Africa Travel Journal

Southern Africa’s Big Three Eagles

James — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:15:37 +0000

Africa’s “big three” eagles are the bird equivalents of the lion, the leopard and the cheetah.

The southern part of Africa is a place that is rich in its variety of habitats. Deserts, wetlands, mountains, grasslands, forest and woodland are all represented somewhere in the region. This diversity of landscapes also brings with it a diversity of animal life. The big mammals that occur here are iconic and many people travel to parks and reserves to see them.

Less well-known are southern Africa’s eagles. There are fifteen different species of eagle resident all year-round. No other continent comes close to rivaling Africa when it comes to the variety of birds of prey that can be seen.

Martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)

For me as a trip leader and safari guide, this is something to get excited about. Frustratingly though on typical safaris, it can be difficult to share with people just how imposing and impressive some of these eagles are and that is because our sightings of them are often quick or distant. The true presence and power of the birds can only be appreciated when one gets a good view and that can be difficult to obtain unless you travel to specific localities to seek out the birds.

With this in mind, I visited a raptor rehabilitation centre located in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and run by a dedicated couple, who have a number of birds of prey that have been recovered from farmers. These birds were trapped or injured or are in some other unfortunate circumstance. Big eagles sometimes eat livestock, either after killing it themselves or as carrion and they still suffer from heavy persecution in some parts of southern Africa.

Verreaux’s eagle (Aquila verreauxii)

At the rehab centre I photographed the three big eagles of southern Africa. They are the Martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus), the Verreaux’s eagle (Aquila verreauxii), and the African crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus). These birds are the flying counterparts of the lion, the leopard and the cheetah.

They are three of the most imposing birds of prey to be found anywhere. Each has it’s own favoured habitat. The martial is found in open country, grassland, savanna and especially in dry woodland. The Verreaux’s eagle is found where there are mountains and it is the master of the winds that blow in such places. The crowned eagle is slightly smaller than the other two eagles, though no less powerful, and it lives in forests, nesting on the tallest trees.

All three eagles take large prey including mammals and these include antelope species such as impala, bushbuck, suni, mountain reedbuck and duiker. Monkeys and immature baboons are also taken, as are monitor lizards. Birds such as Kori bustards, young ostrich and any other game birds such as guinea fowl or francolins may fall victim to one or another of these powerful predators.

African crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus)

Although it is not always easy for a casual observer to find all these eagles, there are still many places in the region where they can be found. Raptor conservation organizations have worked tirelessly with hundreds of farmers to help develop a more tolerant approach to these eagles and in many areas, it is working. There are both farms and game reserves in South Africa itself where it is possible to see all three of these magnificent eagles in one day.

The eagles shown here were captive and unable to be released back into the wild. Hopefully their stories and their pictures will help remind us what we need to continue working to protect in our world.

Grant Atkinson
Specialist Guide
For more of Grant’s photography, check out his website.

Baby leopards in den at Zarafa camp

James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:04:28 +0000

A rare sighting of 3-week-old leopards and their mother, carefully secluded in a den under a fallen tree in the Selinda region of northern Botswana.

During our recent visit to Zarafa Camp in northern Botswana’s Selinda Concession, Nicky and I enjoyed superb game viewing, both on game drive and from the boat. This area is so lovely during Botswana’s summer months, with the green landscapes, the abundant baby animals and the dramatic skies that it makes one pause at the grandeur.

Our favorite sighting at Zarafa was that of two 3-week-old leopard cubs and their mother, hidden in a den under a fallen tree. It is not often that one has a chance to see leopard cubs in the wild and this was our first chance to see kittens this young.

As we approached the den site, we were very quiet and saw the two young cubs in the shadows at the back of the den. However, we could not see the female leopard anywhere and so we decided to leave the area, as we did not wish to attract any attention to the unprotected cubs. But just as we were turning the vehicle around to leave, we noticed some movement in the bush to the side of our vehicle…

Moments later, a gorgeous female leopard emerged from the fever-berry bushes and silently moved toward the den. It was the mother of the cubs, returning from an absence that may have been a day or more in duration. Female leopards spend only 50-60 percent of their time with cubs at this age, as they must hunt to provide the cubs with milk. The timing of her return was fortuitous for us, as we now could now stay a short while to take a few images and watch the cubs with their mother.

This female leopard is well known to the guides here and she is quite used to being around game drive vehicles and is very relaxed, so Foster (our guide) assured us that we were not causing her any stress by being at the den. This was quite clear as she calmly passed within 2 meters of our vehicle en route to her cubs, whilst barely casting us a glance.

What followed was a pleasure to watch, as the purring cubs were greeted with nuzzling and licking from their mom… but she lay down almost immediately so that the cubs could suckle and fill their tiny bellies with her milk.

After feeding for perhaps 5 minutes, the little cubs were full and ready for more affection and they proceeded to clamber all about mom’s head and shoulders, looking for more grooming and nuzzling. With fat tummies, they soon tired and fell asleep under their mother’s chin and all three were soon dozing peacefully. This is how we left them. What a privilege to have witnessed this.

Life for a baby leopard is extremely tenuous at this age, as they are completely reliant on their mother for sustenance and protection. The cubs will only venture from hiding at about 6 weeks and then only to make short excursions with their mother, as they are still extremely vulnerable. At this time they also start to eat meat. Weaning occurs at around 3 months, but they will stay with their mother for over a year before they are ready to fend for themselves.

Leopards will often move their cubs to a new hiding place, especially at this early stage, and in fact all three were seen a week later in a new den site, this one a burrow dug into the side of a termite mound. If all goes well, then perhaps future visitors to Zarafa will have a chance to see these leopards as they grow. I hope so!

James Weis
January 2010

Lions and the Savute Channel

James — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:53:05 +0000

Lions and other wildlife living along Botswana’s Savute Channel are faced with new challenges due to the water that now flows in the channel after 17 dry years.

During our most recent safari in Botswana, Nicky and I were fortunate to spend an afternoon with a pride of lions that resides along the now-flowing Savute Channel. This sighting demonstrates the dynamic nature of this region and specifically, some of the effects that the “new” water has on the animals living here.

The Savute Channel, which connects the Linyanti river on Botswana’s northern border with the Savute marsh in the Chobe National Park some 60 kilometers away, only began filling with water again in 2008. Before that time, it last flowed from 1967 to 1981 and so until recently, the resident animals here only experienced this Channel as dry grassland. However, this cycle of wet and dry is a phenomenon that has occurred on and off here over the centuries.

We encountered the lions, alternately known as the “Selinda pride” or the “DumaTau pride” and consisting of 5 adult lionesses and three young cubs, all of which belonged to one of the females, in the late afternoon – just when the light was turning to the gold tones so advantageous for photography.

The pride had just begun to move again after waiting out the 90-degree heat of the day and we followed them, enjoying the playful antics of the little cubs, which were clearly relieved to finally be moving again after a long day of rest.

The lionesses seemed to be hungry and we hoped we might get an opportunity to watch them hunting. We kept a respectful distance as we followed, in case they encountered impalas or warthogs, both of which species we had passed on our way to the lions a short time earlier. However, the lions never encountered anything to hunt, so we spent our time watching and photographing the cubs as the females walked through the bush and along the sand road leading to the Savute Channel a short distance away.

As the lions reached the main transit road, they turned toward the Savute Channel, which now covers this track in the sand for some 70 meters or so, with a small island in the middle. The water in the Channel is now deep enough in many spots to sustain pods of hippos and we have seen numerous crocodiles, some of them quite large, all along the length of the Channel down to and past Savuti camp.

On previous visits since the arrival of the “new” water, we have seen lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas, zebras, impalas, giraffes, ostriches, kudu and various other animals crossing the water of the Channel and it is not an uncommon occurrence. However, with the arrival of hippos and especially crocodiles further and further down the Channel, it has now become far riskier for the animals that dare to swim across this growing river and I suspect that some are having close escapes or are even losing their lives doing so.

The lions stood on the bank of the Channel and drank from the fresh, clean water and the four lionesses without cubs gazed intently at the opposite bank. These four seemed very keen to cross to the other side of the Channel and we worried that the female with cubs would try to follow with her little babies. The crossing in this location is not deep enough to force adult lions to swim a long distance, but for the small cubs, this would be an extremely strenuous swim and full of potential danger.

As we watched, the four other lionesses all waded into the Channel and the female with cubs followed a short way into the water as well, her cubs battling through the reeds and fighting to keep their heads above water as they tried valiantly to keep alongside of their mom. Suddenly one of the cubs slipped completely under the water and his mother had to quickly reach in to fish him out with her jaws. The poor little guy looked more like a wet rag than a furry little lion as he dangled limply in his mother’s mouth…

It was now becoming a bit stressful to watch the unfolding drama and we all hoped that the mother would not force her cubs to follow the other lions, which had now begun crossing the Channel in earnest. We spent some tense moments watching her as she called forlornly to her pride sisters and we could see that she was torn between her desire to stay with her pride and her instincts to protect her cubs from danger.

As the four lionesses reached the far bank and shook off the water, the female with cubs continued to watch and call to them, but they strode off into the trees and out of sight. Long moments passed as we nervously watched her now in silence as the light faded and her cubs shivered in the shallow water.

Finally she made her decision… she turned around and led her cubs back to the dry and sandy road beside our vehicle. We were all very relieved and happy to see that she had made what we felt was the “right” decision and we left them playing with their mother happily as dusk turned to darkness.

The flowing Savute Channel has obviously changed the lives of all the animals that live in this area. This pride of lions has its territory on both sides of what was once open grassland, but that land is now split by a flowing river. The act of simply traversing across their territory now poses new and potentially life-altering dangers.

James Weis
January 2010

Saving the Last Lions

James — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:06:04 +0000

Just 50 years ago there were close to a half-million lions in Africa — about 450,000 in all. Today there are between 16,000 and 23,000. And yet, unlike elephants (a far more numerous species), lions have no protection under the international accord governing such matters.

Big cats are in trouble everywhere. The number of tigers has dipped below 3,000. Indeed, as we look at the lion population today, it’s the shadow of the tiger’s history that scares me the most. Tiger bones are used extensively in the East for medicines and mythological (read nonsense) cures for ailments or limp libidos and the demand is increasing. A growing demand and a disappearing supply is a formula for disaster.

The solution we are seeing play out is a switch from tiger bones to lion bones, which can be easily sold off as tiger bones. It’s ironic that the most famous animal in Africa, perhaps in the world, can’t even be poached on its own value, but only as a “mock tiger.”

Last week the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) met to decide whether lions, whose numbers have declined by 50 percent in the past 20 years, are worthy of protection under Appendix I to the convention: the listing of the most endangered animals. The problem is that the safari hunting industry and buyers in Asia are opposing it, because such a decree would limit what they can do with the trophies.

Fact: Appendix I does not mean you cannot shoot a lion — it means you can’t import the skin to hang on the wall. And the answer to the question we are asked a thousand times is: Yes, you can still go to Africa to kill a lion.

[JW note: the vote did not pass and lions will remain a CITES Appendix II species... for now].

CITES needs a country to sponsor the motion for lion protection. We can’t, so far, get one to put its hand up first, to take on the issue and save lions. No one will risk offending big safari hunting lobbies. It would seem that many are just not thinking this through. Extinction threatens by the year 2020. Then there will be no lions to hunt or to protect.

We don’t have much time. The biggest threat isn’t hunters, poachers or poison makers — it is our own complacency, the lazy hope that someone else is taking care of the great beasts of Africa.

Meanwhile another ominous development poses a further threat to wildlife. A pesticide is being used by poachers to kill lions and many other animals. Sprinkled on meat, it kills lions, hyenas, vultures and other creatures in minutes.

Lions and other large predators are disappearing even as we learn more about the collapse of entire ecosystems. The $200 billion a year reaped from ecotourism will be lost, causing suffering among communities all over Africa that rely on this trade.

Dereck and Beverly Joubert are helping save the last of the big cats.

As explorers in residence at National Geographic, Dereck and Beverly Joubert are calling on everyone with even a remote interest in big cats, or in Africa, to make sure that these wild systems keep working well. Scientists, conservationists — everyone — must come together, work together and support this effort now: the Big Cats Initiative. It’s a movement that doesn’t want to exclude a single soul or leave out any idea on how to reduce the conflict. We have a short window of time in which we can remedy this. It is closing very rapidly.

Wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert.

Dereck Joubert and his wife, Beverly Joubert, are National Geographic explorers in residence. They have spent years making films and writing about the big cats of Africa.

Dereck and Beverly Joubert at work in Botswana.

To view some of the Joubert’s photos and films, visit their website.

For more information, visit the visit Big Cat Initiative website.

Northern Botswana Safari

James — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:07:44 +0000

Our itinerary for this trip began with two nights at the River Club in Zambia. A cultural visit to Simongwe village and a walk around the Victoria Falls kept us busy there. We also did a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river.

The next day was our transfer day to Botswana. Along the way we spent the midday on the Chobe River, taking in some wonderful viewing of hippo, crocodiles, buffalo and many water birds. A herd of young male elephants also put on a show for us by playing in the river in front of us.

A female leopard guards her impala kill. Leopards do not always carry their kills up trees immediately but will often feed extensively first in order to lighten the load. This leopard was photographed along the woodland fringing the Linyanti River in northern Botswana.

A female leopard rests under the shelter of a fallen tree in woodland fringing the Linyanti River in northern Botswana.

We flew into Linyanti Discoverer camp for the next 3 nights and our best leopard sighting came before we even reached camp. A female leopard was feeding on an impala she had killed and we had a good, long sighting of her feeding and resting.

Hyena resting in water.

We also encountered three lions which were feeding on a giraffe and we visited these lions several times during our stay. Five hyaenas and many vultures took over when the lions walked away and they reduced the carcass to just bones very rapidly.

This ten-week old lion cub was photographed close to Savuti camp in northern Botswana. There were three cubs in the litter, and the mother was close by.

Savuti Camp was our next camp and the first summer rains began falling during our stay here. On our first afternoon, just minutes after the rain had stopped, we found a lioness with 3 young cubs. We watched them till dark.

A pair of dwarf mongooses peer from the refuge of a fallen tree stump. These social mongooses are active during the day and live in highly social groups. This image was taken at Savuti camp in northern Botswana.

Still at Savuti, we had a sighting of a pack of 12 African wild dogs. Adding to our excitement at seeing these endangered animals, the resting dogs were chased off by 3 lionesses while we watched. Luckily the wild dogs were alert and they managed to escape without any incident, other than getting a nasty scare. We also had a nice time watching some dwarf mongooses as they went about their business on a fallen tree.

A lilac-breasted roller in flight. These brilliantly coloured birds are active hunters of insects and small reptiles. They nest in cavities in dead trees, and are resident over most of Botswana. This individual was photographed at Savuti.

This bull elephant was walking through permanent water near Jacana camp in the Okavango Delta. He was feeding on emergent vegetation on the edges of the islands. Deep water in the delta presents no barrier to these elephants.

After two nights at Savuti, we flew to Jacana Camp, deep in the Okavango Delta. While there, we enjoyed some boating along the pristine channels and water birds in great numbers and variety. We also enjoyed some interesting mekoro (dugout canoe) trips to some of the nearby islands.

An African fish-eagle perched in a fig tree. The bulging crop indicates that the bird had fed recently. Fish-eagles are common in many parts of the Okavango Delta.

A game drive on the Jao flats produced still more waterbirds, as well as herds of red lechwe antelope and a sighting of the local lion pride one morning.

An adult male baboon shows his curiosity as he gazes at the camera. This baboon was part of a troop of over 40 animals and was photographed near Tubu Tree camp in Botswana's Okavango Delta.

We spent two nights at Jacana and then boated to our next destination – Tubu Tree Camp. The water levels in this region rise and fall through the course of a season, and ours was the last boat transfer to take place. The water is just now becoming too low for boating. Any transfers between now and April next year will be by aircraft or by vehicle.

Wattled Cranes flying overhead.

Tubu is a dry Delta area, with game drives being the main activity. There were herds of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and impala. We saw a leopard in a sausage tree and another highlight was a flock of 54 wattled cranes flying to roost in a floodplain. These are highly endangered birds and Botswana’s Okavango Delta is one of very few strongholds they still have. We also saw big troops of chacma baboons, as well as very good birding to end off another successful safari.

Grant Atkinson
Specialist Guide – Botswana
For more of Grant’s photography, check out his website.

Great Wilderness Journey

James — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:05:24 +0000

This report details our recent safari called the “Great Wilderness Journey“. There are multiple departures of this itinerary throughtout the year.

Our itinerary was Xigera Camp, Motswiri, Linyanti, and Toka Leya Camp. The first three of these camps are in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, Selinda concession, and Linyanti concession, respectively, while Toka Leya is on the Zambian side of The Victoria Falls. We had seven very enthusiastic guests.

A pair of African skimmers fly in tight formation over waters of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana. These birds were breeding on sandbanks in Xigera Lagoon, close to Xigera camp.

During our three nights at Xigera we boated to Xigera lagoon, where we had fantastic viewing of African skimmers flying over the clear water. Skimmers breed on exposed sandbanks and are rare birds. We also did a full-day boat trip to the north, passing through a wonderful variety of habitats on the way, some permanent water, and some seasonal. We saw hippo, elephant, giraffe, crocodiles, and the highlight was a pride of lions moving about near the water’s edge.

A breeding herd of elephants drinks as one from the Linyanti River in northern Botswana. Rising water levels in this river as well as other rivers in the region benefit wildlife like elephants, especially during the dry times of the year. This image was taken in September, towards the end of the dry season.

Some of the lions looked as if they might cross through the deep water channel we were boating in, but they never quite built up the nerve. Hundreds of waterbirds kept us entertained as we cruised along through the channels. We had a midday picnic under some shady trees. Birding highlights of our Xigera visit included Pels’ fishing-owl and Western-banded snake-eagle.

We flew onward to Motswiri Camp for 2 nights where our activities were more physically active, with some canoeing on the Selinda Spillway, as well as some game drives on which we saw elephant and buffalo.

A lioness and her three-month-old cub shelter from the September heat in the shade of a jackalberry tree. This lioness was photographed along the Linyanti River in northern Botswana.

Next we flew along the now-flowing Selinda Spillway to the Linyanti concession in the north, where we stayed for 4 nights. We hadn’t even reached camp when we found one of the Linyanti pride lionesses with her 3-month-old lion cub, but she was stressed and searching for a second cub, which was missing. I had seen her on my last safari with both cubs, so it was sad to see that one had gone missing.

A pack of twelve African wild dogs setting off on a late afternoon hunt along the Linyanti River, in northern Botswana. Some of the dogs had noticed a herd of red lechwe antelope in the distance and were gazing with interest in their direction.

Before reaching camp that evening, we also got to watch a pack of twelve wild dogs on the move along the river. Aside from these large carnivores, the road provided us with a steady procession of elephant, kudu, baboons, warthogs, impala and red lechwe, all moving about close to the river.

A bull elephant dust bathes in late afternoon sunlight after emerging from the Linyanti River in northern Botswana. Elephants frequently dust bathe. This behaviour may serve to help keep them cool by forming a muddy coating on their skin.

This is a great time of year for the Linyanti concession, as the rising daytime temperatures push many animals towards the river, especially from the late morning onwards. More highlights were to follow. Many elephant herds were to be seen each day, especially in the afternoons. Several elephant bulls also visited us in camp.

A female leopard rests on a termite mound with her eight-month-old cub beside her. This pair of leopards were photographed in the Linyanti concession of northern Botswana. The two cats moved off after some minutes, stopping only to play with one another several times.

Early one morning we came across a female leopard and her cub sunning themselves on a termite mound. They provided us with excellent photo opportunities and as we had several very eager photographers on board, this was most appreciated. Male lions at rest the next morning, one called ‘Silver Eye’ and his coalition partner ‘Romeo’ were additional highlights.

A male leopard sits on a termite mound, close to the Linyanti River in Botswana. This male was on a territorial patrol, and had just caught sight of some baboons in the distance.

On our last afternoon drive we found a male leopard on territorial patrol. At first we had some difficulty trying to approach him, as he was continually diverted off his course by a herd of elephants, but then he went up a termite mound and sat down. Next moment he put his head into a large hole at the base of the mound and two warthogs exploded out of a hole on the other side of the same mound, leaving the leopard standing in a cloud of dust. If only the other hole hadn’t been there, he may have gotten lucky with a meal.

Apart from spotted hyena, our stay in the Linyanti also turned up some great birds like white-breasted cuckooshrike, rednecked falcon, gabar goshawk, and white-fronted and carmine bee-eaters to name but a few.

White-fronted bee-eaters line up on a branch close to their nesting colony. These bee-eaters nest along the Linyanti River in northern Botswana. In some areas of southern Africa there are two nesting sessions in each season.

We flew again to Kasane where we spent our midday on a Chobe boat cruise, viewing great herds of elephants along the river bank, as well as many crocodiles, buffalo, hippo and scores of birds. One more very short flight took us to Livingstone where we had a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River and then had a very comfortable night in the luxurious accommodation at Toka Leya Camp.

I said goodbye sadly to the group next morning at Victoria Falls itself, from where they were heading to the airport and home. This is a great time of year for big game viewing in Botswana and the Linyanti in particular and we were more than pleased with our good fortune with the wildlife sightings on this Great Wilderness Journey.

Grant Atkinson
Specialist Guide – Wilderness Safaris
For more of Grant’s photography, check out his website.

Phenomenal 6-day safari at Leopard Hills

James — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:20:29 +0000

The last 6 days of safari at Leopard Hills have been absolutely brilliant. Hundreds of elephant have moved into our traversing area and we see these massive pachyderms all over the reserve.

Elephants crossing the Sand river

Elephant family drinking

The appearance of two individual male cheetahs has had everyone in great excitement. On an early morning safari we watched the older of the two males drinking water in perfect golden sunlight in the southern part of our reserve.

Cheetah drinking

The younger cheetah was seen 2 hours later scent marking until he decided to climb a high Apple Leaf tree. This was a rare sighting indeed and as cheetahs (unlike leopards) don’t normally climb trees.

Old buffalo bull in the river

Giraffes in pink light

The Sand River has been a constant source of great game viewing and photographic opportunities. Buffalo, giraffe, nyala, bushbuck and hundreds of different species of birds were viewed and photographed in the last 6 days.

Leopard cub in a tree

As per usual the leopard sightings have been amazing, with no less than 9 individuals viewed. We watched leopards stalking, marking territory, feeding and sleeping high up Marula Trees. Once again the Mambiri female leopard and her cub were the jewels in the crown of leopard viewing. Seeing a 6-month-old leopard cub completely oblivious to our presence must surely rank as one of the greatest sights ever.

Ximungwe Pride females

Furthermore we viewed both the Ximungwe Pride and Ottawa Pride of lions on numerous occasions. Two of the individual females from the Ximungwe Pride were seen mating with the Mapogo Male lions.

White-backed vulture about to land

The last great sighting was seeing the pack of 3 wilddogs feeding on a huge male impala. The dogs ate as quickly as possible (due to the large number of lions in the area) and when they left their kill there was more than half of the carcass left. The following hour was unbelievable as white-backed, hooded and Lappet-faced vultures all move in to share in the feast. Other visitors include a Tawny Eagle, Yellow-Billed Kite and 4 Pied Crows.

Marius Coetzee
Head Guide – Leopard Hills
See more of Marius’ photography on his Facebook page.

Three days at Mombo Camp

James — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:56:55 +0000

I just returned from 3 days of guiding at Mombo camp. I guide several times a year at Mombo, but I am not able to remember any time when the game viewing was quite as strong as on this trip.

Perhaps part of the reason for the strong game viewing is related to the falling water levels. Floodplains are being exposed to the sun and with a healthy dose of sediment from the receding water, the new grass is sweet and abundant. Herds of red lechwe, zebra, and impala abound. Warthogs, elephants, kudu and giraffe are also moving onto the edges of the plains in large numbers.

As for predators, we had phenomenal viewing. Our first afternoon we found the well-known female leopard ‘Legadima’. This large female leopard was featured in a documentary called ‘Eye of the Leopard’, filmed by Dereck and Beverly Joubert. The leopard was resting near an impala she had killed. Whilst we watched she dragged it up a low, slanting tree and began to feed as it got dark. Legadima appears to be pregnant and it seems likely that within the next few weeks she is going to have more cubs.

All that night we could hear lions roaring, so when we set out the next morning, we immediately went in the direction of the roaring and we found the male lion pair known as the ‘Western Boys’. The big lions were lying down and resting at a place called Drift Molapo. After a few minutes they got up and continued east on a territorial patrol. This provided us with wonderful viewing as well as some good photo opportunities, as they scent marked and walked along.

Minutes after leaving the lion sighting, our attention was attracted to the sounds of vervet monkeys making alarm calls. After a brief search, we located the reason… a female leopard high up in a rain tree. Upon approaching we saw that the animal was a young female leopard and also that it was ‘Pula’, the offspring of ‘Legadima’. This young female has only recently become independent, so it was good to see her doing well. She was restless, perhaps in the high tree to avoid attracting the attention of the lions who had passed by earlier.

The leopard eventually came down the tree in a series of leaps from one trunk to the other. She then made a rapid attempt at chasing an impala, gave up and climbed high into a fig tree and deep under the canopy.

Over the next two days we saw spotted hyenas and vultures competing with one another at the carcass of a dead giraffe. We spent some time with the Moporota lion pride, all five adult females, two adult males and the 8 cubs. We parked alongside a huge old bull elephant having a mud wallow whilst other smaller bulls waited respectfully for him to finish.

Some other highlights were the Mathata lion pride with their young cubs, a nice sighting of banded mongooses, and an excellent sighting of an African civet very early one morning.

We saw a male leopard eating on the kill that Legadima had made. We saw the lone surviving wild dog that has been seen regularly at Mombo over the past year or so. We saw a very shy female leopard hidden in a bush with an impala kill. Flocks of open-billed storks were gathering on the floodplain edges, feeding on snails. We had good viewing of several herds of elephants up close and almost all had young baby elephants in their midst.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating of all our sightings took place on our last morning when we drove to a hyena den and were entertained by four young hyenas of varying ages and sizes. One youngster in particular was extremely curious and approached to within a metre of our vehicle’s door, using its nose to try and smell exactly what our vehicle and its occupants were all about.

I returned to Maun to get ready for my next trip and to sort through the images I had taken. I hope you enjoy the pictures; I sure had fun taking them.

Report by Grant Atkinson
For more of Grant’s images, check out his website.

Safari in northern Botswana and Zambia

James — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:30:25 +0000

August is a good time of year for safaris in northern Botswana. At this time of year water levels are still quite high in the rivers, temperatures are quite moderate, and there are gatherings of wildlife around water sources in the drier areas. This report details our recent safari in northern Botswana and a visit to see the Victoria Falls.

We started out at River Club, along the Zambezi River just upstream from the Victoria Falls in Zambia. We were lucky enough to coincide our stay with the last lunar rainbow of the season. This happens only on full moons during those months that the river has lots of water and is created by the spray from the Falls being illuminated by moonlight, which results in a night-time rainbow. The Falls were spectacular both day and night.

Linyanti Discoverer camp was our next stop; here we had an excellent sighting of a female leopard feeding on a baboon kill in a tree. We also saw 13 African wild dogs, asleep in the late morning, but for me the wildlife highlight happened on our last morning here, when we spent nearly an hour with two lionesses and their two 7-week-old young cubs. The cubs were still a little unsteady moving about and one climbed on top of a fallen tree trunk, giving us some wonderful photo opportunities.

We traveled next to Savuti camp for two nights and here we were witness to the spectacle of deep, clear water flowing once again in the famous Savuti channel, which until just last year had been dry since around 1982. Northern Botswana is an area of change in terms of river flows and currently there are big changes happening around Savuti. Here we enjoyed our best elephant sighting of the trip, when we were literally surrounded by a herd of more than thirty elephants for half an hour. We also saw kudu antelope, giraffe, hippos and zebra on every drive.

After Savuti we flew to Jacana Camp in the Okavango Delta for the next two nights. Here we boated, enjoyed mekoro (dugout canoe) excursions, and drove through the wide, inundated floodplains, with great sightings of herds of red lechwe antelope and a wonderful variety and number of waterbirds.

We boated to our last camp in the Delta – Tubu Tree Camp. Here we had a sighting of three young male lions that were tucked away in a thicket of scrubby trees, making photography difficult. Our persistence was rewarded the next day when we found the same lions out in the open floodplains, just after sunrise.

We also saw a male leopard, spotted hyenas, many zebras, wildebeest, giraffe, impala, elephant and other creatures. One evening we went out after dinner with good supplies of steaming coffee and tea and spent an hour under the stars, appreciating the brilliance of the southern night skies away from camp.

All eight guests had a good time and we were all sad to say goodbye to our safari.

- Grant Atkinson

Lions hunting, rhinos chasing & leopards mating

James — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:48:46 +0000

After last week’s successes on safari, I really had no idea that my last five days would top it in so many ways. Leopard Hills was once again the setting for one of the most spectacular wildlife shows on earth.

The week started with my best rhino sighting in ten years of guiding. We watched for more than an hour and a half as nine rhinos interacted with each other on our first afternoon safari. One of the young calves made it his duty to cause as much havoc as possible. The energetic youngster ran around non-stop and chased around the two other calves, much to their mother’s dismay.

The next four days was action all the way. The Ximungwe pride of lions caught a waterbuck cow in the southern part of our traversing area and were seen again three days later hunting impala on the open clearing in front of our lodge. This time they did not have any success, but watching the five lionesses and one Mapogo male lion walking and playing in the clearing in perfect golden light was an unforgettable experience.

The large herd of buffalo is still in our area and we had no less than three great sightings of these massive bovids. The number of elephants in the area was also astonishing and we watched several herds feeding in and around the Sand river.

Yet again the leopards stole the show, with another great sighting of the Mambiri female’s young cub and several sightings of the Ravenscourt male. The highlight was without a doubt seeing the Tekwaan male mating with the Metsi female. We followed these two leopards for more than an hour, during which time they copulated no less than ten times just meters away from the vehicle.

Marius Coetzee
Head Guide – Leopard Hills
For more of Marius’ photography, check out his blog.