AFRICAN
SAFARI CAMP UPDATES
February 2003
This Month:
• Duba Plains Camp update - Lion capital of Botswana.
• Skeleton Coast Camp update - Interesting sightings from this awesome,
remote camp in Namibia.
Botswana Camps
Duba Plains Camp  Jump
to Duba
Plains Camp
The camp managers
for the month of February were James Rawdon, Ike Mogalakwe and Elmari
Cuyler. The guides were Katembo, James Pisetu and Eric. Matt
Montague came in to help us out when professional photographer, Gerald
Hinde, visited for 10 days. Matt and Gerald spent 10 days solid, 14 hours
a day, with the various lion prides. Their aim was to capture images
of the lions hunting buffalo, and this they successfully achieved. It
is always
extremely helpful having a game drive out all day, it makes finding the
animals in the afternoon a lot easier. We look forward to welcoming Gerald
back in the near future.
The
summer rains continued to fall sporadically throughout February, however,
not resulting
in too much
rainfall. A total of 68mm
fell. The
average temperatures experienced were a minimum of 22°C and a maximum
was 32°C.
With most of the summer rains having fallen, the grass levels are at
their annual high, making it slightly more difficult to spot the lions
and other game. This resulted in three lion free days, but we still managed
an average of nine lions seen per day and a total of thirty-nine pride
sightings. Not all of the regular lions were accounted for, only totaling
forty-three of the sixty odd lions normally tracked down. We did not
pick up the Old Vumbura Pride (7 lions), new males (3 lions) or the Vumbura
Pride (10). A bonus was a sighting of a new unnamed, irregularly seen
pride - a lionesses with three very young cubs. In total, kills witnessed
included seven buffalo and four warthogs. The buffalo continued with
their avoidance of the lions, however, several spectacular kills by the
Pantry Pride were witnessed.
The Tsaro pride remains fairly split
up, with no sign of their new cubs yet. It appears at least three lionesses
have now given birth. We expect
to see the older cubs (three weeks old at present) within the next couple
of weeks. The entire pride was accounted for, with the five young males
moving around without the lionesses. This has allowed the four Skimmer
Males to occasionally join up with the Tsaro lionesses. One sighting
involved eight of the Tsaro lionesses being chased off a recent buffalo
kill by ten hyenas. With no male lions present, they did not put up much
resistance. As the hyenas began to enjoy their free meal, the four Skimmer
Males turned up. The hyenas naturally vacated the area at speed. This
did not assist the lionesses as the males were in no mood to share the
spoils.
The Pantry pride gave us the best lion viewing of the month. The beginning
of February saw the pride really struggling to find any prey. This resulted
in the skinny little male cub, which was abandoned in December for two
weeks, finally succumb to starvation. From that point on, the rest of
the pride has not looked back. They pushed further into the Tsaro prides
territory than ever before, in search of the buffalo herd. This risky
strategy paid off handsomely with several successful buffalo hunts, as
well as dominating a couple of clashes with the Tsaro females. One morning
involved the Pantry pride isolating a big bull buffalo, eventually pulling
it down and putting it out of its misery. Within minutes, three Tsaro
females arrived on the scene in an attempt to steal the kill and see
off the trespassing Pantry pride. They failed miserably, with one of
the pregnant females being corned by the Pantry pride. She was severely
attacked, but managed to escape with some nasty puncture wounds around
her rear end. She will recover, but may think twice about challenging
her determined neighbours. Another incident saw the Pantry pride challenge
the five Tsaro Males for a buffalo calf, but alas, they failed this time.
The Tsaro Males are steadily gaining in confidence and will soon be an
awesome force. The Pantry pride cubs are learning fast. They do not hold
back when it comes to pulling a buffalo down, at sixteen months of age
they are showing considerable skill and courage. One of the cubs tried
a little to hard and paid the price of being tossed several metres through
the air by a big bull buffalo. This usually proves more than enough of
a deterrent to the youngsters, but on this occasion, it went straight
back on jumped on again.
The Duba Boys are still seen regularly and are
spending more time than usual with the Tsaro females. Whether this is
a good thing or not, remains
to be seen. They are not the fathers of the new cubs, which does not
bode well for the pride. The next month or so should answer our concerns.
The Skimmer pride was fairly scarce as they remain to the north of the
Paradise lagoon. The one adult female was seen once with her three sub
adult female offspring. The two older lionesses must still be in hiding
with their new cubs. With the annual flood arriving in less than a month,
we should find the Skimmer pride moving back to their usually haunts
further south. This will make it far easier for us to locate them, hopefully
with several new additions.
The biggest surprise of the month
came in the form of a shy cheetah. They are not regulars in the Duba
area due to the high lion and hyena
populations. The cheetah was fairly shy and immediately moved off. This
may have been caused by the close proximity of the Duba Boys and the
scent of
the Tsaro females with their cubs nearby. The hyena pack continues to
thrive with four black young ones at the den. With their bold and inquisitive
nature, they are a definite highlight for anyone visiting Duba. The buffalo
are finally giving birth in large numbers. Several guest have departed
overjoyed with the privilege of having witnessed the birth of a wild
animal. Although a quieter month than we are accustomed to, it was still
a spectacular month. The following month should be an exciting one with
the prospects of new cubs and the arrival of the annual flood.
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Namibia Camps
Skeleton Coast Camp Jump
to Skeleton
Coast Camp
(report from Daleen de Villiers, the new manageress
in the Skeleton Coast who has just moved there after being in Sossusvlei
for
over a year.)
Managers: Damon Little, Daleen de Villiers [Chris Bakkes is on leave
this month!]
Guides: Chris Liebenberg, Douw Steyn
Introduction:
What can
I say; it was a month full of new things for me. The original plan
was to only stay 1 month in Skeleton Coast and then start with Damaraland
Rhino Camp, but my plans have changed. This will be my home for the
rest
of this year and I must say that I do look forward to the upcoming
year.
Activities:
Douw and Chris have guided all the safaris
for February. We had a few full safaris and a few safaris where only
one vehicle went out. There is absolutely no doubt that the guests
loved it here. All of the guest were very impressed with this wonderful
area and always came
back from the
drives with big smiles. They had a few good sightings like the lions
in the Hoarusib. Douw also had it where one male lion actually chased
the vehicle. It is amazing to see lions in this area. Douw and Chris
said that they found the lion tracks crossing over the dunes going
all the way down to the beach. Imagine that!!!! They had a few elephant
sightings
as well. They did not do the full day in the Hoarusib, because the
river that came down in flood and still can come down.
Douw and Chris
had other
sightings like bat-eared foxes chasing a caracal. They first thought
it was a leopard and then it was actually a caracal that chased one
bat-eared fox, but eventually 3 other bat-eared foxed came to the
rescue and chased
the Caracal away. I was very lucky with a Cheetah sighting. It was
my third day in camp and I went out with Thys driving up in the Khumib
River
and we saw a dead springbok next to the road. When we stopped the
vehicle we looked around and sure enough, the cheetah was lying between
the rocks
very calm and relaxed. He was most probably about 15-20m from us.
It was so amazing seeing such a wild animal in this harsh desert environment.
Other animals like the Oryx, springbok, steenbok and giraffe was
still
seeing on the drives.
Besides all the game, the people are spoiled
with the enormous empty spaces and the most impressive landscape scenery
that they see every
day on their safaris. Douw and Chris had enjoyed these activities
as much as the guests did, which makes it pleasant to see them all
come back from the drives smiling. It actually made me very jealous,
but I will still get out there!
Vehicles:
Our vehicles did not give us too much trouble,
considering the incredibly harsh conditions out here - until a few
days ago when 3 vehicles broke
at once. Two of the vehicles had problems with the rear-axles. The
one vehicle had a problem with the universal connector for the steering
rod.
Hans helped us to fix two vehicles. One vehicle will be fixed in
the next two days. Flat tyres can't be considered as a problem. It
seems
to be normal out here. The land Rovers were always ready the next
day for the guides to start their trip.
Temperatures:
The temperatures were something that I
had to adapt to, because of the misty mornings and cool temperature
during
the evenings, especially
for
someone who has worked in Sossusvlei for longer than a year. The
temperatures were cool in the evenings and during the nights. There
were a few mornings
where we woke up and it was like a white blanket that had covered
the whole area. The temperatures were +/- 16 degrees C during the nights
and +/- 25-32 degrees C during the days. There were a few days where
we had a "little" bit of rain. About "10mm" rain;
In Skeleton Coast language, that means the rain drops were about
10mm apart from each other.
Conclusion:
It was a very busy month for me to settle
in and to get use to the Skeleton Coast, but after a few days I felt
welcomed by everyone. I've done a
lot of shopping for the camp, it was for all the little things that
were needed in the camp and were outstanding. With the help of Ella,
Chris
and Giel I managed to get the camp sorted out with smaller things
that were needed. I feel very positive about this place and I know
I will
enjoy every moment of it here. The camp got a wonderful atmosphere
with the co-operation of the staff and the good spirit of the guest.
Guests
never complain and is always very satisfied with their time at the
skeleton coast.
Thank you
Regards
Daleen de Villiers
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