Botswana 2015 (1 Viewer)

This is my first trip to botswana. I arrived at Kasane Airport on the 11th February from Johannesburg with my wife Susan. The idea was that we would spend three days doing touristy things and Susan would carry on to Cape Town, leaving me with a week to do some serious birding.
I will put all new species (birds I had nor seen in the Western cape or on last year's trip to Kruger National Park) in Bold letters.
many of these lifers were common, so I won't repeat them on other outings.
i don't consider myself an expert birder, so the purpose of this thread is to give info to anyone thinking of visiting Northern botswana, as well as to keep a record for myself.

After unpacking, I took my bins down to the jetty.
The first bird I saw was a Thick Billed Weaver building a nest. I also saw Spectacled weaver, Little Bee Eater, Tawny Flanked Prinia, Red Billed Quelia, Laughing Dove, White Browed Robin Chat, Village Weaver and Southern Grey Headed Sparrow.

If anyone can tell me how to down-size my photos for attachment purposes, I would be very grateful.

Padraig

Keep the posts coming, we're booked for September!

looking forward to this, was there last September, awsome country, though hard work when self driving. Kasane and the Chobe River is definitely one of the great areas in Africa

Cheers
Martyn

Thanks for your encouragement Jon and Martyn.
On the 12th February we had arranged a trip to Victoria Falls. We were dropped at the border with Zimbabwe by a driver from the Old House, had visas purchased on the Botswana side, strolled over to Zim and were driven on by a Zim driver. Most of the trip was through the National Park: no people, we saw our first elephant of the trip.
The Falls were as impressive as I had expected. At the end we watched bungi-jumpers dropping below the bridge spanning the Zambesi between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
My first new species was Trumpeter Hornbill, 4 birds in a tree overhead.
Other birds knocking about included Dark Capped (Black-Eyed) Bulbul, Amethyst Sunbird, African Paradise Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher.
Then I came upon a patch with lots of different birds: Grey-Backed Cameroptera (a common enough species, I saw a couple more on this trip),Yellow Bellied Greenbul ( saw one or two more of these), Jacobin's Cuckoo, Red-winged Starling.
On the trip back to Kasane I saw Carmine Bee-Eater (common enough), Lilac Breasted Roller (likewise), Cattle Egret, Helmeted Guineafowl, Red Billed Wood Hoopoe.
The evening was spent dining at the Old House, watching South African rugby on the tell and watching the beautiful tropical sunset over the Chobe River, with Namibia across the other side.

if you have Canon DPP

Padraig said:

If anyone can tell me how to down-size my photos for attachment purposes, I would be very grateful.

Padraig

Click to expand...

Lots of packages have batch processing, but I use DPP which comes with all Canon cameras. I just get photos I want to attach to thread in a folder, select batch process and convert them to Jpg with 8 quality and resize around 1300 width (keep ratio) this give files less than max size of Ok quality all saved in a new folder. I then just select a few each day to attach. Results are on my Ghana thread, I could do each individually as I process them but some times it may be weeks before I've processed all the best shots this gives me something I can use quickly.
Hope this helps

And look forward to seeing the report

David

Good news about the visas at Victoria Falls - how much? Carmine Bee-eater is number one required in Africa!

Jon Turner said:

Carmine Bee-eater is number one required in Africa!

Click to expand...

Jon,

quite common in September!

sidwemn said:

Jon,

quite common in September!

Click to expand...

That'll do nicely! Thanks for posting.

Jon, we paid the Old House to organise the drive to Vic Falls and arrange the visa, so I'm not sure what the visa cost. Not much, I think. Carmine Bee-Eaters are a certainty, you'll be glad to hear.

The following day I looked at birds in the garden close to the jetty.
There were Wire-tailed Swallows perched on the parked boats.
Swamp Boubou was a common bird and I learned to identify their call.
I saw what I thought was an African Reed Warbler and definitely identified Icterine Warbler. Another common bird I saw was Collared Palm Thrush and the ubiquitous Fork-tailed Drongo, and African Darter.
On the flowers by the restaurant was a brilliant male Copper Sunbird with the sun bringing out irridescent yellow in its plumage. I was pleased to find this, a bird confined to this area.
Out the front there were Red Billed Firefinch, Brown Firefinch, another bird of this area, and Blue Waxbill, all these little birds enjoying the effect of a sprinkler on the surrounding clay. I also saw a Grey Hornbill.

In the afternoon we were down to do a boat trip into Chobe National Park. The fee for Park entry was included in the price.

I forgot to mentioned that among the small birds at the front of the Old House was a Northern Grey Headed Sparrow: its large beak and white patch on its throat were diagnostic. This is a species that is confined to a few spots around the Chobe and Zambezi rivers, so I was pleased to see it.

We set off on our river safari: Susan and I, 4 Brazilians and the local guide called Sox.
The first bird, perched on a tree close to the water was a Black Crowned Night Heron. Also perched close to the surface were Pied , Brown Hooded Kingfishers, and Reed Cormorant.
Open Billed Stork was my first lifer of the cruise, a common bird on the river.
Whiskered Terns turned and twisted in the middle of the river.
Yellow Billed Egret was a species I finally got to see. There were majestic African Fish Eagle dotted along on the tress or down by the water. African Jacana, a common bird, was another I finally caught up with.
I got my first Blue Cheeked Bee-Eater, another common bird here.
A solitary Zitting Cisticola (Fan Tailed Warbler) lived up to its name by zitting up and down.
There were crocodiles in the water close to the shore looking menacing with their snouts and eyes just above the surface.
An Emerald Spotted Wood-Dove was feeding close to the water when a large croc launched itself out of the water with its gaping mouth. The Dove reacted just in time and flew up. It landed about 20 feet away as nothing had happened and the croc slipped back into the water. That's Nature for you, always something trying to gobble up something else!

The trees gave away to grass on the shore. There were elephants higher up the bank and hippos closer down by the water. One had a Cattle Egret on it's back. Another had a Yellow Billed Oxpecker.
There were Squacco Herons and Great White Egrets standing about or feeding.
A flock of 15 White Faced Duck stood a couple of hundred yards from the water. I saw 12 of these birds 2 week's later at Strandfonteign in Cape Town 2 weeks later, but for te moment I ejoyed seeing them for the first time.
I also saw my first Black Heron and Green Winged Heron.
a White Crowned Lapwing, walked along by the water and 2 Long Toed Lapwing strode about.
I had now seen 4 new species in the space of a couple of minutes and hardly had time to appreciate a Hammerkop flying directly overhead.
A Common Sandpiper bobbed up and down. Scattered around were Egyptian Geese, Little Egrets and Sacred Ibis.One or two Cape Wagtails also bobbed their tails.
Sox now drove the boat over to the Namibian side of the river where a herd of elephants was preparing to head towards the water. We parked alongside their entry point and watched spellbound as the lead elephant (female) waded in followed by a baby. There was another baby further back the chain as they slowly immersed themselves and started to swim. The babies held their tiny trunks onto the backside of the elephant in front and were closely followed by an adult behind. The party broke off swimming towards the far bank to allow for a bit of play in the water, the babies being surrounded and touched by various teenagers and adults before they got into formation again and carried swimming. At the far side, the younger males flapped their ears and made mock attacks at nobody in particular, as the more sensible adults sauntered along the bank and up towards the trees.
They were done with drinking and bathing for the day and were now set to spend the night feeding on the trees. Elephants seem to need little or no sleep.

There were falcon shaped birds. Sox could not identify them,nor could I. I got good pictures of about 5 of them roosting on some reeds. It turns out they were (Western)Red Footed Falcons.
A pair of Pygmy Geese flew by.
The sun was now heading towards the horizon behind some trees. We watched as the orange turned to red and the sun became a huge orb as it disappeared slowly over the edge. Always a magical moment in the tropics.

We headed back to the restaurant to socialise with the Brazilians with Steak and Chips and wine, after a wonderful day.
I had seen 18 new species in the course of the day, another good reason to feel satisfied.

Here are some photos:
Thick Billed Weaver
White Crowned Robin chat
Trumpeter Hornbill
White Crowned Night Heron

On the 14th January we went for a drive safari with the same people as on the river cruise of the day before. We drove along a sandy road through the wooded park, with a local teak trees (no higher than 20ft tall) on either side.
Red Billed Francolin was the first bird seen. A solitary Marico Flycatcher perched on a bush. Also seen were Village Indigobird and Red Backed Shrike.
Waders we had seen yesterday but couldn't identify turned out on closer inspection to be Ruff (1 bird) with about 10 Reeves.
We reached the edge of the grassy bank of the river and saw Knob Billed Duck (common). Bataleurs floated by on their very boyant wings. In the bushes Arrow-marked Babblers made a noisy racket.
Namaqua Dove, Red Billed Teal, Red Billed Hornbill, Grey Hornbill, Wood Sandpiper, Broad Billed Roller and Lilac Breasted Roller were all about.
We stopped for refreshments and I checked out the nearby trees. There was a Grey Winged Cameroptera overhead; also Dark Eared Glossy Starlings and Wattled Starlings.
Driving on, I spotted a Sabota Lark and my first Tawny Eagle.

By late afternoon, we had returned to the river, where there were giraffes and hundreds of elephants (Chobe has one of the highest numbers of elephants anywhere on earth).
We drove inland again in search of Lions. I kept my eye out also for Kori Bustard, a bird I had failed to see in Kruger NP a year ago.
A solitary Red Footed Falcon was perched right beside the road.
After a fruitless long drive looking for Lions I shouted out to Sox 'stop, Kori's Bustard!'
A solitary bird was close to the road and slowly made its way alongside us and off into the bush. This was an exciting moment for me as I alternated between looking at it through the bins and taking photos, as it glided along majestically on foot out of view. These birds are huge!
Back down by the river again a Long Tailed Paradise Wydah perched atop a tree with its long tail streaming in the breeze.
Other birds ticked for the trip included Grey Heron, Red Billed Firefinch, African Marsh Harrier, Red Faced Mousebird, Red Billed Oxpecker, White Backed Vulture,Black Backed Puffback.
I also saw a solitary Yellow Wagtail as well as African Pied Wagtail.

On the way home we carried on looking in vain for Lion as a thunder storm finally broke and torrential rain bucketed down with constant lightening.
It felt very exhilarating. Despite the disappointment of not seeing any big cats I had the consolation of finally catching up with Kori's Bustard.

Pictures from Chobe River:
White Crowned Lapwing
African Darter
African Openbill
Heading for a swim
Sunset

Drive Safari:
Little Bee-Eater, Village Indigobird, African Fish Eagle, Giraffe with Impala,
Tawny Eagle

5 more pics:
Chobe mammals, Kori Bustard,Long Tailed Paradise Wydah, Western Red Footed Falcon, African Pied Wagtail.

Hi Jon
We went in 08 via Zambia and paid £75 each in cash at Livingstone Airport to get into Zambia, after seven days we went on to Botswana for ten days, Namibia for three and then returned the same way and had to pay another £75 each to get back into Zambia just to drive to Livingstone Airport for our onward flight to J'oburg and then Cape Town.
(If you had an Irish passport you didn't pay anything)

Lots of Carmines on the Chobe, huge breeding colony on the Namibia side.

Despite everything it was an amazing trip with great birds and great people and I go again tomorrow (if I could afford it?

best regards

Merlin

The following day Susan left for Cape Town.
I kept checking the garden at the Old house for any new species.
I saw a single Collared Sunbird and Jameson's Firefinch.
In the evening I was looking out for Bat Hawk but saw instead a male Orange breasted Bush-Shrike brilliantly lit up by the descending sun.
I had arranged to meet Phil Zappala, director of Safari & Guide Services Ltd to look for 'night birds'.
I thought this might involve looking for owls at dusk and I was wondering why Phil was so relaxed as dusk seemed to be turning into night. It turned out that he had a powerful torch hooked up to his 4 by 4 battery and we were really going to look for night birds, not just dusk birds.
The first bird we saw on the road as we drove out of Kasane was a Verreaux's (Giant) Eagle Owl. It flew into an overhanging tree and we got good views, taking care not to shine the powerful light onto it's eyes.
We drove out towards the thornfeldt bush. At the local sewage works we saw White Crowned Night Heron with a toad in it's beak. In the bush itself there were various animals looming about in the dark: elephants and giraffes.
We had our headlights off.
There was a small pack of Jackal (Black Backed) staring very nervously at some bushes and we wondered if the might be a Leopard there. However, a group of Impala seemed too relaxed. I saw my first ever Hyena, a solitary animal. There were Genets and Scrub Hare as well.
We were right at the border with Zimbabwe and it was nice to think that all the animals were free to wander into the adjacent Zimbabwe National Park- in effect Chobe NP and Zim NP a one connected zone.
A Three Banded Plover stayed rooted to the ground as we almost drove over it. I could see the bands on its head and neck (but not breast) before it eventually flew off. Other waders to be seen were Three Banded Plover, Blacksmith Plover and Common Sandpiper.
On the way home we saw 3 Spotted Eagle Owls in three overhanging trees. We had hoped for Wood Owl (Phil usually saw them in the trees where the eagle Owls were now roosting), but none to be seen on this occasion.
As a consolation, the next tree had a White Faced Scop's Owl

Phil hung out a luminescent light over the side as we drove along a sandy road. This light showed up the luminescence of small scorpions. Not a good idea to walk on this sandy road with flip-flops on after dark!


It was the first time I had experienced being out amongst wild animals in Africa with only the starlight and Phil's torch to guide us.The big herbivores (elephant/ giraffes) never seem to sleep. The Impala don't either as they keep a constant eye out for Lions and Leopards. Apparent Impala's eyesight is poor compared to the big cats, so they have to be constantly alert.
On the way into town we saw the other Jackal species, Side-Striped.
Despite dipping the Wood Owl, I had seen 2 new species of owl and my first Courser.
A very satisfying trip, I was tucked up in bed before mid-night.

Merlin said:

Hi Jon
We went in 08 via Zambia and paid £75 each in cash at Livingstone Airport to get into Zambia, after seven days we went on to Botswana for ten days, Namibia for three and then returned the same way and had to pay another £75 each to get back into Zambia just to drive to Livingstone Airport for our onward flight to J'oburg and then Cape Town.
(If you had an Irish passport you didn't pay anything)

Lots of Carmines on the Chobe, huge breeding colony on the Namibia side.

Despite everything it was an amazing trip with great birds and great people and I go again tomorrow (if I could afford it?

best regards

Merlin

Click to expand...

Thanks for that Merlin. Food for thought.

I like the idea of a night drive Padraig!

On Monday 16th I took possession of a hired car and headed off to the Okavango Panhandle (as opposed to delta), specifically to Drotsky's Cabins.
I got the idea of Drotsky's from reading trip reports by others on BF. The main reason for going?...to see Pel's Owl if I could.
The quickest way there is through the Caprivi strip of Namibia.
The first part of the drive is to Ngoma gate on a tarred road through Chobe.
For those interested in doing this trip, one thing to realise is that heading to that part of Botswana via Namibia involves 8 border stops: 2 at Ngoma gate and 2 at the other end and the same coming back. Then there are stops for entering National Parks, stops for dis-infection against Foot and Mouth disease, stops for Ebola questionnaires and finally a stop at Katima Murillo in Caprivi to pay road tax.
Lots of paper filling, I certainly knew the car's registration off pat by the end and my passport filled up with stamps.
The trip took between 6 and 7 hours and it was a big relief to finaly drive up the long sandy road to Drotsky's. I booked into the camping section which was about half a mile from the main reception.
The whole area is covered in mature riverine forest, with Nyala deer walking freely about.
My only birds for the day were Magpie Shrike in Kasane, a juvenile Bataleur along the way and Hartlaub's Babbler in the grounds of Drotsky's.
I pitched my 1 man tent and slept on the hard ground, wondering what bird-life awaited me in the morning.

The next day I had a boat trip booked and we headed upriver from Drotsky's Cabins on the Okavango River.
Typical birds included Pied Kingfisher, African Jacana, Darter, Reed Cormorant.
I spotted and managed to identify my first ever Klaas's Cuckoo in the papyrus plants which formed the opposite bank.
Little, Blue Cheeked and Whitefronted Bee-Eaters dotted the reeds.
Water Thicknee, Cape Glossy Starling, Brown Throated Sand Martins, Wire Tailed and Lesser Striped Swallows.
I saw my first African Golden Oriole before the boat- man stopped in front of a large tree and uttered the words I wanted to hear 'there's the owl'. High up in the shade there was indeed a motionless Pel's Fishing Owl, the bird I most wanted to see.
After spending a while trying to get decent photos (not easy), we carried on up stream.
Grey Hornbill, Hammerkop, Pygmy Geese, Purple and Goliath Heron flew about the place.
Again, the boat-man stopped in front of a low bush (he'd obviously done this before) and pointed out a hard to see bird,
a White Backed Night Heron before we turned back.
On the way home we saw Red Bishop, Violet Backed Starlings, African Green Pigeon, Namaqua Dove and Blacksmith Plover. We stopped at the Pel's Owl again so I could sink in this wonderful bird.

Back on land, the boat-man (I've forgotten his name now) took me to a tree where he thought there might be another bird I wanted to see. Success, there was a pair of Wood Owl, the bird I'd missed on the night trip.
I spent the rest of the afternoon staying out of the heat of the sun and enjoying birds like Hartlaub's Babbler, Orange Breasted Shrike, Yellow Breasted Apalis, Blue Waxwing, African Golden Oriole, Marsh Boubou and Palm Collared Thrush.


Photos: African Jacana, White Fronted Bee-Eater, Malachite Kingfisher, Pel's Fishing Owl, White Backed Night Heron.