Chobe Game Lodge environmental news

During the beginning of the month we’ve had some really stormy weather with high winds and heavy showers of rain - most unusual for this time of year. We recorded 37mm of rain in total which really only helped to settle the dust a bit as it had no real effect on the vegetation. The main benefit though is that it helped fill up many of the big standing pans of rainwater out in the bush again. This means the wildlife would have a bigger range where they can graze for weeks to come, since they have water available to them in areas where they would normally not be able roam this deep into the dry season.

The Chobe’s levels receded rather fast after the exceptional flooding season we’ve had during our late summer months. Most of the floodplains that were inundated during the last 3 months dried out again, and we once again had access to the roads that were also inaccessible for months due to the high flood levels. There is still a surprising amount of grazing available on these floodplains - we expected most of the grass would have died off after being under water for such an extended period of time.

The large buffalo herds have returned to the Chobe floodplains after the floodwaters receded again

The rain we had also did not affect the movement of game as much as we expected, and the sightings we had during the last month far exceeded our expectations.
Our local pride of lions seems to have settled down after a long period of turmoil over the last year in the pride structure. Over recent months we’ve had two new males moving into the area as we have reported in earlier newsletters. Only about four of the females of the original pride roaming our area of the Chobe riverfront seem to have accepted the new males. The newly structured pride is now often seen together with the four new cubs – in fact lion sightings were basically a daily occurrence over last few weeks. The cubs are growing bigger by the day and this means we see them a lot more since they are now integrated into the pride and moving around everywhere with them.

Lioness with the remains of her breakfast – a young warthog.

A very photogenic young male, the pride of our Chobe pride!

As expected for this time of year we’ve had a very high success rate when it came to finding not only lions but other large predators too. What is remarkable though was the amount of kills our guides managed to encounter. The lions were seen killing warthog, impala and a buffalo calf at Puku flats.

A pack of 7 wild dogs roamed the area between the Serondella picnic spot and the Kasane Airport for a period of about a week. We were lucky enough to see these highly nomadic predators kill on at least three occasions. They first brought down a waterbuck near the HATAB 1 & 2 campsites and on the second occasion they managed to kill a kudu very near to the Lodge. The third sighting was at the Sedudu Pans where the dogs killed a fully grown male impala. We actually had the opportunity to time the dogs on how long it would take to finish their kill: within 7 minutes all that was left of the impala were its horns, ribcage and a piece of skin!

The pack of wild dogs after they brought down a kudu near Chobe Game Lodge.

Leopard sightings were perhaps not as common as we would have liked but at least they were not non-existent. The large amount of lion activity in the vicinity of Chobe Game Lodge may have caused them to be just a bit more secretive than normal. With undergrowth opening up as it is right now, the frequency of sightings of these large cats should increase during June.

Leopards were rather elusive over the last few weeks

As we progress deeper into July, winter will strengthen its grip on us here in southern Africa. In Chobe this fortunately means nippy mornings and pleasant daytime temperatures. The bit of chill experienced on the early morning game drives and late in the evening should be well worth enduring as winter is always the most exciting time for game viewing and we are always rewarded with awesome sightings and experiences.

We will keep you up to date with the latest in our next newsletter.

Regards,

The Chobe Game Lodge Guides

Compiled by:
Wouter Theron
Environmentalist
Chobe Game Lodge

Stunning sunsets are typical of Botswana’s winter months.

Xugana Island Lodge

With the water exceptionally high in the Okavango Delta this year, animals are on the move.

They cross from island to island with ease to find a plentiful supply of food. The situation makes a walking safari all the more intriguing, for participants never know what they might find, and those who are open to all of nature’s bounty, from the tiniest insects to the soaring African fish eagle, never come away disappointed.

On this day, led by Desert and Delta Safaris guide, Lets Ngoma, Jenny and Geoff Lee of Australia seemed the happiest of guests, paying close attention to Lets’ description of the dung beetle and its manner of rolling dung into a hole in the sand, a deposit that will one day feed its young. Lets was pointing to buffalo dung to describe the preferred food over that of the droppings of an elephant. As all of us inspected the ground, Lets soon noticed something else: lion tracks. He concluded that buffalo the previous evening had headed in the direction from whence we came, and a lioness had tracked them.

What happened next was a treasure hunt, a classic tale of tracking. With Lets in front and tracker Lasty in the back, the group walked on. Lets had us inspecting even more lion tracks, including those of a big male. “Open your ears,” Lets advised us. “Open your ears.”

We examined more tracks. We watched Lets stand on top of termite mounds to scope the landscape of Palm Island with his binoculars. At one stage we heard a growl. It was low. We had to crosscheck with each other to be sure we had heard it. Lets moved away to test his theory. Quiet. Then more growls. Then in another direction, we heard scuffling and saw dust rising. It seemed animal action was all around us. And then Lets saw it: In the distance near a group of red lechwe was a lioness. He made sure we could all see her. “Well done!” whispered Geoff. It was 8:57 a.m., less than an hour after we had left the boat to begin our walk. Lets and Lasty decided we would move toward the dust cloud.

We were excited, and certainly our ears were open. Before long we had come upon a herd of Cape buffalo, somewhere between 200 and 300 of them, the tracker estimated. And in no time Lets had spotted more lions, two resting in the shade of a termite mound, their eyes on the buffalo. And then there was a lioness moving in front of us, not 50 yards away. And soon there was the male Lets had been hoping to see. The Lees were thrilled by the magnificence of the sight, although Geoff, a physician who maintained his sense of practicality, for which I was grateful, made sure we received instructions about where to flee should the buffalo charge us.

They eyed us curiously as they grazed, but kept their distance. In all there were 8 lions visible that morning. Lets and Lasty determined there were more, at least one more male, by the sound of the roars calling out to each other.

To be that close to wildlife in Botswana, on foot no less, is an encounter that can never be forgotten. All the senses come alive. Awe is the undercurrent. Those on a walking safari have been guests in the home of the wild animals of the bush. As Jenny exclaimed to the camp managers upon our return to Xugana Island Lodge, “We’ve been on an adventure!” Never to be forgotten.

Maria Henson, Desert & Delta Safaris volunteer

Bats

Bats may not be at the top of our guests' "must see" lists, but they are actually fascinating, overlooked (and misunderstood) creatures.

A Mauritian Tomb Bat (endearing name, n'est ce pas?), a species of sheathtailed bat which I saw hanging head down on a tree outside the Xugana dining room. She had a furry pup clinging to her underside which you can see if you look carefully at the photograph.


The second is the rare Ruppell's Pipistrelle Pipistrellus rueppellii, a species of vesper bat weighing a mere 7.1 g (142 to the kilogram) which I found at Camp Okavango. Little is known about this species, and according to my large Skinner & Chimimba mammal reference book, its roosting habits are unknown.

The third bat is the formidible-looking Commerson's Roundleaf Bat Hipposideros commersoni. I found it hanging from the thatched roof of the Camp Moremi dining room. Quite a beast, this, and the largest bat in Botswana, with formidible clawed forearms. Males have a wingspan of just under 600 mm and may weigh over 200 g (28 times heavier than the pipistrelle). Compare this with the 508 mm wingspan and 140 g weight of the only other large bat in the region, the Gambian - formerly Peter's - Epauletted Fruit Bat, Epophomorus gambianus. Commerson's Roundleaf Bat is insectivorous, as are the Mauritian Tomb Bat and Ruppell's Pipistrelle.

Richard Randall