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Hwange NP (March 2016)


Grasshopper_Club

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Peter Connan

Beautiful scenery and great sightings, especially birds!

 

The Buttonquail chicks are a sighting of a lifetime!

 

Surely the Roller is a Purple?

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  • 2 weeks later...

What a lovely trip report, thanks for posting this!

 

Looks like a very scenic place and as one member already stated it makes me think of some parts of the okavango delta (although I haven't been there yet...

Aslo: the thick woody patches combined with large open spaces: is this found throughout the park?

Nice photographs also: Proof that wet season enables nice photo opportunities!

Regarding the photo's of the buttonquail chicks: were they lighted with a torch or so? light is beatifull !

 

Looks like you had a great time

Hwange is on my bucket list for sure !

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  • 1 month later...
Grasshopper_Club

Day 4

 

Last but not least, I'm able to continue my trip report @ Hwange.

 

On Day 4, the Day started very well, with some fantastic early morning Lion sightings..just 5min on the car outside Little Makalolo!

 

The lightning was great and the poses of the Lion as well...some very nice shots.

 

 

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Jump! Unfortunately I was focussed to get the reflection out of the water and was not ready to react with the shutter speed but anyway great scenery.

 

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2 Lionesses, with which the Lion tried to stay in contact. But in fact of his bad leg, he was not as quick as the 2 females.

 

On this picture you can see a big hole in his leg behind.

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The Gabar Goshwak in black morph.

 

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Another good pic, to show the tremendous amount of water flooding the tracks from time to time..

 

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We'were heading further south to Ngamo Plains again. And also this time, the sightings were very good down there.

 

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Eland! A big herd of about 60 animals was behind the treeline and coming ahead of us. I've never seen them in such big numbers. Fantastic!

 

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Some big Bulls as well..

 

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Back at Camp, the usual group of impalas was there and the clouds are gathering for another afternoon storm..

 

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My biggest wish to see on this trip was a cheetah....on the evening drive, our Guide Charles was lucky to spot one! Unfortunately a group of Baboons makes the chetah nervous and it went away in a second. So no chance for me to see it, we therefore tried and searched for the cheetah for over an hour around this area....with luck we spotted 2 of them! But again, they went into the high grass and bushes. Tried and tried it again, just before the sun went down completely, we managed to see 1 of them again on a tree!

 

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Making a lot of calls, it looked like, it wasn't catching up with his brother....the 2nd one we've never seen again. We were able then to follow the 1st we've spotted for about 15 minutes. A very fine and nice end of the day.

 

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At the end of the day we were having a Gin tasting out in the Bush! Nice!

 

 

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Grasshopper_Club

Day 5

 

Another fine day on Safari. Incredible sightings again of a lot of Lions...

 

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We we're able to spot a pair of younger male lions catching up in a little fight on the later stage..

 

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Back on the termite mount

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After we've watched the 2 youngsters, we've just realised that on the other end of the vehicle a lot more lions were resting. We spent all the rest of the day with them and watched a big pack of about 12 lions. We were told that maybe the big male lion who takes care of this big pride might be somewhere around. Unfortunately we didn't catch him up on this night. But never the less a great sighting and i musst admit that we've seen a lot of lions, which I wouldn't have expected to see in this time of the year around there.

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michael-ibk

Lovely lion series. I enjoy the green scenery, and they look like they are loving it as well. :)

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SafariChick

@@Grasshopper_Club I had read the beginning of this report but then missed some of the continuation. The Button Quail with chicks was a wonderful sighting and great photos of it! And I'm happy to hear that lone pelican is still around.

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Uh_oh busted

LOVE this report. Hwange looks so different in Green season. It was dry and dusty when we were there in 2012, and we spent 4 nights at Davisons. Totally loved the remote feeling.

Wonderful pictures. Thank you for sharing.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Grasshopper_Club

Day 6 (Morning Transfer from Wilderness Concession to Main Camp)

 

Sadly, this was the day to leave the wonderful Wilderness Concession in the South of the Park. Day started early as usual and I was set up on a private vehicle as I would be transferred back to the main Camp, where I would be picked up by the next Camp at noon. So it was very nice, that this would be a half day Game Drive again in some other parts of the Park/Concession which I haven't seen until now.

 

First of all, a picture from a flower seen the days before in their hundreds or thousands...

 

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Just a short stroll on the other side of the pan, there was a wonderuful secretary bird.

 

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The other car with guests who departed as well, but a little bit earlier then me, heard a cheetah in the near. We then spread a ittle bit out and spotted instead of a cheetah the others were looking for, the big dominant male lion just in front of the car. The one we've missed the day before, as we met the big pride of 12 lions.

 

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We just watched this great male lion for 2-3 minutes and then he was gone. But not a break or anything, we heard the cheetah now as well from our position. Just turned round our car and went back where the other car heard the cheetah first. Came over from another side of the big pan and spotted this nice creature resting on a termite mount from the disctance. 3rd sighting of a cheetah in these few days.

 

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After a few minutes we went back to the Main Camp direction, as we want to go to the Broken Rifle Pan as well this morning. An absolutely amazing morning with a lot of big sightings just within 1 hour or so.

 

But more is on the way..

 

Some Zebra..

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And the first ostrichs...

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Some nice Impalas, I always stop an make some pictures of them. Could just make thousends of pictures of them, they are never the same and in my opinion never a boring theme. A lot of people just don't appreciate them, when they flock in big numbers in some areas.

 

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We didnt have to move much further, just on ther right hand side...a nice breeding herd of Sable! They have been very relaxed and we were able to watch them for about 15 minutes.

 

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And then, some Kudus are gathering with the youngsters from the Sable...uups..

:)

 

They just getting close to each other, nose to nose and then realised, that they don't belong to each other and both heading quickly to the opposite direction...that was very funny to watch..

 

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Kudus are now on the termite mount on the backyard and watching the Sable...

 

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Time was running up, sadly. So we have to drive further to the Main Camp Area. Just when, we crossed the Somalisa Area, a lot of Elephants were heading out of the bush and 2 big heards were grouping up together. I counted at least 60 Ellies, once the congregated.

 

But just let's have a look...

 

 

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Just after 30 minutes and about a thousend pictures more in the box. We have to leave, and rush to the Main Camp to be there at the pick up time, what we fulfilled on the minute. A damn rush of a drive, but it was definately worth it. Just to watch these Elelephants....amazing.

 

As you can see, during the Green Season, everything is possible. I mean what I've seen on that morning drive in terms of variety of game was just amazing. Great end of the first part of my trip to Hwange NP.

 

More to follow, from the northern section of the Park.

 

Cheers

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Grasshopper_Club

Day 6 / Afternoon:

 

Camp Hwange:

 

After a nice game drive from Little Mak. to the Main Camp, I was picked up by Adam one of the guides at Camp Hwange.

 

As I was a little bit late at the meeting point, due to the fact, that we've seen so much on this morning drive, we've get to the Camp quickly.

 

Nevertheless we get some nice sghtings on the way up to the Camp..

 

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Arrived and welcomed very nicely as usual at all the Camps.

 

Camp Hwange is a very nice Camp and very solid constructed with wonderful Chalets. I just arrived and as usual...some food...must admit that the food there is absolutely amazing as everywhere I have been before on Safari. But the Lunch and Dinners there were absolutely outstanding.

 

My Room:

 

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After the Siesta time we went on our Afternoon Game Drive. A complete different one, that anything I've experienced before. The quantity of Game in this area of the park didn't match the density of game in the southern part of the Park during the Green Season. So what to do?

 

Let's start walking to a lone elephant bull in musth...

 

We started walking with both guides as silent as possible from our car into the direction of the Elephant and really taken care not to make any noise from walking. Very slowly and concentrated. We stopped then behind a bush about 7-10 meters behind the elephant and were watching him feeding on a bush for about 5-10 minutes. The Elephant didn't realised that we were even there..quite an adrenalin thrilling activity for an afternoon walk...

 

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An absolute different attitude with Elephants. Everything I've experienced before on walks, was that once Elephants were spotted, we've changed the direction. Not this time and the next few days...walking here is definitely an emphasis of the Camp and their Guides. The walks also on the next days were quite a few hours which was for me one of the reasons to visit the Camp.

 

We've then enjoyed our Sundowners on a very nice and relaxing spot with some G&T as usual...what a great Day!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Grasshopper_Club

Day 8

 

Today we started our tour just in front of the camp and spotted a nice mixed group of animals. Some Giraffe and Zebras as well as 1 solitary wildebeest. The same combination (the same animal group) was seen thereafter alldays around camp.

 

We're heading to the wonderful Masuma Camp site with the sightseeing spot overlooking a big waterhole, which must be full of life during the dry season.

 

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Litte Bee Eaters

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Matabele Ant raid

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So the main Reason for coming up here, was walking. Something we did every day especially in front of Elephants. Today no pictures of them, as the whole thing was so thrilling I didn't want to take pictures :)

 

So we're starting our morning walk just down below Masuma in the thick Bush. The Whole walk was about 3h. We're then climbing up to one of these rock sites to have a better view from up there, as we've seen an Elephant Bull in the near and want to get some picture in which direction he was heading to.

 

Rock Hyrax

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The Elepant Bull we've seen before, now from the top of the hill.

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On our way doward we've been lucky to spot this little owl just sitting in 2m in front of us in a little tree. So we've been on the same level of height which was quite unusal perspective.

 

African Scops Owl

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Our way back to Masuma..

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Back at Camp.

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Our Evening Activity when we get into the Elehant interaction. Unfortunately no pictures of the Elephant Bull which seen by foot in a distance of about 5-7m!!

 

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Ground Hornbills

 

Anyway another fine day in Hwange comes to an end.

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I am just blown away by these pictures...a jackal in full run- never seen that...trotting, but never running. The bird photos are outstanding...and I'm not a birder either, but they are addicting :) I am thrilled to see the pelican is hanging in there. I first saw him a year ago, shortly after he got hurt- watched two hyenas try to catch him (I was horrified) so I really am glad he's there. I love impalas. Never get tired of them- they are so dainty. One of my favorite sundowners was watching a huge herd of 75 or more and the little ones were playing leap frog- just so much fun. I loved the photos of the camps- in Hwange I only stayed at Little Mak and loved it. Just so many wonderful photos- you are really doing that area justice. Oh...love the two young males having at it. Was it more play fighting (my cats do that all the time) and the big beautiful male lion you finally saw- do you remember who it was? When I was there a year ago we came across a group of 8 cubs and 4 females- part of Cecil's group (before he - well, you know :( ) among many lions at Little Mak, but I never saw him. I'm hoping that the large group you saw comprised some of those cubs all grown up. Really- just am loving this TR.

Edited by lmonmm
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Grasshopper_Club

@lmonmm

 

Thank you very much for your kind words and your appreciation of this trip report (or maybe more a photography report :) ).

 

That's a very interesting point about the Hyena. I didn't no the fact that he/se was hurt by 2 hyenas.

 

The same with me, Impalas are never an ordinary or just common sighting for me as they have this kind of gracefull appearance.

 

Yes, Litte Mak is a wonderfull Camp and very well runned with fantastic guides. I've had Charles for the whole stay down there and couldn't highly recommend him enough. The sightings and his kind of tracking the animals was just outstanding. Especially the Cheetahs, we've seen them just for a short while and then we tried to keep up with them for 1h but seen them only once and lost them again. An other vehicle/guide in the near wasn't that patient and has given up after 15min., but we were lucky to stick to the tracks and areas we've seen them the last time and spotted one of the Cheetahs for about 20min. before the sun went down.

 

I'm sorry can't remember the name of the big male lion. Was just to excited as we just spotted a cheetah again in the same timeframe. I also must admit that I was to lazy to make notes in my booklet, wich must be mend for the next trip. But after the usual beers at lunch and the great food as always i've needed my siesta time for a big sleep instead of dropping some lines in my notebook. But I've done the birding and mammal checklist from the Camps and must admit, as I'm not a big birder, I've noticed down 100 different species! And there have been definitely more of them, as I was not able to remember all the names and note them down during siesta time.

 

Here a short movie, not to good but still something of the Jackal in charge of the guinea fowls...never to late

 

DSC_8795.MOV

 

Cheers and happy Safari!

 

 

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One of the great joys of going on safari is discovering new interests. I can remember all too well when I had absolutely no interest in watching birds on my first safari,now i watch them with awe. I have a long list list of birds which i would love to see.

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Grasshopper_Club

Day 9

 

 

We started our day again with an exursion on foot, tracking Elephant Bulls again..

 

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After that little nerve-wracking activity, we strolled back to the car.

 

Our next destination was Mandavu, on the way up north we've spotted some Lion tracks but no sight of them.

 

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Southern Red Bishop

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Mandavu Dam

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After heading back to Camp early afternoon we had our wondefull lunch, one of the best chicken and mushroom pies I've ever tasted!

 

Soon after siesta time, we've watched an old solitary Elephant Bull in front of the Camp.

 

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We then went further through the bush, we've seen a lot of birds and bird nests. But not many mammals until then...

 

A Tsessebe! This was a very unusual sighthing. According to Julian or guide, the Tsessebe is very rare in this part of the Park. Within 5 years this was his only 5th sighting of one of them near Camp Hwange in the North of the Park.

 

The Tsessebe was very relaxed and I was able to manage to get some fine photographs. We've been there for several minutes and were able to watch this gentle antelope. It looks like this one was completely alone and just managed to stay with some Zebras.

 

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On our way back we've seen a dung beetle in the best possible position. Something I've always wanted to see, a Dung beetle with his dung ball rolling along. I've seen a lot of these dung beetles during my stay in Hwang in the Green Season but this was the 1st one in action.

 

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Night Drive.

 

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I really enjoyed my last evening in the Camp and was very happy to put this Camp as well on my itinerary. The guiding there is absolutely brilliant, the Camp fantastic and the whole experience completely different from everything that I've done before in terms of "Walking Safari". In terms of game, during the green season there was definitely more in the south (Wilderness Concesssion). Would really love to see this area and this Camp during the dry season and the whole Park as well.

 

Overall I was very happy to choose the Green Season. Hwange is a very good all year destination and I was really surprised, how much game I've saw during my 9 nights stay in the park!

 

 

Day 10

 

Last Day in Hwange and Zimbabwe. So the transfer was to bring us back to Victoria Falls. With a stop in Sinamatella, we're heading to one of the gates just near the Coal Mine. So we've passed the Coal Mine as well and were then back at VFA at time for the departure flight to Johannesburg.

 

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Goodbye Hwange, Goodbye Zimbabwe..

 

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So that's it....Done! My firts Trip Report!

 

Maybe one more to follow soon, as I'm heading back to Zambia (Kafue) next month!

 

Cheers

 

Grasshopper_Club

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@@Grasshopper_Club. Sorry that I missed this fine report when you started it. Very interesting to see Hwange in the green season and it looks like you've had a great time with lovely sightings.

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Hwange and more Hwange, what a good choice. Nice photo of the zebra herd--in your shower! The lions just kept doing more and more interesting things. On the termite mound, looking up into their faces backed by sky is a fav of mine. So nice to see the sable, a Hwange specialty. I think the cheetah may have wanted to see you too, getting a good view from the tree branch.

 

A very rewarding 10 days in March!

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Thank you for sharing your experiences, this was a fantastic report and I am looking forward to your next one. Hwange looks so totally different in the Green season, so lush and vibrant. Interesting you saw a Tsessebe - I had read they have them (in theory) but nobody ever actually sees them.

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Some really nice lion and cheetah sightings there, but my favorite has to be sable vs kudu. Love that, especially with the young. Sounds like a great trip and I really enjoyed reading this.... don't usually catch up on Southern Africa reports until they are nearly done but that doesn't mean I appreciate them any less. And I always love dry places in the green.

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AfricanQueen

Thank you for the interesting TR and the wonderful pics!

I'm leaving for Zimbabwe next week and I'm very curious about Hwange, as I haven't been there before.

I'm (secretly) hoping to see sable and cheetah but will be happy with everything.

You were very lucky, seeing such an abundance of different wildlife, including the dungbeetle in action!

Thanks for raising my anticipation :) even more!

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I'm so glad that you enjoyed Zimbabwe so much in the green season. I can't wait to go to Camp Hwange in 2018. And yes I would consider going in the green season because I was amazed at just how much wildlife you saw.

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