Evening along the Khwai River
The Khwai Concession is a novel approach to tourism in Botswana. In order to get the village of Khwai to move from land incorporated into Moremi and Chobe parks, the government suggested a land swap. The villagers, in return for moving, received a big chunk of land that they manage themselves. All proceeds from the tourist lodges and extensive campgrounds go to the Khwai community trust.
Grandmother taking grandchild to local get-together.
People are so difficult to photograph, one has to be sneaky.
One big difference between the private holdings and the public parks, is the lack of restrictions. In the parks people aren’t allowed to leave the trucks or go out at night. In the private areas people are allowed to walk around and in some, even do spotlighted night trips. A caution about walking around alone…don’t go near the acacia thickets known as “cat houses”. Stay in the open, and preferably near a vehicle.
Thorny acacia “cat house”
Because the land is in the upper Okavango delta between Moremi and Chobe parks, and has the Khwai River running through, lots of wildlife roam the entire area. In late December, when we were there, it was greening daily. The rains that fell kept the grasses growing… seemed like an inch a day, but probably not quite. However, for the same reason, wild animals had dispersed and were harder to find. Of course, that didn’t stop us from looking diligently. Our first evening drive after setting up camp, we drove along the river. Hippos were out munching, even a baby one.
Baby hippo.
Hippos have surprisingly delicate skin. Oxpeckers are hard on them. They peck wounds into hippo skin, and then return to eat the scabs, leaving open sores. Luckily, hippos spend most of their time in the water.
Egyptian Goose.
Spur-winged Goose
Steenboks are so small and delicate looking.
Goliath Herons are larger than our Great Blues.
Rains do bring great sunsets.
If you’re squeamish, you may want to skip this next bit (and the video at the end). On the morning drive we discovered a hippo that had died overnight, probably from a wound delivered by another male hippo. Already the word had gone out and literally hundreds of vultures were arriving. Most were the common White-backed vultures, but a few Hooded Vultures and the very endangered and largest vulture, the Lappet-faced were there too. Marabou storks scavenged and hyenas came at night for their share.
Feast time.
White-backed vultures.
The word spreads quickly and scavengers arrive from miles around.
The rare and endangered Lappet-faced vulture.
Hooded Vulture
The diminishing hippo kept us entertained for days. This is what was left by day three.
We didn’t spend whole days at the hippo carcass, just checked it twice a day… Other fun sights….
Baby dwarf mongoose.
Adult dwarf mongoose.
Thought it the weirdest damselfly ever…until Ann Cooper, set me straight. It’s an adult Striped or Gregarious Antlion!
Dragonfly beauty.
Knob-billed ducks, (only males have the knob), are by far the strangest looking ducks
Little Egret, similar to our Snowy: but they have Snowies also.
Frog egg case, always built over water, frequently mud puddles.
Meves’s Starling
Burchell’s Starling.
African Fish Eagle with something large to eat, can’t tell if it’s a fish or not.
Spotted thick-knee, a bird of open land with eerie night call.
Verreaux’s Giant Eagle-owl. A fledgling was on the branch below.
On the drive back to camp we spotted several more eagle-owls…this one in a perfect Halloween tree.
Waterlilies are elephant treats.
Wild cabbage leaves are gathered by natives. Used as green vegetable and dried for later use.
These trees have been dead for over 50 years. Must be very rot resistant wood. Beneath them were lots of flowers.
Red-billed Buffalo Weavers build giant thorn nests in the dead trees.
Wild Stockrose, a type of hibiscus.
Carpets of these pretty Small Devil’s thorn, make nasty burrs later.
Family of reedbucks.
Southern Red-billed Hornbills have a varied diet. Some possibilities follow.
Red velvet mite, an arachnid with a painful bite.
Large scorpion in my towel, now on the tent. Lucky I shook the towel before using it.
Khwai evening with hippo trail visible through the high grass.
And a pod of hippos napping before dinner.
Leaving the hippo pod and driving back to camp we saw some baboon scouts keeping watch. Soon a herd of impala streaked by, the baboons clamored down and followed at a good clip. Then we saw what was chasing them, a pack of wild dogs. (Too dark for a picture). These dogs obviously weren’t as skilled as our first group that had dinner killed and eaten within twenty minutes.
Marabou landing.
Baboons keeping watch.
Again video follows. Not a lot to show this time. Be forewarned there is footage of the vultures working on the dead hippo. Notice the giraffe gait goes from both left feet to both right feet, unusual in the ungulate world.
Click here. https://youtu.be/YM6e0Ts-5GA