This is the second (and final) post for the Kwando Safaris sightings for July. Usually, I like to get these in consecutive posts, but the August Newsletter publishing threw me a bit off schedule. Anyway, for the second Kwando Safaris feature, we have the following Camps: Tau Pan Camp, Kwando Lagoon Camp, and Kwando Kwara Camp.

Tau Pan Camp

The Tau Pan pride consisting of six lions (two young males and four females) have been spotted regularly in the vicinity of the camp, while three cheetah (two females and cub) have been seen once again on Tau Pan. The trackers reported them as having been away for some weeks and had seen them in the Passarge valley, about 50 kms to the north-west. A cheetah was seen near the Tau Pan airstrip killing a steenbok and afer some time was eventually chased of the kill by a persistent jackal. Wild dog were also seen back on the pan after having been absent for some weeks, this time a pack of one male and three females. The resident female leopard is also spotted regularly and is now very relaxed.

With the conditions in the Kalahari now extremely dry, the waterhole is becoming increasingly busy and large numbers of gemsbok and giraffe are common drinking in front of the camp.

Elsewhere on day trips and walks guest also saw honey badgers, jackals, springbok, eland, red hartebeest, wildebeest and ostrich plus a multitude of birds including bustards, korhaans, kestrels and goshawks.

Kwando Lagoon Camp

The entire area surrounding Kwando Lagoon Camp is inundated with buffalo, from large herds of over a 1000 animals to much smaller groups of older bulls. The vicinity of easily accessible water at the river and adjacent grazing makes this area a busy one for buffalo. The lion populations in this area are not as concentrated it seems as in neighbouring Lebala, though several individuals have been seen, including three females hunting giraffe. One of the advantages to this relatively lower concentration is that the populations of wild dogs and cheetah are higher and less mobile. The wild dog den site at Lagoon, is now home to seven new pups, joining the existing 15 adults, and have provided some fascinating viewing of such endangered animals.

The well known ‘three boys’’ have also been seen regularly hunting along the floodplains and were at one point seen by guests hunting and killing a young warthog. Leopard also benefit from a lack of presence of an apex predator such as lion and a very relaxed leopards have been seen drinking very close to the camp.

General game has included sightings of eland, kudu, zebra, giraffe, tsessebe, steenbok, serval, honey badger and African wild cat.

Kwando Kwara Concession

In contrast to the Kwando region, the Okavango water levels remain high and will likely do so for some years to come. The vast amount of water that continues to flow into the Okavango is a revitalising boost to a system which had become progressively drier over the last 20 years, and will ensure that the biodiversity of the Okavango system is maintained. The floods have seemingly not dampened the activity of the wildlife. While the dominant coalition of 7 male lions appears to be spread far and wide maintaining their large territory, individuals are often seen moving through the area. Various males and females accompanied by young cubs have been seen on kills as varied as giraffe, warthog, kudu, tsessebe and zebra. Several leopard, all extremely relaxed, have been spotted throughout the concession, while three male cheetah have also been seen regularly including while hunting and successfully killing a tsessebe.

As always the general game in the Okavango is excellent including kudu, impala, hyena, zebra, reedbuck, warthog, wild cat, serval, aardvark and porcupine.

   

This morning, I sent out the July/August edition of my monthly safari newsletter, The Roar!

This installment of the newsletter has a large variety of interesting topics to cover.

The Wild Source Guide - Deo Magoye led a National Geographic film crew in the filming of Real Serengeti - which is now appearing on the Nat Geo Wild Channel. You can actually catch it on TV today.

Also within this month's newsletter, I provide details on my recent trip to the Arctic Ocean where I was fortunate enough to have numerous Polar Bear sightings - including many mothers with cubs. I also was lucky enough to witness Blue Whale and Walrus. It was an amazing trip.

Of course, the newsletter is still centered on African Safaris, and this month I bring you details on what a Green Season safari is all about. You may know that it isn't as expensive as high season - but you may not have known that it may not be as wet as you think. Green season offers many unique viewing opportunities that you should know about before planning your safari.

If you aren't signed up yet, you should really sign up now. Subscribe to get the August Newsletter which contains details on the above items along with the following stories:

Once again, we've received the latest sightings from Kwando safaris. We'll lead off with Nxai Pan Camp, Kwando Linyanti, and Kwando Lebala Camp. My next post will provide the updates for Kwando Kwara, Kwando Lagoon, and Tau Pan Camp.

Nxai Pan Camp

The water hole at Nxai Pan continues to offer incredible game viewing from the luxury of camp. Bathing elephants, large numbers of wildebeest, gemsbok and springbok all congregate to drink in easy viewing distance of the private viewing decks. A solitary male leopard, first seen walking through the camp site, when the camp was being constructed in late 2008 is still a often seen resident of the area and extremely relaxed around people and game drive vehicles. Another leopard sighting occurred, rather unusually, as the light aircraft dropping guests off was landing! The leopard broke cover as the plane flew overhead and spent enough time on the airstrip to allow some great photos for the newly arrived guests.

On the Pan, guests have been fortunate enough to regularly spot a female cheetah with her immature and quite shy cub, as well as a lioness with four young cubs which are about 5 months old.

Kwando Linyanti Concession

The relative dryness of the Kwando Linyanti region following extremely high flooding in the neighbouring areas has led to consistently good game viewing throughout the season. This promises to improve as the season progresses and the extremely mild winter hints at a long hot and dry summer. These conditions will all contribute to spectacular wildlife viewing throughout the northern regions of the country.

Kwando Lebala

The large herds of buffalo and elephant have begun to return to the Kwando Lebala area and to congregate in large numbers. Buffalo herds estimated at over 1000 individuals are common and lions are often seen nearby as they tail the herds, always alert to an easy kill. A pride of seven were also sighted several times having killed zebra, a smaller group of females with three cubs and two large males patrolling the area and hunting buffalo. Elsewhere leopard were found in slightly unusual circumstances – a large tom was spotted swimming across a deep channel and a young female found in a tree with her prey, a serval! Two male cheetah have been spotted regularly in the plains around the airstrip where they have been hunting impala. The wild dog pack of five adults, have moved out of the den with their eight pups and the adults have been seen several times while out hunting.

Plains game, as always is very good and included large numbers of eland, lechwe, giraffe, wildebeest and zebra. Other notable sightings include hyena, serval, caracal, honey badger, civet, porcupine and python

   

Film makers were Guided by The Wild Source's Deo Magoye

A partner in The Wild Source Tanzania operation and an extraordinary guide, Deo Magoye served as the head guide for a National Geographic film crew documenting the annual movements of the great migration of approximately two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelles through the Serengeti ecosystem. The film just premiered on NatGeo Wild on August 19th, it next airs on August 26th and will hopefully be featured more in the months to come so set your DVR.

I was very excited to see the film for the first time after Deo had shared many stories of the filming with me. He was particularly proud of the night sequences they captured of lions hunting. Serengeti park rules dictate that you must be in camp by dark so with the special permission for filming, he is one of the few that has guided deep into the Serengeti night and I think all will agree the results are exceptional.

There are a number of excellent hunting sequences in the film as well as dramatic river crossings. Overall it is a very good film to learn about the phenomenal event that is the great migration and how it is the driving force of the Serengeti ecosystem. As the film ends be sure to notice on the very first list of credits along with the Serengeti lion researcher and renowned animal behavior expert Richard Estes is Deo Magoye.

   

I often tout the importance of including some night drives in quality areas for a full safari experience. South Luangwa National Park has the most productive night drives that I have ever experienced and it has a deserved reputation for leopards after dark.

In October I had arranged a special night for the group I was guiding to meet up with South Luangwa’s predator research team to do some broadcast surveys for hyenas and lions.

However, as we were on our way to the survey location and twilight was upon us all of a sudden a leopard sprung from a tree and ran. We then noticed a big male leopard was in the tree panting from a full meal and still nibbling some. Due to the thick cover we could not tell what he was eating and then he stood up and repositioned the prey revealing that he was having a baboon feast.

We then discovered a 3rd leopard at this location as a young male was laying in the bush. Manda, the guide from Bilimungwe Bushcamp knew these leopards and was sure that the first leopard that dashed was the mother of this young male and the big male feeding was his father. As adult leopards are solitary this was a rare situation to have all three at one location.

Following some exciting time with the researchers predator calling we headed back to Bilimungwe Bushcamp but on the way we found our baboon feeding leopard full and content, this time relaxing on the ground.