Kwando Safaris Monthly Blog Entry

Each Month Kwando Safaris provides me with updates from their camps. Periodically, Kwando Safaris will also send me information about special goings on within the camps like my recent Kwando Safaris Update (blog post) about the African Wild Dog Packs at Nxai Pan Camp, Tau Pan Camp, Kwando Lagoon Camp, and Kwando Kwara Camp. I hope you'll enjoy this update - and please note that I've saved my notes about the update for the end of this blog post.

Kwando Kwara Camp

Afternoon siesta was interrupted one day this month by the deafening sounds of lions roaring close to Kwando Kwara camp. As guests clambered onto the game drive vehicles the sounds came ever closer until four Lionesses appeared being chased by five others. The first four are well known in Kwara as ‘One Eyes Pride’. The second group are newcomers and were evidently successful in chasing establishing themselves in the area.

Guests and camp staff alike watched in amazement as the lionesses swam across the lagoon in front of camp to safety.

In addition, Leopards and Cheetahs have been a common sighting this month.

Kwando Lagoon Camp

Guide and guests in the search for the African Wild Dog den site at Kwando Lagoon Camp had a successful month. The site was identified close to the airstrip and the heavily pregnant female is deep inside the hide before the impending birth. Other members of the pack stand sentry outside the entrance providing wonderful game viewing for expectant guests.

The Lagoon wild dog pack continues to excite with annual dens.
Photo copyright Sue Pearmain

Furthermore, we have been fortunate to have lots of cat sightings from large prides of Lions to Leopards in trees.

Some guests keen to try their hand at fishing have had a successful first attempt off the jetty at Lagoon camp, a huge 6kg Catfish was caught along with two delicious Southern Mouth Brooder Breams!

Tau Pan Camp

The local Tau Pan Camp pack of Wild Dogs got more than they bargained for this June when they made the mistake of igniting the anger of the legendary Honey Badger. These ferocious little omnivores may not look like much but tales of their bravery are stuff of bush mythology.

Seven of the dogs were spotted attacking the badger by some aghast guests along with their guide. To their amazement the little badger more than held its own and sent the seven dogs packing with a toxic secretion from its anal glands!

Elsewhere, Lions and Leopards have been seen on the Pan and close to the Tau waterhole. Cheetahs have been seen hunting Springbok on the Pan and a large herd of Eland antelope was seen on the road to Deception Valley.

Nxai Pan Camp

The Bushman walks have proved especially productive this month with the stark winter landscape and cooler weather providing perfect conditions to take a morning stroll and learn about the culture of these extraordinary people.

Nxai Pan Camp is attracting all manor of beasts to its refreshing waterhole. Giraffes, Elephants, Gemsbok, Impala, Springbok and Wildebeest have been seen this month along with a wonderful sighting of a Cheetah. Guests enjoying the midday sun on the deck first noticed the speedy cats cautiously approaching through the acacia trees. Gradually they grew in confidence until they were able to lap up the cool water and drink their fill. A wonderful sighting for the new camp!

Kwando Lebala Camp

The extraordinary site of a Pangolin greeted some surprised guests in June at Kwando Lebala Camp. The armoured anteater was spotted not even a kilometre of the camp itself. These animals practice myrmecophagy meaning that they feed exclusively on a specific species (in this case ants and termites).

Lebala area lions often deliver thrilling sightings.
Photo taken at Lebala by Bill Given.

Cat lovers have been treated to an exhibition in hunting by the three big species. Cheetahs have been sighted in a failed attempt to kill a Kudu, Leopard have been caught with a hunted Impala in a tree and four female Lions made a successful kill on a Zebra in the woodlands.

Elsewhere, an interesting moment for environmentalists elapsed in June. The Selinda Spillway, which sources from the main Okavango River at Seronga, finally joined the Linyanti River close to Lebala. What this means is that after a gap of some years the aquatic systems of the Okavango and the greater Zambezi River can again merge and the gene pools of species such as the Crocodile and the Tiger Fish can again combine.

Bill’s Notes on the Kwando June Update

This last commentary of the water connecting between the Okavango and Linyanti systems is an important natural event. This is a recurring theme in Botswana now as water is reaching locations where it has not flowed in about 30 years. Most publicized has been the returning flow of the Savute Channel, which may well re-establish all the way to Savute Marsh. Other lesser-known spillways are expanding, water tables and former floodplains are recharging as ecological processes are returning with the flow of water.

All of this is likely going to mean some dynamic shifts for wildlife viewing. On the whole it should create a time of flourish where resources are great and many species will multiply and game viewing in Northern Botswana could even become better than it already is. In the short term some species like elephants can stay more spread out and perhaps move into non-traditional areas. Some camp concession areas with big reputations for game viewing may diminish greatly while other areas not as well known may become hot spots. It is going to be interesting to see how thing develop over the next couple years and watching things like guide reported game reports, and more importantly first hand reports from my own time on the ground, as well as from returning clients to see what game viewing shifts may occur.