Elephants are all over Mapula this Green Season. © Bill Given

Elephants in Abundance at Mapula

At one point Mapula Lodge head guide Dicks said to me “Bill, is this Mapula or is this Chobe?” Famed for its 65,000 elephants in the dry season nowhere can rival Chobe for sheer numbers of elephants but this January it felt like Mapula had elephants in all directions and for long stretches of driving we would consistently encounter one group after another, sometimes scattered bulls but very many breeding herds as well.

Beyond the numbers (there could easily be a couple thousand eles currently in the Mapula area) the viewing was extremely high quality. We had a number of opportunities to see herds frolicking in pans of water. Many of the young bulls were into playing games by mock charging the vehicle and in a few cases passing through would find us in close quarters and require some aggressive maneuvers to run the elephant gauntlet. All very exciting! One thrilling moment was watching an elephant mock charge a large male lion to send him trotting away from the herd.

Mapula Lodge Lion Tracking

In typical Mapula Lodge fashion, game drives featured lots of tracking and extreme off road driving. The results of those efforts was great – three different lion sightings in three days.

On our first day we found spoor (tracks) of a female lion and Dicks and Simon had tracked her to newborn cubs seven weeks ago before heading out on leave, no one had seen this lioness or her cubs since so we decided to track. A good trail led into thick grasses and dense Kalahari apple trees. Rather than give up when the spoor was lost Dicks and Simon thought their way through the bush weaving in and out of dense shrubbery before Dicks spotted the lioness deep under the bushes.

It was very difficult to see, so we waited patiently until she called her cubs and then three healthy cubs ran to her to nurse. Most of us enjoyed this sighting by the wonderful sounds as only those sitting at the lowest perspective could actually see this well concealed location. We decided this was still a very sensitive time and with the great news of healthy cubs pushed on to find other animals rather than bashing around in hopes of a better view.

On other drives we would find one of the three spectacular Mapula male lions on his own and on our final drive would follow roaring to discover the other two Mapula Boys finishing up a patrol.

African wild dogs had been in the area the day before we arrived but they moved on to a neighboring concession so we unfortunately missed the dog pack.

Mapula is unusual in that buffalo tend to be found year round. © Bill Given

Mapula Lodge - Other Wildlife Sightings

General game was extremely plentiful and we saw lots of herds of zebra, wildebeest, tsessebe, and impala. All the grazing species had babies that had been born during the last two months making it an interesting time to be there and observe family behavior. The large plains areas of Mapula stay particularly productive in the green season and unlike many areas, it is often possible to find buffalo throughout the year. We were able to track down a herd of more than 500 that was tucked into a woodland edge of the plains due to the presence of the lions. Sable antelope continues to be a regularity at Mapula and we had a sighting (I’ve seen sable on every visit).

Botswana Bird Sightings from Mapula Lodge

Lilac-breasted roller in flight is an astounding display of color. © Bill Given

During the green season is the best for bird sightings as many migrants come down from the north and join the resident birds. Because of the varied habitats, Mapula is an exceptional area for birds. Lilac-breasted rollers and Carmine bee-eaters were prolific and there was a great mix with larger birds like raptors and cranes being commonly sighted including the endangered wattled crane. Rain is so localized that we could see awesome storms late every day and yet completely avoid them on all game drives.