Ebb and Flow, ebb and flow in SLNP

[Kitsafari]

Soon we hear guineafowls before we see the leopard. The poor female cat is being harangued by the birds, and is driven to a gully. She tries to hunker down and hide but the birds are harassing her on both sides of the gully. She gives up, comes up from the gully and moves off the bank and quietly slinks off into the bushes. It’s surprising that the cat gives in to the bullying, but it shows that guineafowls can turn the tables on the predator too.

 

 

A leopard bathed in the dusk light

 

 

facing the guineafowls' wrath

 

 

 

being chased into the gully

 

 

padding off softly

 

here's a vidoe why I get it that the cat couldn't wait to get away from all that nagging too!

 

Edited November 2, 2014 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

We follow the cat, although Moffat is closing in too quickly and too close, so we ask him to back off a little so as not to stress the cat. There is only just a self drive vehicle and us.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

The rest of the drive is pleasant in the cool air. Although we don’t see many vehicles in the daylight hours, we see quite a few spotlights as night falls. But there aren't so many that we cannot avoid them. the motto during Tafika night drives "Avoid. We don't want to eat their dust."

 

While enroute to beat the 8pm closing time, we hear a crash. Moffat stops and I turn to my right. A sausage tree shakes violently followed by hisses and growls, and a leopard drops from the tree. The guides speculate that 2 leopards are fighting. Moffat tries to enter the thick bush to get to the tree but the leopards are gone.

 

 

We still hear intermittent growls and somehow Moffatt miraculously finds the spot in the pitch black night where they are. a male leopard growls at us, hides behind a bush but is reluctant to move off, stealing glances up a tree. Mupuko shines the light and finds another leopard on the tree and it’s a female. We have stumbled on a mating pair but it looks like the female is an unwilling participant. The male decides to move off while we are there. And we have the viewing all to ourselves.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

We make it to the gate by 8pm, thanks to Moffatt's skilful and little faster than usual driving. Back at the chalet we find tree frogs that have taken residence on our mosquito nets and on our hand towels in the bathroom.

 

 

 

Bonding with my ziploc clothes bag

[Kitsafari]

The next morning, Moffat brings us to the salt pans for dogs. The dogs like hanging around the salt pans but they are nowhere in sight when we are there. It’s a lovely drive. We drive through a beautiful mopane grove shining on a floor of red leaves that glisten like gold in the morning light. An interesting piece of detail – for those who asked for it! – new shoots on mopane trees start to emerge a couple of weeks before the onset of rains. When you see the shoots, you get ready for the rainy season. This is around the time when the impalas start giving birth to the young.

 

 

a baobab signals the start of the mopane woods

 

 

Mopane trees

 

the ground carpeted with red mopane butterfly leaves

 

Edited November 2, 2014 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

The mopane bush comes up next and with it, the tse tse flies come out with a vengeance. There were no flies at kaingo but the flies make up for lost time and follow us to the pans. Because of the bites I develop a rash that for the rest of the trip.

 

 

jasmine flowers

 

 

a lonely jasmine tree, but the fragance is heady when you pass the tree. lovely.

 

 

treeline in the background

 

[Kitsafari]

we are warned not to expect much wildlife on the drive to the salt pans. the animals tend to concentrate more on the western side of the park, while the eastern side see less density, partly because of the hunting concessions that lie towards the east.

 

Still we see a bit of birdlife along the way.

 

 

a pair of male and female white browed sparrow weavers, which build single nest, unlike the buffalo weavers which build a large communal nest.

 

 

is this a LBR? the colouring is rather different.

 

 

 

 

double banded sandgrouse trying to blend in with the dried grass

[Kitsafari]

We reach a man-made hot springs, dug many years by a concessionaire that was to build a lodge there. I can’t recall why the plans were abandoned but it is now a lovely oasis amid the dry plains and I am glad the lodge did not materialise. The place is so tranquil and feels so peaceful, remote and yet so private. Undeniably, it belongs to the wildlife who can enjoy the beauty in quiet. with no other vehicles in sight, we also get to soak in its tranquillity.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2014 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

The springs created a little stream that ends in a delightful delta of green grass. The entire stretch attracts numerous plains game, birds and predators. It is the only source of water during the dry season for many miles around.

 

a sequence of crowned cranes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a closeup

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2014 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

An oasis of calm, respite and life

 

 

southern ground hornbill

[Kitsafari]

Along the stream, there is a small oasis filled with numerous birds and littered with bones and buffalo skulls. There used to be a thriving salt pans lion pride that was 19-lion strong. But a strange disease took hold and the lions were dying twos and threes, leaving only 5 surviving young lions. By then, the lions had moved away from the salt pans of death to the villages, and stayed there. The pride has flourished again but the human-lion conflict potential is there, and if hunting of cats is renewed, they’ll be in the front line.

 

This time, we see a strange disease take hold of the vultures. While at the oasis, we notice a yellow billed kite flying down to a carcass. We drive closer and see it is eating a vulture. At lunch that day, two young Englishmen that were self-driving said they saw 3 dead vultures at the oasis the previous day. The next day when we return, we find two other dead vultures, and a dying vulture standing at the oasis. Remote Africa sent one of the carcasses to ZAWA for an examination but we haven’t heard the results yet. But after that episode, no more dying vultures were seen.

 

[Kitsafari]

Vultures are in the sky and they are flying low over a certain area. Moffatt heads into the bush to look for signs of a kill. we find a Greater Kudu male head. the stag had been eaten fairly cleanly. no other predators are around; only the white backed vultures and the hooded vultures. Disquieted by the sight of a kite eating a dead vulture, Moffatt is oddly silent and doesn’t want to stay long at the sight.

 

[graceland]

@@Kitsafari, your photos show that no matter how little game along the drive, the beauty and serenity (along with many birds) makes any drive through the bush worthwhile!

 

I had a terrible fear of tsetses (as discussed before our Ruaha expedition); however in Zim they'd land on me - and NOT bite! Heaven. I owe it to "Mosi-guard", recommended by our guide, Moli, before heading to TZ (but not needed) and thankfully stuffed in my bag for Zim, just in case.

 

Those bees that swarmed me during our Mana lion adventure did not sting either. Weird.

[Kitsafari]

The delta is a very scenic landscape of emerald green. It is a favourite haunt of crowned cranes, and they are accompanied by a host of other animals and birds.

 

 

a haven for crowned cranes

 

 

a treeful of red billed quelas

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

On the way back to camp, a huge herd of buffalos creates a roadblock. As Moffatt carefully picks his way between them the stream of buffaloes seems endless. It is pretty amazing to drive amid the huge herd, estimated about 700, plenty of them walking in the bushes. The buffaloes are very calm and are curious, some stopping to watch us while others carry on walking towards the river. I am so fascinated by the sheer numbers of buffalo i forget to take a wide shot.

 

 

dagga boys

 

 

just a small portion of the huge mass of buffaloes on their way to the river

 

[Kitsafari]

Evening sees Lloyd taking over from Moffatt, who takes time off to return home in a nearby village. Lloyd has 20 years of guiding experience, 4 with Shenton and 16 with Remote. We have very interesting and at times intense discussions with him while on the drives and during sundowners on hunting, Tafika, Nsefu and life in Nsefu in general.

 

 

Essentially, the local villagers saw no benefit from hunting concessions. Only a handful was employed during the short dry six-month season, and each person would take on 5 jobs that would have gone to 5 different persons at the photo safari lodges. Any revenue shared went to the headman who built a nice big new house on the higher grounds while villagers stayed on the lower grounds which get flooded during the rainy season. No lights, no medical supplies, no schools during those longs years of hunting concessions, until Tafika came into the picture.

 

Almost on entry into the park via the coastal road, H spies a leopard lolling on a branch in a tree. Lloyd eases us just below the leopard but she is very relaxed and at one point closes her eyes to nap. After a short while, she comes down the tree and disappears. We are the only vehicle, there and remains so for much of the evening drive. It is extremely pleasant not to bump into vehicles or trail behind in their dust, or crowd round viewings such as this. she is about 1.5 years old and Lloyd seems to know who she is. she's so cool and poses so much that we can't help but take quite a few pix of her. she's stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and one last one....

[Kitsafari]

Next is a young bull elephant slowly climbing up the bank. As he comes up, he moves closer to have a better look at us. As our back is to the bank, Lloyd fires up the engine ready to move us away, but the ellie loses interest in us. He heads to a rock, and for the next 20 mins we have such fun and laugh a lot as he scratches almost every part of his body, except his back. It’s amazing how relaxed he is in our presence such that he can focus on meeting such a basic need! Marvellous viewing. we have so many pix and videos on this but I won't spam this thread!

 

scratch that itch sequence:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

As luck will have it, my camera battery dies and I’ve forgotten to bring a spare. We see a host of different types of mongoose, Lloyd rattles off a list of names but, after a while, H gives up trying to take impossible pictures of the fast moving creatures and just focuses on enjoying the view. But we finally nailed a satisfactory picture of a genet – and a wonderful catch of a standing genet at that!

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

As Lloyd drives down into a gully, the spotlight picks up a lion rounding a bend. We follow the cat, which turns out to be a lioness. She walks up a steep bank, and Lloyd changes gear and tackles the bank. As we come up, the headlights pick up 2 tiny cubs of about 3 to 4 months. To my utter delight, the cubs mew at the lioness. I’ve never heard them call and it is such a beautiful gentle cry for its mother, almost like their distant cousins the domestic kittens.

 

 

As the vehicle comes up the bank, we come up to a sight – the Nseful pride of 3 lionesses and eight cubs of about 5 to 6 months in a dry lagoon. A male subadult lion joins them later. They are on the move and the lioness mother joins them. Lloyd thinks the mother has just introduced her cubs to the pride. There are 3 more lionesses missing.

 

 

The prides walks on the lagoon but a porcupine crosses our path. We have had such bad luck trying to catch a pix of the slippery creature that Lloyd decides to follow the fellow. The porcupine runs ahead and we follow closely until the headlights pick up a crouched lioness straight ahead. The sub-adult lioness had heard the porcupine running to the pride, and as we drive, the porcupine running away from us is running straight into the arms of the lioness. The lioness catches it and the porcupine pops all its quills and the cat drops the porcupine which runs faster than we have ever seen one run before. It makes a lucky escape. I would have felt terribly guilty if it was caught.

 

I don't have good pictures for this. the pictures came out really bad. so only a couple of soft focus pix.... but I'm very happy with that sighting.

 

 

[Kitsafari]

sunset from the first evening drive: i didn't know which one to put up, so i'm putting up 3...

 

[Kitsafari]

@@Kitsafari, your photos show that no matter how little game along the drive, the beauty and serenity (along with many birds) makes any drive through the bush worthwhile!

 

I had a terrible fear of tsetses (as discussed before our Ruaha expedition); however in Zim they'd land on me - and NOT bite! Heaven. I owe it to "Mosi-guard", recommended by our guide, Moli, before heading to TZ (but not needed) and thankfully stuffed in my bag for Zim, just in case.

 

Those bees that swarmed me during our Mana lion adventure did not sting either. Weird.

 

 

@@graceland those flies are really horrid. but it sounds like Mosi-guard works for you! where can I get it from? i've got to google it for the Kenya trip.

[graceland]

 

@@Kitsafari, your photos show that no matter how little game along the drive, the beauty and serenity (along with many birds) makes any drive through the bush worthwhile!

 

I had a terrible fear of tsetses (as discussed before our Ruaha expedition); however in Zim they'd land on me - and NOT bite! Heaven. I owe it to "Mosi-guard", recommended by our guide, Moli, before heading to TZ (but not needed) and thankfully stuffed in my bag for Zim, just in case.

 

Those bees that swarmed me during our Mana lion adventure did not sting either. Weird.

 

 

@@graceland those flies are really horrid. but it sounds like Mosi-guard works for you! where can I get it from? i've got to google it for the Kenya trip.

 

Mosi - Guard is found in the UK....and I ordered it via Amazon...I believe several folks here have talked about it as another called "Rid"

 

They are in stick form (like deodorant sticks - so TSA ready!)

 

Hope it works as well for you as well as it worked on me... (and wish I were going with ya'll )

[Kitsafari]

@@graceland i wish you were too! it's only 3.5 months away now.

 

mosi-guard seems to be distributed in Malaysia as well. i'm heading up there on wednesday, so i shall look out for it. if it works well for you, it's good enough for me.

 

thanks for letting me know.

[SafariChick]

Really enjoying this latest section of the TR - it looks so lovely at Tafika and I love all the sightings you had! That female leopard in the tree was gorgeous and posed so nicely for you! Love the genet and the porcupine photos - and the story of the porcupine narrowly escaping the lions. How lucky to see the little lion cubs and hear them calling too.

 

Are there tsetses in Kenya where we'll be too, I wonder (the Mara)? Yes, Sangeeta and I have some RID purchased from the UK in preparation for them in Kafue - will see if I have any left over to bring to Kenya in case it's needed and will report on how it works! Is it the same ingredients as Mosi-Guard I wonder? And why don't they sell this stuff in the U.S. - do we just not go on enough safaris from here? Or is there some ingredient that is not FDA-approved I wonder? But I digress, continue on with the report!

[michael-ibk]

Great sightings! Love the standing Genet and the Ele with an itch.