defassawaterbuck, elephant, flamingo, grey-crowned crane, helmeted guineafowl, hippo, Hyena, jackal, Ngorogoro, Ngorogoro Crater, Oldupai, Olduvai, Rhino Lodge, Tanzania, vervet monkey, warthog, Wildebeest, zebra

Lunch on Monday, 15th February was taken under shelter at the Oldupai (the locally preferred name to the colonial Olduvai) Museum.  The renowned gorge is of great interest to anthropologists, archeologists and geologists.

Approaching the Oldupai Museum

From the top, ‘The Castle’ in the middle ground

Flock of goats with goatherd

We were given a talk, and I for one would like to have spent more time there, were it not that it was very, very, very hot, and air through our moving jeeps used to bring great relief.  As it was, we did not arrive at Rhino Lodge, that night’s accommodation, until fairly late, but not too late to see these in the grounds before it got dark around 6.30 pm.

Defassa waterbuck

Another very early start the next day as we were going the wildlife treasure, the Ngorogoro Crater, and wanted both to see

Sunrise over Ngorogoro Crater

and to  beat as many of the other jeeps as possible.

At last an elephant!

Helmeted guineafowl

Zebra and flamingo far off, in the early morning light

Zebra foal are brown and white

Just a few of a large troop of zebras which went past us

Playtime

Warthog

Always the crater rim as backdrop

Spotted hyena

Wildebeest and jackals

Vervet monkey

Grey-crowned crane

We managed to find a rather out-of-the-way but approved spot to have our breakfast.

– with conveniences!

The pink sheen is flamingos on the lake

A drama unfolded before our eyes.  This was the season when within three weeks thousands and thousands of wildebeest foals are born, in time for migration.  They stand and can walk within a few minutes of birth.  Prey animals love this time of course, and we saw hyena and jackals hanging around.  At one point a mother and calf got separated – sadly it seemed that a tourist jeep was culpable – and our hearts were in our mouths as we saw the hyena looking to exploit the situation.  The calf vainly sought its mother, and in turn attached itself to first one and then another adult female.

Wildebeest solidarity

Hyena joined by jackal

Amazingly, this jackal walked straight past these two – this is not the ‘right’ female – and the calf was able to rejoin the main herd, though we couldn’t tell whether it found its mother.

It’s getting very hot again.

Cape buffalo

We didn’t see many elephants in Ngorogoro

(To be continued)