Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.

Recently, we had the pleasure of meeting Lars and Ragnhild Jacobsson, Sebastian Sandberg and Claes Norin from Gothenburg, Sweden who came up to see the project we run here at Dibatana Research and Monitoring Camp.

From left: Lars, Sara, Sven, Claes, Ragnhild and Sebastian.

They own and run Volunteer Travels (www.volunteertravels.com), a non-profit organization that sends volunteers to both humanitarian and wildlife/domestic animal projects. Lars and Ragnhild, as well as Claes and Sebastian brought with them the most amazing cheer and encouragement for Sven and I and brightened our week like no visitors have before. They brought with them much comic relief in the form of Sebastian and Claes, much like the Thompson twins, making us laugh at every possible moment. We often meet people that we get along with, but it is not often that we meet people that we click with, that you share a passion with or who think the same way that you do. Those meetings are special.

Lars and Ragnhild’s passion for wildlife, nature and the environment was revitalizing and uplifting. They all had such a genuine interest for everything they saw here, from the predators and herbivores, to the trees and grubs. They have an interesting and inspiring story of retiring early, finding life boring and a bit meaningless and with that in mind going out there to change that. Now they spend their efforts and time finding out about the problems our environment faces and doing their part to fix it as well as educating others to want to fix it. Like Nelson Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” They have realized as we have, that it is about changing the mindset of people from consumer to preserver and the only way to do that is to get people to understand what is happening, not just tell them about it. Check out their website www.theperfectworld.com and join if you too want to know and understand what is happening to our animals and our environment. Everyone together can make a difference.

The Perfect World.com - check it out!!

Wild Dog vs Zebra

Recently, we encountered Matthews pack, the pack of wild dogs often found in our area, on the hunt. They are a large pack with approximately 19-20 adults and about 4 pups from this years litter have survived from the original 12 that were born. A number of the dogs in the pack are collared by the nearby predator researchers who spend alot of time collecting data and watching the dogs. While following them, we watched as they came across a zebra stallion on his own.

Zebra are quite large prey for wild dogs, although they often go for kudu which are also large herbivores. However, the blow from a zebra could be lethal to a wild dog. We were uncertain whether they would pursue the stallion, however, he was clever and held his ground and did not run, which might have proved to be a bad decision.

A number of dogs tried their luck but they appeared to be more interested in teasing the poor guy than actually making a meal of him. Eventually they left him alone and continued on their hunt, chasing a few impala but not succeeding.

They rested for awhile and we sat with them, enjoying their social dynamics and especially the pups who were fooling around with each other, occassionally getting a hiding from one of the adults when pushed too far. When evening fell they all began the hunt again but we lost them when they moved into Moremi Game Reserve.

African Wild Dogs are classified as endangered, with an estimated population of 5,000 individuals left in the wild. These amazing canids have been classed as pests in many areas, particularly farming areas and have been shot, poisoned and snared as a means to get rid of them. More recently, a bigger threat to these predators is human population expansion. As humans expand their range so contact between Wild Dogs and domestic animals becomes more frequent, increasing the spread of introduced diseases, now the biggest threat to wild dogs populations. A number of researchers work towards stopping the decline of these social carnivores in southern africa and are coming up with new ways to protect and preserve the African Wild Dog. Check them out:

Rosemary Groom - African Wildlife Conservation Fund - Zimbabwe http://www.africanwildlifeconservationfund.org/ - see her blog about her work with the Wild Dogs. OR check out their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=hp#!/pages/African-Wildlife-Conservation-Fund/311031642244260

Save the African Wild Dog - http://www.save-the-african-wild-dog.com/painted-dog-research-kenya.asp

The Wattled Crane certainly has much to wattle on about...

Classified as “critically endangered” by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), the Wattled Crane's single largest population occur's in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Destruction, alteration and degradation of wetland habitats are the most significant threat to these endangered cranes. Human and livestock disturbance, power line collisions, mass aerial spraying for tsetse flies and illegal collection of eggs, chicks and adults for food, are also significant threats to Wattled Cranes.

These cranes are the largest in the family of cranes found in Africa. The total population of Wattled Cranes now stands at approximately 7700 in Africa, found across 9 countries. These birds are highly dependent on wetlands as they feed, breed and roost in this environment. Wattled Cranes are also highly territorial and once a pair has chosen a breeding site they will remain there for the rest of the year.

Two projects that aim to protect the remaining Wattled Crane population in Africa:

EWT – African Crane Conservation Programme - http://www.ewt.org.za/WHATWEDO/OurProgrammes/AfricanCraneConservationProgramme.aspx

International Crane Foundation - http://www.savingcranes.org/wattled-crane.html

BirdLife Botswana - www.birdlifebotswana.org.bw

Here at Dibatana Research and Monitoring Camp we record each and every sighting of the Wattled Cranes. We record the location they were seen, how many there were, what habitat they were in and what they were doing. We send this information off to BirdLife Botswana who uses it to keep track of numbers of these critically endangered cranes in Botswana. They are most commonly found down by the floodplains, which is where we saw these cranes featured in the photos, but can also be found at some of the inland pans during the wet season.

If you want to make a difference and help one of Africa’s many declining species…get involved!

In the wild...the same rules do not apply!

Sometimes living out here in the bush you have to come to a quick realisation that the same rules just don't apply. In human terms, killing a baby is brutal and unfair. Here...the weak and the young are preyed on. Recently, due to the FINAL arrival of the rains we have had many babies of all species running around, enjoying new life. Impala fawns, wildebeest foals and lots of elephant calves have been gracing the dry plains with their presence, bringing smiles to our faces and a new look to the bush. Unfortunately, this also brings smiles to the faces of many predators which make easy prey of these new arrivals. It is difficult seeing these helpless youngsters fall prey to short life. However, we have to come to a realisation that the fittest survive out here and we cannot interfere. It is the way of the bush.

Recently, we watched as Chellak caught an Impala fawn and made a good meal out of it.

This morning, we found the carcass of an elephant calf that obviously lived for minutes. We could not figure out how it had died or if the mother had birthing complications and it died in the process. However, some predators took advantage of this. The surrounding bush looked like its angry or upset mother had done her best to protect her youngster. However, due to its injuries or inability to move it died.

Invasion of the Lions!

Over the last few weeks we have been invaded by lions not only in taking over our camp, drinking from the pool but also keeping us awake at night with their roaring. Samurai (the male in the pictures below) was on the floodplain in front of camp yesterday with a young female from the Santawani Pride. That night the other male who he prowls the area with, joined him and they continued to keep most of us awake the whole night with their shouting. It appears that with added males in the area towards Moremi has caused these males to spend more time in our area and may also have led to an increase in roaring, which has thus led to less sleep!!

Samurai gazing at the sky, looking for vultures! Love it when they look up at the sky scanning for raptors.

A paw shot of Samurai while he was passed out in the heat.

There is an art . . . to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss!

Yesterday Sven decided to go over his safety procedures in the Cessna and I went along for the ride. I wanted to share these pictures with you as I was amazed at how much the water levels have gone down recently and it shows just how dry it is here at the moment! We eagerly await the rain and respite from this draining heat...

The floodplains still have water but a much decreased amount. However, where there was water is perfect grazing land for the wildlife.

This shot shows the incredible contrast between the vegetation away from the river and around the old floodplains that were recently covered in a substantial amount of water.

One of the pans near the airstrip that hasnt seen a drop of water in quite a while.

Day 3 - Ive succumbed to stalking birds?!

Today was quite an uneventful transect. We did however see a number of new birds such as the Golden-breasted Bunting, a nesting Brubru and a Red-headed Weaver. The mopane transect is by far the hardest of the transects as it is the thickest vegetation in the area and includes some serious offroad driving. We also had to contend with quite a hefty wind which of course does not help with the spotting of small birds. However, it was still great to be out in the bush and we thoroughly enjoyed stalking birds through the thick mopane.

A breeding male Red-headed Weaver making a nest in a mopane tree.

Day 2 - Its Still Rock and Roll To Me...

After a serious swotting session of the bird book and bird calls, we were ready to rock this morning at 5:30am when we set out for our 2nd bird transect for BirdLife Botswana's bird population monitoring programme. After crashing through thick islands of Northern Lala Palms that line the river and not seeing much, we finally broke through onto some old floodplains. Here we were able to actually see the birds instead of relying on our hurendous bird call identification abilities! A treat today was seeing a Purple Roller (Coracias naevius - the least common roller in the roller family) and a pair of Broad-billed Rollers (Eurystomus glaucurus - smallest in the roller family), which I have never seen before and are incredibly pretty birds. These rollers are migrant birds and only occur here during the summer months. The female, identified by the bald patch on her stomach from incubating eggs, was spotted in an old palm tree cavity. We were able to have a look and found two small white eggs in the nest about the size of dove eggs. We were very excited as we have not seen these birds in the area before and finding a nest was an added bonus.

The female Broad-billed Roller, in the palm tree cavity. In this photo you can clearly see her bald patch from incubating the eggs.

Taking flight from the tree cavity. The Broad-billed Rollers are the only rollers with a yellow bill and are the only breeding migrants in the family.

The breeding pair sitting in a tree watching us check out their nest. Was such a special sighting and always nice to see new birds.

We were also able to locate new raptor nests which we have been looking for, for the last few months although they do not appear to be active. Additionally, we were able catch up on our breeding pair of African Hawk Eagles, who now appear to be incubating eggs in their nest after a couple weeks of no activity which is great news.

DAY 1 – They should be called Stupid Little Brown Things (SLBJ's)

LBJ’s (little brown jobs) is a great name for all those small brown birds that look exactly the same, yet are many different species. In case that didn’t make the job of identifying them difficult they also like to hide in dense bushes and shout away, letting you know that they are there. So instead of having to page through a bird book for hours comparing all the different LBJ’s, now you also have to also listen to all their calls and attempt to distinguish between a “krak-krak-krak” and a “tsee-tsee-tsee”, when really they all sound the same. It is amazing how after a few transects you just don’t hear them anymore and suddenly only hear the ones that you can identify. In addition, birds like the “tsee tsee tsee” start appearing on the species list…Needless to say the bird book has been thoroughly studied and dissected so that tomorrow does not prove as difficult…time will tell and so will the LBJ’s.

An Arrow-marked Babbler - love their bright orange eyes, so striking!

BirdLife Botswana Monitoring Week

This week is the Novermber count for BirdLife Botswana's Population Monitoring Programme, which we take part in four times a year with both the general bird count and the wetland bird count. More pics to follow in the next week. See link if interested in finding out more about Birdlife Botswana.

A pair of Bennett's Woodpeckers.

One Fat Cat!

We found four very fat lions with a zebra stashed deep in the bushes nearby, to hide it from vultures. This lioness, Stompy, named apptly for her stumpy tail, actually has an amazing story. Her back legs are deformed and from seeing her walk I assume that running is not an easy task for her either. She is not a young lioness and has obviously been carried by her pride for a number of years which shows just how strong pride bonds are, especially between the females. Yet she continues to live a normal lion life and from the photo you can see its a cushy one at that.

Atmospheric Electrostatic Discharges

The evening started with a few lashes of innocent lightning, building up to a storm like I have never seen before. It set the bush on fire around our camp and putting us and Dog Camp (a few kms away) at high risk of loosing everything. We were over joyed and relieved when the storm graced us with rain that lasted hours and put out the fire.

Pants on Fire

Aerial photo of the fire - Photo by Orty Bourquin

There is something about witnessing a beautiful scene that makes you feel like you should be able to take a picture of it and treasure it always. They say a picture tells a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words are just not enough. Moments like this evening, when Chellak, one of the male leopards in the area, decided to amble into camp and take a long and satisfying drink from the pool. While leaning on my car watching him, amazed that I had previously imagined this scene in my head, one of those long, incredibly bright shooting stars went whizzing across the sky. After having the worst day it was definitely a sight for tired and weary eyes!

Chellak by the pool - Photo by Orty Bourquin

Its moments like this that I bring to my head often in the coming week, reminding myself why I am here. You see while many of you know that I live in paradise, not all of you understand that paradise comes with its costs. Living in the bush is not for sissy’s and can be tough. Fighting fires, as we have been doing recently is no joke. When you wake up in the middle of the night with smoke invading your senses, the first thought through my brain was certainly NOT “aaaahhhhh paradise”. October, or “Suicide Month” as it is fondly known, is not only the month of unbearable heat, the onslaught of insects and all things crawly but also the month of fires. Grass and dead trees, pushed over and spread around by elephants are ready to burst into flame without so much as a warthog fart or impala sneeze. So once one starts it’s very difficult to stop or put it out. What further aggravates the problem is elephant dung. Yes, elephant dung. Normally who would think of such things when there is a fire threatening your livelihood? But what most of you don’t know is that elephant dung burns for hours and can never be put out…or so it seems after endless stomping, spraying of water and beating with sticks or anything you can find. The little embers smirk up at you, knowing full well that a whole lot more effort is needed to stomp them out of existence and looking around at all the piles of elephant dung is no encouragement.

One of the brave fire-fighters - Photo by Orty Bourquin

Thankfully, there have only been a few fires that have caused worry lines and being able to fly and see the fire from the air has helped us immensely. And by stress I mean blisters, sore backs, cuts, flat tyres, sleep depraved nights and occasional panic. We also know now that we not only have to watch out for normal fires but fires started by lightning. This lesson was learnt after a dead tree was set on fire during an impressive thunder storm a few days ago. We have bets on how long the tree will smolder for, for as try as we might we have not been able to put it out despite half of it collapsing. Fires causes you to look with new eyes on dry grass, dead trees, elephant dung and farting warthogs.

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African Barred Owlet

This little African Barred Owlet was responding to the Ipad ESasol bird calls...as you can see he was very confused.

Wrinkles in the Moonlight

Once again, I confess that yes I will never receive an award for the most dedicated blogger! I see so many things during the day that make me say to myself….”that will make an interesting blog, I should definitely write about that”. Yet by the end of the day the memory is just that, a memory. However, I have purchased something that I am hoping will inspire me to write more and possibly even relax a little…a hammock. And yes I said relax. For those of you who think that I live in paradise (yes you are correct) but it does not always feel like paradise. The actual activity of relaxation is in fact hard to perform out here. When you live where you work, the damn work seems to follow you around the place. While there are many many positives of living far from human civilization, there are some down sides. For those of who do not appreciate coming home to a brick walled house and not having to chase all manner of cretins from your bed before lying down on it…start appreciating. Those of you who after having a bath, actually look clean…start appreciating. Those of you who don’t have to drive from one part of your house to another without fear of being chased by an elephant….start appreciating. I appreciate my surroundings almost on a daily basis…however I do sometimes miss the comforts of home. Which brings me to my story….

Sven (the person who keeps me from the grips of bush fever, a very dangerous and sometime fatal disease) is away on holiday. While his absence has quite a few negatives, along with them come a few positives and boy are they nice. For instance, I can get through a meal without having to physically defend my food from the grips of the bottomless pit that Sven calls his stomach. BUT by far the best positive is the fact that I can take over his tent, equipped with tv AND a bath. Two of the home pleasures that I miss the most. In the last two weeks I have managed to acquire not only one pinched sciatic nerve, but two. Arn’t I special? The doctor informed me that I need to find a relaxing pastime or hobby, yes that word again…relax. So with this mission in mind I headed to Svens tent one evening. Awhile ago, before Svens time at Dibatana, whoever lived in his tent at the time decided that a marble bath was the order of the day. Who has marble baths…seriously? This marble bath looks out over the waterhole and boy is it a nice view. So having filled up the bath, which by the way is enough to fit like 4 people and a lilo for each of them, I get myself comfortable. Of course, fitting the story well, it is a full moon. Next thing I know, there is an elephant at the back of the tent, rummaging around in the leaves. He shuffles round the side of the tent until he is standing about 7m away from the bath at the edge of the deck, unfazed by my presence. I have to say it is quite a surreal experience to be up to your eyeballs in bubbles watching an elephant browse a few meters away. And because of the full moon I could see small details, such as the wrinkles in his skin and his long eyelashes. He was so relaxed, leaning his weight from one foot to another. As my toes and fingers became wrinkly, he continued feeding so close I could hear him breathing. I never tire of watching elephants. I think they are incredible and fascinating creatures. While I do find them formidable animals and not to be reckoned with, for me they carry a calming feeling. Saying this, I cannot vouch for the rest of camp, as recently the elephants have been creating a certain amount of mayhem, tearing up water pipes, breaking down branches and such. Having just mentioned a calming feeling and also mayhem, I have to giggle as right now there is a young male at the waterhole with quite an attitude about him. He is particularly grumpy with the guinea fowl taking up his space around the edge of the waterhole and according to his actions encroaching on his personal bubble! So back to the relaxing. All that’s needed is: 1.) a marble bath 2.) a waterhole in the Okavango Delta 3.) an elephant to share the scenery with 4.) full moon. Mix together and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Results are total relaxation.

Long lost blogger....

Yes I am indeed alive! Apologies to those who read my blog and havent had any news for the past few months. Much begging and scrapping is in order and I shall try make it up to you!

So an attempt to update you on my situation: Yes...I am still in Botswana, living at Dibatana in the Okavango Delta. There never seems to be a dull moment out here. Starting at the beginning, Sven and I embarked on a trip to Gabarone to submit my lion research proposal to the DWNP (Department of Wildlife and National Parks) and despite our incredibly hard work and support of the University of Botswana the permit was rejected. I shall not go into detail about the reasons to avoid incrimination and bashing of particulars involved. I do however have one statement...it is incredibly sad and disappointing that people who claim to be "conservationists" allow their prides and need to control, get in the way of further work and funding going into an area.

As C.S Lewis says, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you".

At some point a person needs to stop and ask themselves...why am I doing this? I am doing this for my own personal gain or am I here to protect the environment that I have come to love? I suspect that some people will discover they are doing it for their own personal gain. As is human nature at the end of the day. The focal point of why we find the world in the state that it is.

HOWEVER, despite the bitterly disappointing rejection of my project, the Impala project which we applied for at the same time was approved (which was quite lucky in fact as we had the vets (Anne-Lise and Louise) arriving that same week). There was a big rush for darts, the collars and drugs that we needed to collar the impala. Sven did a fantastic job and organised everything within a matter of days. The following 2 weeks were stressful and incredibly frustrating but the kind of period of your life you can look back on and laugh. Alot. Anne-Lise and Louse were fantastic and did a superb job, as did the rest of our team.

Now you have to understand, impala are one of the hardest animals to dart and collar successfully. The following logistics are involved:
1. Moving a large and rather noisy vehicle within 10m of a prey animal, naturally skitish and not suprisingly move faster and more nimbly than a ten ton 4x4 vehicle equipped to bash and smash its way through even the thickest of bush.
2. Once within 10m, the animal has to be of correct gender, weight and age. Somehow, it always seems to be the weedy teenagers who strayed within darting distance. Murphys Law.
3. The surrounding bush had to be of low-medium density so that once darted the animal would not be lost. Once darted the animal would normally start showing signs within 2 or 3 minutes.
4. The dart gun had to work....properly.
5. The dart had to penetrate and inject ALL of the drug.
6. Runners allocated to both vehicles had to be equipped with radio, knife and possibly survival kit after being lost by drivers whilst running through animal infested bush for possible km...or 2...or 3 after a half drugged animal thanks to point 4 & 5 stated above.

I could continue but as you can see...it was a rather a difficult process. Point 1...actually finding a herd that you could approach in the right areas was the hardest. There were several times we spent up to an hour driving around trying to get closer to a particular herd.

On one particular darting (my most exciting of the 10 collaring experiences) we darted a large adult male. However, as on other occassions he did not recieve enough of the drug to bring him to lying down state. I was driving the two vets and having lost the other vehicle in the bush whilst trying to follow the impala, we were down to one runner, as Anne-Lise was not allowed to run being pregnant and all. After handing over driver designation at a rather speedy pase...I joined Louise in running after and stalking the large male. After several unsuccessful attempts, Louise managed to confuse the impala using a tree to hide behind. Having grabbed the large male by the horns Louise had that look on his face..."Now what?". Seeing my opportunity I sped my way to the two wrestling individuals and launched myself onto the male impalas back. A short rodeo followed, with me as the winner. Having grabbed his two front legs so that he could not extend them again I was in firm control of the beast. As the usual team to dart consists of around 5-6 individuals, Louise, Anne-Lise and I were quite chuffed we had succeeded especially with such a large and stronge male. Unfortunately, the video of the whole escapade was videoed over. However, this does leave opportunity for the story to be expanded on and much exaggerating (which of course was not included in my story)!

Other news I made a trip to South Africa to collect a rather sexy and awesome short wheel base Land Rover. I managed to get through the border and the long and tedious process of importing and re-registering the vehicle in Botswana. At the moment the little red engines parts are being fixed or replaced. Future work being planned includes snorkel, protective side bars, roof rack, protective under plate, radio and new bush tyres.

My parents were here recently. They both had a fantastic time and got to see lots of animals both in and out of camp. They were both thrown in the deep end with various jobs around camp and helped me tremendously. Next week we will be hosting the Smithsonian and 16 students (Total of 20 people) for a two week conservation course. A rather busy time to say the least.

On the research side I am investigating various avenues but basically waiting to see what happens with the concession as the lease goes up for tender in the next few months. I continue to look into conservation that will be important in terms of knowledge but more importantly aspects that will be applicable to management and future conservation of this beautiful area. While I am fairly frustrated at the delay I am concentrating on coming up with new ideas and prospects.

In the mean time, my war with the squirrels continues with the latest development being that they have invaded my tent eating and chewing anything they can get their grubby little paws on. I suspect my mother was an undercover agent of theirs, used as a ploy to get into my tent and "make friends". They seem to have a secret tunnel now and despite my best efforts are still reeking havoc with my things while I am in the office. The battle continues...

A new hornbill perch...thanks to the giraffe.

Priya shortly after loosing one of her cubs. Very sad but a reminder
of the reality of living in the bush.

Squirrel 1, Robyn 0

You know I keep waiting for something incredibly exciting to happen with which to write my next blog about. However, each time I think to myself…I must write about this on my blog…life over takes me and the next thing I know its three days later and the thing I thought would make such a good story no longer seems to remarkable or exciting. Like the other day when 45 elephants rocked up at the waterhole. Chaos ensued for the duration they were at the waterhole then they left and suddenly everything returned to complete tranquility again. Then there are the small things that I see in camp or out on a drive that make me stop and realize that I am living in the Okavango Delta, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Going for a flight over the concession and over the Gomoti River was truly incredible. Being able to see all the expanse of water stretched over kilometers of greenery was just breath-taking. Since I last wrote we have discovered that one of the collared wild dogs Beck is injured. We are hoping that it is not too serious and are keeping an extra ear and eye out for him. Unfortunately, as it is not a human incurred injury we are not allowed to interfere but have to let nature run its course. However, we do have to watch out that the collar he has does not get lost or damaged as a result of his injury. While it is good that we managed to pick up on Becks injury it is sad to see an animal suffering and I am hoping that it is nothing too serious and he will be fit as a fiddle in no time. Sadly, Priya, one of the female cheetahs, lost one of her cubs. We are not sure how or exactly when she lost it but we do know that it was in the last week at least, as she is still calling for it. This too is sad but it nonetheless gives the other cub a better chance at survival and is another reminder that this is in fact the wild. Nature is not kind. This is important to remember when living in such a place as this.

Priya and the one remaining cub. Hopefully this one survives.


On a happier note 2 male lions that have not been seen in about a year have returned to the area and seem to be in tip top health. I have not managed to meet the pair yet but hope to do so soon. And in meet I mean to see them in person, well person to animal and hopefully not animal to person, if you know what I mean. Things in camp are steaming ahead with plans for next month falling into place slowly. We have two vets arriving from overseas for a month at the end of April. They will be here to collar the 20 impala that will be the subject of another master’s student from the University of Botswana. Additionally, I am busy doing herbivore transects though the concession in order to gain the normal annual census on herbivores in the area. My proposal slogs on and hopefully soon we will have more to show for it…details to follow in the coming weeks. I have come to realize that there is no norm around here. Things do not run on a normal routine and nothing is the same from week to week. No sorry, let me correct myself…the squirrels are still screaming at the ground…they are still attempting to drive me to the point of insanity…and yes I am still throwing things at them. That seems to be my only norm. Oh and of course showering and eating. Let me leave you with thoughts of the good little conservationist that I am, throwing rocks and anything I can get my hands on at the poor, sweet, defenseless, little squirrels.

One of the little buggers shouting at the ground!

A small tiff...with a powerful blow!

While out tracking the one afternoon we came across these two having a small tiff. I say small because fighting giraffes never looks all that aggressive. However, we turned off the engine and watched for a few minutes and the thuds that followed each swing of their massive necks did sound quite painful. It was amazing to see how they push against each other. Trying to push the other into a bush or off balance so that they can get in a quick but powerful blow.

Priya and her 2 cubs posing on an anthill. It started raining soon after this, making the cubs look like miserable little drowned rats, but cute rats none the less.

My first flight over the Okavango Delta!

A "bump" in the night...and quite a large bump it was indeed!!!

Its 9:30pm and I’m sitting in my bed, watching a massive bull elephant browse on the other side of my deck railing. If you think I am exaggerating see the photo below. I can honestly say that I have never been so close to a wild elephant. He even decided to scratch himself on the tree about a meter from my deck! Talk about sanding down the tree. The noise was unbelievable. In fact at one point he even bumped against the deck that my tent stands on and man did we have a shake up! As I type this I can hear him munching away and flapping his ears as he rummages around in the bush about 4m from my bed. My family would not believe how calm I am right now, sitting here watching him in the light of the moon. Strangely enough I feel very safe. They really are special animals. I never tire of seeing them around camp and it almost feels like you have a special guest in camp. From my past experiences, being close to elephants has always felt quite hairy, as though I’m not supposed to be there. Here, he knows I’m here and I know he is there and we are both quite happy. This is what I imagined for living here, being with the animals, not just watching them, as visitors or passersby but living in amongst them. The only regret I feel right now is that my mom is no longer here to experience this. The elephants seem to have moved into camp the last few days, with hunting season having commenced they have retreated from their usual haunts to move to safer ground it seems. For this big guy safer ground appears to be the ground in between my tent and the dining room. Oh and apparently elephants don’t have any manners either according to the massive burp he just let rip!

Spiders, scorpions and mice...some of the creatures I find in my tent! This one was busy having its dinner.

This is one of the three other male lions trying their luck with the females in the area. He is often found with Krystal and another young lioness. Two of the three male lions are blind in one eye. We are not sure how this came to be, whether it being during fighting or hunting.

Two cubs from the Santawani Pride. The mother of these two split from the pride, possibly because there is a new male with them. If she stays and the male thinks that the cubs are not his, he will kill them to bring her back into season faster. Such is the cruelty of nature.

This is Barros, the main male of the Santawani Pride, or so we thought. Recently, there has been some disturbances as to who is top dog...or should I say top lion in the area.

This youngster is part of the Santawani Pride, the main pride in the area surrounding our camp. He is one of 8 males in the pride of 11 individuals.

One of the most amazing sunsets I have seen. The colours are all natural...no editing done there. The okavango delta produces some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.

Chellak - biggest poser ever!

This male leopard is the most amazing animal. Its almost like he actually likes having people around watching him. He always makes sure he is in full view so that you can get awesome photos and has this adorable soppy look on his face. He is quite special to say the least.