Winter is approaching and the trees and shrubs have lost almost all their leaves. The grass is golden and in Chobe the winter-blooming Knobby Combretum [Combretum Mossambicense] is already flowering.
In the Delta, the water level continues to rise. Although it is unfortunate that these unusually big floods have affected small villages within the Delta, the positive side is the rejuvenation of the ecology of the Okavango. Such big floods have been recorded in the past and we are fortunate to experience it once again. The flood waters reached Eagle Island Camp at the beginning of May, and the water level still continues to rise rapidly. Delta islands are getting smaller as flood plains fill up and the views from our helicopter flights at Eagle Island Camp are spectacular.
Game viewing has been very good – Zebra and Buffalo are still seen in big herds around the Savute Marsh in the Chobe National Park. This is probably because of the prolonged rainy summer we have just experienced. The water pools are still attracting huge breeding herds of Elephant in the evening, where the little ones have been seen having much fun wallowing in the mud.
Exciting news at Savute - there is a new pack of twenty-one wild dogs. These rare and endangered canines have been regularly spotted throughout the past month.
At Khwai and Savute, the Impala rutting season is upon us - a fascinating time, marked by the explosive bark of the rutting male, heard from miles away.
The Impala is the most common and abundant of African antelopes and for this reason, they are often overlooked. However they are also Africa’s most successful antelope. The males are considered to be the most polygamous in the wild, with harems of up to 45 females.
In northern Botswana, at the end of every rainy season, male Impalas enter a period known as the rut. Individual mature males, around four years old, compete aggressively for mating rights. The strongest animal will reign supreme and win his rights over the female herd, whilst the weak are eliminated from the gene pool.
The dominant male will then spend the rest of his life mating, fighting and protecting his harem, so much so that he does not have much time to eat or watch his own back. Over time he loses so much strength that he often falls prey to predators before he even sees his own babies.
Leopard sightings have been exceptionally good this month in both Savute and Khwai. We have become spoilt, often sighting more than one Leopard on each game drive. With the male Impalas in rut, so the Leopard have been enjoying the spoils too.
Lion sightings have also been spectacular and I would like to share this story with you – an experience that took place at Khwai a couple of weeks ago:
Just 10 minutes into our first afternoon game drive we spotted a small herd of Impala in the middle of the road. Nothing odd about that, we just watched them for a while; but then all of a sudden the male Impala jumped up and started making funny noises -this was the warning call. We started to look around excitedly until one of our guests spotted it – a female Leopard sitting on the side of the road, not too far away, silently stalking the Impala. We watched her for quite a while until she gave up. We moved on to have our sundowners and then back to camp.
The next morning I knew it was going to be tough as I hadn’t heard any Lion calls during the night. However not long into the drive we picked up two fresh Leopard tracks, both adults, which is not common. After only five minutes of tracking, we found them - a female and an almost fully grown male cub. The two cats were so relaxed and enjoying themselves so much that it was hard to move on from them.
I was feeling very satisfied that we had had two good sightings in less than twenty-four hours, but there was more. Just around the corner and up a tree was a huge male Leopard with an Impala kill. We watched the graceful cat feeding whilst in the tree for quite some time and then decided it was time for our brunch.
On our way back to camp, we picked up Lion tracks that didn’t appear too fresh, so I wasn’t very interested. But suddenly my attention was caught by a Hooded Vulture in a tree. Sitting under the tree was a young male Lion. I drove closer and there they were - four adult Lionesses, one sub-adult male, a sub-adult female and four young cubs all enjoying a Zebra kill.
After watching them for quite some time we were very ready for our own meal – we almost missed our brunch but no-one was complaining. We had had a fantastic morning.
Birdlife is now at its best at Eagle Island and bird calls fill the air. The Swamp Buobou tops the hit list, especially when the males and females are heard singing their melodious duets in the afternoon.
With the water holes starting to dry up in Savute, the water dependant migrants have slowly started to leave the area, however the birdlife is still very good. Some of the bird sightings include Secretary Birds, Brown Snake Eagles and many Kori Bustard. A Barn Owl is also nesting at Marabou Pan.
The cold mornings force the Crocodiles to come out of their hiding places and lie in the sun. They normally stay out until it begins to cool down at the end of the day. Water Monitors are also often seen basking in the sun. It is almost hibernation time for most snakes and so we are starting to see less of them.
The big news is that after it dried up almost twenty-eight years ago, the Savute Channel is flowing again! The “mystery” river ceased flowing in the summer of 1982 and stayed dry until today. The Channels has not yet reached Savute Elephant Camp and we remain hopeful that it will. When fully flooded, the Savute Channel is a mighty 100km long.
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