Web Administrator's Note - this is the Kwando Safaris monthly sighting report for May 2011. This is part II. The last post featured Tau Pan Camp and Kwando Lagoon Camp. This post covers Kwando Safaris Kwara Camp, Nxai Pan Camp, and Kwando Lebala Camp. Special thanks to Kwando Safaris for providing the content for this update.

Kwando Kwara

As we move into the what is traditionally known as the ‘flood season’ , the slowly rising water levels may be the reason that the lions stay close by, allowing us to see them pretty much every day. Lions in the Delta are known to swim across channels, if the situation requires it, however it is not their favourite past time – as can be seen when they hiss and hesitantly put their paws in the water. We can expect to have them around for a while!

The five cubs are delighting us with their playful behaviour, and one could spend hours watching them – as some of our guests do! The lion highlight this month was perhaps the Battle of the Giants: one, of the famous seven males was caught in a fight with the Splash boys, and the noise could be heard in camp the whole night! He survived, but with a few ugly cuts and scratches to show for the ordeal.

A male leopard made a quick escape into a tree with his warthog kill, before the hyenas were able to catch up with him.

Great news on the cheetah front: a female with three cubs has been sighted and she seems to be doing well, with the cubs being in good condition.

We see more and more large breeding herds of elephants, especially in the early mornings and afternoons. Solitary bulls and bachelor herds are also seen very often.

Good sightings of general game, like herds of zebras, giraffe, tsessebe, impala, baboons, red lechwe, wildebeest and tracks of buffalos have been spotted.

Night drives were productive this month. Aardwolf, spotted genet, serval, African wild cat, hyena with pups at the den, and a chameleon! One group of guests had a lucky sighting of honey badger - moving with purpose straight down the road towards the vehicle, the badger seemed completely oblivious of the car that he was heading towards. Only at the last minute, when he was about to bang his head on the tracker’s feet did he suddenly look up and realise what he was about to walk into – at which point he made a swift exit to the left!

Rarely seen even at night, one serval is becoming accustomed to the vehicle, and is being seen regularly around the airstrip, even during day time and this serval also has 2 kittens!

Frogs are competing with each other, and sing their arias every evening. The one sound that dominates is from the painted reed frog, also called the bell frog, and when you hear them you will understand the name!

Sightings of water birds are very good. Lots of egrets, herons, ducks, and geese can be seen swimming and feeding in the floodplains.

Nxai Pan Camp

It was a month with lots of lion sightings. One morning, a male lion was at the camp waterhole, so nobody had to go far to see them. The four lionesses had 2 cubs last month…..this month there an additional three, only a couple of weeks old!!

There is a female leopard around and the guides did see her several times at the same spot. She is relaxed and provides us with beautiful sightings.

The two male cheetahs were also found and the one female cheetah was seen in camp one morning.

Wild dog tracks were seen near Baines Baobab, and even though we don’t expect to see them in Nxai Pan, you never know!

Lots of bull elephants, who congregate to big groups around the waterholes.

General game has been good with lots of giraffe, wildebeest, springbok, oryx, steenbok, impala, kudu and zebra.

On the birding side, we still get excited by the numbers of raptors, big and small. We also see kori bustard, secretary bird, violet eared waxbill, flycatchers and numerous guinefowls.

Black backed jackals never disappoint, and are seen every day.

Kwando Lebala Camp

Sadly we got news that the pride of 17 is now down to 15. Two of the cubs are missing, and we don’t know what happened to them. The mortality rate of lion cubs is high, so it is not overly surprising, but it still makes it a little sad. Lack of food is certainly not a problem that the lions are facing at the moment: the pride was seen with carcasses of giraffe, zebra and on one occasion they were found with three wildebeest!

Magician, the leopard well known to the Lebala guides made an appearance this month, as well as other more shy individuals. The three cheetah brothers are doing well, and have been seen with full bellies having a well deserved rest in the shade.

“Our” pack of wild dogs was around, but in the beginning of the month we saw only their tracks. At the end of the month though the guides and trackers were able to track them down again and we had some wonderful sightings of that endangered predator.

Massive herds of elephants are now in the area - breeding herds with babies of all sizes. They are all coming out of the woodland where they spent time during the rains. But now the floodplains are filling up attracting them in great numbers, due to the abundance of nutritious grass growing there.

Buffalo are also coming out of the woodlands for the same reasons as the elephants. Apart from small bachelor groups, we see more breeding herds now.

As in the Kwara concession there are plenty of water birds in the floodplains. Raptors are a common sighting too, with lots of eagles and hawks.

There are regular sightings of both species of jackals - side striped and black backed, and occasionally spotted hyena can be seen, especially close to camp at night.

One night two chameleons made a surprise visit, sitting in a tree just next to the dining area.

Zebra, kudu, giraffe, impalas, wildebeests added to the number of species seen this month.

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