Chobe Game Lodge Sightings Update
September 2008
September in Chobe is normally a month remembered by staff and guests alike as a month punctuated by bouts of hay fever. It has been very hot with afternoon temperatures soaring into the high 30 degrees Celsius and very windy. Its is due to all the dust blown up by the wind combined with pollen from large amounts of spring blossoms out in the bush that most people sinuses were put under severe strain.
The terrific game viewing made up for all the sniffing and sneezing. Lion sightings abounded as the lions had much to feast on – not only prey animals they brought down themselves but also because there was a high mortality rate among the larger animals like ellies and buffalos with high energy requirements. Our local pride split up into smaller bands patrolling up and down the river looking for food. It was therefore quite common for our guides to find more than one lion sighting per game drive. This was the case with a group of our guests, Pedro Perigot his wife Adriana and their two sons Paulo and Joao.
On the first afternoon they went out with Field Guide Michael Dinyando and found a group of lions feeding on a dead elephant. The scene maybe gory but Pedro managed to get in some fantastic pictures of the lions feeding on the carcass.
The following morning game drive was just as fortunate when they found a mating pair of lions.
September 2008
September in Chobe is normally a month remembered by staff and guests alike as a month punctuated by bouts of hay fever. It has been very hot with afternoon temperatures soaring into the high 30 degrees Celsius and very windy. Its is due to all the dust blown up by the wind combined with pollen from large amounts of spring blossoms out in the bush that most people sinuses were put under severe strain.
The terrific game viewing made up for all the sniffing and sneezing. Lion sightings abounded as the lions had much to feast on – not only prey animals they brought down themselves but also because there was a high mortality rate among the larger animals like ellies and buffalos with high energy requirements. Our local pride split up into smaller bands patrolling up and down the river looking for food. It was therefore quite common for our guides to find more than one lion sighting per game drive. This was the case with a group of our guests, Pedro Perigot his wife Adriana and their two sons Paulo and Joao.
On the first afternoon they went out with Field Guide Michael Dinyando and found a group of lions feeding on a dead elephant. The scene maybe gory but Pedro managed to get in some fantastic pictures of the lions feeding on the carcass.
The following morning game drive was just as fortunate when they found a mating pair of lions. 
The late afternoon game drive produced the cream of the sightings when they found a pair of lionesses chasing a group of giraffe across the floodplains of Puku flats. The giraffe managed to make good their escape but later the evening the same luck did not befall a buffalo cow. She was brought down and killed right in front the game drive vehicle and Pedro and his family were lucky enough to witness the whole event happening right in front of them. Again it is a very gory scene but such is the way of nature. Pedro graciously donated these pictures to us.
With regards to our bird life we can report that the first intra-African migrants have returned, the most notable of these being the yellow-billed kites returning en masse from their hunting grounds further north on the African continent. The only Palearctic migrant we’ve spotted so far was a ruddy turnstone, still partially in its breeding colours. These little wading birds breed in the Arctic tundra region and here for the southern Hemisphere summer months.October is always even hotter and we may have our first showers of rain already next month. We may also see the first baby animals being born for the season, with the warthogs being the most likely species to have their babies in October already. We will keep you in touch with the Environmental happenings through October.
Compiled by: Wouter Theron, Environmentalist, Chobe Game Lodge
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