Posted by barb on Mar 5, 2017 in
Pictures,
Recreation,
Travels I’m pretty sure every puddle that can support a hippo in Botswana *has* a hippo – and don’t be fooled if you don’t see one!
Our guide found this guy hanging out in a small pond near our camp in Kwara. He pulled up close to the pond so that we could get a few pictures. Unfortunately, the hippo wasn’t very happy with our truck sitting so close to his pond. He stood up, turned around, and looked at us annoyed (all the while keeping his mouth as much in the water as possible, which struck me as weird). Finally, he decided we weren’t moving, got up and walked out of the pond toward the nearby trees.
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Feb 26, 2017 in
Pictures,
Recreation,
Travels We saw many different types of antelope in #Botswana – the tsessebe showed up at Kwara in the Okavango Delta. We saw several on our first game drive – those, though, were hiding and running from the wild dogs. We found this pair on our second day, fortunately no where near the dogs…
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Feb 19, 2017 in
Pictures,
Recreation,
Travels On one of our game drives at Pom Pom Camp in the Okavango Delta, we came upon a pride of lions eating a kudu. There were a couple of lionesses along with their young ranging in age from about 7-8 months up to a couple years old.
While the rest of the pride was feasting, this little one was trying to chew on one of the horns. He also tried to go after the ear, but it seemed too tough for his little teeth. At one point, another of the lions walked by and he swiped at their legs. Clearly, this little guy was the troublemaker in the group!
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Feb 12, 2017 in
Pictures,
Recreation,
Travels Going into our trip, I didn’t know what our prospects of seeing the wild dogs would be – they are endangered and only a few hundred remain in Botswana. However, we caught a pile of them when we were leaving Chobe, and then found a couple (?) packs at Kwara.
They are beautiful but deadly. We first spied them hunting antelope who were trying to use the reeds as cover. The dogs hop as they run along so that they can see over the reeds and find their prey. They also make quick work of their prey once it’s down. As much as I wanted to pet them, I’m sure I would have lost a limb (or more) if I tried!
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Feb 5, 2017 in
Pictures,
Recreation,
Travels Better than a pot ‘o’ gold!
It was threatening rain on our first game drive at Kwara Camp in the Okavango Delta. I think we ended up with a few drops, but then it cleared up with the most beautiful rainbow stretching across the entire sky. #SafariSunday
Check out the rainbow picture full screen to pick out the elephants.
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Jan 29, 2017 in
Recreation,
Travels There were lots of pretty birds at several of the parks and reserves. We aren’t exactly birders, but we did enjoy the colorful array we saw. Our guide pointed out many of these rollers, but most wouldn’t sit still long enough for a portrait – I have lots of blurred bird photos.
I could hardly remember the names of all the birds the guides called out, but was able to find most of them in a guidebook after the fact 🙂
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Jan 22, 2017 in
Recreation,
Travels We spied this pair of zebras in Chobe National Park. The guide described the baby as a “newborn”, though I’m not sure what that translates to in age – a few days? a couple weeks? certainly less than a month. This was another time that the guide was as taken by the sight as we were – he wasn’t sure he’d seen one this young before. Those were among my favorite things we saw – you know when the guide is amazed that you are seeing something truly special. We stayed and watched for a little while, hoping the little one would go running or bucking off, but she stuck close to mama.
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Jan 15, 2017 in
Recreation,
Travels This young lion is waking up from a nap, ready to eat more of the young water buffalo that she and her pride had felled earlier in the day. We came across all of them sprawled out, napping and panting. The guide suggested waiting around to see if they went back to the carcass (which we found just down the road). The guide told us that after a lion pride makes a kill, they will gorge themselves, then nap/pant for hours while they digest, then return to the carcass (if there’s still more) to eat more. Sure enough, after a time, the two young lions got the munchies, woke, stretched, and tried to rouse the adults. Then they headed back to the carcass and we watched them feed. The adults followed a short time later.
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Jan 8, 2017 in
Recreation,
Travels We came upon this trio during our first game drive in Chobe National Park. When the guide first pointed them out, I think I squealed in delight. He had known I loved elephants, but I think that he quickly realized that giraffes were near the top of the list, too.
I think of the first picture as the “Charlie’s Angel Giraffes”…maybe that’s just me?
Tags: safari, safari sunday
Posted by barb on Jan 1, 2017 in
Recreation,
Travels Early in the day, our guide found a mama lion in an area where he knew that a pair of mama lions often “stashed” their babies during the day. Our guide knew that they would often call them out in the late morning and/or late afternoon to get them some exercise.
When the lion walked into the brush, we poked around the bushes to see if she would call them out to get some exercise. She didn’t, but we found where on litter was waiting patiently for their mama. We could barely see them, because they were tucked away behind some bushes. But I did see one toddle past – barely able to walk. The guide guessed that they were maybe 2 months old – old enough that their eyes were open, but young enough that they weren’t very good at walking, and the mama wouldn’t be having them come out.
However, we returned late in the afternoon, because the guide also knew there was a second set of cubs. We found the two mama lions together first, and waited around for the one to call out her cubs. They came out and hung around mama for a little while. A good looking family!
Tags: safari, safari sunday