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.
Sunrise
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.
Birchell's zebras (note shadow stripes)
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.
Eland antelope
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.
Ground hornbill
Yellow-billed hornbil
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.
Marabou stork
White-backed vultures
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.
Saddle-billed storks
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.
Wildebeest
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.
Spotted hyaena
Steenbok
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.
Tsessebe
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.
Carmine bee-eater
Yellow-billed egret
Brown snake eagle
Yellow-billed hornbill
Yellow-billed hornbill
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.
Wildebeest with calf drinking
When we arrived back at the camp, we found a barred owlet perched near the toilet block.
Brunch, Lagoon camp
African barred owlet
Hadeda ibis
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.
Red-beaked firefinch
African paradise fly-catcher
Squirel at the camp
African monarch butterfly
Hippos at Lagoon Camp
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.
Green wood-hoopoe
Pin-tailed whydah
Woodland kingfisher
Wide-browed sparrow-weavers
Broad-billed roller (yellow bill)
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.
Giraffe
Red-crested korhaan
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.
Jak in rain poncho
Driving through creek
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.
Storm clouds
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.
Common reedbuck
Kudus with babies
Lappet-faced vulture
White-backed vultures
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.
Sunset
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.