9/16/17 Zambia

Not too much noise last night.  I would have read longer, but there were hundreds of little gnats that were attracted to my book light.  They were so small that they could get through the tiny holes in the mosquito netting - very annoying.  I heard a hyena in the distance and some hippos closer by, but that was it.  After breakfast, we hopped on the bush trucks and our first stop was to a tree with small round fruit.  Neddy called it a wooly caper bush.  The fruit is poisonous and the bushmen used to put the juice from it on their arrows and spears to kill animals during the hunts.  Last night we saw the sausage tree, but we stopped again as Dave and Kitty did not go on the afternoon drive.  During the light of day, we could see some large red flowers on it.  When the flower falls off, the fruit appears.  Neddy also talked about the scrambled egg tree - the roots are boiled by the local people and that solution is said to cure malaria and help with stomach problems.  It is also said to help with aborting an unwanted child.  We also stopped to see a large malura tree.  The fruit of this tree is used to make a liqueur.  It is a favorite of the elephants.  We stopped to watch some birds - the Scalow turaco, green with red on its wings and the green-backed bulbul.  We spotted a Defasa waterbuck - he is only found in and around Kafue National Park.  We then stopped to see an elephant under the palm trees.  He was shaking the tree and then eating the palm fruits that dropped to the ground.  Another elephant came along and helped himself to the fruit and at first, I thought there was going to be trouble, but the first one just allowed the second one to enjoy himself.  I truly think the second elephant was the same bully that charged at us last night - he was still a bit grumpy.  

Driving along, we saw what looked like a nest on the trunk of a palm tree.  As we got closer, we could see that it was an epiphyte - the leopard orchid, yellow flower with black spots.  They have different types of termite mounds here as well as the ones we are used to except not as large.  The ones we haven’t seen before look like large hillocks - some are covered with grasses and trees are growing out of it.  These large mounds are inhabited by micro termites - rather ironic.  The smaller conical ones shaped from grains of dirt and sand are inhabited by the snorted termites.  We saw a good sized herd of impalas and Neddy informed us that the proper term is a rank or a leap of impala.  We then saw a group of impalas and pukus together - they seemed to be sharing the same grassy area with no problems.  The pukus whistle when they are disturbed by something and when they sense danger, they voice a series of whistles to warn the rest of the animals to flee.  We then saw the white-fronted bee eaters.  They were having a jolly old time flitting here and there.  They were very colorful and fun to watch.  They next in holes in the ground.  We passed some water berry trees.  Neddy said the berries are sweet and enjoyed by the local people.  

We stopped to take photos of a Marshall’s eagle.  He was perched at the top of a tree and seemed to be posing for us.  He was a magnificent bird. Quite large with very sturdy legs.  He has a very strong beak and can take down a small impala or a baby warthog.  We stopped to take photos of a candelabra tree.  It looks like a very tall cactus, but it is a tree.  We heard the song of a bird we had not heard before.  Neddy said it was a honey guide, but we were not able to spot it.  Neddy kept stopping to look at tracks in the road. He saw leopard, lion and hyena tracks.  We went off-road to attempt to find any of them, but were not successful. The tsetse flies were beginning to be pesky. I had put Deet on earlier so I put my fly net on.  Neddy hopped out and lit the elephant dung located in the can hanging on the back of the truck. Juanita got bit on the face when one of them got under her head net and John got a bite on his leg when one flew up his pants leg.  There is a lot of tall grass, bushes, brush, trees and large termite mounds in the area - plenty of hiding places.  Also the color of the grasses match large cat colors so they could have been close by and we would not have noticed them unless they moved.  We stopped by the water and took pictures of a yellow-billed stork (white body) and an open-billed stork (black body).  Just down from there we spotted a pair of Egyptian geese with a number of small goslings swimming in a row - adult, babies, adult.  It was cute.  We saw another lilac breasted roller, but it was back-lit so the colors weren't as vibrant.  We saw an African darter drying his wings while standing on a rock in the water.  He must be related to our cormorant.  Neddy said they also have cormorants here.  We saw a Goliath heron and another darter.  We drove past a field of brown granite rocks.  From a distance they looked like petrified elephants - very rounded.  We stopped for tea and a loo with a view (there were large granite boulders to hide behind here). I tried to take a photo of the many dragonflies buzzing around.  I also took a photo of hippo tracks in the mud.   When we were leaving our break area, we stopped to look at the white bird guano on the boulders.  Neddy pointed out the brown mud below that.  It is from the male hippo.  He waves his tail like a propeller while he poops, flinging it every which way.  Female hippos have a firmer stool - rather like an elephant’s, but smaller.  Hippos can travel up to 10 km a night to graze.  They use the scent from these dung markings to find their way back to the river.  They tend to follow the same paths so eventually a path is worn through the grass - hippo highways.  These highways turn to gullies during the rainy season.  We spotted a warthog in the brush.  I took a video of him scraping against small trees - trying to rid himself of the parasites most probably.  We stopped so that Neddy could use his binoculars to scan the brush.  When asked what he was looking at, he replied and ALT (animal-like thing).  We all had a good laugh.  Just as we were returning to camp, we spotted some warthogs.  Neddy said they are comfortable coming into camp.  The mom is named Lulu.  There is a male, Prince, from last year’s litter.  She had 4 in the litter, but 3 were killed by a leopard.  There is one survivor from this year’s litter, a cute little female named Stella.  She was very funny - when they came out onto the road, she ran very fast to get back into the brush.  We had brunch when we got back: eggs to order, veggie pasta, salad, homemade bread, bacon.  I hope I don’t weigh 300 pounds when we get back. We are eating well, but don’t get a lot of exercise except for the rocking back and forth in the truck.  Vimbai said we could power walk from tent 1 to 9.  She also said not to run lest a leopard think we were prey.  We are now having siesta time.  At 3:00 we will have a ranger come to talk to us about the poaching problem - then one of the guides will talk about Zambia during high tea.  After tea, we will have our afternoon/evening game drive and then come back to camp for dinner.

A man named, Michael, from the Department of Parks and Wildlife came to speak to our group.  His department used to be privately managed, but was prone to bribe and corruption.  It is now run by the government.  There are over 220 square km. in Kafue National Park North where we are.  He and his compatriots are in charge of protecting this large tract.  His job is to arrest poachers, anyone without a valid license to be in the park, or anyone starting a fire.  There are fires here, but they are controlled burns done by the park rangers to keep down the brush in certain areas.  Twenty days per month, they have a group of rangers who go into the bush to search for poachers.  They use GPS to mark areas where it looks like some suspicious activity has been taking place.  Generally the poachers are looking to kill lions and leopards for their skins or elephants for their tusks.  If they catch a poacher, the first offense is 5-7 years of jail time.  Sometimes they catch subsistence poachers.  These are locals who come into the park for impalas to feed their families.  Their penalty is to pay a fine or do 6 months in jail.  There are also people who set snares.  They are the most difficult to find, but cause a lot of damage as they do not target certain animals, but catch whatever happens to spring the snare.  They also catch people who are fishing illegally - those who use nets or who suffocate the fish using lactose acid from certain trees.  The department uses informants in local villages.  This method is quite effective, but the informants have to be careful to not let anyone know they are doing this service as it could be very dangerous for them to be “found out”.  Michael said he catches about 1 to 5 poachers per month, but more of them are subsistence rather than commercial poachers.  The Chinese seem to be the biggest buyers of illegal ivory.  

On our game drive, we saw some more white backed vultures.  We stopped to look at a knob horned acacia tree.  The knobs and thorns prevent animals from browsing on the tree bark and branches.  Everywhere you look, you can see scrambled egg trees in bloom.  There yellow blossoms really stand out as most of the trees do not have there leaves yet.  Here it is very early Spring.  We saw a Western banded snake eagle, but he flew away before I could a close up - I did get a far away picture.  We saw another sausage tree and spotted a wattled lap wing sitting on a branch.  We saw some more impalas and pukus and lots of guinea fowl with their speckled backs and blue heads.  We passed an area where there were lots of holes in the raised ground.  These are the nest of the white-breasted bee eater.  It looked like a bird condo.  I think I got a picture of one in his hole.  We stopped by the water and saw 3 hippos.  By this time it was getting quite dark and we could hear two lions roaring to each other.  When we drive in the dark, the guide uses a spotlight to see if he can see eyes in the bush.  We saw a common dyka and then just the eyes of two genets and a civet.  We also saw another white-tailed mongoose moving away from us.  As we were driving back to camp we saw a scrub hare and her baby on the road.  At first, we though the baby was dead as it was not moving, but the poor little thing was just scared and afraid to move.  Eventually, it did move and we were able to continue on our way back to camp where dinner was waiting for us. 

9/15/17 Lufupa Camp Zambia

We left the Delta this morning after breakfast.  On our way to the airstrip in the land rovers, we stopped to take pictures of a tesessebe antelope (the second fastest land mammal - the cheetah being first).  So today was a long day of traveling: land rover to bush plane to small bus to small boat across the Zambesi river to small bus to very small bush plane to land rover.  After we crossed the river into Zambia, we were surrounded by men trying to sell us copper bracelets or small carved wooden animals.  That must be a hard way to make a living.  No one on our bus made a purchase.  The unemployment rate in Zambia is 60%.  On our bus ride to the airport, we passed a few villages.  Some of the houses were made of block with tin roofs, but others were small mud huts with conical thatched roofs.  We saw a number of children walking along the side of the road.  They were all in uniform and school had just let out.  The bus stopped at a market before we got to the airport.  We were each given a small slip of paper with an African word written on it.  Our mission was to find the item and purchase it (Vimbai gave us each 1 or 2 dollars for this purpose) in the 20 minutes she allowed us.  Dave and I stuck together even though we had different items to purchase.  I asked a woman at one of the stalls and she called out to a young man who obviously knew how to read and he was a great help.  He was joined by a boy who tagged along, but we finally got our items.  Dave purchased peanuts and I bought a colorful piece of cloth.  We will have a cultural night while we are here and our items will come into play on that day.  I wish we had more time to explore the market.  I saw a variety of things being sold: hardware items, used clothing, beans, produce, live chickens, dried fish, flour, sugar, cloth, shoes, etc.  We saw someone getting her hair braided in one little booth.  It was a colorful venue with a bustling atmosphere - great fun!  As we were standing by the bus admiring some dried beans, Mike asked a woman what the packaged white rocks were.  She indicated that you were to eat them.  She popped some small pieces in her mouth and chewed them.  Mike mimed that he would like to try it so he broke off a small piece and puts it in his mouth.  He said it was quite soft.  Meanwhile, the woman was cracking up as this was the mud that is iron-rich that pregnant women eat!  The camp here is lovely - a very large lounge/dining area with a large deck right on the river.  The camp is actually located at the point where the Lufupa and Kafue rivers meet and continue on to become the Kafue River.  Our accommodations are wonderful.  We are in a family unit so we have a front porch overlooking the river.  The rest of the tent is screened with a king-sized bed, open closet, a toilet room, a shower and a room at the back with two twin beds.  We were very hot when we got here as we put on long pants and long sleeved shirts this morning knowing we were traveling to Zambia.  They have tsetse flies here and I certainly do not want to be bitten.  We have loaded up our pocket with applications of Deet and we intend to be very careful while we are here.  We had a half hour to stow our gear and then we met up for a late afternoon game drive.  Dave opted to take a nap and he was feeling very tired.  The guide of our truck was Neddy.  We will switch to the other guide, John, tomorrow afternoon.  John explained the rules of the game drive, which were basically the same as in the other camps.  Instead of a loo with a view however, he said the ask the guide to stop if we “needed to raise the water table”.  The first thing we stopped to see was a tree with small bright yellow flowers - It is called a scrambled egg tree.  Not far from there, we spotted a tree with long pods hanging from the branches.  He called this one a sausage tree.  They use this tree to make dug-out canoes.  I just you can walk into the bush and get a visual breakfast - although they are missing a toast tree.  We saw some pukus and a black headed heron.  We also saw some kudus, elephants, storks, ibis, and a white tailed mongoose.  We saw our daily ration of impalas, a scrub hare, and a common dyka.  We also learned that there can be up to 30,000 gallons of water in a baobab tree.  Mothers in the bush would bathe their new babies in the water of this tree for seven days to ensure a long and healthy life for their child.

9/14/17 Delta

We heard an hyena last night and a hippo, otherwise the night was quiet.  I had the camera ready to record but I was never fast enough.  I did record some of the night sounds and this morning some of the sounds we wake up to.  Hopefully they will be audible when I play them back.  Greg and Juanita heard what they thought was a very noisy bird outside of their tent this morning only to discover upon searching for it that it was an irate tree squirrel chattering away with a sound that was like someone laughing.  After breakfast this morning, we split again into two groups and changed drivers.  Today we had Jacks as our guide.  Our group got to go the the water first.  We all got into dugout canoes in pairs and a guide (ours was named Wax) poled us down the channel.  It was quite shallow - there may have been two or three feet of water in the deepest part.  We skirted close to the reeds and sedges.  There were many white pond lilies in bloom and an occasional blue one - very pretty.  There were also some very small yellow flowers call yellow water pistols.  Wax had Dave pick one.  It had a very long tube-like stem and a sac near the flower that was filled with water.  When you squeeze the sac, water would squirt out of the flower.  We saw lots of dragon and damsel flies (damsels fold their wings and dragons don’t) flitting here and there.  It was very tranquil on the water.  There was a current, but it was not a fast one.  At one point, we could see and hear buffalo.  I took a video, but because I was sitting so low in the water, I think I only caught the splashing noises they made as they ran away when they spotted us.  A little further along, we heard the hippos.  Wax pulled into the reeds and said we could stand up to take a photo.  They were a bit far away (and after yesterday, I was happy to be that distance from them), but it was fun to see and hear them.  They eventually drifted off.  Was and the other guides decided to turn around at that point so as to not come closer to the hippos.  On the way back, I mentioned that I was surprised to not come across any frogs as it seemed like the perfect habitat for them.  Wax pulled up close to the reeds and pointed out a tiny 1 - 1.5 inch frog sitting on the reed.  They are called painted reed frogs.  The first one we saw was white and later he pointed out a brown one.  They are the same frog - they have the ability to change color.  I still can’t believe he had the eyesight to spot such a tiny creature!  We came back to shore and had morning tea and the other group joined us.  They were going out on the canoes next.  I made Jacks turn around so I could get a picture of his backside to add to my collection of animal backsides - some of them move away so quickly that the only picture you get of them is when they are running or walking away.  After the second group got on their way, we left for our game drive.  We saw a tawny eagle and a little bee eater right away and then we stopped to take photos of a lilac breasted roller and a white-backed vulture.      We stopped again because we could see and hear a bunch of baboons.  One male was very vocal and seemed to be chasing after a female with a monkey clinging to her belly - there was a lot of chasing and vocalization going on.  He also charged a smaller male and chased him off.  The large male chased the female into the top of the tree and we heard some shrieking, but we waited until we could see her again and saw that the baby was okay.  Our next stop was for a swallow-tail bee eater and as we were watching him, a marsh harrier hawk flew by overhead.  We saw another fish eagle and a spotted turtle dove.  At our next stop, we saw a sunbird and a fork-tailed drugal.  We saw a small black and white bird called a chat and several yellow-billed kites.  Jacks then parked the truck and had us get out for a little bush walk.  We stopped at an evergreen tree (they don’t look anything like ours).  Jacks explained that the bark of the evergreen along with the dried sage and dried elephant dung was used by the bushmen to start a fire.  We stopped to take pictures of the red-billed Francolin and Jacks told us that there are two other Francolins (the Swanson’s with a red throat and the crested).  We stopped by the large termite mound and Jacks told us a few more interesting facts about the termites.  The queen lays about 150,000 eggs per day.  Scientists have studied them and found that it takes five years for a termite mound to achieve the size of a soccer ball so using that statistic, Taps estimate of this mounds age (70-80 years) were fall far short.  It is certainly a very, very old mound.  Just before we crossed the wooden bridge, we spotted another fish eagle posing on the limb of a big dead tree.  We got some lovely shots of him.  As we were nearing camp, we could see that a small troop of baboons were trying to get into the recycling area.  

We came back to the camp for brunch and siesta time.  At 3:30 we will have tea and a lecture about the Okavanga Delta by Jacks, one of the driver-guides.  The river source for the delta starts in the Angola highlands and then is joined by another river in Namibia.  They flow into Botswana where the delta is formed.  The water that starts in Angola may take six months to reach the delta near our camp.  Five percent of the water along the way is lost due to evaporation or usage.  There has been talk of building a dam in Namibia, which would be a terrible threat to the flora and fauna of the delta, but at the moment it is only a threat and not a reality.  Other threats to the area are global warming, pesticides, and invasive weeds.

After the lecture we had our afternoon game drive.  We started off by spotting two vultures.  Our guide spotted hyena tracks in the sand of the road, but he was not around.  He stopped at one point and asked us to identify what looked like antelope horns, but we were looking at it wrong - it was a pair of warthog tusks from a large male.  He picked up some scat by the side of the road.  It was bigger than deer or impala scat, so I guessed waterbuck, but it turned out to be giraffe poo.  We saw seven kudus and then stopped by the waterhole to watch hippos performing what might have been a mating ritual.  He was putting on a wonderful performance for her, vocalizing and opening his mouth to almost 180 degrees.  She didn’t seem to be as impressed as we were.  It was wonderful to just sit in the truck and watch the show, but eventually we had to leave to meet up with the other group for our sundowner ritual (drinks and watching the beautiful red African sunset).  We then went back in the dark to the lodge for dinner.  The America’s Got Talent show was better on our part this time.  I had another haiku:  

Delta game drives in

Kalahari Ferraris

Led by Taps and Jacks.

Greg put on a juggling act and the rest of us did “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands”.

9/13/17 Delta

Last night after dinner as the driver-guide was walking us to our tents, we saw a huge elephant right next to our cabin.  If we had walked onto the porch, Dave could have slapped him on the hindquarters.  Jacks told the others waiting for him on the main boardwalk to move out of the way and then he made some noise and clapped his hands to get the elephant to move.  He was quite large, but very deftly walked over the boardwalk and not on it (they frequently have to make repairs when the elephants step on the boardwalks).  As we were getting ready for bed, we could hear the hippos calling (mostly grunting) down by the river.  They did this periodically most of the night as every time I woke up, I could hear them.  They were also being vocal this morning when we woke up.  Several of the others heard the lions roaring around 2:30, but I must have been in a deep sleep cycle and did not hear them.  I was ready first so I sat on a porch chair and enjoyed the morning air.  A black and white bird with a very long tail perched himself on the top of a small tree next to the tent.  I found out later that it was a magpie shrike.  I also found out that the resident bat in the lounge area is a long-eared fruit bat.

We were treated to a beautiful African sunrise - not quite as spectacular as the sunset, but lovely in its own way.  After breakfast, we headed out for an all-day game drive.  It was chilly this morning, but I decided to suffer for a short while as I knew that when the sun rose high enough, I would be melting.  We kept the same driver as yesterday, Taps, but rotated seats so Dave and I were in the front instead of the back. Our first sighting this morning was of a red lechwe.  We then saw a number of waterbucks and zebras.  Taps was driving fast along the sandy road (some places are very deep) and he called our vehicle a Kalahari Ferrari.  We then stopped next to a tree that had a large hammercock nest.  This nest was very interesting as there is a hole in the side as an entrance.  The top of the nest is frequently used as a roosting place for the Egyptian goose (sounds like a bird condo to me).  Taps told us that the hammercock uses anything it can find to make its nest - sticks, grass, paper, plastic bags, etc.  Taps told the story of when he was a young boy, he came out the door and saw that a new pair of underwear of his had blown off the line in the breeze.  While he was watching a hammercock swooped down and stole it.  When his mom asked him where his new undies were, he said that a bird stole them.  Of course, she did not believe him and he got in trouble (sounds like the dog ate my homework line).  We saw some baboons - some with babies on their backs again.  The babies are so funny - they ride around on the backs for a while and then jump off to the ground, then back to their mom’s backs.  We stopped by the river and saw a huge pod of hippos.  We stayed there for quite a bit and just watched.  They kept putting their heads up and watching us.  There were a lot more open hard sandy areas where we were driving this morning.  Taps said these are large salt licks and the elephants like to come here to root out the salt.  They sometimes make deep holes while doing this and when the rains come, they can expand over time to make a new waterhole.  We then stopped to see an hyena den and an aardvark burrow, but no one was home in either case.  We saw a female lion.  She had recently given birth, but the cubs were pretty well camouflaged in the bushes.  We could just see glimpses of them.  Taps said they are about a week old and still a bit wobbly on their feet.  We went back to the river and saw an African fish eagle, a Rufus-bellied heron, and a saddle-billed stork.  We saw some Southern common reed bucks in the water.  They had a black spot on each side of their faces.  Taps said it was a pre-orbital gland.  A little further on, we spotted a great white egret and a little egret very close to each other.  As we drove along, we came upon a red-billed Francolin (also known as a spare fowl).  Then we finally saw a large crocodile (about 7 feet).  He was sitting beside the water with his mouth open (just a heat exchange, not being aggressive).  I got a good picture of his teeth.  He must have been full as nearby we saw a green-backed heron and a squacco heron.  We also saw a common red-back (deer) and a blacksmith lapwing (bird).  We also saw some wattled cranes (they are on the endangered list).  They are very tall with lovely coloring.  We saw a very large nest at the end of a branch - it seemed ungainly.  It is a communal nest for red-billed buffalo weavers.  So everyone comes to Africa to see the Big Five: buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion, and leopard.  We just saw one of the Small Five: red-billed buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, rhino beetle, ant lion, and leopard tortoise.  Taps said there is also the Ugly Five: Blue Wildebeest, baboons, vultures, Maribou stork, and the warthog.  Taps also included his cousins on this list as a joke.  We have seen all of them except for Taps’s cousins.  We also saw a female leopard.  Taps said they have named her, Tsebe, which means torn ear.  We took more pictures of the carmine bee eater - such a lovely red against the branches of the trees.  We saw some more of our bird friends, blacksmith lapwing, the hammercock, and a hada ibis, a new one for us.  We spotted a water monitor about 2 feet long.  He was really moving so I didn’t get his picture.  We saw a beautiful bird called the coppery-tailed coucal - he was a bright copper color and very striking when in flight.  Our next sighting was of a brown snake eagle sitting in a tree.  We then spotted a Bateleur eagle in flight - way too far away for a photo, but really cool to see.  Our next sighting was of an African jacana (also known as the Jesus bird as it looks like he is walking on water).  He was copper colored with a white head.  We spent some time watching a pied kingfisher.  He looked like a helicopter as he would fly up and hover over the water before diving down to get (or not get if he was unlucky) a fish.  He did this a number of times and it was great fun watching him.  I think he had a 40% success rate for the time we were watching.  We drove through watery areas - some were a bit muddy, but one was quite deep and we called it an African carwash - Taps liked that.  As we neared our lunch spot to meet up with the others, we saw a number of large acacia trees (they are also known as the umbrella thorn tree).  I love how they flatten out and are so wide.  They do make a great shade tree.  We came across a few Southern ground hornbills.  They are so much larger than the other hornbills, you would not think they were related at all.  They are about the size of a tom turkey.  We saw some elephants, one of whom was not happy to see us getting close and he charged at us with his large ears flapping.  Since he was a lot bigger than us, we backed up quickly.  We then saw some knob-billed ducks.  We came around a corner and saw the blue wildebeests and zebras together under a rain tree and just behind them, a good-sized herd of impalas (McDonalds of the bush).  I took a picture of a very pregnant zebra.  Taps said that she will give birth in the rainy season as the food supply with be more abundant then.  There were also about 5 warthogs nearby, but they ran when we got close.  We came across a different type of acacia with yellow leaves called a knob thorn acacia.

We stopped for lunch and a bush loo break.  Everything was delicious as usual.  The setting could not have been more perfect.  We were facing the river, where we could see some waterfowl like the wood sandpiper.  There were some hippos in the water and elephants behind them in the distance.  When I looked to the right, I could see some elephants getting a drink and when I looked to the left, I could see three giraffes bending down to get drinks.  It was an amazing place!  As we were driving away, we saw some bones in the water near the edge.  We stopped to take a photo.  Taps said an elephant had died here of natural causes and the crocs were responsible for stripping the flesh off his bones. They called the wildlife department to come out and take the tusks so that they could not be poached.  Speaking of tusks, we have seen a number of tuskless or one tusked elephants.  Apparently, this is a genetic trait.  On our way back to camp, we saw and Egyptian goose, great white pelicans, a gray heron, and a yellow-billed stork.  We passed a good sized herd of impalas (the locals call them the McDonalds of the bush).  We stopped by a bush called a purple pen weed.  It had a great smell - quite herblike.  We spotted a hippo in the bush and as we got closer we could see that it was injured.  It had what looked like scratches on its side (perhaps from a lion) and there was some blood coming from his mouth.  Taps said that he was hiding in the bush to let his injuries heal because if he were to go into the water, there are some small fish that would eat at the wound and prevent it from scabbing over.  At first we thought he might be dead, but we could see his body rising and falling slightly from his respiration.  Taps drove a little closer and the hippo leaped up and came towards us.  We backed the land rover up very quickly!  Taps drove around the bushes to get a better view, but the hippo didn’t want us there either and charged the vehicle with a roar.  His mouth was open and he certainly had a lot of very large molars.  It came as such a surprise that ho one got a video - we just wanted to get out of his way as fast as possible!  That was enough of charging animals for me for the day!!!

After that excitement and when our heartbeats returned to normal, we continued our game drive.  We saw an open-billed stork and a red-billed hornbill (the natives call it a flying chili pepper).  Apparently this is the bird depicted in The Lion King - Azu.  They call the yellow-billed hornbill a flying banana.  Our last sightings of the day were of a juvenile saddle-billed stork and a long-toed lapwing.

We came back to camp for high tea and siesta time.  I was sitting writing the blog in the lounge.  Greg decided to go back to him tent for him camera and when he came back with Mike, they said there was a large elephant eating grass next to the path near their tents.  They took some pictures and Dan took a video from his porch.  Poor Kitty was stuck in her tent as the elephant had her penned in.  We had to wait for some of the staff to come to the lounge area to alert them of the predicament.  They finally were able to get him to move and then they had to remove a large branch that the elephant had torn down and left on the boardwalk.  Vimbai had already started her talk on her home country of Zimbabwe when Kitty was finally able to get out of her tent and join us.

9/12/17 Okavanga Delta Botswana

Last night was very noisy.  I heard a lion in the distance.  I was just falling asleep when I was awakened by a huge noise.  It was the sound of an elephant tramping right by our cabin.  He thrashed around through the brush and left a “present” in our side “yard”.  This morning, we were awake  before the alarm because we could hear the baboons howling their wake-up call.

We left by van from camp and traveled to the airport to go to our next camp in the Okavanga Delta.  Along the road, we had a mini good-bye committee: 2 honey badgers, impalas, elephants, and verdid monkeys.  On our way into the terminal, I spotted a construction van parked on the side of the driveway.  The sign on the side said “The best erections in Botswana”.  When I told Vicky about it, she said there is an electrician’s van in her area whose sign says “We look into your shorts”.   We loaded onto 3 small bush planes and winged our way to our new camp in the delta.  Because we flew so low, we had great views of the game trails and waterholes.  I saw several groups of elephants loading up on water for the day.  I’m sure there were also smaller animals at the waterholes, but the elephants were the only things I could see clearly from that height.  We flew over part of the Kalahari desert and then landed on a small air strip.  There was another OAT group who were leaving on the same planes.  They were are group of 14 friends from CA who put this trip together through OAT.  They are 3 days ahead of us so would be on their way to Zambia.  After getting good reports from them, we loaded ourselves and our duffle bags onto 2 land rovers and along with our drivers, Taps and Jacks, were on our way to camp.  We stopped first at a nearby waterhole and for an outdoor bathroom break (a loo with a view).  We spotted a new bird: hammerlock.  It is easy to see how he gets his name as his head is shaped like a hammer.  There was a hippo in the water - he came up every once in a while for air.  I am hoping we see some out of the water so we can view more than the heads, but I may be disappointed as they are nocturnal.  Just as we were getting ready to leave, a herd (parade) of elephants came to the waterhole to drink and get wet.  I counted 46.  There were some babies.  They were so much fun to watch.  They didn’t stay long, but took their drinks and then marched back into the brush as a group.  We spotted the same herd again as we got onto the road.  They were munching on the mopane trees (the locals call it the butterfly bush).  There aren’t too many tall ones as the elephants keep them trimmed - apparently they are quite tasty to elephants.  There is a gland located on the side of an elephant’s face which weeps when the elephant is stressed.  The secretion looks wet and black against the gray of the elephant so some people think the elephant is crying, but the wetness is not coming from the eye, but this gland.  We drove by a bush with fluffy white flowers named the knobby combreton (I may have to look this one up when we get home - not sure of the spelling).  At any rate, from a distance it looks like a marshmallow bush and is well liked by giraffes and kudus.  At one point, Taps said we were 7 minutes and 2 seconds from camp so I can tell right away that he has a good sense of humor.  

Our accommodations here are canvas tents on platforms.  There is a boardwalk that goes in both directions from the lounge with tents on both sides.  Each tent has a smaller wooden boardwalk off the main one that leads to that individual tent’s front railed porch complete with two canvas director’s chairs.  When you unzip the screen, you are in the bedroom - two twin beds side by side with an end table at each side.  On the other side of the tall headboard are cupboards and a small closet.  Once you are behind the beds, there are two smaller rooms.  One is the shower room and the other has the toilet and sink.  It is quite an efficient set up. 

Back at the lounge and dining area, we discovered there is a resident bat.  He sleeps clinging to the thatching over the chairs and sofas.  We had the guides look it up and discovered it is a long-eared fruit bat.  There is a public bathroom called the guest zoo near the lounge.  It really is a loo with a view as when you sit on the pot, you are looking out of a “window” (no glass or other covering) right onto a grassy field.  The best plan of action is to take your camera with you to the bathroom as you never know what you will see. 

9/11/17 Baobab Lodge Botswana

On our way to the park this morning, we came across a troop of baboons.  They were walking and running with some of the babies on their backs and others holding on underneath.  One little guy was asleep on his mother’s back.  We then saw the elephants in the same place we saw them yesterday - they must love hanging out on this particular corner.  As we were driving through the park, we stopped to take pictures of sable antelope.  They are very rare to spot and our guide today, Emax, told us that this animal’s hide was where sable coats came from when they were making them.  We saw another huge nest in a tree and I asked Emax what bird would make that big a nest.  He said that it is a communal nest shared by many red-billed buffalo weavers.  We also saw some very small nests made of grass and they are built by the white-browed weaver.  We saw a huge flock of very small birds all flying in a coordinated manner.  They were the red-billed quelea.  We came across two young male lions and their sister lying down in the shade of a tree.  Not too far away, the large male, their dad, was also resting.  The mom may have been off feeding at a kill as she was not there.  The cubs and the dad looked very full and sleepy.  Female lions usually make the kill - sometimes with help from the others if it is a larger animal - but the males and younger females eat first.  As a side note, Emax said that lions have a 40% kill rate, whereas wild dogs have an 80% chance of a successful kill.  We drove off a bit and Emax spotted a black-backed jackal resting under a bush.  He said he had seen this particular jackal before and there are five pups in a den very near by.  

We then drove down by the river and spotted a number of white-backed pelicans, some spoonbills, and a reed cormorant.  On the surrounding land we saw a large herd of prairie zebras grazing and a very large herd of Cape buffalo (about 500+).  Emax said a group of zebras is called a dazzle and a group of buffalo is called a bellow or an obstinance.  We saw another group of sable antelope (how lucky are we?!).  They have the most magnificent horns.  It was interesting to note the color difference between the males and females.  The males are very dark - almost black - and the females were a much lighter brown.  We saw two groups of elephants (groups of them are called a parade) in the water - drinking and cooling off - together there were probably about 40 animals.  It was great to watch them drinking and cooling themselves off.  One small elephant was using his truck to splash around the water in front of him.  There was a tourist boat in the water near the elephants and when the boat got too close, a very large male walked toward the boat flapping his ears.  Very wisely, the boat backed off.  We looked to the side and saw three hippos in the water.  We could only see the top of the body and their heads, but it was great to see what we did - they obviously were enjoying being mostly submerged in the cool water.  Because we are in Botswana, the river is named the Chobe River.  It is the same as the Zambezi - just the name changes when a border is crossed.

We stopped for lunch at a picnic area for African peanut butter and jelly - ha!  We had chicken drumsticks, quiche, homemade bread and coleslaw.  There actually was pb and j for those who preferred it.  We were all sitting around enjoying our lunch and Dave got up to get a napkin the he had forgotten to pick up from the serving table.  He was only away from the table for a minute, but in that time, a very cheeky monkey ran down and swiped his sandwich!  He sat up in the tree and had a great time eating the sandwich in front of us.  Some of the other monkeys were getting close to the table so Dave and Mike ran at them to shoo them away.  Mike made a great roaring noise, but poor Dave had his mouth full of peanut butter so could not help with the acoustics.  On of the larger monkeys charged back at Dave, but he didn’t flinch so the monkey retreated.  We had a great time taking photos of the monkeys, especially the baby ones - they are so cute!  Just as we were getting ready to leave, another private van pulled up and a monkey reached through the window and stole a whole bag of rolls.  He raced back to the tree and sat up on a high branch enjoying his stolen baked goods.  As we were heading back to camp, we saw a flock of baby birds on the ground.  I’m not sure of their name, but they looked like they were in the quail family.  We also came across the carcass of a young elephant.  Emax thought it was about 4 years old and was probably killed by a lion.  He was pretty well picked over.  I know I talked about this before, but Emax also talked about the 6 sets of molars allotted to an elephant in his lifetime.  He said they get a new set about every 10 years.  We stopped to see some giraffes - some alone, some in couples, and others in groups.  There are different words for giraffes depending on what they are doing.  If they are standing, it is called a tower, if walking, a journey, and if running, a stride. Our last sighting before reaching the camp, Baobab Lodge, was of a group (maybe 20) of mongooses or is it mongeese?  Apparently they can travel in groups of more than 50.  Before this we were seeing them one or two at a time.  We got back around 3 and are having siesta now. I showered again as the ride was very dusty today.  I am again sitting on the deck looking down at the river.  From here I can see zebras and elephants as well as many different kinds of waterfowl.  The buffalo carcass near the river that we spotted yesterday is still being worked over by the vultures, but they look like they have made quite a bit of progress since yesterday.  There is a very thick vine near the lounge area.  It goes up into the trees, loops down and then goes back up again in a twisting pattern.  Apparently it is called a python vine.  We will all meet up again tonight at 6:15 for dinner.  Tonight will be a traditional African cook-out.  We are also going to have a talent show.  The staff has something planned and it will put our weak effort to shame.  I hope it is more singing as they all have beautiful voices. 

There was singing and it was beautiful!  Dave and I read a couple of haikus I had come up with.  Dave did a much better job of reading his than I did, but, oh well, the thought was there.  

Rise in Botswana

Impalas, zebras, baboons

Red African sun.

Mabele women

Weave, dance, embrace family

Powerful forces.

9/10/17 Baobab Lodge

9/10/17

I heard a lot of noise during the night.  It sounded like something was trying to get into the chalet.  Eventually I heard branches being broken so I figured out that it was an elephant passing by.  Later on I heard a hyena.  Others reported that at their end of the camp, they heard a lion.

Our wake-up call was at 6 this morning.  One of the staff comes around and beats a drum outside your cabin.  Breakfast was at 6:30 and at 7 we divided into two groups to go on our first game drive here in Chobe Park.  The game trucks are a bit higher than the ones in Thornybush and have a different suspension system.  Some of the roads are a bit rough and some of them are in deep sand.  The motion is quite jarring at times and our guide, Genius, called it an African massage.  We stopped near a large baobab tree and learned that there is an important fruit that grows on the tree.  The fruit is ground to a powder and mixed with milk to make a very nutritious yogurt, while the seeds can be used to make African coffee.  The Chobe River is the boundary between Botswana and Namibia.  In fact, I can see Namibia from the deck of the lodge.  This side of the river is considered part of the park, while the Namibian people use it as their backyard.  We can even see a few houses from here.  Apparently the men from Namibia are great fishermen and use gill nets to catch tilapia in the river and use the banks as places to graze their cows.  During the rainy season, the river floods and fills up the valley to the tree line.  Down by the river, we saw some blacksmith plovers, a huge herd of zebras (the guides estimated over a 1000).  We also saw a wooly Cape bush sparrow, some Egyptian geese, some ibis, several Maribou storks, egrets, white-faced whistling ducks, and an African jacana.  We drove a little further along the river and saw some large gray herons and a water monitor (type of lizard).  We stopped near a tree that was full of the most beautiful, colorful birds.  They are called Carmine Southern Bee Eaters.  I hope I got a good picture.   We continued our drive and saw an African fish eagle, some giraffes, impalas (McDonalds of the bush because they have what looks like the letter M on their hind quarters), a slender mongoose, a baby zebra, three male kudus with lovely twisted horns, a tropical bou bou, and a herd of water bucks.  We kept seeing bushes full of white flowers.  Our guide called them Mexican poppies.  We came across some more of the beautiful common bee-eaters.  I could stay and watch them all day - they are so colorful.  We saw a lot of soaring vultures and then spotted a tree full of them.  They must have known of something dead nearby and were just waiting their turn.  We saw a Maribou stork and then spotted a Cape glossy starling.  His wings catch the sun and become iridescent blue - very pretty.