December Environmental news Chobe Game Lodge

Environmental News, Chobe Game Lodge
December 2008

Wild Dog taking a break during the heat of the day

Chobe has received more than 260mm of rain during December – almost half of our annual average. The heaviest showers fell on the 22nd when we had a total of 97mm for the day. The Chobe River has also started pushing up its levels and we are anticipating another year of exceptional flood waters as it seems to be raining quite heavily in the Chobe’s catchment areas.

This is now truly a time of plenty for just about all life forms out here in the bush, albeit not always the life forms our visitors are all equally keen to see. It is especially the six legged inhabitants of Chobe that are very conspicuous in the rainy season, and dinner time is always punctuated by random shrieks of horror when our guests make the acquaintance of some of the larger insects attracted to the lights. They are all quite harmless and all have an important role to play in our ecosystem out here. Their sheer abundance is a good indication that we live in a healthy ecosystem. It is not only the insect species that are now trying to complete their life cycles before the dry season starts again, but just about everything else out there from plants to mammals, birds and amphibians all seem to be either hard at work making new babies, or hard at work raising the new babies! We have seen an incredible amount of newcomers to the Chobe district, from the thousands of baby impala around to the local hyena clans’ pups. The hyena pups we reported on last month are now very accustomed to getting attention when vehicles pass by the den, and will quite often come over for a closer inspection of the vehicles and their passengers. The next new arrivals at Chobe will most probably be the baby kudu, as there are many heavily pregnant females around.

Some of Chobe’s new residents:

Spotted hyena cub Photo: Kai van Dongen

Leopard sightings were a bit hard to come by due to the lush vegetation. Unless they did us a favour by posing up in a dead tree!

The lush vegetation as well as the constant rain made the game activities a bit more challenging than normal but we were well rewarded with some excellent sightings of leopard, lion and wild dogs. The dogs have yet again been absent for a month or two but graced us again with their presence over the last week as they quite curiously always seem to visit us over Christmas and New Year.

A pair of male giraffe.

Two of our local lionesses. The were quite active hunting on the floodplains along Watercart Loop.

For those interested in birding, Chobe is the place to be right now! The Chobe Game Lodge team of guides participating in the Birding Big Day of November 29th is now the current holder of the new record for the Chobe region with 192 species counted in one day! Our team started counting early on the morning of the 29th going out in a Game Drive vehicle and switched to a boat for the afternoon leg of the count. 192 species was not a bad total at all, but can still be improved upon next year as the Chobe National Park is home to more than 460 species of birds.

Male and female ostriches with their new family. Photo: Kai van Dongen

Ostrich chick up close Photo: Kai van Dongen

We anticipate receiving even more rain for the next month and may be heading to a record year if it keeps raining like it does now. The rain and subsequent lush vegetation may make game viewing a little harder than normal, but it certainly is the time of year when the bush is at its most beautiful. We do also have a lot of smaller creatures that inhabits Chobe, most of them perhaps not as charismatic or majestic as the big cats, but in many respects just as interesting and rewarding to watch.

From the Chobe Game Lodge Guides Team we wish everyone all the best for 2009 and will report back on all the news in our area early in the New Year.

Compiled By: Wouter Theron, Environmentalist, Chobe Game Lodge