Kat's Korner - Fantasy Minis and More!

Botswana Wildife Safari with Explore

October 31st to November 2008

November 1st 2008

Arrived in Maun after an overnight flight connecting in Johannesburgh. First birds were a Cape wagtail, grey headed sparrow and Pied Crow in Jo'burgh. Arriving at the Sedia Hotel, Maun, it took a while to sort our rooms out- the hotel having misjudged the number of single travellers in our group. I was given a chalet but told that another lady would be joining me. She never materialised. The pool looked a bit worse for wear (green and horrible) so contented myself with getting to know my travelling companions and doing a bit of birding around the lodge. I travelled with three other couples and three other guys. Our land operation was run by Wilderness Dawning, our guide's name was Solomon.

Birding around the lodge produced red-billed buffalo weaver, Blue waxbill, red-billed firefinch, village weaver, Southern masked and lesser masked weavers, Grey Lourie (Go-away bird), Marico and white bellied sunbirds, Meve's starling, Burchell's starling, Greater-blue eared starling, red-billed francolin, red-billed quela, Swamp Boubou, Grey-backed cameroptera, African paradise flycatcher, magpie shrike, Hartlaub's babbler, Arrow-marked babbler, African red-eyed bulbul, Yellow-billed hornbill, Lilac-breasted roller, red-eyed, cape turtle and laughing doves. Blacksmith plover, african open bill stork, white backed duck, south african shelduck and our first african jacanas down by the Thamalakane river. First bird of prey was a yellow billed kite.

This is the Chalet I was given on the first night:

Grey headed sparrow

Grey Lourie (Go-away bird)

Swamp Boubou

Marico Sunbird

Grey backed Cameroptera

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver- one of the "little five"

Some sort of lizard (not yet ID'd)

Burchell's starling

Red-billed Quelas

Female Village Weaver

Day 2- 2nd November to 4th November - Okavango Panhandle
After leaving the Sedia first thing, we had a long drive along good straight roads to Shakawe, passing a few ostriches en route, where we boarded the houseboat for three nights on the Okavango panhandle.

In hindsight, most people agreed that it would have been preferable to have structured the tour in reverse order, finishing on the houseboat. People were raring to get stuck in to the safari experience and the time on the houseboat was too laid back for some (including me). I personally would have appreciated this winding down time and more comfort after the camping experience.

Whilst on the subject of the houseboat, the experience itself was very pleasant. The crew were friendly and the food was probably the best we had on the trip. the 3rd November was spent travelling to Tsodilo Hills where you can view San bushman rock art which dates back thousands of years.

However, overall I felt that the activities did not quite live up to expectations and I think Explore's itinerary needs reviewing in that respect. I was expecting some of the time to be spent exploring the narrower channels and waterways from the houseboat launch as stipulated in our itinerary. I had in my mind something akin to the mokoro trips, but using the launch with abundant birdlife to view. However, we had only one river safari trip which effectively only took us along the widest part of the panhandle. Whilst this did include viewing the carmine bee-eater colony and other bird and animal life, which was fantastic, the overall experience fell short of my expectations. When I enquired about an additional launch trip, this was not something that Mike (the owner) was prepared to provide, even though there seemed to be ample opportunities to do shorter river safaris when taxiing back to the houseboat (after the Tsodilo hills trip for instance). There was a lot of down time on the houseboat. We couldn't walk far when the boat was moored as Mike was concerned about our safety- but he did not offer any of his crew to give us a guided walk until the last night and that only lasted about 20 minutes. On this walk the guide said it was a great place to see sitatunga at first light, but this was our last night and we were out early to drive to Livingstone so there was no opportunity to look for it. Had we moored there the previous night, we could have had the chance to see sitatunga. Whilst myself and another birdwatcher had come prepared with telescopes so were able to birdwatch from the houseboat, there was little on offer for anyone else. One member of the group asked to do some fishing (which was advertised on the itinerary), but this was only provided under duress as this houseboat doesn't yet have a licence- so effectively if he had been caught Mike would have faced a fine.

That said, we saw some good birds and Hippo, crocodile, water monitor and a green water snake. Bird highlights were, African fish eagles (a pair close to the boat every day), Jacana, Black Crake, African skimmers, Pied and Malachite kingfishers, long toed, african wattled and white crowned lapwings, redshank, ruff, caspian plover, Common and green sandpipers, Greenshank, Black-winged stilt, water thick-knee, colleared pratincole, white breasted and reed cormorants, african darter, purple, goliath, grey, rufous-bellied and green-backed, squacco and black crowned night herons, hammerkop, sacred ibis, white faced duck, red-billed teal, African Hawk eagle, swallow tailled, little green, white fronted and carmine bee eaters, African marsh harrier, African green pigeon, emerald spotted dove, African palm swift, red-faced mousebird, African Hoopoe, African grey and red-billed hornbills, black-collared barbet, bearded woodpecker, wire-tailed, pearl breasted and red-breasted swallows, sand martin and brown throated martins Black faced and southern pied babblers, and dark capped bulbul, yellow breasted apalis, luapula cisticola, tawney flanked prinia, Grey0headed bush shrike, white browed sparrow weaver, spectacled weaver, and fan tailed and white winged widowbirds (non-breediing).

Houseboat Kabbo

Sunset over the Panhandle

Sunrise over the panhandle

Tsodilo Hills Rock art- Giraffe panel

Rhino Panel

the "dancing penises"

A local village

Our guide on his ass

Sunset over the Panhandle

Praying Mantis sp. (on a wine glass!)

Having a fun time on the houseboat

Pied Kingfisher

Malachite kinfisher

Long-toed lapwing

Nile monitor lizard

baby croc

Water lilly

Squacco heron

Water Dikkop

Blacksmith Plover

Carmine Bee-eater

Mokoro Poler

Black winged stilt

Nile Crocodile

November 5th To Livingstone

On our way to Livingstione we crossed over into Namibia and travelled along the Caprivi strip, where we spotted our first Impala and a lone elephant, as well as some more ostrich. We stayed at the Zambezi Waterfront Hotel home to Safari Par Excellence's on site adventure centre where you have the opportunity to book a range of optional activities. After sorting out a flood in my room, I went to enquire about what was on offer. Unfortunately my original plans to hire "bob the birder" fell through when I was unable to get through to him on the phone number I had so I and few others opted for a river safari and helicopter flip in the morning, with a group visit to see the falls in the afternoon. The River safari cost $72 and the Heli flip $110. Entry into vic falls was a further 10$. Be warned if you attempt to walk on the other side of the falls to the marked trails- zambian "guides" will pick you up and try and show you the way. Of course they expect payment but don't tell you until the end. He asked me for $10. I settled with him at $2. Another larger group was asked for $30 but gave their guide $10.

I can highly reccommend the heli flip as the view from Zambia of the falls is very lack lustre at this time of year.

The river safari was pleasant enough but way overpriced for what it was. Compare this to $35 for a similar trip along the Chobe riverfront- I'll come onto that later.

Anyway, Special birds around the waterfront that I saw were Trumpetor Hornbill, Collared Palm thrush, Heuglin's robin, and Crested Barbet. Sadly I dipped on Schlaow's turaco and finfoot. Watch out for the vervet monkeys- they are bold and I got chased by a mother with a youngster. There are also chacma baboons.

The service was pretty dire at the buffet that night but our guide did a good job of getting a discount off our bill.

Magpie shrike

Our First Elephant- Namibia Caprivi Strip

Ostriches

Zambezi River sunset

Vervet Monkey

Hammerkop

Common Sandpiper

Water monitor

Brown-hooded Kingfisher

Open-billed stork

Nile Crocodile

African Jacana

White-fronted bee-eater

White-crowned lapwing

White faced ducks

Zambezi river

Heuglin's Robin

Collared Palm Thrush

Blue Waxbill

Victoria Falls

Lizard sp.

Dragonfly

Trumpetor Hornbill

Black Collared Barbet

Crested Barbet

7th Nov 2008 - Livingstone to Serondella via Kazungula/Kasane
Today we left Livingstone and headed to Kazungula and back into Botswana via the ferry over the Zambezi. African fish eagles and a huge flock of open-billed storks could be seen on the crossing as well as more hippo and crocodiles. When we reached the town of Kasane we heard that our other vehicle carrying the camp staff and our accommodations had had a problem and needed to be fixed. We spent a bit of time just stocking up for our first night and getting a few postcards off before we continued on our way to Serondella along the Chobe riverfront.

We stopped briefly along the riverfront to give the camp staff time to set up and then after lunch we had our first proper game drive. We saw a range of game, particularly the hundreds of elephant for which the park is justifiably famous. Other game on view were Southern Giraffe, Hippo, waterbuck, Kudu, impala (pregnant), Red Leschwe, Burchell’s zebra, warthog, Cape buffalo, and smaller animals such as bush squirrel, banded mongoose and chacma baboon. As the light was failing another group informed us that a lone lioness had been spotted and we went to investigate. We found her walking around. At one point we drove round to wait for her to emerge from some scrub and were parked side on. She walked straight up to our vehicle and literally everyone felt as if she were staring right at them, including me! I’m sure she was working out which side of us to pass on but it was quite a moment!

Birdlife along the riverfront area was also very diverse and we saw, African fish eagle, Tawny and Steppe eagles, Kori Bustard, African spoonbill, Giant kingfisher, Steppe Buzzard, red backed, Souza’s and lesser grey shrikes and Marabou storks.

All the camp sites we stayed at were termed “operator exclusive” sites. They were therefore not the public camp sites where the ablution blocks are and as such the toilet/shower facilities were basic, consisting of a dug out pit with a portable toilet seat and bucket showers. This was as I expected, but not what some others in the group had in mind! They were however, out in the bush with no other groups around us- giving a truly wilderness experience.

That evening was Brian’s 62nd birthday and the camp staff decided to play a little prank on him by presenting him with a birthday cake. According to Mary, another of the group, the frosting tasted really nice, but after struggling to cut the cake, the camp staff came clean and admitted that the cake was actually a piece of frosted elephant dung! They then produced a much more edible cake and we all had a jolly good laugh!

African Fish eagle

Banded Mongoose

African Open-billed storks

Elephants dust bathing

Elephants and Cape Buffalo

Elephants

Chobe Riverfront eles and warthogs

Chacma Baboon

The first lioness we encountered

8th November 2008 – Serondella full day
We had an early morning game drive where we continued to see all the mammals mentioned above plus chobe bushbuck, dwarf mongoose, another lioness, and a family of black backed jackals with young pups. Slender mongoose, Southern giraffe and red Leschwe were also seen but the most exciting sighting of the morning was when we came across a couple of Kudu staring intently into some thick brush. Then they barked some loud alarm calls indicating that a predator might be around. We were all scanning the bushes for any movement when Jim shouted “leopard!” After a few tense moments I managed to pick up on the cat, obtaining a very brief and obscured view. Wow! My first leopard sighting!

Tawny Eagle

White backed vulture

Female Impala

Red-billed Hornbill

Greater Kudu

Burchell's Zebra

Double-banded Sandgrouse

Cape Buffalo

Yellow billed oxpecker on Kudu

Returning to the camp for lunch, we then headed back into Kasane to stock up on food (camp staff) and alcohol/water (the guests) for the rest of the trip. In the afternoon we all took the option of a boat trip along the Chobe riverfront at an additional cost of $35. To be fair, this was a bit of a no option option as no other game viewing was offered for that afternoon- as such basically a stealth fee which I think should have been included in the cost of the tour.
That said it was lovely to be on the river cruising amongst the hippos and birds. Over the course of the day the new birds we saw included Double banded sandgrouse, Whalberg’s eagle, Goliath Heron, Grey heron, Black headed heron, Great white pelican, red and yellow-billed oxpeckers, Senegal and coppery tailed coucals, Black chested snake eagle, White winged and whiskered terns, cinnamon breasted bunting, Hooded and white backed vultures, Kittlitz plover, grey headed and lesser black backed gulls, giant kingfishers (a pair offering great views) black hooded oriole, ruff and yellow wagtail as well as closer views of African skimmers including a juvenile bird. A new mammal sighted from the boat was a lone Puku. We also passed a very dead and very smelly elephant- which had not yet attracted attention from any of the lions in the area, although a variety of vultures and marabou storks were in attendance. Finally our boat guide said he had something special to show us. This turned out to be a lone lioness sitting on the bank of the river. With that last sighting in the bag we headed back to camp.

African Fish eagle

African Darter

Warthog

African Openbill storks

Elephants find shad wherever the can

Hippopotamus

Nile Crocodile

Getting close to a croc

Hippo

Elephant

Puku

African Skimmer

African skimmer

Juvenile African Skimmer

African spoonbills

Gian Kingfisher

Giant Kingfisher

Chobe bushbuck

9th November – Serondella to Savuti Channel
My hopes to go check on the dead elephant were dashed when we just transited out of the park in the opposite direction along the riverfront and on towards our second camp at Savuti Channel. We stopped off to meet Solomon's family and on the way we added some more nice birds including White stork, Crowned plover, Temmink’s Courser, Red-crested Korhaan, Crested francolin, Kori Bustard, Violet backed starling, and non-breeding long tailed paradise whydah. We also added new animals in the shape of leopard tortoise (sadly his shell was in a state having been run over), steenbok and bush duiker. We also saw hyena tracks.

Hyena Tracks

Leopard Tortoise

Bush Duiker

Kori Bustard

Upon arrival at our new campsite the heavens opened and we had quite a downpour and a lot of wind- part of the camp blew away- thankfully my tent stayed put! However, the weather improved sufficiently that we risked a game drive which was unsurprisingly a bit of a damp squib. That was until I spotted a second leopard, sitting up under a bush! We got better views of this one but in such poor light and at such a distance no photographs could be taken. The cat quickly stood up, turned and was off into the thicket. We also saw black backed Jackal and a hippo- which was unusual for this dry area- perhaps the recent rain had fooled it. We also saw a couple of new birds- spotted dikkop and the impressive giant eagle owl (Verreaux's).

Steenbok

Verreaux's (Giant) Eagle Owl

Black Backed Jackal

10th November Savuti Channel (Chobe) to Kwai (Moremi)
We only had one night at Savuti Channel and then headed off down to Kwai in Moremi Game Reserve. So most of the morning was spent transiting- without stopping for much game viewing.

The Kwai area is very beautiful- especially along the Kwai river before you enter the game reserve itself. We stopped there for a tea break enjoying the sunshine and the view. New birds in this area included, Saddle-billed stork, Woolly necked stork, Spur winged goose, Martial eagle, Brown snake eagle, Secretary bird, wattled crane, black and slaty egrets and rufous bellied heron and, en route a pair of greater painted snipe! At camp we had an African barred owlet in a tree. New mammals were an African wild cat which I spotted and a yellow mongoose. Sadly no big cats were seen that day.

Clearly Moremi had received more rain than Chobe before we arrived and, the upside of the rain was there were some fantastic thunderstorms and by the time we got to Moremi all the animals had given birth so there were baby impala, Tseebee, warthog and wildebeest running around plus the park was a lot greener and more beautiful than Chobe.

Male Impala

Secretary Bird

Martial eagle

Martial Eagle

Greater Painted Snipe

Bridge on the river Kwai

The campsite

Male Waterbuck

Saddled-billed Stork

Scrub Hare

Rufous Bellied Heron

Wattled crane

Giraffes at salt lick

Pouched mouse

11th November - Kwai full day
We awoke to more rain! Our full day in Kwai was probably the least productive of the trip for new sightings with only a few new birds including fulvous duck, as well as a couple of black backed jackals. That is not to say there wasn’t game but it was quite spread out and we did not see any cats or other large predators aside from the jackals. The weather didn’t help and people returned rather disheartened.

Dawn at camp

Spur winged goose

Red Leschwe

Juvenile Bateleur

African Spoonbill

Tseebee

Wildebeest

Young Tseebee

Tseebee

Black Backed Jackal

Burchell's Zebra

Bateleur

Impala Nursery

Southern Giraffe

Wattled Crane

Burchell's Zebra

Zebra Foal

Greater Kudu

Portrait of a Kudu

Grinning hippo

Jackal Pup

Wildebeest and calf

Southern Ground Hornbill

Lilac breated roller in Camp feeding young

Bucket showers

12th November – Kwai to Xaxanaka

We packed up camp again and headed for our final two nights camping at Xaxanaka. The route was quite arduous, hampered by a lot of standing water and rain. In fact our guide misjudged a puddle and got the truck/trailer well and truly stuck. Everyone had to get out removing shoes and socks and paddling through the puddle to drier land. Then all the lads got behind the trailer with our guide in the driving seat in an attempt to get us out of our predicament. Where was I you may ask? I filmed the whole thing!

Oops!!!

The cab was flooded but after a lot of toing and froing they managed to roll the truck out of the pothole and we were back on course. That said, Xaxanaka offered much more productive wildlife viewing and, on our afternoon game drive we added southern ground hornbill, Meyer’s parrot, Rosy throated longclaw, Osprey, red-billed firefinch, grey hooded and woodland kingfishers, Arnot’s chat, Jacobin cuckoo and green wood hoopoe to our list.

Vervet Monkey

Young Vervet Monkey

Young vervet monkey

Vervet monkey with baby

Rosy throated longclaw

Red-billed Firefinch

Meyer's Parrot

Southern Giraffe

Oxpeckers on Giraffe

Jacobin Cuckoo

Scenic views

But best of all was when we came across another vehicle on the track watching….Another leopard! And this time he was close! He was sitting right by the road on a fallen tree. It was getting towards dusk and the light was failing, I was shaking so much that a lot of my shots were blurred, but he posed so well that I managed to get a few good ones. He left his tree and walked along the track turning off to the right then settled himself down on a termite mound. Ourselves and another group drove off road a little and parked right next to him. He just sat there nonchalantly as if to say “here I am, your model, take your shots!” We left him there after a short while as the light was failing and we had to return to camp. Our spirits were well and truly buoyed and the alcohol flowed freely than night!

First views of the third leopard- a big male on a fallen tree.

We followed him to a termite mound where he settled down

Posing for camera

Portrait shot

Full frontal!

Sunset

Termites

13th November – Xaxanaka Full day
This was our last full day in Xaxanaka and of our safari. After some rain first thing it turned out to be a beautiful day. It transpired that a hyena had passed through camp during the night but only our guide and the camp staff saw it. As we were having breakfast our guide called silence and we listened to lions roaring close to camp. After a hasty breakfast, we were on our way to look for them. It took a few goes and help from other vehicles but we finally caught up with the pride of 15 (two males, females and some seven month old cubs- cute!!). They were of course doing what lions typically do, which was lazing around, so after a while we agreed to check back on them later.

Sleepy lioness

One of the Pride Males

Nice Male Lion

zzz....

Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting zebra!

Cute little lion cub

Grinning lion cub

Lioness

Lion cub suckling

Lion

Lioness

Lions

Pied Kingfisher hovering

The plan was to check out an area known to be popular with cheetahs but Moremi had other plans in mind for us when we came across a spotty cat heading straight towards us on the track. But it was no cheetah….. it was a fabulous male leopard in broad daylight!!! He passed right along one side of our vehicle and carried on along the track. We had the sighting to ourselves while Solomon radioed the lodge group to come and see it. We had to keep an eye on it so that the other group could see it (life can be hard sometimes!) and we watched him continue along the track, stopping occasionally to scent mark his territory. Soon though he found some cover under some acacia bushes and after he settled down for a rest in a thicket we decided to leave him in peace. But what a fantastic experience and all before lunchtime!!

The 4th Leopard we saw- Series of shots walking towards us!!

Hadeda Ibis

Reedbuck

Lioness

Yellow-billed Hornbill

The group

The first part of our afternoon drive was spent looking in a beautiful open area dotted with ponds and dead trees. The sky was awesome, layered with clouds. We were hoping for wild dog but sadly none were seen. We then returned to the lions who were still where they were and still asleep.

African Fish Eagle

Banded mongoose foraging party

Scenic shot of a termite mound

Hippo

Diederick Couckoo

Flowers after some rain

Sacred Ibis

Burchell's Starling

Shortly afterwards the lodge guide who we’d put onto the leopard in the morning returned the favour when he found us another leopard up a tree! This one was smaller and more distant than the previous sightings so only a record shot was taken but still a gorgeous animal to see. We then returned to the lions who had moved position this time, now lying across the track, but decided it was all too much effort and had gone back to sleep. Finally, Solomon drove us to a scenic spot to watch the sun go down. It was so beautiful and peaceful and the colours and cloud formations awe-inspiring. Sadly some of the group didn’t think so and we were forced to return to the campsite before the end of the sunset. Whilst everyone else was getting stuck into the beers, Ian and I walked a short distance to view the last few rays of light go down.

The fifth and final leopard of the trip - just a record shot

Impala

Sorry, yes more Lions!

Lions

Solomon our guide

Sunset

November 14th Xaxanaka to Maun
This was our last day of the safari and the morning was a real disappointment. Our itinerary stated we had a morning game drive in Xaxanaka and then would drive back to Maun "enjoying the emptiness". Having seen lions the previous night 10 minute’s drive from our camp I had hoped we'd at least pay one final visit to them or drive some of the trails looking for other wildlife. But no, we were up at 05.30 only to be driven at speed straight out of the park, leaving the south gate at 08.40 and arriving in Maun at 10.00. At which point our guide left us at the hotel and didn't return until later that afternoon for our scheduled pleasure flight over the okavango delta. None of us were happy about that.

So with nothing else to do, after a much needed bath I had a wander around the grounds of the Sedia, spotting a pair of slender mongoose as well as a western striped sand snake chasing a lizard (boy are they ever fast!). I also took advantage of the free time to send some more postcards. Just outside my room a pair of swamp boubou performed their courting duet.

Dwarf Mongoose

View of park as we drove to South Gate

Soon enough it was time to take our flight over the Okavango delta. The flight itself was really enjoyable and gives you a different perspective of the delta that we did not get elsewhere on the tour. We sighted a range of game and birds from the plane including views of an African fish eagle flying below us. But the best bit was when our pilot dived low over a lake then pulled up at the last moment and then again low over some trees and back up again! What an adrenaline rush! We also buzzed the other group in their plane at one point. On the horizon we could see a big storm and encountered a bit of turbulence. Whilst our group was fine, two of the guys in the other plane were not so well when they landed.

Views of the Okavango delta from our plane

15th November- Maun to Home
After a leisurely breakfast we just had some free time before heading to Maun airport. I managed to get a couple of shots of the resident African paradise flycatcher but that was about all. Our flight was due to leave at 3pm but we didn’t leave until 6pm owing to a smoking generator and a new plane being flown in to replace it. So souvenir shopping in Jo’burgh had to be cancelled as we made a made dash for our connecting flight home (others with earlier connections were not so lucky). We arrived back at Heathrow at 6am on the 16th.

So that's it. But if you're really keen you can have a look here for even more piccies:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8773601...7609198993732/