ULTIMATE AFRICA SAFARIS
Ultimate Africa travel and wildlife news archive April 2002 New 10
countries have intensified warnings against travel to The
Other
countries that have also warned against on non-essential travel to The
Canada, one of the first countries to denounce last month's disputed re-election of President Robert Mugabe by severing all economic ties with Harare, has ordered Canadians to avoid all travel to Zimbabwe unless they have critical or compelling business and family matters to attend to. Several
countries, including the US State Department American
citizens should consider postponement of non-essential travel to The Government of Zimbabwe has enacted the Public Order and Security Act, which makes it an offense to "undermine the authority of the President" or "engender hostility" towards him. This includes speaking negatively of the President in public. The bill also bars individuals from speaking negatively of the police and carrying weapons of any kind. American
citizens should avoid public demonstrations or large gatherings and refrain from taking
pictures or videos of political events of any kind. Americans should also monitor the
local and international media for developments that may affect their safety. Additionally,
American citizens should exercise caution when traveling anywhere in Linkwasha Tented Camp March Update, April 7 2002 Linkwasha Tented Camp is located on a private concession within Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. Here is the camp's March update. There has been little sign of late summer rains and the wildlife viewing has never been better. Most of the wildlife is now concentrated around the "pumped" water holes, and we are seeing fabulous plains game and predators at the moment. We can assume that the sightings will get better as the days roll by. The animals in Hwange National Park are no strangers to these dry spells, and many of them have survived worse droughts before. It really is incredible how adaptable a lot of these creatures are. They are, after all living in a semi-arid environment. Our pair of white rhinos have been seen almost every day, and what is really nice, is that they have moved closer to camp. I think it will be a matter of time before we will start seeing them grazing right in front of camp! The female might be pregnant... Everybody has their fingers crossed! The lions have been hanging around the camp, and roaring every morning. There is no better way to start your day, that to wake up to roaring lions, it certainly gets the blood pumping! We have two big males in our concession, so we have been getting some fantastic photo's of them, they really have settled down, and they don't mind the vehicles so much. At night, the camp belongs to a young leopard, who routinely patrols the boardwalk, with a quick stop off at the curio shop... Just for a sniff! He almost always calls first thing in the morning, and anybody staying in rooms one through to three will hear him! Spirits in the camp have never been higher. We have also had two guides (Dolf and Tendai) transfer across from Makalolo Tented Camp, so fresh faces, and a fresh landscape for them. They are really eager to get out there and have a ball with the guests! We had a bit of a scare the other day, with three lightening strikes in the concession on the same afternoon. Fortunately, we managed to contain the fires, and hardly any bush veldt was burnt (we need as much grazing pasture as possible if things are going to continue to dry out). The skies are cloudless at the moment, so I don't think we will have to worry about another lightening scenario this year! Makalolo Plains Tented Camp March Report, April 7 2002 Makalolo Plains Tented Camp is located on a private concession within Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. Here is the camp's March update. March has come to its end, with mornings getting a distinct winter nip to them. The lowest recorded temperature was 15C and the highest recorded was 35C. There were only a few rain showers leaving the camp very dry for this time of the year. 6 of our 7 waterholes are being pumped. Normally we start the pumps in June or there abouts. At this stage our waterholes are lower now than they were in November last year. The up side of this is that the wildlife viewing is awesome right now. Bush fires have already started, with a major one just the other day. Thankfully we managed to contain it, before too much of the concession was affected. Jane has been pro guiding and managing Makalolo with the very able assistance of Moira and Ashleigh. Dave and Carol have been on time off and managed to visit both Rocktail Bay and Ndumo lodges in Maputaland, whilst in South Africa. Fausto has left Makalolo to do some freelancing guiding. He will also be doing some relief management and guiding for Wilderness, so we haven't lost him totally. Simon, Phianos and Dolph continue to guide and amuse their clients to the usual high standards expected here. Tent 9 has been converted into a family room, so now families can stay together in one unit. On to the wild life sightings. We are having the most awesome sightings and some very happy clients as a result. Every drive just seems to get better and better. There is a pack of 14 wild dogs that have been popping in and out of the concession. They have made two kills right in front of the lodge - a kudu cow and the other a duiker. It is tremendous to view them relaxing all day out front of the lodge! We have spent several interesting hours viewing them playing and chasing baboons, and all could be watched from the front of the lodge. We have also been seeing a cheetah and her 5 sub adults hunting in the Little Mbiza and Marula loop areas. The sable, roan, kudu and eland are starting to come out of the wood work as the small pans in the forests and scrublands dry up. The 2 white rhino are still showing themselves in the Ngamo area. One group of 3 bateared foxes infront of camp been seen regularly and another of 6 at Mbiza - such lovely little chaps. Best sighting yet was a polecat with 2 chittering little babies on a night drive. The hyena den continues to give us hours of entertainment. We now have one older one, 4 the next size down, and 2 new little black guys appeared a few weeks back. So we now have 3 age groups in the den. All of the cubs are in prime condition and we have seen no sign of any of the siblings trying to kill the others. The moms are extremely fat as well. They have been killing buffalo calves and juveniles. They also killed a baby elephant one night here next to camp - incredible noise from eles and hyena. They are also doing very well off the lion kills. There is also a porcupine living with the hyenas in the den. Very amusing when he comes out in the evening followed by the ever inquisitive hyena cubs. Lions seem to be everywhere. Three prides about at the moment and two big independent males. "The Spice Girls" our five lionesses are nearly always in one corner or the other of the concession. We have witnessed them hunting buffalo on several occasions - incredible, interesting stuff. They have been mating with a big black maned lion, a beauty of a specimen. He has how ever had a very hard time with these five girls and put up with a lot of teasing and some very hefty clouts for his troubles. The other smaller, but aggressive lion seems to have taken a back seat now. The other pride of 4, a huge, but young, male and three lionesses are using the Little Mak area and killing a lot of buffalo and eland. The pride, consisting of mom and three young males we call the "Giraffe Killers", haven't been seen for a few months, so don't know if they have moved home ranges. "Coulette" and her three sub adults are nearly ready to fly the coup. We have had good sightings of them on wildebeest and buffalo kills, as well as some amazing hunting, killing and devouring of baboons. "The Spice Girls" continue to amaze us with their tree climbing skills, even though their descents are very heavy and clumsy. You'd certainly not be safe up a tree, from these girls. The other night we found one of the five up a tree stealing a leopard's baboon. She was not comfortable eating it up there, but overbalanced when she tried to climb down. After ages of indecision she left the baboon up in the fork of the tree. As she hit the ground, another two lions launched themselves up the tree and dragged it down, where they promptly devoured it with much snarling. We are still seeing an amazing amount of leopards. We have had sightings of one drinking from the pool and still bump into one on the boardwalks at night. He has grown up here and uses the camp's boardwalks to hunt off. He lies on the board walk and drops down on to unsuspecting spring hares and duiker etc below. Clever fellow. Apart from the normal leopard sightings in the evenings, we had an unusual one a few nights back of three leopards together. A larger male stalking a young male who'd climbed to the top of a teak tree, plus probably a female up the tree too. We sat for half an hour watching these three. Lovely photo opportunity of them climbing around next to us and then on the ground right next to the vehicle. When we returned from seeing the mating lions out front of camp, these three were all curled up within the space of 20 meters asleep on the ground, quite incredible. At Little Mak we had a leopard kill a deserted buffalo calf at the pan and then climb up and hang the body in the False Mopane tree right infront of tent no 5. There have been some interesting goings on with Harry and Pillow, the hippo males that live in the front pan. Pillow being the youngest, seems to be very sexually frustrated and showing some fascinating behavior. He often gets out the pan when big herds of buffalo come down to drink and walks around nosing those who'll let him. The other night a buff cow came down to try and soak a rotting lion wound on her rump. Pillow gave her no peace and kept gently nudging, and herding her. He then repeatedly tried to mount her and ended up drowning her. Flipped her to the edge and proceeded to lick and slobber all over her body. Two leopard came to see what was happening, and then seven hyena to cash-in on the free meal. Later that evening the Spice Girls arrived and took their share. It was a very late night for all of us in camp, as nobody could tear themselves away from this amazing sighting. There are hundreds of elephant and thousands of buffalo around. Many little eles and buff calves too. Some clients nearly witnessed an elephants birth the other day. The little one was still covered in mucus, and mom was still discharging. The baby was very pink and had white feet. Incredible watching the mom and brother shepherding him to the pan and picking him up between trunk and foot when he fell. There are ever increasing numbers of eles drinking from our pool and this makes a fantastic spectacle on a moon lit night. Birding continues to be good with over 2,000 white storks dropping in to drink and roost on their route north. There were 56 blacksmith plover in one area near a pan one morning. We have been seeing Miombo rock thrushes in the Ostrich forest. Duba Plains March
Update, Duba Plains Tented Camp is
located in The birding continues to be fantastic with some of the migrants still around. The channels produced enormous numbers of waterbirds eager for an easy meal of stranded fish and frogs. There were several good leopard sightings involving our extremely relaxed 18 month old male. On a couple of occasions he narrowly escaped the Tsaro and Skimmer lion prides as he inquisitively followed a herd of buffalo at a distance. On both occasions the lions were more interested in the buffalo and only spared the leopard a fleeting glance. The pregnant cheetah of previous months seems to have moved on, with no sightings this month. Probably a good thing for the survival rate of her cubs with so many lions around would be very low. The nearby hyena den has two new little ones, only a month or two old. Some wonderful viewing of these inquisitive pups lies ahead. The lion prides definitely seem to be dominant at present, with the hyenas keeping much to themselves. No clashes were witnessed this month. As expected the lion viewing continues to be superb. An average of 17 lions per day were seen, with a total of 47 different pride sightings over the month. For the first time in some years the Tsaro pride has come under pressure from another pride. One particular interaction witnessed by enthralled guests saw the entire Tsaro pride (14) chased from a buffalo kill by the Skimmer pride (10). The reason being the presence of the 2 four and a half year old Skimmer males. These young males are fast reaching maturity and have begun roaring and spreading far and wide. They are aggressive and confident enough now to take on the Tsaro pride all on their own, once to the detriment of a Tsaro lioness who paid the price with a torn flank. No permanent damage done. The Skimmer pride has produced two new cubs this month, about three months old. They are still being kept separate from their older siblings, but are soon expected to link up with the rest of the pride. In anticipation of the floods
immanent arrival, it seems the lion pride territories are starting to shift. The Skimmer
pride is pushing the Tsaro pride to the south in order to claim more permanent dry land for buffalo hunting during the wet winter months.
This closely follows what we recorded during last seasons floods. The Pantry pride (5
lionesses and 10 cubs) is coming under increased pressure from the Tsaro pride, resulting
in the shift of the Pantry pride's territory to the east. Only last night saw the Tsaro
pride pull down three buffalo merely a couple of hundred meters from where the Pantry
pride, with cubs, was seen in the morning. Time will tell how the Pantry pride fairs with
the tougher winter conditions. This month confirmed the presence of ten cubs with the
pantry pride, one lioness is still expected to bring her cubs to the pride in the near
future. Many a wonderful afternoon has been spent watching the young cubs at play. All are
in excellent condition, but here's hoping the flood levels are not too high. Last year saw
them under immense pressure to find dry areas on which to hunt. With the addition of ten
mouths to feed, this could be a tough season ahead for them. The Tsaro pride continues to be our most regularly seen pride - 21 days of the month. The majority of the 18 buffalo kills witnessed this month, were carried out by this pride. They have ferocious appetites and regularly make multiple kills. The simplest means of tracking down these lions is to find the buffalo herds and then search the nearby shaded areas. The Tsaro pride has been seen split up with far greater regularity. The almost three year old subadults (10) are becoming far more independent and quite competent buffalo hunters. Upon making a kill, several of the lions may not even attempt to feed, but rather continue to hunt buffalo. The buffalo finally delivered their young at the beginning of March, late compared to previous years, usually beginning of December. This has slowed the herd down, resulting in many calves being picked off by the ever present lions. For the first time it seems evident that the buffalo numbers may be decreasing. Lastly the Duba Boys - They are still the only dominant male lions in the area, but are under some pressure from the two young Skimmer males. They are regularly drawn into chasing the Skimmer males off. The Duba Boys must be approaching 10-11 years of age, so their dominance should be coming to a close sometime this year. They are spending a lot of time with the Pantry pride and perhaps further to the east, rarely visiting the other prides. They have had an extremely successful tenure, producing no less than 34 cubs from 14 lionesses over the previous 4 years. One special sighting in camp this month saw a caracal catch a baby monkey near the hide in broad daylight and then drag it across the flood plain into a palm thicket. With all the new lion cubs around, the future lion viewing should be fantastic. Best of If ever their was a safari to a
specific country with a apt name then “Best of Namibia Wing Safari” is it. From
the moment we arrived at It was an unforgettable fly in
safari to Robin Pope Robin Pope’s safari
operation in The wildlife viewing has been excellent with a pride of ten lions, leopard, lots of eles and all the usual suspects in the park. The Nkwali road has also been very productive as guests drive back in after the night drive. Daudi saw a lactating female (naturally) leopard walking down the road. No sign of the cub(s) but hopefully we will be seeing them later. A serval cat was seen (a rare sighting) and Marcus saw a tree hyrax. I have to admit that Jacob saw one in December but we have never seen these animals in the area over the ten years at Nkwali. Yesterday, as we sat under the
ebony trees next to the lagoon to have lunch, an old favorite cow elephant and her two
youngsters came down to feed and drink. We
know her well and she is easily identified by a groove at the end of her right tusk. They
stayed throughout the lunch as we at first quietly and then after a couple of bottles of
wine, less quietly, had our lunch. I was
delighted to have them come down to the lagoon so early in the season. The river shot up this week -
rising nearly two meters. It is so high that we can boat not only to but actually into the
lagoon opposite camp to meet the vehicles for the drives. Boating is always such fun at
this time of year. Robin and I had a little private sundowner boat ride on Good Friday. There were lots of cloud formations and a few
storms around so the sunlight, every shade of pink and orange, was bouncing around the
skies and reflecting off the river. Quite magical and not a little romantic! Early yesterday morning, Easter Sunday, Robin and I were sitting on our step having a cup of tea. The river flows right past the house, and it is wide and full at the moment. Then we saw a dark shape bobbing in the water just near us. An elephant, a large bull, was crossing the river. It is too high for him to "walk" on the bottom and he had to swim across. With the current so strong, he was swept downriver about 500 meters as he swam. It was like watching a whale - the dark wet head came up, then disappeared, with only a foot of the trunk showing. I have never seen an elephant cross when the river is so full so it was fascinating. Robin described the time of the '78 floods, when he watched a mother carrying her calf across the river. She swam under the water, with the calf straddled across her neck. What a sight that must have been. As I write this, I am being continuously distracted by the eles of yesterday’s lunchtime feeding outside the office. Hard to concentrate! So I will end for this week. Botswana Expects Even Better Wildlife Viewing, April 21 2002 The lower Okavango flood levels this
year mean that there will be more open plains exposed for activities compared to the past
few years when water levels were higher than normal. Due to the dry conditions travelers
should expect that wildlife viewing will be even better than the past two wonderful years. Botswana Continues Ban on Lion Hunting, April 21 2002 It has now been confirmed that 2002 will be another year of no lion hunting anywhere in Botswana. The last legally shot lion in Botswana was September 2000, so the lion prides will have had ample time to spread out and set up their territories unhindered by bullets. Botswana Tsetse Fly Control Program is Working, April 21 2002 The entire northern part of Botswana’s Okavango Delta is tsetse free as a result of last year’s tsetse program. The authorities will be spraying the southern section of the Okavango this winter as well as re-spraying any problem patches in the north. Chitabe Camp March Update, April
21 2002 Savute Elephant Camp Update, April 21 2002 Savute Elephant Camp, located in
wildlife rich Chobe Reserve of northern Botswana, is renowned for the presence of its huge
pachyderms (elephants) at the water hole just off the swimming pool, but just the other
day wildlife viewing was taken to new heights and existing sighting records at this spot
were shattered. The events of March 26th are best described as follows: Chikwenya Camp Update, April 21 2002 Chikwenya Camp is located adjacent to Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park. The camp has been having great elephant sightings (surprise, surprise) in the camp and all over the flood plains. Due to the dry conditions the jumbos were forced to come back and drink along the Zambezi River. On one particular afternoon drive guests saw at least three hundred elephant on the floodplain between Grasshopper creek channel and the main channel of the Zambezi. At one stage they were surrounded by a breeding herd. Baby elephant playing all around them, sometimes trying to scratch themselves against the front tires. In order to protect the vehicle one of the guides banged the door slightly, just before the eles touched the car. In response, the babies would scream and trumpet, running back to their mothers. One large female jumbo came and dropped herself to the ground in front of the vehicle and started wallowing in the mud. As the guide turned his head to look at the back of the vehicle, he heard more trumpeting and saw a huge herd of elephant coming straight towards the vehicle. Not wanting to take any chances he started the vehicle to drive off but the elephant laying on the road completely ignored the vehicle and rolled to the other side, still in the middle of the road. The elephant at the back were now getting too close for comfort. Since the guide did not know when they were going to stop, or at least swerve to the side he managed to drive past the elephant laying on the road just past her feet (about a meter away). He stopped about 30 meters away. The seemingly berserk herd of elephants looked like they were charging the vehicle, stopped and joined a female which was wallowing in the mud. They trumpeted, screamed and threw mud on their bodies. When the guide turned and looked at the back of the vehicle, there was no-one in the vehicle! When he closely examined under the seats, he found the two clients laying on the floor of the vehicle with their faces looking down. They stopped there for at least an hour, and had sundowners. The elephant did not move. When the guide and clients left the
elephants were still wallowing in the mud. Those elephant really made the day. Robin Pope Safaris operate in Zambia. Please find a recent update from Jo Pope below: I am sitting here looking at brilliant
sunshine, blue skies and small puffy white clouds floating by. But last night we had heavy
rain. It started at 9.15 PM. Robin and I were at home, and dare I admit it, watching a
video (yes I know, we bush folks are not supposed to admit to watching movies!). And it
simply poured down. Soon we were moving our chairs from place to place and trying to
ignore the drip, drip from the ceiling. I had to put the volume up full to win over the
rain falling on the tin roof (Actually we did not win on the noise front and half the film
was a question of trying to work it out!). In the end we moved the bed, the table, the
books as new leaks started. This only happens in heavy rain but we are due a new roof. The
sausages from the tree above, that have fallen (loudly) onto the tin over the last 6
years, have left dents and leaks everywhere. But the rain continued! We had 85 mls (nearly
4 inches) of rain in 4 hours. What is this heavy rain doing here in April? Luckily it is
coming down at night. We woke up to a lovely day again. And despite the rain the river is
dropping fast. Ndutu Safari Camp is located on the
border of Tanzania’s famous Serengeti National Park. Visitors during March have been
able to see the wildebeest migration in its entire, magnificent splendor. The wildebeest
calves are still in their tan colored coats and will be for the next month before they
gain the normal dark gray of the adults.
British Airways Introduces New Products, April 21 2002 British Airways continues to improve
its aircraft and now offers passengers 4 classes of service - first class, club world,
world traveler, and a fourth cabin, world traveler plus. The new products, which set benchmarks for comfort and design include a new cabin - world traveler plus, offering more space and facilities than other economy products, as well as double hand baggage allowance. Other innovations include a 'lounge in the sky' featuring the world's first fully flat bed for business class travelers who need to work and sleep in private on long haul trips. Kenya Still Suffering from Poaching, April 21, 2002 Kenyan authorities say they have
deployed a crack anti-poaching squad to track down a gang that has killed 15 elephants in
one of the country’s game reserves. The killings took place in the Samburu Game
Reserve - just a few days after the slaughter of another 10 elephants in Tsavo Park. Robin Pope Safaris
Weekly Update, Robin and Jo Pope run safaris
in the beautiful southern The weather has been cooler of
late. At the moment we are all putting that extra sheet or blanket on the bed as the
mornings are suddenly chilly. Everything is just so clear and sparkling fresh and you can
actually sit in the sun for a little while without feeling it burn right through your
skin! And at night....just how many stars and planets are out there? It is so relaxing to
sit by the campfire at night and gaze at the bright lights in the sky! We have had quite a week on the
wildlife viewing front! Yesterday morning we went on a delightful morning wildlife viewing
drive. We departed at what I consider the very respectable Sunday morning hour of It was lovely to see four kudu
in the sun, two of which were quite young. Near the big baobab we suddenly came across two
blacksmith plovers who were chirping at us rather loudly on the ground. Simon pointed out
that they were protecting their nest and as I looked down I noticed a single egg lying in
the dirt! The nest consisted of a slight depression in the ground for the egg to lie and
not much else, offering little protection from anything heavy walking past! It is amazing
that these beautiful birds get beyond the hatching stage! Birding enthusiasts will be
pleased to know that all the migratory birds are still here, making this time of year all
the more exciting. We saw a number of cuckoo on our drive yesterday. Our morning activity
ended on the opposite bank to Nkwali where Marcus was waiting for us in the boat. Within 3
minutes we were back in camp and savoring the many delights prepared by the kitchen for
lunch. A brilliant morning indeed! This is usually a good time of
year to spot wild dog, those rather elusive but beautiful canines. Marcus was the wild dog king last week, with almost
daily spotting’s on drives. During one
sighting he witnessed the dogs hunting. Simon is also able to report
another very exciting wild dog sighting, on par with his encounter last June. As you might
know, just mention wild dog to Simon and he gets all excited!! One morning last week Simon took Paul
Joynson-Hicks, the photographer of our wonderful new brochure, out for one final wildlife
viewing drive. At that point Paul had never seen a wild dog before and this was the last
chance during his visit! Simon knew that they were in the area and about 15 minutes before
they were due to return to camp a pack of 3 males and 1 female was found on the Mushalashi
riverbed. They drove close and then Simon hopped out of the vehicle, crawling on his hands
and knees towards them. Paul was crouching not very far behind, with camera in hand! Two of the dogs surrounded Simon, looking on with
amazing curiosity - ears pricked up - then sat down casually and continued to watch the
humans. The other two dogs sat in pools of water not far away, rolling around and cooling
off! Paul snapped away with his camera and had to return to the vehicle at one point for
more film! Finally, the pack ran off to go on a hunt and Simon and Paul returned to camp
beaming! Closer to home, the nocturnal
activities of elephants have provided the camp staff some amusement this week. In the
middle of the night a few bulls will take a walk through camp and sometimes take a nap
against a termite mound or small incline in the ground. Marcus lives next to a small
decline and is sometimes woken to the sounds (and smells) of elephant flatulence and
stomach digestion whilst these bulls sleep only yards from his bed! Matthew and Sara awoke
suddenly at Return to Weekly Update Archive |
