Botswana (mostly) (1 Viewer)

[Jon Turner]

Others during the last day on the river included the following:

1 Water Monitors - we thought the one in front was big, but the one in the grass is a monster!
2 Violet-backed Starling
3 Distant Black-collared Barbet
4 Hawkmoth sp - any ideas?
5 African Green Pigeon - coming on evening so not great light

 

[foresttwitcher]

Not at all bad so far for a supposed non-birding trip, John, & some good memories for me of visit to the Delta many years ago - especially the Pel's & Carmines.

 

[Jon Turner]

Not at all bad so far for a supposed non-birding trip, John, & some good memories for me of visit to the Delta many years ago - especially the Pel's & Carmines.

I never imagined I would ever see Pel's and I made a right exhibition of myself to the others telling them stories of birders who have been to Africa several times and missed it!

Next morning we had a monstrous long drive to Zambia! Details dreckly...

 

[Jon Turner]

The remainder of the last trip on the river also netted several more Hippos, a couple of hiding Elephants, and also added White-rumped Swift and Shelley's Sunbird. There were good numbers of Darters and Cormorants coming to roost in the dead trees by the river.

Darters and Reed Cormorants
Next morning one of the locals was shipping out his reeds and saw me watching him!

 

[Jon Turner]

Pretty early we set out on the looong drive.. By the boat as we loaded up and said our thankyous to Kaiser (the boat operator), were Meyer's Parrot, African Paradise Flycatcher, Red-billed and Grey Hornbills and a huge flock of Lesser Masked Weavers looking for scraps in the garbage area.
Not far up the road we reached the very friendly border crossing into Namibia. We walked between the two immigration posts and I added several Bronze Mannikins, Blue Waxbills, Lesser Striped Swallow and Scarlet-chested Sunbird. The first part of our drive in Namibia was on a dirt road through a Wildlife park and we saw several new mammals: Greater Kudu, Roan, Sable, Zebra, and Impala, and a short stop at a Park Gate a Red-headed Weaver. We were soon out onto the real road, and racing across the Caprivi Strip, which seemed to go on for ever! It was very hot and very dry!

Added a few Wart Hogs early on the drive, but precious few birds: the first White-backed Vultures, a couple of Namaqua Doves, and then over a river a Bateleur or two! Along with about 60 Impala.

Eventually we reached the border to our third country for the day: Zambia. We had lunch here, but no birds to look at, and on we went. The roads deteriorated and we were frequently slowing for large potholes. It did improve and we eventually reached Livingstone, and our hotel by the Zambezi River. The beer was very welcome! As was the pool, surrounded by a troupe of Vervet Monkeys, and a new bird: Yellow-bellied Greenbul.. As we watched the sun go down from the bar (very heavily populated with young adrenalin junkies watching themselves doing the white-water rafting!) a good number of Sacred Ibis flew off to roost, a few Squacco Herons were by the river and a single Glossy Ibis joined a late group of Sacred Ibis.

 

[Jon Turner]

Next morning we headed for our second World Heritage Site of the trip: Victoria Falls. As it is at the end of the dry season the river isn't at anything like full flow - probably at it's lowest in fact. We have a walk around the Falls, but with the river reaching the gorge away from the entry, we don't get too close. We can however hear the 'smoke that thunders'. The spray is rising a hundred feet or so above the falls, but at full flow this can be 1500 feet up! Birds are in short supply: African Pied Wagtail, and several Red-winged Starlings. As we turn to return to the entrance a loud call alerts me and a Trumpeter Hornbill flies off.

1 This cliff is ALL waterfall in spate!
2 Poor shot of Trumpeter Hornbill

 

[Jon Turner]

Here's a few better shots of the Falls:

1 Zambia on the right, Zimbabwe on the left. For scale see the two people high on the left cliff!
2 To get better views, we took a helicopter ride over the falls!
3 from the 'copter
4 Statue of David Livingstone
5 Yellow-bellied Greenbul

 

[Jon Turner]

After we had flown over the Falls so everyone on each side the Helicopter could see the falls, we did 'the gorge' - fortunately I suddenly realised what this meant: a helicopter ride down the waterfalls that he rafters and kayakers go over! I set the camera to video and got the whole ride! He flew about 20 feet above the river and we were able to wave at some rafters below one of the waterfalls, who waved enthusiastically back! Now I have an idea what James Bond gets up to!

Back at the hotel we idled away the middle part of the day around the gardens - adding Brown-hooded Kingfisher from our room. Mid afternoon 3 of us headed out to the Falls once more. This time we took a boat to the top of the Falls which we saw earlier. We got quite close!B

1 Closer up they look really impressive: the drop is about 100 metres
2 Me on the right
3 With my better half....

 

[Jon Turner]

And just in case you thought I wasn't paying attention to the birds, there were small birds on many of the rocks between the hotel and the falls, and I got close enough to a pair after our swim to get this pic of a pair of Rock Pratincoles! :-O

After which we had high tea and Pims in a tent near the Falls!

 

[Jon Turner]

So, moving on we now headed back to Botswana. This involved finding our way to the river crossing at Kazungula. This is complete chaos, and that's putting it mildly! Hundreds of huge lorries parked everywhere waiting to get some sort of clearance to head over ferries and not much actually happening. I had visions of spending of the rest of our holiday here, but somehow, Solomon got us to and through passport control, and then drove us to the slipway and we got a small boat across and hoped he could get the vehicle across sometime soon! After only about 15 minutes he duly appeared and off we went to Botswana immigration, which was cleared in short order and on we went to Kasane for shopping and on into Chobe National Park.

1 Solomon bringing the vehicle over
2 White-browed Sparrow Weaver near the ferry
3 A pair of Broad-billed Rollers just before we got into Botswana
4 Park entry gate at Chobe
5 We tried to guess what animal we'd see first, but no-one guessed Giraffe

 

[Jon Turner]

The stop at Kasane for 'shopping' was so we could stock up on anything we needed for the next seven nights under canvas. Food was taken care of, but not drinks, so we had to guess how much beer, wine oh and water we would need. Some of us took the opportunity to have coffee and while doing this on a balcony overlooking the fenceline separating the town from the Chobe River I saw a large bright green bird in a big tangled tree, closer inspection revealed bright chestnut areas for a split second before it disappeared. Only one bird answers to this description: Shalow's Turaco! Some African Green Pigeons were nearby too (it wasn't one of them, honest!) We all overloaded the trailer with drinks and other goodies, and I realised that it was a good move having charged all my camera batteries before leaving the hotel in Livingstone - there was no electricity for the next week!

1 Sable Antelopes trying to find some shade
2 Greater Kudu being photobombed by an Impala
3 We had news of a Lion kill and drove across the park to find this Lion with four Lionesses
4 Sadly, this is what they had killed the night before
5 The Sanitary Inspectors were close by

 

[Jon Turner]

We then drove through the park to our first campground, via a detour along the river, where most of the game was concentrated. The heat of the afternoon was idled away around the camp and we set off for an evening game drive again at about 4.

1 Solomon also had news of a Leopard kill. Here it is eating it - Impala.
2 Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling (it is isn't it?)
3 Lilac-breasted Roller - I recall my father showing me one of these near Nairobi airport in 1961!
4 Kori Bustard
5 Baboons - look closely left centre - the Water Thick-knees were desperately trying to scare them all off!

 

[Carol Baldock]

Around the hotel and along the river:
1 Fork-tailed Drongo
2 Tree Squirrel - our first mammal of the trip
3 Kurrichane Thrush enjoying a sprinkler
4 Groundscraper Thrush
5 African Pygmy Goose - poor quality shot - apols!

I love the pictures of the 2 thrushes, John and love the colours of the Pygmy Geese :t:

 

[Carol Baldock]

After a long day travelling not many of us were up late - especially as Solomon warned us of a very long day on the road in the morning.
Woken by a dawn chorus including Babblers (not particularly lovely unless you like screeching!) and the delightful sound of Heuglin's Robin or White-browed Robin Chat as it is now known. This is one of the world's best songsters. Didn't see it, but am including a shot of one I did see when we returned:

1 White-browed Robin Chat
2 Ostrich - along the road, not sure if these were wild or farmed...
3 Southern Carmine Bee-eater - so much for the German birder!
4 Crimson-breasted Shrike - this and the Bee-eaters were at a petrol stop!
5 Puncture! Solomon had it fixed in 15 mins

Bird Number 1 is stunning, John and I love the reds in 3 and 4 . Rob and I visited a carmine bee- eater colony in The Gambia, 5 years ago, and it was a sea of red...we didn't know where to look...it was marvellous. How great too that the birds in 3 and 4 were all at the petrol stop too, lol !!
You can certainly feel the heat eminating from your picture number 5. I understand that there were few rains last year, in Botswana, and that they are anticipating , with the El Nino effect that they will be both delayed and not much this year either. I know that 4 of the concession Delta camps have suspended their boat trips, currently , until further notice.

 

[Carol Baldock]

The drive was indeed long (360kms) and hot and the main stops were to avoid Cows, Goats and Donkeys on or crossing the road! During the puncture stop I had a few minutes to look in the surrounding trees and found Grey-backed Cameroptera and a delightful male White-bellied Sunbird - too fast for photos sadly! Drongos and Hornbills were common over and around the road on the drive, as were Starlings - with long tails - Meve's Starlings I guess! Saw quite a few Larks too, but at 80kph they remained unidentified. The only other stop was at a small river crossing where Little Egret and Pied Kingfisher showed. In addition to the Bee-eaters and Shrike (pics above) at the diesel stop, there were Yellow-billed Hornbill, Southern Grey-headed Sparrows and White-browed Sparrow Weavers in a tree creating a lot of noise! We went clockwise around the delta and at lake Ngami (dry) turned right towards Namibia. All the way to Shakawe near the border. Here we met the lovely Kaiser who runs the Houseboat where we stayed for the next 3 nights.

1 Houseboat with excursion craft..
2 Giant Kingfisher - right next to us
3 White-fronted Bee-eater - feeding young in a small colony next to us.
4 Chin-spot Batis - hiding as usual
5 Wire-tailed Swallow - a pair was breeding under the back of the boat and followed us up and down the river.

How lovely to have the Wire- tailed Swallows breeding under the back of the boat, John, accompanying you on your houseboat journey o|=)|

 

[Jon Turner]

Some other birds seen that first day in Chobe

1 Crested Francolin
2 Red-billed Spurfowl
3 We returned again to see the Leopard, this time it was lounging about on the deck!
4 Our trip on the Chobe river included this White-crowned Lapwing
5 And these bone idle slop-abouts, with Yellow-billed Stork, Great White Egrets, Sacred Ibis and Jacana

 

[Jon Turner]

Not sure how this Tawny Eagle was the only bird of prey on this antelope (Impala?). Clearly it didn't kill it, but if a Lion had it would surely have been eaten pretty quickly, so we thought probably a Leopard kill which it was scared away from?

 

[Carol Baldock]

Nice that you could get in close proximity to the Fish Eagles, John :t::t:

Next day we were on the houseboat and had two outings along the river in the small boat. During the hot part of the day we cruised upstream in the houseboat and moored where it seemed there was no-one anywhere!

1 These two Hippos got quite inquisitive!
2 Some of the Fish Eagles allowed close approach
3 Western Banded Snake Eagle
4 White-faced Whistling Duck and Spur-winged Goose
5 Lots of African Skimmers - but not actually skimming!

 

[Carol Baldock]

Oh WOW John, lucky you !! oo:t:

A little further downstream were a number of huge riverside trees. I thought these looked good for a roosting Eagle Owl perhaps and was busy scanning the inside of the high parts of the trees when another boat approached from downstream, with just the pilot/guide and one occupant complete with large lens. They nudged into the riverbank and got out. Not before Sam had had a conversation in Bantu with the other captain. I saw the bird they were after high in one of the trees but Sam saw another, lower, and accessible to us all! Here it is; no prizes for guessing how excited I was! It's a PEL'S FISHING OWL!

 

[Carol Baldock]

These are great shots , John, of you all at the edge of the falls- they really create a picture well :t:

Did you ever feel tempted to go over the top ??

After we had flown over the Falls so everyone on each side the Helicopter could see the falls, we did 'the gorge' - fortunately I suddenly realised what this meant: a helicopter ride down the waterfalls that he rafters and kayakers go over! I set the camera to video and got the whole ride! He flew about 20 feet above the river and we were able to wave at some rafters below one of the waterfalls, who waved enthusiastically back! Now I have an idea what James Bond gets up to!

Back at the hotel we idled away the middle part of the day around the gardens - adding Brown-hooded Kingfisher from our room. Mid afternoon 3 of us headed out to the Falls once more. This time we took a boat to the top of the Falls which we saw earlier. We got quite close!B

1 Closer up they look really impressive: the drop is about 100 metres
2 Me on the right
3 With my better half....