Early and late green season in Botswana – 2 trips

[Athene]

First morning game drive at 4Rivers

We drove to the marshy area (marking 21) where we had been the previous afternoon. There was a lioness with her son and daughter. The son had been beaten up by the resident pride males and was in a bad condition. You can see the wounds on his body and he had not eaten in a while. Pictures of mother (who had new cubs somewhere hidden according to Lukas) brother and sister. Grooming between mother and daughter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lechwe

 

 

Woodland kingfisher

 

 

 

 

African darter and black egret

 

 

Sequence of a blue-cheeked bee-eater (I am not sure about the ID)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marabou storks

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 8 by Athene

[Athene]

The afternoon game drive was quiet.

 

Baboon

 

 

Is it a Wahlberg's eagle? Correction Tawny eagle, thanks @Peter Connan and  @JimS

 

 

 

 

LBR

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 19 by Athene

[Athene]

Morning and afternoon game drives combined

 

Good looking hyena

 

White-headed vulture

 

 

Bateleur - my favourite eagle

 

 

 

Young elephant

 

 

Brother and sister looking for mum

 

 

 

 

 

Not welcome

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Athene]

The next morning at 4Rivers started promisingly. First we saw this male lion walking in the high grass

 

 

and after that the trackers found a cheetah. She posed nicely for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we left her we found the big male lion again. He had moved quite a bit from the place we saw him in the early morning. It looked like he was searching for something.

 

 

Another LBR in flight

 

 

In the afternoon not far away from camp we saw a few Roan antilopes. There was a confrontation between two males. One chased the other aggressively, who eventually ran into the water for protection.

 

 

 

 

Pel's fishing owl

 

 

Zebra mother with foal

 

 

Sunset

 

 

 

[Athene]

Last full day at 4Rivers.

Morning game drive started with a side-striped jackal in the high grass. This was the first time I saw one.

 

 

 

 

Blue wildebeest

 

 

Tsessebe

 

 

This morning we found yesterday's male lion again together with his brother at a place called Paradise. There was also a female lioness in estrus. This is why he wanted to get back to her. The brother always kept his distance but was watching the honeymoon pair.

 

 

Brother

 

 

Lioness

 

 

She kept him on his toes

 

 

 

Ostrich

 

 

In the afternoon we headed towards Paradise again

Little bee-eater  Juvenile swallow-tailed bee-eater (thanks @AndrewB )

 

 

Can someone please help with ID of storch?  Woolly-necked stork (thanks  @AndrewB )

 

 

 

European bee-eater

 

 

The mating pair at Paradise

 

 

 

Last morning on our game drive

Zebra with cattle egret and oxpeckers

 

 

Brown snake eagle maybe?

 

 

 

 

Rainbow

 

 

 

For the rest of the group it was the end of the safari. My husband and I continued our safari to Tau Pan, CKGR.

Edited August 10 by Athene

[AndrewB]

No idea on the Eagle!

I think the Stork is a Woolly Necked Stork.

And the Bea Eater looks more like a Swallow-tailed to me???

[ricmiles]

Never saw that Jackal subspecies @Athene, I like jackals in general, but this looks particularly good. The Delta really seems to deliver a lot, the cheetah on the log, lion action, stunning rainbow and much more. So tempting!

[Geoff]

some terrific images...

[John M.]

Lovely pics. Especially appealing to me: the two lechwe watching the lioness, the good looking hyena, and #5 of the nicely posing  female cheetah.

[Athene]

@AndrewB thank you for the IDs, I had a look in my bird book and I am sure you are right with the woolly-necked stork. Regarding the swallow-tailed bee-eater - do you mean the one I called little bee-eater or the one I called blue-cheeked bee-eater?

Edited August 10 by Athene

[Athene]

@ricmiles yes, it's a good looking animal, it was also the first time I had seen a side striped jackal. I believe they are quite shy - it soon disappeared into the high grass. The Delta is definitely a place you should visit .

[Athene]

Thanks a lot @Geoff

[Athene]

@John M. Thank you very much, these pictures are also some of my favourites.

[AndrewB]

57 minutes ago, Athene said:

@AndrewB thank you for the IDs, I had a look in my bird book and I am sure you are right with the wooly-necked stork. Regarding the swallow-tailed bee-eater - do you mean the one I called little bee-eater or the one I called blue-cheeked bee-eater?

The one you called Little Bee-eater @Athene

I think yours is a juvenile Swallow-tailed.

These are Little Bee-eaters in Khwai (2022)

 

 

I don't have a juvenile Swallow-tailed but I think this is an adult.

 

[Athene]

I'll continue now with Pelo, the last of the Wilderness camps. Pelo is in the Jao concession. It is much more simple and smaller compared to Chitabe and Little Vumbura. But it is absolutely adequate. Andrew had chosen it as it is a water camp and different.

 

Jao airstrip

 

 

Two photos of our room at Pelo

 

 

 

The mokoro ride was quiet but we did see a Sitatunga antelope in the distance.

 

 

and a tiny reed frog

 

 

Morning game drive - landscape with lechwes

 

 

Cape buffalo

 

 

Leopard cub watching the buffalo

 

 

 

Lion portraits

 

 

 

Distant lion shots with heat haze...

 

 

 

 

We had a lovely bush breakfast in the water

 

 

 

[Athene]

@AndrewB Thanks again, I changed the names. Your pictures of the bee-eaters are lovely!

[Athene]

Here's a photo i missed from the mokoro ride:

 

 

The rest of the day was all about birds.

 

Squacco heron

 

 

Black egret

 

 

Pel's fishing owl

 

 

 

Malachite kingfisher

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pied kingfisher taking off

 

 

and hovering..

 

 

That was our last day at Pelo.

[Treepol]

Love the Kingfisher shots and you had a great view of the Pels. What a magical mokoro trip.

[Athene]

Thank you very much for your comment @Treepol

[Athene]

Tau Pan was the last camp on our March 2024 Kwando safari. I specifically wanted to go there at the end of the rainy season to see the green grass, the blooming flowers, the well-fed animals and maybe a late thunderstorm with dramatic skies. That was not to be. It was bone-dry and not at all green. Nevertheless I very much liked the camp and the Kalahari with the wide-open pans and almost nobody around.

Our guide was MP, Zimbo was our tracker and the managers were Mike and Opi. They were all great.

 

It was a longish flight from the Delta to CKGR.

 

 

Airstrip

 

 

Our room

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon game drive

 

Steenbok

 

 

Ground squirrels

 

 

Sundowner at the pan

 

 

 

Edited August 11 by Athene

[offshorebirder]

Great photos in this thread @Athene - thank you very much for this great trip report.

 

The Pel’s Fishing-Owl is a treat and there are too many great photos for birds and mammals to comment upon individually.

[madaboutcheetah]

@Athene- Loving the report ..... 

 

I've heard great things about the Jao concession now that things have dried up in that section of the delta.

 

I really want to get back to the CKGR.  Your photos bring back a lot of memories - I haven't been in Tau pan since 2009 and I haven't seen OP since after the pandemic.  She used to be based in Lebala. Thanks for sharing

[Peter Connan]

Some more magnificent sightings and photos.

I am inclined to think that eagle is a Tawny, based almost entirely on the relatively short gape. I could easily be wrong.

 

The Malachite take-off sequence: I have never been fast enough. Were these photos taken using the pre-release function, or are you a Ninja in disguise? And the high-key Pieds are beautiful.

I agree with all the bee-eaters as they are now identified.

 

As a very small boy we had a book on mammal identification from tracks and other signs (Clive Walker's Signs of the Wild). I studied it until it virtually fell apart. But the most interesting track of all was the Sitatunga. Yet I have never seen a live one. Yours is beautiful.

[Athene]

Thank you so much for your kind words  @offshorebirder  you are right, we were lucky, Pel's is always a treat.

[Athene]

@madaboutcheetah thanks a lot. Jao is a beautiful concession. In November 2022 it was already seemingly drying up and we did just one mokoro ride.

I really enjoyed Tau Pan as a contrast to the Delta. OP was a great host and when we urgently had to contact family back home she helped us out.