AFRICAN SAFARI NEWS
April 2005

The onset of the dry season has also brought about the predictable change in wildlife activity. In particular, the breeding herds of elephant have already started to congregate in and around the camp vicinity in large numbers. This is particularly exciting for guests arriving with DumaTau being their first stop in the bush and as they drive from our airstrip to the camp, they encounter all these elephants - what a great welcome to the African bush! Our campsite has really come alive these past few weeks. Apart from increased elephant activity, DumaTau (meaning ‘roar of the lion’) has lived up to its name in fine style with roaring of lions in and around the camp heard and seen on a regular basis. Lions have even recently been mating in the camp. Our two regular camp elephant bulls also seemed to have moved into camp for the season. They kept me awake most of the night recently as they decided to flop onto their sides right next to my room the other night in order to catch up on what appeared to be some much-needed sleep with severe heavy breathing, snoring and flatulence coming from every orifice possible! One even decided to sleep in and continued to lie there until 7:30 in the morning! Leopards are also a regular occurrence in the campsite with no less than three different leopards recently spotted (no pun intended) in the camp. Hippos come out every evening to graze in front of the swimming pool deck.

The campsite has a great species diversity of owls with the following heard from the comfort of our beds virtually very evening - Wood, Pearl-spotted, Scops, Barred and Giant Eagle owls. With all this activity in the camp alone, you can just imagine what is all seen out there on game drive!

With an absence of some six weeks, we were very pleased to once again sight (close to camp) our pack of 14 wild dogs, all looking in superb condition. We also enjoyed our first buffalo sighting for some time. The absolutely magnificent brotherhood of three cheetah is also frequently seen in the nearby Savuti Channel. It is particularly rewarding to see the overwhelming joy on the faces of guests who photographed these wonderful cats a number of years ago and now get to see them again and in such awesome condition amidst all the severe odds in this harsh, wild area. They (and we too) find this hard to believe but then again, that is the imponderable nature of the African bush - what a glorious place to be!

Other wildlife sightings for the month include giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, kudu, impala, red lechwe, bushbuck, steenbok, spotted hyaena, warthog, serval, African wildcat, African rock python, martial eagle (as well as numerous other raptors) black-backed jackal. General birding in this area is as always very good.

After all the rain in March, it seems we have now had our lot for this year, which, along with the slight drop in daytime temperatures (which have been between 27°C (84°F) and 33°C (96°F), with an average of 30.61°C) is another sure sign of the changing of the seasons. Overnight temperatures were noticeably cooler this month, from a low of 15°C (60°F) to 20°C (70°F), with an average of 17°C. Not one drop of rain fell in our trusty rain gauge all month.

The weather has not however been the most important factor in life here this month; we have been mesmerised by the early onset of the annual Okavango flood. In a matter of days, waters which began their journey many months ago in Angola, stole up on Mombo, and soon the view from Camp was a vista of azure blue water and vivid green grasses, with the sun sparkling off the water like a million diamonds, and a never-ending pageant of animals feeding on the new shoots: zebra, wildebeest, and especially buffalo and red lechwe. It is a real carnival of animals, a constantly changing scene as the water creeps ever closer to Camp, and the animals move in closer too, feeding on the very sweetest grasses at the edge of the water.

Often at night we can hear the lullaby sounds of animals splashing through the water, a gentle rustle competing with the frantic mating calls of the reed frogs, clamouring for the attention of females. Even in a few hours, it is possible to see that the water has advanced, and there are myriad waterbirds - cranes, egrets, herons, dikkops - taking advantage of the rising flood. After all the rain we had last month, the water table here is high, so even the modest amount of floodwater we have received so far has seen this area yet again transformed.

Already Jiga-Jiga Channel to the north of Mombo has burst its banks and the water there is spilling out across the floodplain, following the dusty, time-honoured paths of previous floods. One evening we heard a huge herd of buffalo move past Camp, walking through the shallow water just after darkness. It took over half an hour for the herd to pass us, so we estimate that there must have been upwards of 2 000 animals! The noise of their hoofs in the water kept us spellbound; it sounded exactly like a waterfall.

In more tranquil moments, baboons have been coming down to the water's edge to lap up the precious liquid, and, one evening, a thirsty leopard, utterly serene and calm and seemingly oblivious to the agitation her appearance caused to the monkeys looking down from the jackalberry trees.

As yet it is too early to say whether this will be a big flood. Predictions indicate that it may be an average flood, on a par with those of 2002 or 2003.

However there has been a lot of late rain within the Delta, and more importantly, in the Angolan highlands, so we may yet see what we call the second spike - an upsurge on the graph of floodwater entering Botswana from the Caprivi Strip. And besides, there is no such thing as "average" in such a magical place as the Okavango.

In perfect synchronisation with the rains, the floodwaters this year have reached us just two weeks after the last of the rain fell. The Okavango is surely one of the most perfectly balanced and co-ordinated ecosystems on Earth. Everything ticks along in time with everything else, with a precision and a finesse that watchmakers can only dream of.

The countless thousands of litres of life-giving water which flow into the Okavango, filtered through hundreds of kilometres of papyrus beds in the Panhandle and the upper reaches of the Delta, seem to spark off all sorts of new activities among the animals and birds here, whether it be birds building nests, or the impalas beginning their annual rut.

The breeding cycle of impalas in particular is closely tied to the changing of the seasons. They typically give birth en masse in late November / early December, as the first rains of summer fall, and as the area comes alive with new shoots and leaves for the young impalas to feed on. With a six-month gestation period, this means that they mate in May. Before this can happen, however, the impala males rut - that is, compete for mating rights. The bush echoes to the curious growling roar produced by male impalas as they chase each other around in ever-decreasing circles, each male trying to achieve dominance over his rivals. They are often watched impassively by the females, who wait to see who will be the lord of the harem.

Due to their surging testosterone levels, male impalas often don't pay any attention to their surroundings, concentrating only on defeating other males. This means that at this time of the year, males make up a disproportionately high number of the impalas killed by predators. Recently we saw a female leopard who had killed an adult male impala perhaps twice her weight, decide against hoisting it into a leadwood tree - the kill was simply too heavy - and so instead she hid the impala and herself in an impenetrable candle pod acacia bush, to keep the kill safe from the prying eyes of vultures, and the ever-curious noses of the hyenas.

Throughout this month, it is Mombo's leopards who have provided us with some of the most incredible game drive moments, particularly when they get entangled with other species. Over the last few years we have noticed a definite increase in baboon populations in this area - and baboons of course can provide many hours of fascination and amusement, not least because of the mirror they can hold up to our own "sophisticated" human behaviour! There is however no love lost between baboons and leopards, and any encounter between these two species can be fraught with danger for both.

On two occasions during April we have seen baboons carry the fight to a leopard - one young male was mobbed by so many baboons that he was invisible beneath an angry fur ball, and it was some seconds before he could wriggle his way out of that one. Meanwhile, the porcupine he had been stalking used this very welcome diversion to make good its escape! The older male leopards here are generally more wily, but even one of our big toms was almost caught by baboons, after he seized one, and was pursued by the rest of the troop. He made it into a tsaro palm island and no baboon was going to follow him in there and risk those slashing claws in a confined space.

It's possible that with so many baboons around, Mombo's leopards may become more nocturnal, but we think that this is unlikely as the night at Mombo belongs to the hyaenas. So we are confident that we will continue to enjoy the superb daylight close encounters with the spotted cats which are such a memorable feature of a stay at Mombo for so many of our guests.

Leopards are often coy when mating, so it was a real bonus to find two mating right out in the open in one of the newly green floodplains. A chance to witness rarely seen behaviour, and to appreciate the extreme size difference between male and female leopards. The continuing saga of the leopards of Mombo is never less than enthralling, and we now look forward to the next generation continuing the tale.

Perhaps the most unforgettable sighting of the month also involved a leopard, but purely by accident. We have regularly been seeing three wild dogs around Mombo, and the fact that they have stuck it out here - despite competition from lions and hyaenas - is a good sign for the future of the species in the immediate area. We have seen the alpha pair of this little group mate, so we are very hopeful that they may den and raise puppies.

Late one afternoon in the middle of the month, we found the three of them stretching in the soft light, and their lean bellies showed that they would soon be setting off on a hunt. The previous day they had made a kill, but had lost it to hyaenas so they were very hungry by now. We watched their first attempt, as they streaked through the long grass, cotton-bud tails streaming out behind them - but the impalas lost the dogs by running through a herd of zebra.

After a brief rest, the indefatigable dogs were in action again, but they suddenly stopped and began leaping up at a small acacia tree. It took us a moment to realise what was going on: in the tree was a male leopard, with a freshly killed impala in its jaws. It seems that the wild dogs had inadvertently chased the impala into him.

The leopard was none too pleased to see the dogs, but in snarling his displeasure, he dropped the impala - which was instantly seized by the dogs, yipping in excitement - they couldn't believe their luck! They immediately began feeding and were making short work of the impala, but this was just too much for the leopard, who bounded down from the tree to reclaim his meal. After a brief, furious fight, he retreated back up the tree, and the second time he descended, it was to flee.

The wild dogs very quickly devoured the impala, pausing only to drive off a hyaena which came along to investigate. As we watched this incredible sequence of events, darkness began to fall, and we headed back to Camp, speechless at the drama we had seen unfolding right before us.

Meanwhile, back in Camp, we have been delighting guests with special candlelit "honeymoon" dinners, transforming secluded corners of the Camp into magical (and romantic!) private dining rooms. The perfect prelude (along with the cooler temperatures) to snuggling up together and falling asleep to the sounds of hippos chortling their happiness at the new grass and water suddenly available to them.

Very soon we will be starting our winter menus, which means hot porridge for early-morning breakfast. Perfect! And another great antidote to the slight chill of winter mornings will be the Mombo cookbook, which should be hot off the press in the next couple of months.

We look forward to welcoming you here to this unspoilt African paradise. For now, that's all from your April Mombo team - until next month: Brandon & Debs, Justin & Angela, Craig, Peter & Sharon, Thompson, Max, and Nick. Until next time.

Sadly, the cub of our female leopard, Mosadi Mogolo - our firm little favourite who we watched from infancy, observed making her first kill and grow into young adulthood - was killed by hyaenas. She suffered an initial injury, probably from a male courting her mother, which proved too much for her to cope with. Unable to eat the kills offered to her by her mother and unable to climb a tree to escape the hyaenas, she was taken early one morning by the marauding clan. Such is life in this harsh environment and serves as a reminder of the savage realities of a predator out there. It also reminds us why it serves no purpose other than eventual pain to become attached to a wild animal.

The Magnificent Seven, the pack of boisterous wild dog youngsters who moved into our area were also reminded of reality recently. They ran into and were attacked by the resident lion pride. They managed to escape, but two of them were severely injured - one on his back and side, the other lost his ear and had a large gash on his skull. Due to the closeness of the ties and bonds in a pack of Wild Dogs, these two have been cared for, fed, and their wounds licked clean by their pack mates; and seem to be well on the way to a complete recovery, despite the scars and the missing ear! They should be denning to produce puppies sometime soon, which is something we all look forward to.

On a happier note, the lion cubs we had given up for dead have been found! Ben spotted six cubs being shown the rudiments of the hunt by four lionesses on our southern boundary.

April was the month of the leopard - every couple of days we were rewarded with sightings of our residents. Lelobu seems to have found a girlfriend in the New Hide area, and a sub-adult cub has been seen with them. Three leopard in one sighting has been the highlight of a few of our guests' stay! Ben and his guests were also privileged to observe two other leopards mating near the airstrip.

The lions have been quite busy in this month - so busy in fact that we have only had limited sightings of them. The coalition of three males has been patrolling its territory against invaders and nomads almost constantly, and covering a lot of distance to achieve this. We also spotted an old, very thin lioness who had stolen a kill from a leopard, feeding directly under the tree where the angry cat was at bay in the topmost branches.

Of the seven known cheetah in the area, we have had very sporadic sightings of them - the female with two semi-adult cubs in the Old Chitabe area has obliged us, but we haven't seen the female with three young cubs this month.

The flood that has arrived early in the western side of the Delta has yet to reach our corner of the Kalahari, and the Gomoti Channel, apart from a few isolated pools, has dried up completely in anticipation of the new waters arriving. Herds of elephant have been arriving from out of the woodlands where the pans have eventually dried up in search of water - they march out, dusty and parched, like grey ghosts. After a drink and a bath in the channel in front of camp, they melt off into the tree islands in search of food, and then head west, where they seem to know that the water has arrived.

As everything here has begun to dry up in anticipation of the arrival of the life-giving waters, the resident hippo that feeds in front of camp at night has had a few battles with invading males, twice right in front of the camp. The noise and ferocity of these animals when they fight has to be seen to be appreciated.

The walking season is upon us again, and we have walkers out there almost every day, soaking in the wonders of being on foot out there in our glorious wilderness. This is an experience enriched by encountering things one would not normally notice from a noisy moving vehicle - the engagement of all of the senses (including some that have no name), at one with the majesties of creation that surround you. Sleeping out in the hide, serenaded by the ‘plink’ sounds of the reed frogs, listening to the whoops of hyaena giggling at their own private jokes, and hippos chortling to themselves in the channels is an experience few will ever forget.

Temperatures have started to drop in anticipation of winter, with average lows around 12 degrees Celsius, and average highs around 29 degrees.

The sunsets have transformed once again into their winter splendour - the sky is like the inside of a cobalt Faberge egg as the golden orb of the sun sinks us into another star-studded African night. Listening to the chirrups of the Scops owls and the warbling lament of the nightjars as we sit around the fire of an evening reminds us all what a special and wondrous place Chitabe is, and we invite you to share the joys both great and small of simply being here.

From our Visitors' Book:
Matthew & Jennifer Lynch (USA) - " What an amazing honeymoon! We had a fabulous time with such a great group of people. The staff and managers here are terrific and Phinley was extraordinary. It was the trip of a lifetime!"

David & Ann Barrow (UK) - "Our first stay in Botswana - a wonderful country made more memorable by your staff and guides."