Part 2 of 5: A Mobile Safari – journey log of Johan De Bondt
Continuation of the August 2009 safari of Johan de Bondt and his travel companions. All text and photos copyright Johan de Bondt.
Second leg of the trip – Savute
We arrived at Harvey’s pans around 10.30 and saw 2 roan antelope which had just been drinking and slowly made their way back to the mopane woodlands. There were a lot of bull elephants around (no surprise really) and some of them had a nice couple of tusks (nothing compared to the famous “tuskers” in the Kruger but the guys hanging around the different pans in Savute are “big boys”).
bull elephant - photo by Johan de Bondt
As we were about to have lunch, we saw a big breeding herd of elephants coming to drink. There were some very young calves with them. And yes, these ones were very well behaved and started playing and splashing in the water. They didn’t care about our presence and some of them also took a mud bath … Although during the middle of the day, there were plenty of good opportunities to take decent photos. Even if you were “the point and shoot type”, you could come home with reasonable stuff.
photo by Johan de Bondt
Ellies at Savuti
Savuti elephants
Savuti elephants
photos by Johan de Bondt
Savuti Elephanst - copyright Johan de Bondt
As there are only 4 HATAB campsites in Savute, we were lucky to have one for 2 nights. A lot of the operators were using the public campsite near the entrance gate or were even using campsites as far as 30 kilometres from the dry channel and offered their clients all-day game drives. As these campsites can be booked far in advance (much more than the ordinary client in the States likes to book his/her safari), it gives rise to malpractices … People familiar with the subject know what I am talking about.
After a cold beer and an excellent lunch, we decided to rough it at bit and instead of napping, we went out straightaway. Our plan was to have a look at most of the pans and see what was happening. And as our campsite was less than 2 kilometres away from Harvey’s pans, we started there. Last year, none of these pans held water (or very little) but this year some of them could be home to a pod of hippos. Although if we don’t have early rains all of these pans will dry out. Anyway, at the moment I was there, there was no need to pump these holes artificially.
On our drive, we saw a lot of plains game (giraffe/impala/wildebeest/roan/zebra). Especially at Marabou and the Mopane pans, breeding herds of elephants were omnipresent. At all the other smaller pans, you could easily find bull elephants and in a 360 degree approach, you could see them going and coming from all corners.
Giraffe on the plains
Ewan spotted a nice herd of tssessebe near Rhino vlei, which were also taking advantage of the water available. As the golden hour had set in, I made some lovely shots.
A couple of hundred meters away, I spotted a yellow mongoose, which was enjoying the last rays of sunlight.
Other vehicles had spotted a leopard and her cub near Bushman painting hill and although the light was still good, I decided not to go as I don’t like to share a leopard sighting (after other vehicles arrive, I would rather move) and I am not really a fan of radio-controlled game drives. A guide who can’t find his own game, is either lazy or has chosen the wrong profession. Also the best photographic opportunities I had, was when we found a leopard ourselves. Too often, you find that when someone calls you in, the leopard is already on the move the moment you arrive or it’s lying on a higher branch in a tree full of leaves. I remember in a permanent camp in the delta, which is renowned for its leopard sightings, a client in another vehicle was standing up the moment they approached the sighting as we were spending time with a young male and female leopard (which has just killed an impala). Needless to say, he spoilt the all sighting and we decided to move on.
Savuti is a harsh place and temperature differences can be extreme here. From cooking hot during the day to bitterly cold at night. And this time proved to be no exception to the general rule.
Photo by Johan de Bondt
Some young bull elephants caused a bit of havoc during the night but I never felt unsafe in my tent and managed to have a good night rest.
Next morning, we drove again as far as the Mopane pans. You never know if you would find a pack of wild dogs resting near one of the pans after they successfully hunted impala in the area. But no luck this time – on a previous trip Ewan had seen some interaction between dogs and lions at one of the pans, were lions tried to kill some of the dogs. Luckily they didn’t succeed.
photo by Johan de Bondt
On our way back, we heard some francolins making an alarm call but couldn’t figure out what spooked them. We looked and looked through our binoculars but couldn’t see anything but these birds were still sitting in the low branches of some scrub and were chattering. Finally, we saw an African wild cat which run off towards the other side where we were parked.
There were plenty of wildebeest around (fairly big herds (of course nothing compared with the ones you see in Eastern Africa). But it was just nice to see, they were thriving here at the moment.
As Ewan had seen some buffalo tracks, we drove through thick mopane near Linyanti road and suddenly stumbled upon a herd (+/- 250 strong). This was my first time to see buffalo here during this time of year and I was very excited about it. They were just looking for cover during the heat of the day so we decided to leave them.
Not that far away, I spotted a red-necked falcon, which was feeding on a small bird. This was my luck as they normally don’t allow you to come close. And although it was sitting at the top of a high tree, I managed to get some pictures.
Red-Necked Falcon
Shortly after, 13 daggah boys popped up and took a mud bath at one of smaller pans, which contained a little bit of water. Definitely, Savute was going to change especially if the water in the channel would hit the marsh. At the time I was there, no one knew if it was going to happen or not and if so, when was it going to happen??? I have read a lot about it but it seems purely speculation to me to try to pinpoint the exact moment. We drove a little bit towards Linyanti but we couldn’t see any sign that the water was already close by. What will be sure is that the area will be once more be taming with game then … and the wildlife viewing could be completely different from what you are used to nowadays. I even heard stories about hunters using mokoros to hunt there in the early days.
Buffalo at a smaller pan
After a delicious Italian meal we decided to have a quick look at Harvey’s pans to see if any roan antelope were in the near vicinity but it just turned out no to be our day. A breeding herd of elephant wanted to quench their thirst but some of the cows seemed a bit reluctant as some big bull elephants were clearly in musth. So they decided to move off and we also decided to go back to camp as it was quite hot (understatement of the day).
Crested Francolin
In the afternoon, we drove through the dry channel – maybe next time I’ll be there it won’t be possible anymore and leopards like to walk on the dry riverbed or prefer some of the trees next to it. But as I refused to have a look at them yesterday, they wouldn’t show themselves today. To my surprise, we hardly saw any elephants as if they were all on a collective strike.
Not that far away from Motsibi island, we found a pair of secretarybirds nesting in a tree. I have seen it a few times but never been able to take some decent photos of it. So this time after a zillion game drives, the opportunity presented itself to take some pictures I had been looking for for such a long time. You have actually 2 different approaches while on safari. Either you focus on certain animals and pursue them until you got the pictures that you are happy with or you just drive around and take it like it comes. Normally I take the second approach as I don’t have the time like professional
nesting Secretary Bird
photographers do – the one big exception is probably my time spent at Duba plains. What I always do is following up on animals. Let’s say I come across a pride of lions… and they seem to be hungry. If I leave them at night, the next morning we try to locate them again to see what happened (have they already make a kill or not).
There weren’t many mammals around in the area we were driving but birdlife was excellent with a kori bustard in flight (then you realise how big they really are), a pearl-spotted owlet perched on a branch (no cluttered background) and a very relaxed juvenile gabar goshawk. We slowly drove back to camp and enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by our “5 star chef” that accompanied us on our safari (it costed me a lot to persuade him to join us but it was worth every penny).
During the night, I suddenly woke up as I heard lots of animals stampeding very close to camp. My first thought was “buffalo” and it proved to be right. No idea what frightened them??? Also some bull elephants visited camp but they didn’t worry me at all. It’s actually surprising how quiet they can be, they can even be standing behind your tent and you wouldn’t notice it. In previous times, hyenas tend to be regular visitors but from what I heard some of them were relocated as they were a bit too naughty.
Capped Wheatear
It was our sixth day of the safari and we hadn’t seen any major predators yet and Ewan started to worry a bit. On his last trip, he had seen 8 leopards, wild dogs, several lion prides, cheetah … he couldn’t remember having been on safari for 6 days without seeing any of them. Well I wasn’t worried at all as I knew sooner or later he would sniff them out if they were around. We drove again near Bushman painting hill as we were looking for klipspringer … but instead mister Piri was around and he was walking straight towards us. He looked at us for a while and then carried on. If you ask me: “who is mister Piri?). Well, it’s a spotted hyena. Guides often use Setswana names like nkwe (leopard) and tau (lion) if they are talking to each other so that clients don’t get too excited and urge the poor guide to rush in Ferrari style to the sighting.
We drove through the channel again and we mostly saw very relaxed herbivores. Not that far away from Mpororo corner Ewan picked up some “very fresh” lion tracks. It looked like 2 big boys had been walking here in the early morning. We followed the tracks and shortly after we found them lying on the road. They were in their prime (although one of them had lost the tip of his tail). They started roaring next to the vehicle … it’s just an incredible sound and now you realize why they can be heard from the far distance. Another vehicle had spotted us (why are these guys standing still for such a long time?) As they arrived, the lions started roaring next to our vehicle … it’s just an incredible sound and now you know why they can be heard from the far distance. Our party was over and also the lions thought the same and decided to move to the bushes … Another vehicle came rushing in and the guide was already talking into his radio before he pointed out the lions to his clients … We found it hilarious and continued our journey towards Marabou pan.
There I had a fantastic wildebeest sighting as they were mud-bathing and drinking (perfect reflection and excellent light). In the meantime, Vincent informed us that they had seen the 250-strong buffalo herd in the open. As we were too far away from it and we would have plenty of chances to see buffalo in Moremi we decided not to have a look at them. After our coffee stop we made our way to Mababe gate. We used the old road and saw a good number of giraffe and a few zebras at the different waterholes along the way. Our next stop was going to be in Moremi (close to Khwai) but that story is going to be told in the next chapter …
