Early and late green season in Botswana – 2 trips

[Athene]

I will continue now with Little Vumbura, which had a much friendlier feeling than the other Wilderness camps we had visited before. Little Vumbura is surrounded by water and to reach it you'll need a small boat across the waterways. It is a beautiful setting. It was not full when we were there and we had the full attention of the staff and management. They were excellent. Our guide was Sam.

 

Just before flying out to Little Vumbura it started raining and the flight was a little bit bumpy.

 

 

 

When we arrived the rain had stopped.

 

A few photos of Little Vumbura before the renovation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Athene]

Pictures from our first afternoon game drive

I am not sure about this bird.

Could it be a White-browed Robin-chat?

 

 

Elephant with calf

 

 

 

Sam told is about a lioness with very young cubs. She kept them hidden in dense bushes. Of course we wanted to see them. After a while one came out to join mum, the other two didn't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Female ostrich with chicks

 

 

Giraffes

 

 

It was already late when we found this leopardess. We followed her for a while but it was getting too dark and we left her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ricmiles]

Thanks @Athenefor sharing. It looks like you had one incredible sighting after the other and your photos are so good I was excited to follow even if only behind a screen! 

[Athene]

That's very kind of you Riccardo, thank you so much.

[Athene]

On our morning game drive we spotted three male lions in the high grass. It was a coalition which roamed both the Kwedi (Vumbura) and the Duba concession. One of the males followed a female who was not very happy about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed a while and hoped both would cross the channel but they retreated into the bushes. Andrew suggested to come back in the late afternoon and with a bit of luck they could cross then.

 

Some waterbirds Rufous-bellied heron (Thanks @Tdgraves )

Squacco heron

 

Great egret

 

 

 

A pygmy-goose? taking off

 

 

 

 

Afternoon game drive

Eye and tusk of an elephant

 

 

 

Little egret

 

 

LBR

 

 

Towards the evening we drove back to the area where we had seen the lions in the morning. All the big males were around and also the female.

Our vehicle was in a good position inside the channel and we could watch the lions crossing, one after the other. The female was first (no photo) and the males followed suit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my favourite sighting at Little Vumbura

Edited August 2 by Athene

[janzin]

The lions in the channel are gorgeous, especially that last shot!

 

And yes that's a White-browed Robin Chat in the previous post.

[Tdgraves]

I think your squacco heron is rufous-bellied…

[Athene]

Thank you so much for your kind words @janzin Usually the better photos are my husband's, but this last lion shot is one of mine

[Athene]

@Tdgraves Thank you very much for clarifying the bird ID. I love birds but I am still not good with identifying them.

[Athene]

The next morning was quiet. Andrew and the other two guests were on a Helicopter flight, which was included in this trip. My husband and I were on a game drive with Sam.

 

 

Verreaux's eagle owl

 

 

Red lechwe

 

 

 

Lioness

 

 

Close-up photography

 

 

LBR

 

 

 

 

Edited August 2 by Athene

[Athene]

Sam wanted to look for the buffalos in the afternoon. We couldn`t find them but instead found the wild dogs. As far as I remember Andrew said it was the golden pack. We stayed with them all afternoon and when they decided to hunt we tried to follow them. It was difficult as the pack separated and we had to decide which way to go.

 

Some photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following 3 photos are record shots. It was almost dark when the dogs tried to attack a zebra, which furiously fought back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marg]

WOW!

[John M.]

@Athene Record shots? You're being a little bit hard on yourself😁

[Athene]

Thanks a lot for your comments @marg and @John M., I might have been a little bit hard on my husband. These were his pictures

[Athene]

The next couple of photos are from the next moring, our last full day at Little Vumbura. It was our turn for the Helicopter flight. I didn't take any photos on the flight as I wanted just to watch and enjoy it.  Andrew suggested to look for leading lines, patterns and structures on this flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I very much enjoyed this flight. It certainly gives you another perspective of the beauty of the Okavango Delta.

We continued with our game drive and then it was time for the bush breakfast.

 

Elephant encounters

 

 

 

Bush breakfast

 

 

 

[John M.]

1 hour ago, Athene said:

 I might have been a little bit hard on my husband. These were his pictures

   😁 Give him my compliments. My assessment is based on:  pretty rare action captured in unavoidable difficult circumstances.  

[mopsy]

Wow @Athenesome wonderful photos, delta, dogs, everything!

[Peter Connan]

Zebra is a tall order, even Lions sometimes come short with them. They have a ferocious kick and a pretty mean bite too! That was a pretty amazing sighting, and if it was me behind the camera I would surely have duffed it much worse.

 

I think you are correct on the rapidly-departing waterbird. 

Edited August 5 by Peter Connan

[Athene]

@John M. Ok, I'll pass that on, he will be pleased.

[Athene]

@mopsy  thanks a lot, yes we were very lucky.

[Athene]

@Peter Connan I have looked at some other photos from the sequence and the zebra seemingly attacked the wild dogs after becoming surrounded.

[Athene]

The last pictures from our afternoon game drive at LV

 

Pied kingfisher

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lioness had her cubs hidden in the bush, very difficult to spot and photograph, they were very young and did not come out into the open.

 

 

 

 

Little Vumbura

 

 

 

[Athene]

The next part of the report is about 4Rivers Camp. It is a new camp in contemporary style, very spacious rooms and the setting at a lagoon is beautiful. The food was excellent, the best of this trip.

 

March this year was very hot and the grass was still high. Animal sightings were sometimes a bit hard to come by. Our group had 3 vehicles and we usually set off in different directions but the guides were always in contact with each other. Our guide was Lukas and our tracker was James.

 

Some people in our group had been to Kwara or Splash in the last years and had had excellent sightings previously. Although all the guides tried their best, they agreed sightings were best described as between quiet and normal. The wild dogs could not be found which was a disappointment for the people who had visited beforehand. Nevertheless we had some good lion sightings and one really good cheetah encounter.

 

Here are some camp pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. I forgot to mention that our room was the main part of the family room, so the normal rooms will probably be smaller

 

Edited August 7 by Athene

[Athene]

The first afternoon game drive was fairly quiet. First we looked in the vicinity of the camp and as we couldn't find anything then we drove further to a marshy area.

 

This is a screenshot from my husband's mobile phone showing the location and some of the photos from the Nikon Snapbridge app. The no. 18 shows the camp location. Maybe someone, I am thinking of you @madaboutcheetah can help out with the names of the areas we have been to. I just remember one place which was referred to as "Paradise".

 

 

Zebra foal

 

 

Wattled cranes

 

 

Little stint at our sundowner place

 

 

 

 

 

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Paradise is just an extension of Tsum tsum last mabala @Athene…. You are right, March had really tall grass everywhere after some rains in January leading to slow game drives.  I also remember some very hot days.  I was in Botswana for work in March. Both Gaborone and Maun were hit by an intense heat wave.