Botswana…A Photographer’s Dream

It happened on our first morning at Duba Plains! After torrential evening and morning rains, we came upon a mother and her three cubs. About two hours of watching their antics as they chased, tackled and romped with each other, is all that was needed…we were hooked! To the extent that on our next game drive we went searching for them! And, I must say, with great success thanks to our guide Solly!

We set out around 5:45am – 6:00am every day for our morning game drive. This particular morning I happened to notice hundreds if not thousands of these spider webs of various shapes and sizes covered with dew and all back-lit by the sun. I asked Solly to stop the vehicle immediately and began shooting away.

Baby elephants are like little children with a new toy when it comes to their trunks. They spend hours figuring out what this thing is and what it can do.  In fact, it often looks as the trunk has a life of its own as it moves around in ways that seem complete disconnected from the baby. This guy was having a ball with a stick!

We spent nine hours out on our drive this morning and into the afternoon.  Solly kept asking if we wanted to go back for some food.  No way!  Not with what was going on. One of the most amazing drives ever in Africa started by finding our mother and three cubs again. Mom set out to hunt on her own. Although barely audible, she signaled the three cubs to stay. On command, the three of them disappeared into a thicket of bushes, not to be seen for two hours until she returned. We followed her for about a mile and she made the kill and dragged it back 3/4 of the way. She then went to retrieve the cubs.  At the sound of her call from about 300 yards, all three emerged from under the bush and ran to mom!

Sun Downers are a ritual on game drives in Africa. It is a time to stop your vehicle and enjoy a glass of wine and some snacks as you watch the sunset. Although we usually passed on the wine and snacks, we never passed on the sunsets. How could we… they were some of the most amazing sunsets I had ever seen. Every night the sky would be painted with this incredible array of colors.

It’s true…Botswana is a photographer’s dream. Interested in planning a safari adventure of your own? Click here for a list of travel special and start planning your trip today!

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Call of the Wild ~ Parent and Child

When you travel to Africa, you inevitably hear someone make reference to having safari eyes. What that basically means is seeing more. Two people can look out at the same savanna. One might see only grasslands rippling in the wind. The one with safari eyes might also see a jackal sitting in the grass, an eagle perched on a treetop, and the long necks of giraffes in the woodlands beyond.

Getting safari eyes is not some natural aptitude or an acquired skill. It’s all about slowing down and paying attention to everything around you, using your eyes, your ears, your sense of smell. In general, your instincts—something we all have but kind of lose as we get tangled up in our packed day-to-day schedules, our ever-present electronics and our long-term agendas.

Last month, my almost-13-year-old daughter and I spent the bulk of our 10-day trip through Botswana and Zambia, getting our safari eyes.

We had gone to Southern Africa with the cliché safari expectations: to see lions, elephants, leopards, zebra, giraffe and other animals in their natural habitat. With the exception of the rhino, we saw all of the high-profile (the new name for the original hunter’s title, the big five) animals. In fact, we saw them all very early on, very close up.

What I didn’t expect is that we’d see so much more, not only in the way of wildlife and plant life, but of these countries and their people in general, and of each other.

We were on a Wilderness Safaris trip, which took us to four different luxury tented camps, via five Cessna flights and to and through some of the planet’s greatest wilderness areas. We visited the Kalahari Desert, the Okavango Delta and the Linyanti Reserve in Botswana and then moved on to Zambia, where we were based on the shores of the voluminous Zambezi River, not far from Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Over the course of the trip, we found ourselves rambling over bumpy plains in 4 x 4 Land Rovers, racing along in speedboats through watery channels lined with papyrus, and watching some of the most spectacular horizon-filling sunsets I’ve ever seen.

Lions, Hippos and Honey Badgers…Oh MY!

It being spring in Southern Africa, we were able to observe many newborns and young animals. We watched lion cubs play, as the mom sat protectively nearby. We saw many baboons grooming their little ones and scolding them when they got out of line. We had a baby elephant try out his charging skills on us, by flapping his baggy ears, trying to look bigger than he was and rushing toward us—as his parents looked over. He got it all wrong. To really charge, you need to pin the ears back.

But it wasn’t just sweetness and cuteness. While we didn’t see a kill, we couldn’t help but notice how stressful it must be to live in a world where you’re on everybody’s menu. Living like that, you use all your instincts and your body language to control matters. One morning, our jeep must have woken a hippo sleeping in the bulrush. Surprised, he flared his nostrils and glared at us, warning us not to come any closer. We inched away. While his size was certainly intimidating, we learned that here in the plains, it’s not just the size of an animal you need to worry about. It’s how aggressive and confident they are. In fact one of the most frightening creatures of them all weighs less than 30 pounds. It’s hard to imagine, considering its name, but the African honey badger, will go face to face with animals 5 times its size. With Its four-inch claws and indomitable nature, nobody gets in its way. Even the lions are so afraid of them, that the bushmen used the small animal’s scent around their camps at night to keep the big cats (and snakes) away.

Learning from the Locals

The best example of “safari eyes” was made stunningly clear to us one morning on the plains when we headed out for an early morning game drive with Zee, our guide at one of the camps. Minutes into the trip, he slowed the vehicle down, spotting tracks on the dirt road ahead.

“Lions,” he said, rubbing his hands together, excitedly.

The next two hours, we witnessed an extraordinary ability to track these cats. At times, we wondered if he was crazy, as seemingly randomly, he would abruptly turn the vehicle into the bush and forge on. Periodically he would quickly turn off the engine and hold up his hand, stopping us from talking so he could listen to the baboons, the birds and other species giving clues. When lions are lurking about, the whole savanna is on alert. Occasionally, he would connect with his fellow guides on the radio, who were all tracking them in adjacent areas. After a while, my daughter and I started to think it was just a long ride and gave up on the idea of seeing them.

And then it happened…right in front of us, there they were. Five lions, looking at us as if to say, “What took you so long? “ It was as if knowing Zee was our guide, they knew it would just be a matter of time before we found them.

Mom and Daughter Time

Being away from the routines of home, the trip gave my daughter and me countless opportunities to learn more about each other. One night, in an hours-long thunder storm (which though beautiful, looked as if it was electrocuting the entire African continent), I learned that my daughter has a greater sense of humor than I thought. While I was ramrod tense through the entire event, she was completely energized and seemingly thrilled by the drama of it all.

I also saw that she was a bit tougher than I am in many circumstances. Another night, a growl (which turned out to be a baboon right outside the screen), catapulted me out of bed and sent me running for cover while she cooly said, “Mom, just go back to sleep.”

I also discovered that, if motivated, she will get up at 5:00 in the morning and not complain. Not sure if it had anything to do with the pre-dawn breakfasts, which—at some camps—were served around a bonfire, or the fact that the early game drives really did yield the most fruitful sightings.

Being alone together far from home also gave me the opportunity to help her process some of the “melancholies du voyage” or “the travelers woes” such as homesickness. One morning, about midday through the trip, we were driving along in a safari jeep through an area that looked almost biblical with sculpture-like leadwood trees, a couple of Greater Kudu with massive horns and wildly different birds everywhere. Though beautiful, home seemed very far away. Then we noticed the smell of sage in the air. As we both inhaled the piney scent, I casually mentioned that “When we get home, I’ll make a little sauce with sage, butter and garlic and we’ll have it over ravioli.” She smiled. But it wasn’t just the anticipation of a home-cooked meal that she was smiling about.

“Mom,” she said. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

–Susan Farewell

Photo Credits: All of the above photographs were provided by Wilderness Safaris. The photo of the lions and the zebras was taken by Michael Poliza. The photo of the elephants was taken by Dana Allen.

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Birding the Okavango

I recently had the good fortune to spend several days birding in the Okavango Panhandle – where the Okavango River enters Botswana – with top bird guide Richard Randall. I had actually enlisted Richard’s assistance to conduct a biannual waterbird census in the area, but took advantage of his expertise to find some of the Okavango ‘specials’ for which the Panhandle is renowned. Lawrence Drotsky, who grew up in the area, provided us with a boat, and his knowledge of the birding ‘hotspots’ contributed in no small measure to our success and enjoyment.

On the first morning, I woke to a resounding ‘dawn chorus’ which told me quite unequivocally that I was in the Okavango – the bubbling, watery-outpouring calls of Coppery-tailed Coucals and gentle cooing of African Mourning Doves pervading my subconscious. Soon however, my dreams were shattered by the vibrant duets of competing White-browed Robin-Chats, each rising to a crescendo before abruptly ending. The harsh, ratchet-like calls of Swamp Boubous further disturbed my reverie, and I opened my eyes to see the sun – a huge pastel-pink orb – separate itself from the horizon. When the icon of the Okavango – the African Fish-Eagle – gave its first loud, ringing call, I was already on my way.

African Fish-Eagle Photo by P Hancock

We set off upstream from Drotsky’s Cabins near Shakawe Village, heading for Mohembo where our count was to start. En route, we kept a look-out for the globally threatened African Skimmer which breeds on exposed sandbanks at the river’s edge. BirdLife Botswana has been monitoring the breeding success of this species for over a decade now, and working to create an awareness of their plight; fishermen inadvertently disturb them and cause them to abandon their nests and chicks. We were happy to find that their numbers had stabilized when compared with previous counts. As we passed Shakawe Village, Lawrence pointed out large evergreen riparian trees used as daytime roosting sites by the elusive Pel’s Fishing-Owl – the other Okavango icon – and we were lucky to catch a glimpse of the huge ginger raptor peering down through the foliage at us. Lawrence also knew where to find roosting White-backed Night-Herons, another species on our must-see list; the bird is strikingly beautiful, but its attraction, like that of the Fishing-Owl, lies more in its secretiveness. After having good views of several individuals, we were satisfied to commence our waterbird count.

African Skimmer by P Hancock

The Okavango River meanders between two faultlines in the Panhandle, and in places is lined with tall Papyrus sedges, home to one of Richard’s favourite birds, the Greater Swamp Warbler. In other places, downstream from Mohembo, there are extensive floodplains, and this is where the productive birding is to be had. It is on these shallowly inundated areas that we looked for and found the near-endemic Slaty Egret, an elegant, small egret which has the bulk of its global population centred on the Okavango. This is undoubtedly one of the best places to see the species. Similarly with the Wattled Crane – the Okavango Delta has the largest single population of this globally threatened bird, and a few individuals can usually be found wading through the shallows. The open floodplains are home to almost every southern African heron and egret species – from the Goliath (the largest heron in the world), down to the smaller Squacco, Rufous-bellied and Black herons, they were all included in our count. African Darters and Reed Cormorants abounded, and large numbers of White-faced Ducks and Egyptian and Spur-winged geese kept us busy.

After passing Drotsky’s Cabins, we headed downstream to Xaro Lodge, where we planned to overnight. Before we reached the lodge, Richard identified the strange staccato call of the Western Banded Snake-Eagle, and we saw the bird circling high overhead. Although we did not have a good view of it, we were nevertheless able to tick the species off our must-see list. Xaro Lodge belongs to Lawrence’s brother, Donovan, an accomplished birder and photographer, and we spent the last hour of daylight with him searching the dense riverine forest around the lodge for the most beautiful of all forest birds, the Narina Trogon. This striking red-and-green bird has a ventriloquial call, and the maddening habit of sitting motionless, making it very difficult to locate, and as dusk fell, we gave up the search. Our perseverance was however unexpectedly rewarded by good sightings of a Bat Hawk and a pair of African Wood-Owl as we made our way back to the lodge in the gathering gloom.

Early the following morning, we made a detour off the main river into a quiet backwater, the Ngarange Channel, where we knew a completely different type of habitat, with its associated birds, was to be found. The lily-covered lagoon was full of African Jacanas, and as expected, we saw several of the diminutive Lesser Jacanas. Colourful African Pygmy Geese were numerous, although difficult to see among the waterlilies until flushed – a close-up sighting of a male presenting his lifetime mate with an unopened lily flower remains one of the indelible memories from the trip. White-backed Duck numbers were lower than usual, but we were rewarded with a sighting of Allen’s Gallinule – also feeding on waterlily buds.

African Pygmy-Goose by P Hancock

Back in the main channel, our waterbird count continued, with African Darters and Reed Cormorants still the most numerous species. On every bend in the river, another pair of territorial African Fish-Eagles was seen, and at one stage, we struggled to count an enormous flock of thermalling African Openbills, a few thousand strong, heading southwards. The only other birds of interest were the occasional Malachite and Giant kingfishers.

However, we knew there was a treat in store for us when we reached Red Cliffs, a place where the river cuts past a high embankment and thousands of Southern Carmine Bee-eaters nest in holes tunneled into the sandy substrate. When breeding is in full swing, this spectacle will overload your senses – the flashing colours and melodious, bell-like calls of large numbers of these flying jewels creates a vibrant scene unrivalled elsewhere by the Okavango’s rich avifauna. Since our waterbird count ended at Red Cliffs, we were able to enjoy watching the interactions between the bee-eaters as they vied for every passing dragonfly to feed their voracious chicks.

Although we were disappointed that our count had come to an end, we were satisfied that waterbird numbers are still healthy. The Panhandle remains one of the best birding spots in the Okavango – an area that boasts over 450 bird species. Furthermore, it is easily accessible and the hospitality of the Drotsky family is overwhelming – the accommodation they offer is run to a high standard, and yet is quite affordable. In the words of my friend Richard “It is a real privilege to work in this bird-rich area, where a good variety and number of species can be seen in a near pristine, beautiful environment. Who needs to look further?”

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Why go on Safari during the Green Season? That’s simple; the Botswana wilderness is absolutely breath taking at this time of the year, birding and game viewing opportunities are abundant, and African travel companies offer amazing specials!

The Bush is Alive

The seasonal rains turn Botswana into a lushly green wonderland and wildflowers speckle the landscape everywhere you look during Botswana’s Green Season. With an abundance of food and water, the wildlife is exceptionally active. Plus the Green Season is also Baby Season in Botswana! Get your cameras ready to capture baby animals in the wild hitching rides on their momma’s backs, frolicking in the tall grasses and generally just getting into mischief wherever they can.

A Bird Watchers Dream

According to Birding Botswana.Com, when you visit Botswana during the Green Season, bird watching is at it’s best. You will be treated to a huge variety of bird species.

“From the world’s biggest bird (the Ostrich) to the heaviest flying bird (the Kori Bustard) to the most numerous of all birds (the Red-billed Quelea), Botswana has a truly impressive variety and quantity of bird species.”

Instead of traveling around the world to get a glimpse of 100’s of uniquely remarkable birds, it makes sense to travel to Botswana now and have them come to you!

Outstanding Safari and Travel Specials

If you have had thought that there was no way to afford an African Safari, think again. Traveling to Botswana during the Green Season is the best time of year for affordable African Safaris. Travel discounts abound during this season, which gives you the opportunity to bring your family and/or friends along on this trip of a lifetime.  For more information on Botswana Travel please contact Botswana Tourism at 1-888-675-7660.

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