Mainly Namibia

[Mwenenzi]

Whatcha mean?

My take is mixed bred. The various Giraffe species have different patterns and heights

Giraffe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Scash]

Amazing photos and an incredible adventure. A trip like this is on my bucket list!

 

[BriarFlyer]

Ignoring this => "A position I hope the geese can hold onto" because BABY ELEPHANTS!!!! My favourite. FWIW, I also prefer the ambulant giraffe pics to the previous post-dinner ones.

 

[Seat0B]

Fantastic photos. I love the textural shots of elephant and rhino hides.

 

[RooFlyer]

Are these waterholes just depressions in the ground and filled by rain? Or are they part of a natural watercourse?

Whatcha mean?

The ones at lodges are natural and fed by rains and shrink during the year. You can see the one at ours has shrunk a lot. however, I have a suspicion that they are supplemented by additional water by the lodges one way or another to keep them up. There are other waterholes around which are artificial and put there due to the restocking of this park and the fact that it is naturally so arid.

Everything we see occurs naturally here but it was restocked about 20 to 30 years ago and because of the water now maintains a higher animal load.

There is a major reservoir not far from where we are actually is the water supply for Gaborone, the capital of Botswana about 30 km away.

The giraffes were restocked from several sources and several species so what we have now are interbred hybrids.

 

[RooFlyer]

Well that's an improvement from last night. Fantastic photos. What is on your main wish list as far as creatures go?

Lions and this area is renowned for its lions, and also giraffes. So far have seen reasonable number of lions but only those giraffes in the distance from yesterday so far so hoping for better this afternoon which is my last.

 

[RooFlyer]

Last from yesterday evening’ s game drive.

Come no closer!



After the sun goes down it gets really really cold, especially driving along and everyone’s wrapped up in blankets. We are driving an hour also after dark to get back to the lodge.

 

[RooFlyer]

Another 6:30 start and hoping for more lions. Started off slowly



But after about 30 minutes on the trails and a lot of radio contact back-and-forth between the various vehicles ( there are about five or six from this lodge on the road plus probably the same from adjacent smaller lodges) jackpot. Two brother males trotting along after a female.









They came ridiculously close to us - probably within a metre. They are happy to trot along the road and if we were parked stationary, they would just walk straight by us.



The boys stopped and decided to have a bit of bonding







Who, us?

 

[zig]

The boys stopped and decided to have a bit of bonding

Yup. Happy to let the female go ahead and do any of the necessary work
Great photos. Looks like you have been having some wonderful game drives.

 

[RooFlyer]

Moving on to some rhino. We’ve seen a lot of them, all with horns intact.




look closely in the middle on the side of the hill what do you see? Answer in a later post. No spoilers please.

 

[RooFlyer]

I never thought I’d say this about a bird but this is almost my favourite so far. ‘Lilac breasted roller’. Formerly the national Bird of Botswana.



I think this is a hartebeest









Just caught a glimpse of hyenas scampering into the thicket



Back at the lodge by about 10 am to quickly sort photos and start recharging batteries. And an ostrich decided to visit. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting one of those.





It had quite a long drink

 

[BriarFlyer]

Love the LBR's but didn't manage a photo as sharp as yrs, @RooFlyer.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yup. Happy to let the female go ahead and do any of the necessary work
Great photos. Looks like you have been having some wonderful game drives.

Yes, it’s an interesting experience. Much different from the other Safari I did in
Kenya and Tanzania. Here, at the end of summer it’s nearly all Thorn Bush thickets with well chewed down grasses below.

The park is very large and there’s a network of tracks all over the place here which the Rangers navigate without batting and eyelid. Being summer I was expecting to visit a lot of water holes and we did some of those but mainly it is driving around this arid bush coming across lots of rhinos & elephants just in the middle of nowhere as well the other herbivores.

However, except for the lions and the elusive giraffes, just about everything comes down to our waterhole at the lodge at one time or another. And the lines are certainly nearby at night judging by what I can hear.

Speaking of night time, it’s been full moon and I took these last night with my iPhone. The very bright area are the white clays by the waterhole in the full moonlight.





Throwing in a few more random pics

 

[RooFlyer]

I think the goose has figured out that I’ve got it in for it. For the last about 45 minutes it’s been half hiding behind that little post hissing at me.

 

[Larko1]

I think the goose has figured out that I’ve got it in for it. For the last about 45 minutes it’s been half hiding behind that little post hissing at me.

View attachment 402662

View attachment 402663

View attachment 402664

Is that mother goose hiding in the last photo?

 

[n7of9]

AMAZING PICTURES!

 

[RooFlyer]

All the recent posts have been while I’ve been relaxing in the lodge in between the morning and afternoon game drives.

Then I got a call from our Ranger - come quick there’s a cheetah outside the gate.

So to the Land Rover and out we shot and yes about 100 m away from the lodge boundary gate there was a cheetah!



It wears a tracking collar for the park authorities as they are quite endangered in the area. The lodge people are not able to use the tracking data to find them though.







It lay there for awhile and then got up and we followed it cross country through the thickets. The Ranger knew there were some impala in the area and we were really hoping it was going to chase and try to kill. But no. Just cruising. Had about a half an hour in the company of this beauty.

 

[RooFlyer]

Next up were a family of warthogs. First going for a drink







Then going full wallowing mud treatment





Done.

 

[Pushka]

Feels like I'm watching Lion King.

 

[RooFlyer]

Lunch was a lovely steak



With a view



And a show. Warning: cuteness ahead, for @BriarFlyer