AWESOME GUIDED trips into AFRICA SAFARIS - BOTSWANA

To all our viewers and members of roarshornsandpaws, we gladly let you that we now have added articles of Awesome Guided trips into Africa Safaris into our blog. We will be giving you all the stories from the trips which will be done all around Botswana's Wildlife Reserve weekly and we hope you will love this addition. 

Please read below, all about the operations our new addition.

AWESOME GUIDED trips into AFRICA

“This is Africa”

P O BOX 150089, MAUN – Botswana

Email: awesomeafrica@gmail.com

Tel: +267 73 66 59 73/72 53 22 08

GUIDED SELF DRIVE CAR-HIRE

“African Safaris made simple”

The concept of self-driving into the wilderness have made life very easy for travelers but on the contrary, the face some difficulties on challenges which they come across whilst travelling in Botswana’a pristine wilderness. Most travelers would get maps from stores and head off into the Parks and Game reserves and they do many things which are contrary to the rules and regulations of the parks. There have been incidents of people being attacked on the camping grounds by wild animals; either because of the way the react on sight or rather because they try and get some of the necessary things they need on for their camping in the wrong place at the wrong time. The case study of the company is to provide safety and the service of finding game by attaching well trained Professional Tour Guides to these trips and the guests will still have the privilege of having to drive themselves during the tour.

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

Objective:

Awesome trips into Africa intends to direct the development of self-drive safaris in such a way that;

-         Guests will have the knowledge of each area they go to through the interpretations and talks which will be provided by the guide for each particular area.

-         Collection of fire-wood will be done in time and in the right areas instead of protected areas where most of the travelers do and encounter problems of animals attacks.

-         In case of getting stuck in sand of muddy waters, the guide will be there to also use their bush skills and experiences to make sure that they get out and reach the destinations on time.

-         Departure times from one area to another will be well calculated since the guide knows where they will be going and take the right routes to avoid being lost in the middle of nowhere.

-          Upon arrival in their destinations the guide will also help the guests to pitch up their tents and make sure that the guests have their showers well on time without walking in the dark in areas where there are potentially dangerous animals.

-         This will also bring down the number of issues or clashes between the semi permanent lodges and self-drives who barge into their facility because they didn’t know the road was leading into their facility.

The company intends to practice tourism activities from a homestead and utilize its expertise and passion for animals and the environment by assisting the department of Wildlife and National Parks with information regarding animal activities and movements or anything else which may be useful to the department in these areas. This will offer a haven for wildlife to thrive in this area since the guests will also be taught about the importance of conservation in the region by sticking to game-drive routes and not driving off roads since this disturbs the animals’ activities.

We are here for you; to give you the educational opportunities that you will never have anywhere in Botswana through our bush talks, and intensive field interpretation. See you there.

ECHOES OF A ROAR

SAVUTI - BOTSWANA

By Jinxy

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Take note of the giraffe well blended into the elephant drawing

 

The rock paintings are one of Savuti’s historical heritages and people like this place to witness the wit and talent the san had many years ago. Up here on the Bushman Paintings Rock or Mosarwa as commonly called we see the drawings of elands, Elephants, sable antelope, the African Rock Pythons and Giraffes.

This is a true sign that shows that these species were roaming in this area and the Bushman were hunting them probably. After a nice interpretation of the rock painting we turned to look at the scenery of the channel and the bushes of Savuti though many of us couldn’t help looking. What a great spot to look at this part of the area.

At the moment the area is still looking green from the tree tops the grass is dying from the heat. There is a lot for the animals to eat around the fringes of the channel for both herbivores and carnivores. There is still a balance in the ecosystem and still so not worrying because the channel is still alive. From here the drive was on. Everyone wanted to know how it looked on the other side of the stream and I told my guests that there was only one way to find out; drive on the other side. Rocksan (Game Viewer Landcruiser) was waiting and smiling.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the rock paintings. We bumped into a dust oozing across the round and I first it was the impalas because the rutting season is here. When I looked on the ground I noticed the drag marks and ignored it as it was getting into the bushes, but I was curious.

Later after watching a huge elephant bull, not too far from where we were, something was getting up a tree; it was a leopard hauling a porcupine up a tree. What a great sighting. Two things were tirelessly running through my mind. A leopard is always a sign of good luck traditionally and porcupine is a sighting is a sign of a good day but this one was a dead porcupine but I kept my optimism to myself.

When we got there, the leopard was still panting for breath and I quickly noticed what was going on. He was forced by circumstances to take his prickly meal up a tree and wild dogs were the reason. The Dogs came running through and never bothered to stare at the leopard in the tree and they headed off towards Harvey’s Pans. I told my guests that it was worth following them because we can always come to the leopard later. But we all agreed to stay with the spotted, most loved fellow and not only that; when you see a leopard it always feels like the first time ever, and the fact that it’s a very illusive solitary cat, it’s the best amongst the rest, at least for this morning it was.

We watched as he continued eating his meal, first starting with removing the quills and the dug deeper into the exposed soft areas.

Every one of us was amazed by this sighting. It’s not always that you can find a leopard’s Porcupine kill and being fed on by the actual predator. It was great indeed. About forty five minutes to an hour later we headed off for the wild dogs but when we got there we only found tracks and couldn’t see them. I was sure that there resting somewhere in the  mopane woods and I drove by Qwari hill heading for the Eastern side of the marsh. It’s a combination of the Kalahari Apple leaf bushes, and terminalia trees and grasses of different sorts. It wasn’t that much to enjoy until we came across another predator sighting; another leopard.

It was gently resting not too far from the road and it had a full tummy from the night’s hunts.

What a drive! After a few minutes we were rolling the big wheels again.

 

Just about less than fifteen minutes later the third leopard of the day was in sight and I heard one of the guests say; “ not another leopard”. This leopard was not at ease. It kept on looking in one direction and really was sort of scared. I didn’t care what it was really because the cameras behind me enjoy every bit of the show. After a while I decided to left up my binoculars towards the same direction where this leopard was looking and that’s when I realized what it was that the leopard was looking at with such a worry.

It was very good reason for a lactating mother leopard and she was hiding her cub somewhere. And revealing where the cub was not something that she was willing to do yet, not when these two Wild dogs were in such close proximity. After staying with the leopard we went to say hello to the dogs. They seemed not to know about the leopard nearby and the impalas had started giving alarm calls in the bushes, one big male impala ‘s intention was to kept the enemy in sight and listening to all noise from all directions so that he knew where to drive his herd.

We could see the panic in his eyes and he kept on snorting all the times. After watching the two Wild dogs we drove towards pot-holes and stopped at a stretch point for tea and coffee.

After tea, we drove a little distance and turned back to slowly head back to camp. When we got to where we left the leopard, we only saw tracks and we followed. She suddenly came from the tree and walked in front of us along the road which was heading towards the marsh. Approximately five minutes later the young cub sprang out of the bushes and started playing with the mother. There were several sighs from behind me, the guests were wondering if the cub was eaten by the dogs. We were relieved and one of the guests broke into tears; she was very worried.

I was having goose bumps and I couldn’t believe that this was happening at all. After a little while they disappeared into the bushes and we crossed to the western side of the marsh. It was another predator day in Savuti. Brunch was delicious and the story was about the mother leopard and her cub. While we were having brunch, a herd of Roan antelopes came to take a drink in front of camp. The Savuti area never ceases to amaze me with its wildlife wonders. Every day is completely different and truly unique from another.

 

The afternoon drive was very easy we started with the porcupine kill and the leopard was deep into bushes of the woolly caper-bush trees below and we heard noises like the leopard was vomiting. Ha ha ha who wouldn’t from such a meal really, we headed off to the wild dogs at Harvey’s Pans and this time they were starting to get into the open. “Perfect timing”, one of the guest acclaimed.

Indeed it was.

 

 

 

Some of the members of the pack of twenty one found something on the ground which they started sniffing on and I didn’t know what it was until I saw what they did next. The rolled on it. It was a dung of wild dog prey, probably a small antelope.

 

The hunting Behavior:

Normally when they come across fresh dung, they roll on it to disguise their own scent in cane they come across prey and their up wind. This is done so that their quarry does not smell them but rather think it’s an animal of their own species. Later they drifted off towards giraffes which were watching with great suspicion.

The dogs wouldn’t go for them until we realized that there was more to it. Very young giraffes, about three of them; they were more of what they canines were interested in.

Giraffes galloped away and the wild dogs followed pursued them with great intentions leaving us wondering whether they were going to successful or not. After here we were more into birds and we were getting closer to finding a good spot to watch the sunset and enjoy our gin and tonics, wines and bush snacks.

We came across the magnificent of them all. The Martial Eagle is the strongest of the birds of prey capable of lifting a fully grown Steenbok into the air without a problem. It was up an acacia tree looking at us with big round yellow wide eyes, the pupil were pierced like needle points; no doubt, those eyes saw us while we were a long distance away. After a good while of watching we headed to our sun-down spot. Here, we enjoy the day much more as we watched the comeback of the Red-billed Quelea birds as they flew over small bushes in the horizon, forming an unbelievable and unforgettable scene of all aviations. These little birds are not here all the time, they come here at the end of the rainy season because the seeds from grasses are ripe and fallen off. The main two reasons for these visitors are breeding grounds and availability of food.

 

After having our nice drinks coupled by the spectacular show of the red-billed quelea birds we headed off to camp slowly and surely. As we were about three minutes from camp Chillo the young leopard was by the road side, looked like he just woke from his day dreams and wondering where his hunt was going to start from.

 

Three minutes from camp! You bet we stayed with this young fellow until it was almost dinner time. Actually we could have stayed longer, we kept on been interrupted our rumbling stomach; it was time for “eating safari”; chillo had to do something about his hunger too. We waved goodbye and we pulled into camp. There was nothing to talk about at dinner; normally, you would have questions like how many lions and leopards are there in the area but it seemed many questions were answered. After dinner we were watching stars; most of the constellations of the southern sky were very visible though the moonlight was stronger but we survived it.

This was a safari like no other, SKL Savuti at its second best; believe me the first best of SKL Savuti can double all that I said to my guests and it’s true. Let’s go out there and see what this area can provide.

 



JINXY’S ANIMAL SIGHTING STATICS – YEAR 2012

SAVUTI - BOTSWANA

Leopards – 211

Lions – 89

Buffalos – 63

Elephants  - ?

Jackals – 47

Hyenas – 45

Cheetah – 3

Impalas - ?

Hippos – 96

Crocodiles – 2

Monkeys – 8

Baboons – 0

Hone-Badgers – 5

Pangolin -1

Lapet-faced Vulture – 10

Marshal Eagle – 43

African Fish-Eagle – 101

African Marsh Harrier – 23

Ground Hornbill – 77

Giant Eagle Owl – 43

Kori bastard – 143

Woodland kingfisher – 6

Pied kingfisher – 99

Sandle Billed Stork – 57

FOLKS I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT I HAVE A HAD A GREAT SAFARI THIS YEAR, BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR MORE STATISTICS ON OTHER AREAS…

 

THE POWER OF PREDATION SERIES

 

 

This was a day like no other, I woke feeling tired and did my exercises and went to do some daily checks on the land cruiser. My guests were only going to be active an hour later and it was six in the morning.

During breakfast with them, so decided they wanted a short drive and then everyone bought the idea. Rocksan the land cruiser was waiting in absolute silence.  After the meal, they went to fetch their photographic equipments and in ten minutes we were on a wild dusty bumpy road doing it easy and reminding ourselves of a few scenes we had witnessed the previous day.

As we were approaching the stork pans I saw something in a distance but could make out what it was and didn’t bother to pick my binoculars, it wasn’t necessary, I thought. As we were getting closer I realized that it was rather something great, it was a pack of wild dogs, and they were on serious moves. When I got there, the pups were disappearing into the bushes and I followed them, meandering well through the bushes. When I got to the open five of the wild dogs had already blocked a female kudu against the linyanti lagoon. It was unbelievable. The kudu never had a chance to escape its tactical attackers.

 

What I have learnt from the great teacher; the bush, is that predators are never too sure that they will catch their prey and so some of them like to engage into a series of ways to either just wait, stalk or ambush.  Crocodiles for example the good at waiting as compared to wild dogs which really don’t like wasting time on stalking, surely this bunch know that they can run distances but still, you can see from how they start that they prefer making sure that they are in the right position, sometimes they don’t judge the distance that well. Cooperative hunting is a great solution to those who live in a group but still there is a lot of feeding competition. Wild dogs are an example. I have seen in many occasions whereby one dog or two, sometimes three, tear the bodies of their prey, sometimes this happens before their quarry is rundown. It’s a great sighting at the end of the day but watching it happen is dangerous for sensitive people because the amount of brutality and mercilessness engaged is really heart touching but yes, that’s nature.

 

I have also learnt that those who like stalking are their main way of hunting like doing killing their prey in maximum silence. Leopards are a better example; they quickly clamp the wind pipe of their prey to suffocate it as well as making sure that its distress call does not invite any other predators in the area.

                                                                Notice the teeth marks on the throat of this impala.

Lions in a very big pride seem not to be very worried about this issue, they are certain that when they bring down their prey, their number will automatically ward off any other predator which will take interest in stealing from them. Sometimes only bones are left behind or nothing at all.

 

I have seen many lone lions having a remarkable successful hunting in an open area, and on other occasions the tables getting really turned.This male kudu didn’t see the lion as it was coming down to drink on a very hot day. The lion also nearly lost it because it was walking straight into the direction where the kudu was coming from. Then it was too late for the kudu to escape.

This cheetah lost its prey lost its prey to two notorious hyenas of Mombo. All her hard didn’t go to waste though; she had eaten enough before the intruders showed up. This is the power of predation.

CAMP SAVUTI – THE ELEPHANT TIMES

MEMOIRS OF A RANGER

 

                                                                  Prepared By: Jinxy Sianga Luther T Jr.

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The area of Savuti has been changed dramatically on the past weeks. It hasn’t been raining that much here and the month of October kept its extreme heat tucked in until towards the end when it reached 45 degrees and 51 degrees but never stopped us from taking our guests out, we just had to find the right time to do so.

Predators have their own characters and some are crowned as kings and princesses of the mighty bushes of Africa. These past months (September and October) the tables seemed to have been turned against all odds of nature, and it was great to see.

Height of Bad Manners:

It was a nice cool morning and we all knew that there was a dead elephant at the Linyanti Vlei area which is located north of camp and about 12 – 15minutes drive and I wanted to be there very early with hope to pick up something on the carcass.

When I was approaching the area, I could see there was a bit of action going on but this was far from the dead giant so I hurried to the spot. As they say “first bird catches the fattest worm”, this time it was a good big juicy caterpillar.

 

As I was getting closer I learnt that it was a pack of eighteen wild dogs with about six pups and they were killing a Steenbok, which they left for the pups to finish up the job as a way of training them. The pups seemed confused before they engaged into the ordeal.

Little did we know including the dogs, that there was a leopard nearby and surely the leopard was ready for what the dogs didn’t expect?

Before I could get a question from my guests, the leopard bolted from behind the bush and snatched the kill and hauled it up a tree leaving the pups bewildered and the adult dogs giving the best to try and scare the thief by barking and jumping up and down at the bottom of a tree but it was too late. They finally gave up and walked away.

Later many other vehicles from the lodges arrived and we decided to go and look for more, the journey was headed for the famous Savuti marsh. As we were getting closer to the marsh, I saw a red-billed francolin which looked like it was gunned out of the bushes. I stopped and switched off my engine. A few seconds later, another leopard showed up and started walking towards us.

For sure this leopard knew what it was doing and it really made me wonder what it was up to. When all the cameras we hooked on it, it stopped and sat down as if to ask us if we were looking for her.

 

 

When the cameras were going quite and people asking questions, it continued its journey and this time coming really close and personal while all the cameras were simultaneously engaged to work by my valuable guest. She walked right close to rocksan (my beloved game-viewer land cruise)

 

 

 

 

She headed off and into the grasses. I knew she was on a mission so I followed her. After driving around a small bend we found her on an elephant carcass, it was a juvenile one and I wasn’t sure what had killed it and the leopard seemed skeptical about the surrounding before she started on with the business.

 

We watched her eat and eat. It was beautiful and I believed that I was a bit closer to her on that road and I backed up rocksan and parked a reasonable distance away from her next to a termite mound so that she could engage into her eating safari at ease. It was indeed a leopard morning.

There were a lot of bird alarms around the area.

When she was done I thought she was going to disappear into the thickets which were not too far from where she was but rather she found it better to come closer to us.

 

 

 And of course we were the friends she had at that time so she really needed company. She walked to us and got up on to the termite mound which was not far from the vehicle and admired our kind of safari.

 

 

We could count the spots. She was very calm and all my guests started feeling that they were part of nature, a part of the leopard and its life, a true friend who didn’t want to go without saying good bye.

When the second vehicle arrived she got down from the termite mound and started walking away. In a few seconds she flew to the ground and started rolling. She was a happy leopard.

 

 

She got up and disappeared into the bushed down the Savuti channel. It was a thrilling hour and half. We decided to get to the marsh for a more spectacular view of the flood plain. My target was to see the huge paddling pelicans which congregate on the eastern side of marsh. When we were about sixty to seventy meters away from where we saw leopard. There was another predator; this time it was the king. He was resting under a nice cool shade of a very small apple leaf tree bush. There was a big problem; the king was on the road.

 

 

We had no way to pass but we decided to do the right thing, we switched off the engine and admired his highness. His stomach was full and panting for breath. I recognized him. He was the leader of the “Sandridge Boys,” a coalition of five males, brothers who live together as owners of the Savuti area. I started wondering where the rest of the boys were. As I looked to the side of the road, one was approaching, it was the youngest. He came and sat next to the elder. His stomach was also heavy. Later common signs started showing up.

 

 

Here I learnt that the leopard knew that the lions were around since he might have picked up their scent at the elephant carcass. The question was whether the boys are the ones who killed the elephant. It was hard to tell but the boys surely have killed uncountable elephants around the area, especially juvenile elephants and this left me with the conclusion that they were responsible.

After a good while we moved for the marsh and I was darting my eyes all over the place looking for last three members of the royalty. I knew though, that lion social life is more complex than most of predators which live in groups. Each member is able and allowed to go out of the pride or coalition to attend to their personal business and come back to the family whenever they are done. In some areas it’s been discovered that it can take months before an individual comes back.

In the case of the Sandridge boys, this long period wasn’t necessary as they needed to stay close because they keep on having challenges from two big males from the southern side of the park, the longest they normally stay away from each other is either a week or two so I was still convinced that the other three were somewhere not far. It was beginning to heat up and the Pelicans were still a priority. We drove on slowly and looking. There they were scramble to a shade of small mopane trees.

 

 

The number was complete and it was so exciting to see all the boys were still together on the land of birth and still protecting it. They were so relaxed and feeling so lazy because of the weight of their stomachs.

When we got to the marsh we were greeted by a sight of dead pelicans and my guests were not feeling comfortable because they thought we were in a bird flu red zone area until I told them that they were killed by a leopard but they were not convinced until I showed one that was up on a tree.

 

 

 

 This was the art of another leopard we have named Big-boy. He is a very adventurous one. I told my guests a story when Big-boy hides under Rocksan as he was stalking on guinea fowls.

Live pelicans were much better after watching this scene for about a couple of minutes.

One of my guests spotted the jackals as we heading towards where we could see the Pelicans. It was an adult and it’s young, possibly deciding whether to go for the dead elephant killed by the Sandridge boys ten minutes away or not. They were calm.

As we were approaching the area, we ran into a surprise, there was Big-boy, resting calmly and looking innocent as if he was not responsible for the lives of the dead Pelicans we just saw twenty minutes ago. This time he was right on the opposite side of the unknowing mass number of Pelicans and other aquatic birds of different kinds.

 

I have nick-named him the clean one not because of what he does for a living but rather for the look of his everlasting coat. He is one of my favorite and my guests loved him too. The feeling was like it was the first leopard that morning. It was new again and this time, a big male.

Just under a few minutes later he proved my story right. He stood up and slowly walked towards where the Pelicans were. He stopped and was just looking at the birds; possibly was deciding what to do but that was enough for the guests to understand and realize that he was the individual who kills these birds in the marsh area.

 

We waited for such action but couldn’t see one, the birds had out smarted him this time around and he walked away but he kept looking back even when he was in a distance.When we got to where the Rangers have named the Pelican pool, we saw a leopard tortoise, it was another special moment. This animal belongs to the small five of Africa.

As usual, it was a beautiful sight indeed. The birds we in large numbers, a true sign that there was life in the Savuti Marsh for them. Successful breeding grounds, and plenty of food for them and their young.

One of the heavy giants were in the vicinity, enjoying the goodies that Mother Nature provides. It was great to see a buffalo walking through water up close.

 

 

 

 

We had to go back to camp and the sun was getting more and more unfriendly. I decided that I was going to take the eastern road and that’s where Big-boy was headed. We drove slowly. We were all happy and feeling the heart beat of African under the huge tyres of Rocksan. It was a great safari morning by far. As we got off the marsh area and driving along the road leading to the side of the channel, we saw Big-boy on a mission, this time a real hunt was on. It was him against a herd of the not-easy-to-catch, the impala, and Africa’s most successful antelope by far. As we got just a bit closer I realized that it was not Big-boy. It was a different leopard and he was up to his name, I could see a lot of experience but I was more worried at this point that the guests were possibly running out of battery powers at such a top exciting scenario. He moved in, slowly, stopped, moved in again but the birds around were not really making a lot of noise for him but he was great at his game.

He finally sat down and thought of the way to go about it and finally made a decision to stay on the road and in front of us, we were glad to see this.

 

After a few minutes on the road the art of stalking was on. There was silence; all the birds were quite except for the cameras behind me.

 

He disappeared into the bushes. I knew the hunt was still and I continued slowly along the road and found him minutes later well positioned and very close to the impalas. He was indeed experienced and had the right set of skill at his paw tips.

First the impalas were not aware of the leopard that was lying right in front of them. They all walked by until the last two.

The male impala looked straight at the leopard but didn’t know what it was. I was sure about this because there is no way that an impala would see a leopard that close and doesn’t take flight. The male impala did a mistake of looking at the rest of the herd and the leopard shot out from its position for its prey and within seconds we heard a distress call in the bush and it went quite as the leopard clamped its wind pipe for absolute suffocation.

Minutes later we drove around and and we couldnt find him. After almost twenty minutes of searching we found him at the forked junction opposite The Rock Paintings Hill, he was already up a tree and eating like the tree was going to fall and give advantage to other predators which never contributed to the kill.

 

It was a successful hunt, and seeing it from the beginning was a mind blowing scene and by far memorable. It was time to hit the road for camp for a nice delicious brunch. Upon arriving in camp, one guest was checking in.

 

 

We ate and went for a rest waiting for the afternoon drive that was yet to begin later that day and honestly I gave myself a pat on the back.