Watch this space for our upcoming trip to Botswana

March 14, 2019

We are about to embark on a photographic expedition to Botswana, travelling with our friends Malcolm and Rae Wells.

The key components of our itinerary include four days living on the Pangolin Voyager Houseboat on the Chobe River, four days at the Pangolin Kwai Camp in the Okavango Delta and 4 days at the Kwando Lagoon Camp on the Kwando River.

Watch this space to follow our adventures although updates may be spasmodic depending on access to the internet.

Namibia & Botswana map from Google Earth V2 copy.jpg

DAYS 1 - 2: Thursday February 28th – Friday March 1st 2019 HOBART – NAMIBIA

March 13, 2019

This was to be a day of extensive air travel supplemented by a disproportionate amount of waiting time in air terminals; oh the joys of international travel!

We had a reasonably early start to the final day of February with our Virgin flight to Sydney leaving Hobart at 10:10. Having now joined up with our travelling friends Malcolm and Rae Wells, we had a seven hour wait in Sydney before our connecting flight through to Perth. Fortunately our luggage was checked right through to Johannesburg from Sydney which partially relieved the stress of being lumbered with bags during our Sydney sojourn.

The five hour flight to Perth departed Sydney on time at 19:00 and had us in Perth at around 21:00 Western Australian time. At mid-night we departed Perth on a fairly old Airbus A340-300 South African Airlines plane for the ten hour flight to Johannesburg. This night-time flight enabled us to gain a reasonable amount of partial slumber despite a bumpy period of travel above mid-Indian Ocean.

We arrived in Jo’burg at the O.R. Tambo International Airport at approximately 04:00 South African Time on March 1st and made our way through immigration and customs with minimal delay. We then prepared ourselves for a seven hour wait before boarding our regional flight to Kasane in north-eastern Botswana.

Whilst enjoying an early morning coffee (05:00) in an airport café we encountered Patrick, a young Adelaide film producer/presenter who’s involved in the production of a popular You-Tube African wildlife show called “Safari Live”.

After a further seven hour wait, we finally boarded a smallish plane (Embraer E190) for the two hour flight to Kasane in Botswana where upon arrival we were met by Moss from Pangolin Photo Safaris. She transported us to the new Pangolin facility in Kasane and we were immediately impressed with the architecture and elaborate décor. It was great to catch up with Guts and Charl who we’d met on our previous trip.

Having entered Botswana and carried out the appropriate immigration procedures at the airport, we were now required to go to an immigration office in Kasane to fill in forms to leave Botswana as we were about to cross the Chobe River and enter Namibia.

The Namibian immigration office was an obscure little shed hidden up a riverside track but we managed to get the appropriate stamps in our passports. We were pleased to be through with all the immigration and customs formalities of the last 36 hours. During this time, we’d had little quality sleep and had set foot in four different countries.

Our guide and boatman Fabian then took us on a two hour river orientation trip up the Chobe. The photographic boat is the one we’d used on our last trip here and is set up with the gimbals for camera mounting giving 3D flexibility for stabilised photography.

The river trip gave us a chance to see a number of bird species we’d not seen before with two species of bee-eaters that were new to us, namely the carmine and blue-cheeked.

Crocodiles, hippopotamuses, an elephant and a kudu were sighted but not pursued as we’ll have more time tomorrow to get serious with our photography of the wildlife.

Just on sunset we tied up astern of the Pangolin Voyager, the riverboat on which we’ll live as our base for the next five days. Tjaart and his staff welcomed us and after a brief chat we were shown to our cabins where showers and clean clothes were the order of the day. The riverboat has five cabins and can accommodate ten guests. At present there are just the four of us being looked after by a crew of four!

Melody the chef provided us with a very pleasant meal after which we headed for bed seeking sleep after a very protracted 36 hours of travel since leaving Hobart.

DAY 3: Saturday March 2nd 2019 CHOBE RIVER, NAMIBIA

March 12, 2019

The 06:00 sunrise was preceded by a melodious chorus of aquatic birds greeting the morning in the dense reeds adjacent to the riverbank where the Pangolin Voyager had been tied up for the night.

At 06:30 we had an early breakfast of cereals, fruit and yoghurt complemented by tea and fruit juices. At 07:15 we headed off up the Chobe River in search of photographic subjects with birdlife being our special focus.

We’d barely left the houseboat when we encountered several hippos wallowing and semi-submerged in the river close by. The hippos tend to leave the river at night and graze on the riverbank. They then return to the water during the day to gain protection from the sun as they are prone to sunburn and related ailments.

The riverbank with its reeds, low acacia trees and muddy inlets provides a marvellous opportunity for seeing a diversity of bird life and this morning’s trip was no exception.

During our two and a half hours of typically slow and quiet movement along the embankment we sighted around forty different species of birds. These included several different egrets and herons including the spectacular goliath heron. This elegant bird is the largest of the herons and has a chestnut head and neck with greyish purple underparts.

Cormorants and darters were commonly encountered and we managed to approach these with comparative ease.

The number of bee-eaters seen was impressive with five different species encountered during the morning’s search. These birds all possess beautiful plumage with emerald greens, sky blues, golden yellows and carmine colours encountered across the five species. These birds are aerial insectivores and possess long decurved bills. They tend to perch on a reed and then fly off to catch an insect and then return to the same reed from which it departed.

Other species seen included lapwings (very closely related to our plovers). The three banded lapwing was a special sighting and we managed to get very close to it without it being fearful of our presence.

Of all the birds seen this morning, the southern red bishop was arguably the most colourful and also one of the shyest! The male is a stunning red with a black forecrown and chest. We had difficulty getting close to the delightful birds without reeds impeding our view and they are now set as a challenge to photograph in the next day or so.

We watched a pair of fish eagles guarding their territory from another potentially invading fish eagle. We managed to approach them as they perched on a dead tree on the riverbank. They seemed pre-occupied with the invader and we were presumably not seen as a threat. One of the fish eagles took flight from the tree momentarily and grasped a small fish in its talons quite close to our boat; exciting!

Sandpipers, hornbills, wagtails, jacanas, geese, storks and thick-knees were photographed during our sortie.

Kingfishers are another favourite bird family for us and we encountered both the malachite and pied kingfishers during the morning session. These strikingly patterned and coloured aquatic birds are noted for their dagger-like bills and short legs. The malachite kingfisher is a delight to behold having a turquoise back and crown together with an orange chest and bill. The juveniles have a black bill changing to red/orange on reaching maturity. They are relatively common but always cause excitement when encountered.

Apart from birds, we saw numerous hippopotamuses and in some herds there were tiny calves making the parents particularly wary of visiting boats so we kept away.

The only antelope sighted were impalas and pokus. Crocodiles were commonly seen in shallow waters or sleeping on the shore. One monitor lizard was also encountered but as it was partly hidden, no good shots were possible.

Just before returning to the riverboat we diverted to the Botswanan side of the river where a herd of thirty or so elephants had come to the water’s edge to drink and bathe. A group of about ten young male elephants of approximately twelve years of age were frolicking and cavorting within a short distance of us.

At 11:00 we returned to the houseboat for brunch and coffee after a highly entertaining and productive morning.

We had free time until 16:00 so this gave us an opportunity to catch up on down-loading photos and doing back-ups as well as filling in the diary.

During this time the we moved some 15 km to a location on a tributary of the Chobe in a narrower channel with swampy flats on either side and thick reed beds and attractive papyrus plants aplenty.

In the late afternoon we were taken in the photographic boat for a long journey in amongst the myriad of waterways that make up this flood plain.

Corinne, Jak, Rae & Malcolm on Pangolin photo boat

Current at the confluence of the Zambezie and Chobe Rivers

The birdlife that we hadn’t seen before included squacco, green backed and black headed herons. We also viewed several marsh harriers and a coppery tailed coucal. The three species of egrets common to this area were also seen and photographed during the afternoon session.

Although we’d sighted them before, we saw a significant number of jacanas on the lily pad area including an encounter with two mating! These bronzy coloured birds walk and run across the water surface using the lily pads as steps. This ability to apparently “walk on water” has resulted in the jacana being referred to as the Jesus bird!

Pied and malachite kingfishers were fairly common sightings and we managed to get some close shots of these spectacular fish hunters. In the distance along the far riverbank we sighted a procession of the not so rare “ever-spotted Landrovers”.

A deep red sunset gave us an opportunity to play with ISO and exposure settings to get the right effect.

We returned to the houseboat and as the temperature had been in the mid to high thirties for much of the day, we were grateful for cool showers and some refreshing drinks before dinner.

As our intention is to head out earlier tomorrow at just after dawn we felt that an early night was desirable.

Another great day on the Chobe; this is undoubtedly an ornithologist’s heaven.

DAY 4: Sunday March 3rd 2019 CHOBE RIVER, NAMIBIA

March 11, 2019

The morning alarm clock was controlled by courtesy of the local hippopotamuses that awoke us at 05:15 with loud grunts and snorts. The hippos were on the river-bank close to our houseboat and their noises preceded a return to the water at dawn. Large splashes were also heard in the pre-dawn and our guide Fabian suggested that these may have been due to cape clawless otters that exist in this flood plain region.

At 06:30 immediately after breakfast we joined Fabian in the photography boat and moved off slowly along the riverbank which was dominated by hippo-grass, common reeds, papyrus and the occasional tall tree which were probably thorny acacias. The colours of the foliage in the soft, early morning light was transfixing with silence abounding apart from bird calls. The air temperature was perfect at around 20°C and the mirror stillness of the water made for stunning reflections; the whole scene was quite awe inspiring!

There were numerous bird sightings during the morning but the first special one had to be the purple heron that allowed us a close approach and seemed unperturbed by our proximity.

We saw several species of weaver birds together with their extraordinary pendulous grass spherical nests hanging from the river-bank trees. The glorious golden yellow of the southern brown-throated weaver made for a visual treat and the fact that they were quite common meant that the cameras were working overtime in regions where these beautiful birds frequent. Each year the male weaver bird may take a week or more to weave a nest and if his partner decides that it doesn’t meet standard, he will build another and so on until satisfaction is achieved. This means that in some trees we could count a dozen or more nests and yet most of them were unused due to them being regarded as sub-standard real estate!

Undoubtedly the highlight of the morning was to enter a side section of the river that was a water lily garden extending for a kilometre or more. The near complete coverage of the water meant that Fabian had to search for a path in amongst the white and mauve flowers and their lily pads.

Bird life here was abundant with squacco herons, egrets and African open-beak storks aplenty.

Not surprisingly, the lily garden was a Mecca for jacanas with the common African jacana seen often. However, to our great joy, we came upon several of the rare lesser jacana. This is much smaller than the African jacana and has white underparts and pale buffy grey upper parts. This unexpected encounter with lesser jacanas was an absolute treat for us and made even more special by the birds’ apparent lack of concern for human presence

Fabian was experiencing issues with the boat’s battery and although he could manually start the 100 HP engine with a rope, he phoned back to the house boat and a replacement battery was soon on hand.

Other species sighted during our morning safari included fish eagles, Ailen’s galinule (a type of swamphen), fan-tailed widow-birds, red-eyed doves, reed cormorants, banded martins and chirping cisticolas. A little bittern was sighted briefly but soon disappeared before any photo was possible. Hence the expression “once bittern, twice shy”!

At one point in the river, the tranquillity was interrupted by frenetic bird action.

There was feeding frenzy happening right around us with several dozen white wing terns and whiskered terns dive-bombing the water around us in the hunt for ‘bait’ fish. The two species of tern working together maybe reminds us that ”one good tern deserves another”.

Malachite and pied kingfishers were plentiful although generally shy when approached. Nonetheless we did manage get very close to a pied kingfisher sitting on a low limb with a black bream in its beak.

At 10:00 we returned to the houseboat for a brunch of omelettes and other delights.

By mid-day the houseboat was on its way to a new location back on the main Chobe River where we tied up to the bank for our overnight stay.

The late afternoon photographic session now included a new guest Roy, from Phoenix Arizona.

We ventured further up the Chobe River and first encountered some kudu does grazing on the thorny foliage at the river’s edge. The kudu had ox-pecker birds foraging on their backs for parasitic bugs.

We were then very pleased to spend quite some time photographing white fronted bee-eaters. These highly attractive birds have blue, green red and white coloured plumage and match closely colours of the South African flag!

A further cause for joy was to see the shy and somewhat rarer kingfisher, namely the grey capped kingfisher. It was sitting on an under branch and it was difficult to get a unobstructed photograph although we obtained a reasonable image.

Around the next bend in the river we saw in the distance eight giraffes and then a herd of elephants arrived at the riverbank nearby. These elephants were drinking copious amounts of water in the warm to hot weather and the continuous flapping of their vast ears provided an important temperature regulatory system. For each flap of the ears per five seconds, around twelve litres of blood are shunted through the ear circulation and the cooling effect is achieved by water evaporation from the ear surfaces. Female elephants reach sexual maturity at 12 – 15 years whereas the males remain bachelors until around 25 years. Even then, the young bull elephants have to compete with other males to have any breeding success.

Bird life along the riverbank was plentiful but the main new species seen were francolins and spotted flycatchers.

With the sun now low in the sky we tried with varying degrees of success to get silhouetted shots of an elephant with the pink sun behind. This proved a challenge and yet Fabian did an amazing job attempting to manoeuvre the boat so as to give us alignment with the lone elephant and the setting sun.

When we returned to the houseboat there was a herd of a hundred or more impalas on the riverbank opposite. Wow!

In summary, an amazing day!

DAY 5: Monday March 4th 2019 CHOBE RIVER, NAMIBIA

March 10, 2019

There was a minor problem last night with the houseboat’s power supply when the solar battery ran low and no electricity was available until the gen-set was fired up. This resulted in cold/coolish showers in the dark, but no one was concerned although it meant a somewhat latish start to our “dawn” photographic safari.

The first part of our river travels was not particularly productive although many of the ‘usual suspects’ were to be found amongst the river-bank trees and reeds.

A group of crested guinea fowl were seen wandering along the sandy bank followed by a family of Egyptian geese.

A pleasing encounter was to find a giant kingfisher with its chestnut breast, whitish underbelly and black spotted wings. They are by far the biggest of the Southern African kingfishers being up to 45 cm in body length whereas malachite kingfishers seldom exceed 14 cm.

The ‘small’ birds seen in this post-dawn period were frequently very shy. Glances of fleeting birds and rushed photos were an unfortunate consequence, and this was particularly the case with blue waxbills, spotted flycatchers, arrow marked babblers, black throated canaries and white browed robin chats.

This morning we saw our first grey ‘go-away’ bird in Namibia and this brought back happy memories of these amusing birds outside our unit in Madikwe three years ago.

However, we did manage to get some good photos of coppery-tailed coucals, greater blue-eared starlings and Amur falcons.

We managed to get quite close to a small water monitor lizard on a nearby stump.

In a dead tree on the river’s edge we encountered a pair of ox-peckers busy with their nest in a hollow section. A very obliging southern grey headed sparrow stayed on its tree perch even when we were practically touching the tree.

As a special excursion we headed three or so kilometres up-river and visited a Namibian village called Jambwe.

The village has been in its river-bank location for 300 years and has a population of about 60. The villagers are subsistence farmers and fishers. The surrounding flood plain land is rich in alluvial loam and the climate allows two or three crops a year. The main crops produced being maize and vegetables such as pumpkins. This is supplemented by fishing, dairy cattle and poultry production. The cows are milked just once a day.

Most houses are mud walled with thatched roofs. Married couples have a bamboo fence around the house to protect it from the wind as cooking in dry weather is done on open braziers in the outside yard.

Locals only marry people from other nearby villages with inter-marriage within the village community being taboo. Men typically have two wives although five is possible but requires a separate house for each wife. Families of up to nine children were previously known but the greater influence of 21st century living has made education and family welfare an issue and now smaller families are more common. Solar panels and mobile phones provide an interesting juxtaposition within a seemingly ancient cultural setting.

We were surprised to note that a considerable number of trees within the village were eucalypts, with the leaves being of some medical use. A prominent and very large baobab tree in the centre of the village was referred to by the locals as their ‘tree of life’ and it played a prominent role when celebrating the arrival of a new baby to the village. Pieces of green stick taken from another smaller tree growing near the river were used by the local for cleaning teeth.

Catholicism and Seventh Day Adventism form a strong cornerstone of life within the village.

Children are all vaccinated and free, compulsory education occurs for children up to the end of primary school. An increasing number of students are now continuing through to secondary and even tertiary levels.

At the end of our visit we were ushered into a bamboo encircled courtyard and were entertained by the village people with dancing, singing and drumming. Souvenirs were on sale and we bought some wooden and beaded items and we also made a financial donation to the village.

On our return trip to our houseboat we stopped to photograph a pod of hippos including some tiny babies. Nearby were a dozen or so warthogs foraging along the grassy bank. These unattractive hogs have an amusing defence trait of extending their thin but long tails vertically (like an aerial) to warn of nearby predators, especially lions!

After brunch the houseboat moved back down the Chobe River to the point where we embarked three days ago. We are now back in sight of Kasane with Botswana being the country on the distant riverbank.

lephants plus Often-spotted Landcruiser viewed from Pangolin Voyager

The afternoon’s session started at 16:00 with us heading back up the Chobe River to the mid river island where elephants and hippopotamuses were in great numbers.

A very large and presumably senior bull elephant was feeding near the water’s edge and was pulling tufts of grass from water and swishing it backwards and forwards to get the mud and sand off the roots. Male elephants when displaying dominance or when sexually aroused are pretty easy to recognise. As we were informed, “a five-legged elephant is a bull elephant!”

A little further on was a herd of about twenty elephants of all ages and sizes. They were bathing and cavorting in about two metres of water. There appeared to be games occurring amongst the younger calves with pushing and ducking being fun activities. Adults can take in as much as 80 litres of water per trunk full and need up to 140 litres per day. They can survive for only one or possibly two days without water. Their capacity to find and to dig for water enables then to survive in semi-arid regions for short periods.

A large hippo on the bank didn’t appreciate our proximity and made a dramatic rush across 20m of land and dived into the water and headed straight for us. This act of aggression is often seen and the tour operators are very wary of this behaviour. A large hippo could easily tip over a small boat even with passengers on board. You’d then be at the mercy of not only the hippos but the crocodiles that abound in these waters.

We managed to get good photos of the grey capped kingfisher; a bird that we’d spotted yesterday but it was in a near impossible position to photograph.

Along the riverbank we had frequent sightings of reed cormorants, African darters, sand pipers, egrets and herons.

African Darter, Chobe River, Namibia, 4 Mar 2019-2

A large male kudu made an appearance at the water’s edge but was very sensibly wary of entering the water as close-by a reasonably large crocodile lay in wait.

We had the opportunity of seeing a mother hippo feeding her calf and the process is more complex that one might suppose. As the hippo cow’s legs are too short to make the teats readily accessible for her calf, she feeds the calf in the water. In so doing, she submerges and lies on her side in a similar way that sows feed their piglets. She can stay submerged for six or more minutes so the feeding process works well even if the calf comes to the surface quite often during the process.

The last part of the evening’s activities was spent taking sunset photos. The rich fire coloured ball of the sun disappeared leading to a beautifully pink sky with red tinged clouds. This provided a perfect way to end our day of photographing the glorious scenery and wildlife of Namibia.

493 Sunset, Chobe River, Namibia, 4 Mar 2019.jpg

494 Sunset, Chobe River, Namibia, 4 Mar 2019-4.jpg

495 Sunset, Chobe River, Namibia, 4 Mar 2019-7.jpg

As per previous days on board the Pangolin Voyager, after returning to the houseboat and freshening up we were treated to pre-dinner drinks and a sumptuous three-course meal prepared by Melody. Tonight’s meal consisted of cold cucumber soup, pork casserole with rice and vegetables and a pastry with frozen yoghurt and berries, Delectable!

DAY 6: Tuesday March 5th 2019 CHOBE RIVER, NAMIBIA – KHWAI CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 09, 2019

This day ended up providing us with a succession of superlatives.

In our post dawn and final trip on the Namibian section of the Chobe we managed to get the very best conditions for photography with a glassy calm river and a soft pinkish post dawn light.

Bird life was prolific and in one section, perched on the river-bank reeds there must have been a thousand or more barn swallows. Intermingled with the swallows were several male and female red bishops. The male’s vermilion colouring was stunning in the morning light. The female entered the couple’s dangling spherical nest of woven grass and then reappeared unperturbed by our proximity.

Along the way we saw purple herons, little bitterns, southern musk weaver birds, copper tailed coucals and lapwings.

We then entered a section of the river where bee-eaters prevailed. The bee-eaters seen included the blue throated bee-eater, the little (green) bee-eater, the white fronted and the carmine bee-eater. These beautiful birds have glorious plumage and perform aerial feats in catching insects on the wing.

At one point we were photographing a pair of little bee-eaters when suddenly a malachite kingfisher landed between them.

Little bee-eaters & Malachite kingfisher

Other special sightings included a broad billed roller, a black crake, Allen’s gallinule and a fan-tailed widowbird.

Whilst on the river we went to the nearby Namibian Immigration Centre and checked out of the country although we weren’t to leave Namibia until two hours later.

Malcolm, Rae, Jak, Corinne & Fabian on Pangolin photo boat near the Namibian Immigration Centre

We returned to the houseboat for the last time, had brunch and then said our farewells before we re-entered Botswana.

Roy Ng, Malcolm & Rae Wells, Corinne & Jak Denny with staff, Pangolin Voyager (Photo credit Alda & Tjaart Smuts)

At the Pangolin Lodge we sent messages to home, down loaded emails and contacted family to let all know we were happy and safe despite the lack of communication.

At around mid-day we flew from Kasane in a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan to arrive at the landing strip for Khwai. The pilot was a young woman who showed a very high level of competence and apparent experience. We had to circle and survey the airstrip before landing as elephants and other large animals live in the surroundings. The “airport terminal” comprised a small open two metre square shed holding some fire extinguishers.

Disembarking from Macair Cessna 208B Grand Caravan

A truck soon appeared with Matt our driver who then drove us for an hour along a rough sandy track to our new home, The Pangolin Khwai Camp.

The four of us are the only guests at the camp at present and after introductions and familiarisation with our safari-tents (glamping!) a tropical down pour commenced. We consequently had a one-hour delay waiting for the thunderstorm to abate and then off we went on our first safari adventure in the open sided but covered top 4WD Landcruiser.

View from our deck at Pangolin Khwai Camp

Our first sightings were of baboons and a woodland kingfisher; a bird none of us had seen before.

Matt our driver was in touch by CB radio with other groups in the reserve and was made aware that a pack of painted wolves had been located someplace nearby. We drove rapidly along a sandy, twisty and rough bush track to the designated location and sure enough, there they were, five painted wolves. A very rare sight that few visitors get to see! There are now estimated to be fewer than 700 painted wolves in Botswana and most are located in the Okavango/Chobe region.

They are supreme predators and have unbelievable physical endurance being able to run at 60 km/h for 5 km or more.

These attractive canines were formerly called African wild dogs and we spent the next hour with these wolves and on occasion were able to get within a few metres of them.

We suspect that the pack of five (2 males and 3 females) had very recently undertaken an unsuccessful pursuit of prey (impalas?) and were now resting.

The encounter was one we’d hope to achieve but realised that the likelihood of seeing painted wolves was a low probability.

We then had sundowners adjacent to a large herd of lechwe before heading back to camp.

Red lechwes watching us enjoy our sundowners

Malcolm, Tony, Rae , Corinne & Matt enjoying sundowners

Before dinner we sat around an open fire on the sand under a starlit sky and chatted over pre-dinner refreshments. Our camp hosts are Thomas and Barbara who are formerly from Vienna. Matt our wildlife guide and William our photographic guide joined us too. We all then had a lovely meal with the menu and wines expertly described by Gloria. Then it was bedtime after an extraordinarily busy day of adventure and excitement.

We had to be escorted along the 200 m walkway to our safari tent because of lions and hippos that live close by!

DAY 7: Wednesday March 6th 2019 PANGOLIN KHWAI CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 08, 2019

Matt gave us an early morning call at 05:00 and we were escorted along to breakfast half an hour later. On offer was porridge, cereals, fruit, yoghurt and good coffee.We were in the truck and heading on our way before sunrise which occurred at 06:40.The first encounter was of a spur-winged goose sitting in a tree well above us. (Obviously it wasn’t for sale as it was already on higher perches.)

We managed to get some great sunrise shots of the red fireball showing between the limbs of a nearby dead tree. The red lower sky transitioned through to the high blue sky with pink edged clouds.

We then found ourselves amongst a large herd of bachelor impalas and close by was a zebra.

Antelope became our focus for the next half hour or more with sable, tsessebe, water buck and steenbok all sighted although good photos were often difficult with animals being partly obscured as they walked through long grass and low scrubby bushes.

We spent a considerable time with a journey (herd) of giraffes. There were three adults and two middle sized calves. These magnificent beasts are mesmerising as they stare quizzically and ponder our presence. They lick their faces and ears with their blue tongues and are a cause for wonderment! Two of the larger females were standing with front legs widely splayed and eating from the ground, an unusual feeding stance for giraffes. Apparently they were chewing bones they had discovered from an animal carcass. The giraffes do this to provide a calcium supplement to their typical diet of leaves.

Birds then became very active in the post dawn light and green wood-hoopoes, hornbills and long tailed starlings were frequently seen. These starlings are black but have a beautiful blue/green iridescence on their wings.

Elephants and hippos are common in this area and seemed very relaxed when we drove by in our vehicle although the story is likely to be very different if we alighted!

A triumph of the morning was to get top quality photos of the lilac breasted roller; one we’d seen last night but only in fading light.

Further jubilation occurred when we had reasonably close encounters with wattle cranes and sometime later with saddle-billed storks. Both species being relatively rare but exquisite with their delicate plumage and splendid stature.

After photographing some baboons and namaqua doves we returned to the camp; it now being 11:00.

Thomas welcoming us back with cold towels

After brunch at mid-day we had the afternoon to ourselves in preparation for our evening expedition.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll see some big cats sometime!

The afternoon search location was to the south of the camp and starting at 16:00 we covered a significant distance on rough sandy tracks before much in the way of wildlife was seen.

The heat of the day (it now being 35°C) meant that most wildlife was hidden under the cover of bushes, grasses or trees.

A buffalo weaver bird was our first photographic capture but the barred owl that followed was too quick for us. Not so were the cape turtle doves and the Burchall’s starlings.

A lappet-faced vulture, a tawny vulture and a bateleur circled above us for several minutes and photos were taken albeit of distant subjects. We later managed to get comparatively close shots of a female bateleur as she posed from a nearby dead tree.

Apart from the ubiquitous impalas we also saw reed bucks and had a fleeting glimpse of two steenboks that soon scurried into the tall grass in front of us.

Despite it being a quiet evening for seeing wildlife, we then spent a very quiet and close encounter with sixteen elephants. This parade (herd) of elephants comprised seven cows and five calves of varying size from tiny to half grown.

We stayed still in the truck and the elephants walked around us, approaching within a few metres. Their composure suggested that they were confident that we were non-aggressors and despite their protective behaviour towards the calves they mingled with us for about 40 minutes.

After ‘sun-downers’ we returned to the camp and enjoyed another wholesome meal before heading off to our tent.

It will be an early start again in the morning with Matt saying he’ll check by at 05:00 for a wake-up call!

DAY 8: Thursday March 7th 2019 PANGOLIN KHWAI CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 07, 2019

After our 05:45 breakfast we boarded our trusty Landcruiser photo-truck and by daybreak we were heading for the mopane bush region where lion calls had been heard during the night.

To get to our intended location we had to ford the one metre deep river as the log bridge we normally use had been damaged and was no longer usable.

We had barely moved off the main track when William called out ‘dogs’. Our great fortune was such that we had come across the same pack (paint) of five painted wolves as the one encountered two nights ago; Latin - Lycaon pictus.

We spent fifteen minutes following these impressive wolves with their large upright ears and their dappled brown, black and white colouring. At one stage three of them sat down in the middle of the track and commenced grooming each other with licking and gentle biting. This provides a key means by which the pack maintains its strong communal bonding.

If this wasn’t reason enough for excitement, Corinne then called out ‘lion’. It was now 06:45 and for the next two and a quarter hours we followed this adult lion as he meandered along a track for three or four kilometres. He even crossed the damaged bridge and we photographed him from below as we forded the river once again.

The lion stopped every now and then to spray urine onto bushes to make it clear that this was his territory. At some stages Matt had to take a circuitous route through the thick scrub to gain a position where we could photograph the lion as he approached. Matt did an amazing job of keeping in close contact and yet not causing the animal to become concerned and move away from us.

We had extended opportunities to photograph the lion drinking when he reached the Khwai River and then to see him close up when he lay on the grass in front of us and commenced grooming and sleeping.

As the lion lay there on the river’s edge a group (soak) of red lechwes on the opposite side looked across tentatively at this mighty predator and decided that it was time to move away. Eventually we did the same with each of us having now hundreds of photos to select from.

709 Lion, Khwai River, Khwai Private Reserve, Okavango Delta, Botswana, 7 Mar 2019-2.jpg

710 Lion, Khwai River, Khwai Private Reserve, Okavango Delta, Botswana, 7 Mar 2019-11.jpg

During the morning’s safari other points of interest included sightings of reed bucks and kudu. The principal birds of interest amongst others, entailed long-tailed magpie shrikes, hornbills including large ground hornbills, a secretary bird, a European bee-eater and many lilac breasted rollers.

716 Purple-breasted roller, Khwai Private Reserve, Okavango Delta, Botswana, 7 Mar 2019.jpg

On our return path to the camp we had a brief glimpse of a barred owlet but it was too quick to photograph.

At 11:00 we were just about home and there in a small and somewhat muddy pond were two hippos. This provided a great finish to an exceptional morning’s activities.

Thomas & Barbara greeting us at Pangolin Khwai Camp

718 Lunch, Pangolin Khwai Camp, Khwai Private Reserve, Okavango Delta, Botswana, 7 Mar 2019.jpg

Lunch was followed by siestas!

We resumed our safari adventure at 16:00 and spent the next three hours meandering along sandy bush tracks looking for points of interest. A main focus was on finding a leopard but the nearest we came was to identify a female leopard’s track by her spoor (footprints) in the soft sand.

Many of the usual birds were sighted during the later afternoon when the temperature started to drop. The middle afternoon temperature of 35°C meant that a very high proportion of all birds and animals were under cover seeking protection from the heat of the day. In this heat the numerous surrounding native sage bushes provided a most appealing and spicy odour. The natural sage oil works as an effective insect repellent and lions have been known to roll in the sage bushes to gain a covering of the sage oil to ward off bothering insects such as flies.

We spent some time with a large herd (ballet) of impalas. This is the most abundant antelope in Botswana and its perfectly proportioned body makes it undoubtedly one of the more attractive animals to view here.

Because impala are predated upon by painted wolves, lions, leopards, hyaenas and crocodiles they often referred to as the “McDonalds” of the bushveld. To accentuate the issue, these lovely antelopes have a distinctive “M” in black across their golden rumps.

A male within the herd was overly active suggesting that the rut (mating season) has commenced. He pursued individual does for several minutes but in the instance we observed, he was unsuccessful in gaining a desired union. Interestingly, the females have the capability of delaying gestation beyond the usual 6.5 months and this occurs particularly in seasons where food and water supplies are limited.

When startled, for example by a predator (or the starting of a car engine) impala leap in the air sometimes as high as 3 m so as to confuse predators. They can bound 12 m along in a single move and are capable of achieving running speeds of up to 80 km/h to escape predators.

We saw many birds most of which had been sighted previously. A fork tailed drongo was very obliging and allowed us close contact as was the case with little bee-eaters and mourning doves.

We encountered the three wattled cranes we’d seen yesterday as they busily dug with their beautiful red beaks into the wet marshy sand for worms and other morsels.

Corinne, Jak, Rae, Malcolm & Matt on the safari truck

On returning to the camp at around 19:00 in the dark we were greeted as usual by Thomas and Barbara with flashing green and white lights prior to them offering us ice cold face washers to maximise the welcome.

Pre-dinner drinks around the tiny campfire were followed by a pleasant dinner and then an early night especially considering 05:00 is starting time again tomorrow.

Today will be remembered as the day when painted wolves and a lion were seen in quick succession; individual sightings that are not always guaranteed even if guests stay for a week.

DAY 9: Friday March 8th 2019 PANGOLIN KHWAI CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 06, 2019

The great Botswanan leopard hunt now continues into week two and our hopes of seeing one diminish as today is our last full day here. There is some cause for optimism as our next destination being Kwando Lagoon is reputed to offer a good chance of seeing leopards.

Nonetheless our morning’s safari for six hours from 06:00 to mid-day proved to be very productive particularly in obtaining shots of a number of birds we’d previously not seen.

A pair of African hawk eagles was our first new species sighted. We managed to get reasonably close to the dead tree on which they perched and could watch as one of the eagles devoured some prey (a squirrel?) by ripping it to pieces with its powerful beak. Nearby, helmeted guinea fowl squawked and scurried into the dense undergrowth fearful of these eagles above them.

We then encountered a herd (dazzle) of about ten Burchell’s zebras. Typically, such a dazzle would include mares and foals with a single stallion. Stallions that are yet to collect mares form a bachelor herd that will be attacked if it ventures too close to the main breeding dazzle. The bachelor herd then maintains a position on the periphery which has a benefit of offering protection to the herd.

A male and female double-banded sandgrouse then ran across the sandy track in front of the truck but we were able get photos before they disappeared into the thick grass. On the top of a dead stump close by was a tree squirrel basking in the early morning sunshine. It quickly moved and hid in the hollow stump when we approached.

Birds were now becoming increasingly active as the morning warmth had caused insects to start moving and flying. The birds seen included namaqua doves, grey go-away birds, red billed francolins (now called spurfowls), a white-backed vulture, jacanas, buffalo weaver birds and kingfishers.

Giraffes were grazing in the distance but were really too far for worthwhile photos. Later in the morning we did get considerably closer to a lone giraffe but even he had his head partially hidden within the tree top where he was eating.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the morning occurred when we managed to establish a fixed position only a short distance from a pond where water birds were busy feeding.

We counted fourteen different bird species in this tight location and a reed buck joined in the foreground too.

The largest birds present were yellow billed and woolly-necked storks together with spur-winged geese.

There were four species of egrets, namely a great egret, many little egrets, black egrets and rare slaty egrets. The black egrets have a remarkable hunting technique. They crouch over the water and extend their wings in front of them to form a black umbrella. This provides a shadow making the sighting of small fish somewhat easier.

Other water birds present were jacanas, a long-toed lapwing, many sacred ibis, hammercop, a squacco heron, a common sandpiper and a pied kingfisher. We spent about an hour in this twitchers’ paradise!

After a coffee break under a leadwood tree we commenced our homeward travel but were seriously delayed by bee-eaters and lilac rollers.

Our goal was to capture birds in flight and this meant using shutter speeds sometimes as fast as 1/8000 of a second.

Most of our time was spent waiting for the birds to fly and when they did, we often missed or got part bird shots. A sharp image of a carmine bee-eater and a lilac roller in mid-flight were lucky events.

We arrived back at camp at mid-day after six hours and were so grateful to Matt, our guide and driver who did such a marvellous job throughout the long session.

For the afternoon safari Barbara our co-host at the camp joined us for the 16:00 to 20:00 session.

The mid-afternoon temperature was high in the thirties and most animal life was hidden within the low bushes and dense undergrowth. A few birds such as starlings, grouse, spur-fowls, hornbills and weaverbirds were apparent but not much else.

As the sun dropped in the sky and the intense heat diminished, a few new birds appeared and several herds of impala were now on the move.

We were delighted to photograph two European bee-eaters for an extended period watching them catch moths and flies on the wing using agile air-manoeuvring to collect their meal.

A dazzle of Burchell’s zebras meandered past our stationary truck over a period of twenty minutes seemingly unperturbed by our presence.

We then headed down to the small lake where we’d enjoyed ‘sundowners’ last night. It was now the bathing and drinking pool for eight elephants including one young calf who apparently delighted in rolling around underwater with his trunk upwards as a snorkel.

At the pool’s edge was a large baboon and a beautifully plumed hededa ibis.

At 18:05 a message came through to Matt on the CB radio that a leopard had been sighted about ten minutes away, so without hesitation we moved to the designated site and found a leopard and her cub partially hidden in long grass under a fallen tree.

The female leopard then left her cub in a hidden spot and started moving off on the hunt. We followed her in the 4WD for the next fifty minutes taking numerous photos. The leopard ambled along through the thick undergrowth and Matt did an amazing job of keeping relatively close to her without impeding her progress. Needless to say, our cameras clicked vigorously for the hour’s encounter. We were so lucky as a leopard hasn’t been sighted by guests at the Khwai Camp for about five weeks!

On return to the camp there were joyous celebrations and the staff members (16 of them) put on a dance and singing concert for us. It was so melodious and the performers seemed to be enjoying the concert as much as us.

Drinks around the fire at Pangolin Khwai Camp

Staff dancing for us at Pangolin Khwai Camp

The evening meal served tonight was a traditional Botswanan meal of slow cooked and pulled beef (11 hours cooking), polenta and local vegetables. The tender beef was served with a tomato and onion sauce; all very scrumptious.

Tomorrow we leave Pangolin Khwai Camp and we already know that we’ll leave with exceptionally happy memories of a truly delightful region of this fascinating country.

DAY 10: Saturday March 9th 2019 PANGOLIN KHWAI CAMP – KWANDO LAGOON CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 05, 2019

As we had a mid-day flight to Kwando, we only had time for a short (3 hours rather than 5 hours) morning safari.

As it turned out it was a relatively quiet session (compared to last night’s excitement with the leopard) with nothing much new to see although there was good deal of bird life activity all around us.

We sat in the truck on the now repaired log bridge and watched a spectacular sun rise surrounded by little bee-eaters.

A large herd of red lechwes was next on the agenda followed by a close encounter with two water bucks. These animals have a distinctive white toilet seat shape around their rear and we’ve found that this derriere decoration is most commonly photographed as they tend to move away when approached.

Kudu with their magnificent spiralled antlers were sighted in the distance but our photos were barely adequate apart from record keeping.

Numerous bird species were encountered and once again many were the ‘usual suspects’ including a female African fish eagle, a red-eyed dove, bee-eaters, lilac rollers, a woodland kingfisher and a Rufous bellied heron.

Herds of elephants and zebras plus frequent sightings of tiny tree squirrels added to the morning’s delights.

Along the way Matt told us about some interesting local plants. The devil thorn is the Botswanan national floral emblem having a pretty pink flower. Its roots are harvested for the extraction of compounds that have medicinal value.

Elephant ear plants have large soft fluffy leaves that apparently serve very adequately as tissues when caught short in the bush!

Elephant ear plant (bush tissue) on termite mound

We saw stock roses which are somewhat like a hibiscus. We also heard from Matt that the ash from burnt lead-wood trees serves as an alternative to toothpaste.

At 09:30 we returned to camp and packed up our bags and then had a late breakfast of scrambled eggs and coffee.

It was then time to say farewell to our friends at Khwai Camp. This was sad as we’d had such an amazing experience and the staff at Khwai had gone well out of their way to make our visit something very special.

Matt then drove us the one-hour trip along a very sandy track to the Khwai airstrip. We had difficulty finding the airstrip as the network of tracks around the strip formed a complex and seemingly insoluble maze.

Fortunately, the plane was a little late so there was no problem despite being a bit lost at times.

The plane was a six-seater Moremiair GA 8 Airvan and we were the four passengers for the 45 minutes flight to Kwando. As we flew at only 300 m above the plain, we could see the arid sections followed by the arterial river system that comprises this part of the Kwando River delta. This region is to the north-east of the Okavango Delta.

On arrival we were greeted by G and James who then drove us in the Landcruiser to the Lagoon Camp.

We then met one of the managers Lesi and two of the house staff, Lets and Lizzie. After a safety briefing, the signing of indemnity forms and some cold drinks we were shown to our room. These units a quite luxurious and very spacious.

View from deck of our unit, Kwando Lagoon

The daily timetable here with 05:00 starts etc seems to parallel the one we had at Khwai.

We were immediately made aware of the fact that we were just four guests amongst a full house of twenty-four guests. This was a new experience for us as for the last ten days we have been the only guests at our safari destinations.

At 16:00 we joined G our guide/driver together with James our wildlife spotter and Terrie and Ed from Vancouver for our afternoon safari trip.

The countryside here is much more open with broad plains and relatively few trees. There are many watercourses through the reservation and the vegetation looks abundant and lush.

Not surprisingly we saw lots of antelope along the way. There were herds of red lechwe, impala, kudu, reed bucks, wildebeest (gnu) and tsessebe. These herds were feeding along the flanks of the waterways and seemed to be really healthy looking due to the abundant food and water.

There were large numbers of giraffe and elephants too but the birdlife was prolific with egrets, herons and storks aplenty.

At around 18:00 we encountered a pride of lions sleeping under some low trees. The group consisted of three lionesses and three cubs of around three months of age. Two of the cubs were female and one was male.

The lions had achieved a kill last night (a wildebeest?) and had eaten so much that they all needed a day or so to digest their meal.

The lionesses lay on their sides with swollen bellies and slept and the cubs did much the same although every now and then they’d get up and stretch and then go back to sleep. Two of the lionesses were pregnant as shown by their slightly distended nipples.

We watched these magnificent animals from very close quarters for forty minutes until the light became too low for photography (flashes are not permitted!).

Lions are lazy creatures that may spend up to twenty hours a day lazing around or sleeping. At mealtimes the cubs do not get preferential treatment and all must fight to get food with the weakest possibly missing out. At least the cubs can then retrieve some sustenance from its mother’s or another lionesses’ milk. The lionesses in a pride are usually close relatives (sisters or cousins) and will share milk with closely related cubs. When conditions mean that food becomes increasingly hard to obtain, a lioness may kill a cub by clubbing it to death.

Lions use urine smelling to identify females in oestrus and when mating occurs it can last for up to four days with union occurring up to four times an hour! When the male eventually leaves, the lioness will often then mate with other lions as this method results in all the males assuming paternity which offers protection to the cubs subsequently born.

It is estimated that there are around 1500 lions in total in the Okavango delta.

We then returned to the camp after sundowners and joined the other guests at 20:30 for dinner in the long dining room. The meal was excellent and the other guests we spoke to were all very friendly and everyone was keen to compare notes of travel locations and sightings!

DAY 11: Sunday March 10th 2019 KWANDO LAGOON CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 04, 2019

We had our 05:30 breakfast with the dozen or so guests seated in a circle around a small log fire in the open courtyard area. Coffee, tea, juices, cereals, muffins and maize porridge were on offer although eating in the semi-darkness caused some interesting complexities.

Our safari group included Ed and Terrie from Vancouver and we had G and James as our guides. A brown hyaena had been sighted by others and so we moved in the truck to where its den was located hoping to catch a glimpse but no joy was had although a wattled lapwing scurried past and was photographed.

Sunrise was spectacular with crimson reds fading to a pale pink upper sky with clouds in the blue above.

A waterbuck and calf ran across the track in front of us enabling some photos although the baby was so tiny it barely showed above the grass. These attractive animals with their white rear ring don’t tolerate oxpeckers and so become parasite affected particularly by ticks and skin embedded larvae (yuk)!

They have glands exuding a musky smelling oil which apparently taints their meat making them almost inedible for humans but not so for lions, crocodiles and other large predators.

We made valiant efforts to get photos of two Meyer’s parrots that were busy hunting for food high up in a nearby tree. These parrots are very attractive in their (Aussie) green and gold colouring.

Giraffe seem to be frequently sighted in this Kwando (Linyani River) region where it being the end of the wet season their food is presently abundant.

Ground dwelling helmeted guinea fowl are common here too and being quite edible, are affectionately referred to by the locals as ‘Kalahari Fried Chicken’.

Hippos are very much apparent all along the river and in the adjacent ox-bow lakes. Their growls, grunts and associated fighting noises can be heard from big distances away.

Some birds that we hadn’t seen before included darked cap bulbuls, and a pale chanting goshawk and of course there were the usual bee-eaters, rollers (lilac and broad billed) and kingfishers.

A brief encounter with a sable antelope was a treat for us but these shy and extraordinarily beautiful animals are quick to disappear into the thick tree areas. Their long recurved horns and their very dark colouring make them easy to identify. The recurved horns serve as a defence against lions that have a preferred mode of attack involving a rear grasping of the prey’s shoulder. In the case of the sable as prey, the lions are placed in imminent danger from these sabre sharp horns.

We encountered a solitary side-striped jackal which posed for us quite nearby but it was partially obscured by the long grass. This sighting was somewhat unexpected as these animals (Canis adustus) are mainly nocturnal.

A herd (twist) of gregarious female kudu seemed unaffected by our close presence and stayed still, chewing the cud or resting on the ground. We took many photos and some video footage of these lovely animals with their large fluffy ears and their nine white body stripes. We’d seen males last night and they are much larger than the females and have magnificently spiralled horns.

After a coffee/tea break under a shady tree we headed back to camp past a waterhole where baboons had congregated.

We then headed back to the camp for a refreshing drink before brunch which was followed by a four-hour siesta during which time we caught up on labelling photos and continuing the ‘blog’.

In the late afternoon we left the Lagoon Camp and went on a boat trip down the Kwando River in a steel boat powered by an 80 HP Yamaha with the boat having an upstairs section with folding chairs for a maximum of eight guests.

The journey was very relaxing but photography from the moving boat was difficult to say the least. Nonetheless we had fun and gathered photos of limited quality of ubiquitous hippos, bee-eaters and jacanas.

White-fronted bee-eater at nest on the river bank

The rare lesser jacana that we’d photographed in Chobe was seen here too but its rapid movement together with the moving boat posed exceptional constraints on the attainment of high-quality photos.

Fish eagles, squacco herons and pied kingfishers were fairly common sights along the riverbank.

The threatening clouds to the south and occasional lightning flashes meant that for safety’s sake we should head back so at around 19:00 we arrived home. With the accumulating black clouds and the new moon above, all encapsulated in a perfect red sunset, we were rapped.

Dinner at 20:00 was served and after lots of merriment and chatter we all headed off to our safari tents because we know we’ll be awake and on the go again tomorrow at 05:00.

DAY 12: Monday March 11th 2019 KWANDO LAGOON CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 03, 2019

Very soon after we’d started the morning’s safari, we came across two black-backed jackals. These shy animals moved on very quickly through the grass so fleeting glimpses and low standard photos in the pre-dawn light were all we achieved.

The sunrise at 06:33 was glorious as we’ve come to expect and within minutes, we encountered a dazzle of about twenty zebras including several foals. These are Burchell’s zebra and it was noticeable in the soft early morning that they have a pale brown stripe between the black and white stripes. This is particularly apparent on the rump. Also of interest is the fact that no two animals have the same pattern which enables individual identification within the dazzle. This especially important for foals to quickly locate their mother. The stripes confuse predators as it is difficult to focus on an individual when they are bouncing up and down whilst moving as a tightly grouped pack.

As a means of defence against predators, zebras can inflict a deadly rear hoof kick in both forward and backward directions.

The striped markings between the eyes of a zebra form a diamond shape and as Botswana has rich diamond mines, the zebra is not surprisingly the national animal emblem.

The largest and slowest of all the antelopes in the world are elands. They grow to a height of around 190 cm and a weight of 700 kg. We saw two during our morning drive but unfortunately they were a significant distance away.

It seemed to be a good morning for encounters with hornbills. Often these birds are skitty, but for once we had close encounters with stationary birds.

The first was the large southern ground-hornbill. The bird we saw was a male having a bright red throat skin without the blue chin patch. Ironically for a so-called ground-hornbill we photographed him perched quite high in a tree.

There were a number of yellow-billed hornbills seen and the pair we photographed were busy eating berries from a bush adjacent to the track. African grey hornbills and southern red-billed hornbills were seen too.

During the morning we followed fresh leopard spoors in the sand but eventually our tracker James, who sits on a seat over the front bumper, lost the path and we changed tack.

We then found the site where lions had been feeding very recently but unfortunately we were late to the party! The only remaining evidence of the kill were some bones and blood-soaked sand.

A group of marabou storks was then approached and we moved to within 30 m of them before they started wandering off. Two white backed vultures meandered in amongst the storks but soon took flight.

The marabou storks are to say the least, unattractive. They have a large pink bulbous and pendulous air-sac dangling below their beak. The air-sac may be up to 350 mm in size when inflated and this occurs as a mating display and also to provide a cooling mechanism. They have second orange-red air-sac which is partly hidden beneath the white ruff at the base of the neck.

These storks appear to have dirty faces and look dishevelled which may in part be explained by their propensity to frequent rubbish dumps for food.

We saw saddle-billed storks and one can say with confidence that they are a much more elegant bird with the yellow saddle across their bright red beaks.

We spent quite a deal of time in close contact with a herd (implausibility) of wildebeest or gnus. There were several calves with the herd and we watched the calves suckling from their mothers.

These animals (Connochaetes taurinus) have broad muzzle, a wide row of incisors and loose lips making them well suited to grazing on lush grass plains. They stay close to water as they need to drink every second day or sooner.

We managed to get good photos of two spotted hyaenas even though they were shy and soon ran away.

A tiny steenbok was moving close to us but these dwarf-like antelopes are notoriously difficult to photograph because of both their shyness and their small stature meaning they’re usually partly hidden in the tall grasses they frequent.

A solitary tsessebe was next to cross our path and this lone animal looked decidedly thin suggesting a possible illness. They have sloping backs with a dark brown colouring with an iridescent purple sheen. They are reputedly the fastest of all the antelopes being capable of attaining 100 km/h.

Many birds were photographed during the morning but the highlights were slaty and yellow-billed egrets, several juvenile bateleurs, carmine and blue-cheeked bee-eaters and ospreys.

Wart hogs, hippos and baboons were frequently encountered but near the end of our travels we passed a large herd of elephants, an animal that surprisingly wasn’t sighted at all yesterday.

When we arrived back at the camp, we found a barred owlet perched near the toilet block.

After an early luncheon there were several birds then photographed during the siesta period in the confines of the camp. The highlight of his early afternoon hunt being able to get shots of the extraordinarily beautiful African paradise flycatcher and the red-beaked fire finch.

Our afternoon safari got underway at 16:30 and was to be principally a hunt for the elusive lioness and her three cubs that others had seen this morning.

Our search was initially interrupted by sightings of interesting birds that we were keen to photograph. These included green wood-hoopoes, pin-tailed whydahs, woodland kingfishers and white-browed sparrow weavers.

After spending some time near a solitary young male giraffe, we managed to approach a red-crested korhaan sometimes referred to as kamikaze birds. This name is due to their tendency to dive bomb their prey from a considerable height.

The sky above was looking increasingly ominous and after a few heavy drops of rain we all put on ponchos and covered our cameras with plastic bags.

The storm was over in minutes but at one point we experienced a dramatic lightning flash with the loudest possible thunderbolt that followed almost immediately.

With the rain having passed, it meant that lion tracks in the sand were now much more difficult for our tracker to follow but we ventured on despite this set back. In the meantime, we made contact with kudus and common reed bucks. These were close to a large dead tree that had a lappet-faced vulture at its top plus ten or a dozen white-backed vultures. These massive birds took flight as we approached.

We had ‘sun-downer’ drinks in semi-darkness next to a large pond and we then became aware that hippos were walking nearby. We were all ready to take appropriate safety action if the hippos decided to get angry with us.

Despite our guide and tracker’s efforts we were not able to find the elusive lioness and so this search will be continued tomorrow.

Our evening meal was a traditional African meal with shredded beef as the meat dish together with spinach, potatoes and polenta – all delicious. We’re not sure that the apple crumble dessert is actually traditional African fare but we all enjoyed it.

DAY 13: Tuesday March 12th 2019 KWANDO LAGOON CAMP, BOTSWANA

March 02, 2019

One of the joys of a safari sunrise is to have the sun rising with a large animal such as an elephant, rhinoceros or giraffe silhouetted in the foreground.

We managed to obtain photos of the 06:32 sunrise with a very cooperative and large bull elephant which stood in the best possible position for us for about five minutes. A giraffe’s neck and head were then silhouetted just a few minutes later.

We watched a large herd (ballet) of impalas in the early morning light as they enjoyed their early morning graze. A few quite large calves were feeding from their mothers and we were surprised to learn that most calves are born in December and grow very quickly. This increases the survival rate within the herd as predation upon these animals is high. From some distance it is sometimes difficult to tell lechwe, reed bucks and impala apart but once close up there is no such problem. Impalas have a distinctive brown back, a pale coffee coloured mid and a white underbelly. Their dainty black ankle markings (socks) are associated with scent glands. When being chased they can run at 80 km/h and whilst doing so they kick their heels into the air and release a group identifiable pheromone from these ankle glands as a means helping to keep the herd together.

In the distance well away from the impalas on a sandy ridge our ‘spotter’ James sighted a lioness. We moved quietly to a spot about five metres from her and she showed disinterest in us. She was lying down and relaxing and appeared to be pregnant.

This lioness was quite senior as shown by her dark nose. We were informed that younger lions have a more pinkish coloured nose. The whisker pattern around the mouth can be used as a unique identifier for lions somewhat like fingerprints for us.

We watched her for ten minutes and then she started moving with stealth towards a narrow gap in the bushes where we could see in the far distance a grazing herd of zebras and a number of impalas too.

So as not to interfere with her hunt we took a distant position to wait for the anticipated ‘kill’. We missed out on seeing any further action as we think the lioness had employed a different strategy from the one we’d predicted.

Within a few hundred metres were two more lions, these being young but mature males as shown by their black manes. They had obviously eaten quite recently as they had full bellies and were sleepy. The killing power of these magnificent cats was clearly evident when they yawned revealing massive incisors and when they rolled over the size of their shoulder muscles was beyond expectation. If one of us had left our seated positions in the truck, our guide said we’d have been killed within seconds!

In a somewhat more sedate fashion, we watched four wattled lapwings perform a synchronised dance routine close by. When the choreography appeared to go wrong there was a noisy squabble and the birds flew off.

An African cuckoo was a new species for us and Corinne managed to get a great shot of the cuckoo in flight. It was also a first for us to see an immature carmine bee-eater. This young bird has quite dull plumage unlike the adult that is a magnificent magenta colour.

Somewhat unexpectedly we came upon a large group of ostriches. The male leader was very large and dark black whereas the females and younger birds were more of a pale brown colour. The ostrich is the fastest of all animals that run on two legs. Their appearance seems a little strange to us as they have very long legs with the highly muscled thigh area being white and bare of feathers. The body is a spherical fluff ball and extending from this sphere of feathers is a tall periscopic and bare neck. The head and especially the eyes offer a quizzical appearance as if the bird is thinking that we’re the ones that are strange.

Immediately after a coffee/tea break we saw a Temminck’s stint which was another new sighting for us. This bird looks like the “road-runner” from the kids’ cartoon having brown body plumage with a rusty coloured crown and a black eye-stripe.

Then we watched a fork tailed drongo and a carmine bee-eater initially sharing the same dead tree. The drongo then pulled rank and forced the bee-eater off so as to take full ownership of this desired piece of real estate.

Black backed jackals were seen 100 m ahead but wouldn’t permit a much closer approach and soon went into hiding in the tall grass.

On our return to camp we stopped at a large tree and watched the gymnastic antics of baboons as they leapt and climbed through the treetop.

After our brunch session we had to bid farewell to our new friends Terrie and Ed from Vancouver. In the three days we’ve all been together there’s been much fun and laughter and a warm friendship has developed. We’re hoping that we’ll catch up with them again as they were talking of a future return trip to Australia particularly to see Tasmania which they missed out on during their previous Aussie travels down-under.

During our siesta break, we decided to try our luck at getting better photos of the African paradise flycatcher which frequents the camp area. This beautiful bird with its blue head and orange body has a spectacularly long tail but moves quickly from tree to tree chasing insects. After half an hour of following this intriguing bird and taking numerous photos, we eventually succeeded in obtaining a few worthy of retention.

Whilst this hunt for the paradise flycatcher was occurring, we also managed to photograph a number of butterflies and other birds around the camp area. These included a willow warbler, an African golden weaver and a black collared barbit.

In the meantime, a large herd of elephants came down to the river’s edge adjacent to the camp to drink and bathe.

Our final afternoon safari in Botswana was to be a relaxed affair with time spent photographing elephants, birds and the general landscape.

We then returned to where the two male lions had been found sleeping this morning. They were close to the earlier found location but were still looking drowsy.

We established a position quite near the lions and observed their behaviour for ten minutes or so.

The lions yawned, rolled over, stretched and sometimes stood up for a short period before returning to their preferred somnolent state.

A delightful occurrence was when the younger lion moved over to snuggle up next to his relative (half-brother or cousin) and rub heads together showing clearly that they were ‘blood brothers’.

We then moved only a hundred metres away from the lions to focus on the water bird activity occurring on the small nearby lake.

There were numerous aquatic bird species in action hunting and feeding from the shallow waters.

Amongst the many birds present were stilts, herons, egrets, storks, kingfishers, teals, lapwings, ruffs and three banded plovers.

With the late evening sun, we managed to get photos of the birds in a soft pink lighting and often they were positioned enabling us to get interesting reflections too.

Our 18:20 sundowner’s experience turned out to be a party with the two other tourist groups on the edge of one of the salt-lakes.

Sundowners at Kwando Lagoon, group photo (Photo credit Nancy Ronan)

The resort had arranged prior to our arrival for their staff to come out and set up a table with a white tablecloth and to make a cocktail bar with drinks and food on offer. In a fiery red sunset this was a magic ending to our Botswanan experience.

Pre-dinner drinks around the fire at Kwando Lagoon Camp

Staff performing for us at Kwando Lagoon Camp

It’s all been totally inspiring and we feel so lucky to have been able to participate in this magic African holiday!

DAY 14: Wednesday/Thursday March 13th & 14th 2019 BOTSWANA – SOUTH AFRICA – MELBOURNE

March 01, 2019

Our final night in the Kwando Lagoon Camp was one where at around 03:00 a very grumpy hippo decided to exit the river directly in front of our cabin. The growls and grunts were sufficient to make our room shake.

As we had to leave at 11:00 we had a considerably shorter morning safari between 06:00 and 09:00.

The first point of interest was with baboons squabbling in the pre-dawn light. The call that they make and shout at each other sounds like “George” and hence these comical acrobats are often referred to by this name.

Our safari travels are typically along sandy and/or bumpy tracks and such travels are euphemistically called “African Massages”.

We were fortunate enough to encounter a roan antelope. These rare and elegant animals are similar in appearance to sables but are even more endangered. A visitor from the U.S. said that she’d never seen a roan antelope and she’d visited Botswana eight times.

We then spent about ten minutes watching a herd of sixteen giraffes as they foraged for leaves from the high bushes and trees nearby. There was one very large male giraffe which had a much darker colouring than the others. Within the herd there were some calves that were tiny in comparison with the male leader.

There were the usual sightings of common birds such as lilac breasted rollers, lapwings, spur-fowls, coucals, babblers and hornbills but a moment of excitement arose when we managed to photograph the rare striped kingfisher. Unlike the two other striped kingfishers we’d seen at Kwando, this one stayed fixed, sitting atop a stump and seemed happy even when we were quite close.

A brown snake eagle was next to be located. This bird’s brilliant yellow eye is a key identifying feature.

At 08:30, with time running out we had to start our return to camp but G took a short diversion into a small pond area where a saddle-billed stork was feeding. This tall handsome bird with its bright red beak with a yellow saddle stood out dramatically in the early morning sunlight.

We were just about to leave this pond area when G sighted two tiny birds fossicking in amongst the reeds near the truck. One was the female red-billed fire-finch and the other was the blue waxbill.

For several days we’d been trying to get shots of this blue waxbill bird which we’d seen around the camp but it always evaded us. Now we had success as this delightful wren-sized bird wasn’t worried by our presence.

Back at camp we showered, did a final packing of bags and had brunch before saying goodbye to the staff at Kwando Lagoon.

G and James drove us to the airstrip where part of their routine was to ensure the airstrip was free of large animals that would surely cause a problem for landing. We asked if the planes were required to stop if there was a zebra crossing!

Farewelling James and G at Kwando airstrip

Our Cessna Grand Caravan duly arrived at 11:10. We said farewell to our Guide and Spotter and thanked them for their great efforts in making our Kwando Safari so enjoyable.

Our flight to Maun took about 50 minutes and a fair proportion of the flight was over the complex network of rivers, streams and ox-bow lakes that comprise the Okavango Delta. The lush green vegetation associated with the Okavango was in sharp contrast to the arid semi-desert areas seen outside the delta zone.

Our plane, Kwando Lagoon to Maun at Maun Airport

As we landed at Maun, we were surprised to see the hundreds of light aircraft lined up along the area adjacent to the runway. In terms of planes, Maun is one of the busiest airports in Africa!

We had a ninety-minute wait before boarding our international flight to Johannesburg. The plane was an Air Botswana ATR 42/72 and the flight to Jo’burg took just on two hours.

In Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Terminal we passed through the ‘incoming’ immigration and customs sections quite quickly but then found it difficult to locate the international departure section. The signs were not very clear but we were in no rush as we had five hours to wait anyway. During this period, we relaxed in the departure area and had drinks and snacks. As it was already March 14th in Australia, we took the opportunity to have an early celebration of Rae’s birthday!

We boarded our Airbus 340 – 300e at 20:45 South African time and prepared ourselves mentally for a nine and a half hour flight to Perth.

Having arrived in Perth at mid-day, Western Australian time we collected bags, checked through customs and duly headed for the Virgin Domestic check-in area. We seemed to adjust quickly to the new time zone and aspects of ‘jet-lag’ were not apparent as we’d managed to get quite a deal of sleep in the flight from Jo’burg.

It was at this time that we had to say farewell to Rae and Malcolm as they are staying on for a few days in Perth, whereas we are heading to Melbourne to stay with our son Marcus and family.

We then encountered a small problem as our intended flight to Melbourne didn’t have us listed as passengers but instead there was a booking for us to fly to Sydney. This was a suggested itinerary with South African Airways which we had altered some months ago.

The very helpful Virgin staff subsequently contacted South African Airways with whom we’d booked the Virgin flight (they are a ‘co-share company’) and corrections were duly implemented.

We spent three hours relaxing in the Virgin Lounge and left Perth at 17:15 with an expected time of arrival in Melbourne of 23:30. With a big day at the F1 Australian GP tomorrow it will be a test of mental fortitude and physical resilience to keep wide awake. Fun!!

At this point, mid-way across the Nullarbor at 10 000 m, we’ll wrap up the African Blog and attempt to get some (possibly) deserved sleep.

This two week safari through Namibia and Botswana has been a superb experience with an opportunity to learn a little more about the people and the wildlife of this fascinating continent. The many hundreds (indeed thousands) of photographs taken throughout our journey when culled and sorted will hopefully provide testament to the spectacular sights we’ve seen in this fortnight.

Our travels with Malcolm and Rae have been full of excitement, joy and wonderment. Our very close friendship extends to now over fifty years and is a treasure to cherish. We are very lucky to have such good friends and we look forward to further adventures together.