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.
Sunrise
Repaired bridge
Little bee-eater in early morning light
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.
Water bucks
Red lechwe
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.
Red-eyed dove
Woodland kingfisher
African fish eagle (female)
Red-billed hornbill
Herds of elephants and zebras plus frequent sightings of tiny tree squirrels added to the morning’s delights.
Elephants
Tree squirrel
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
Scene
Waterhole
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.
Lebo
Lizzy
Gloria
Barbara & Thomas
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.
Back road to Khwai airstrip
Our Moremi Air plane at Khwai airstrip
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.
View over the Okavango Delta
Kwando Lagoon airstrip
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.
Our room, Kwando Lagoon
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.
Kudu
Warthog
Wildebeest
Common reed buck
There were large numbers of giraffe and elephants too but the birdlife was prolific with egrets, herons and storks aplenty.
Giraffes
Woodland kingfisher
Carmine bee-eater
Woolly-necked stork
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.
Lions sleeping
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.
Lion cubs with lioness
Lion cubs with mother
We watched these magnificent animals from very close quarters for forty minutes until the light became too low for photography (flashes are not permitted!).
Lioness
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!
Sundowners