Zebra, Giraffe, Kudu and more...Botswana, Africa

Kudu

There is a symbiotic relationship between animals in the wild.  Some have better vision, while others rely on their hearing or sense of smell.  There are birds that sit up high in the trees and warn others of danger.  The Francolin Bird is one example.  Our guides would regularly turn off the engine of the jeep and listen to the sounds around us.   One day we heard the cry of the Francolin bird.  Our guide immediately went off road pushing through the brush towards the sounds he had heard.  We found the bird in the tree directly above the leopard that he was warning of.

Continuing to describe our time in Duma Tau, there were so many amazing sights that the pictures need to be divided up into many posts.  Between the birds, landscape, smaller and larger animals as well as different camps, I am unable to narrow down to one page the thousands of pictures we took.  Stay tuned as I continue to share the many sights and sounds we experienced over almost 3 weeks of travel.

Kudu next to a termite mound.

Impala

Herd of Impala

Shadow Zebra

We saw plenty of Shadow Zebra

Large group of hippopotamus relaxing. 

Hippopotamus  waiting for the sun to go down.

Giraffe

Note the birds on the neck of this giraffe.  The little birds eat the small ticks and bugs off the animals helping to keep them clean.

Giraffe

Giraffe.

In the animal kingdom there is always dueling going on in the struggle for dominance.

Wild Dog

This wild dog is very skittish.  He wants a drink but knows there are crocodiles in the water waiting for the next meal.

Part of a pack of wild dogs.

Crocodile sunning.

Tsessebe

I did a great deal of research before deciding to use Town and Country Travel as our travel agent for what I thought would be our first and only trip to Africa.  I loved the owner Jane Lee Winter’s knowledge and enthusiasm.  It didn’t hurt that she had previously led over 20 groups on safari over as many years.  Not knowing what to expect when traveling to “deepest, darkest Africa” having Jane Lee traveling with us, holding our hands and guiding us made me feel more secure.  Friends had also traveled with her and highly recommended that we choose T & C.  Expensive?  Perhaps.  But since it was all inclusive, maybe not so expensive after all.  Worth every penny?  Absolutely!  Would we travel with her again?  In a heartbeat!  Will we use Town and Country to organize future trips?  That’s the plan!  I couldn’t imagine a more professional group of people to organize our travel. I typically don’t include these types of endorsements in my blog, but T & C did such a wonderful job that they deserve the extra recognition.

More pictures and commentary to come.

Botswana Landscape

Sunrise as we begin an early safari.

Botswana was full of surprises.  There is tremendous diversity in the landscape.  As a fiber artist wherever I looked was another scene begging to be painted and stitched.  There were areas that struck me as dark, desolate, twisted and tortured.  Other areas were vast and flat, lush and green, all with great beauty.  The terrain varies from thick sand to flowing water.  There were barren plants as well as flowering trees.

The Okavango Delta lies in the middle of the largest expanse of sand on earth.  It supports an amazing selection of birds, reptiles and wildlife.  The terrain is flat and wide, especially during the dry season.   Animals are continually changing the landscape; causing new channels to appear at any time.  Bushes can just be starting their cycle while others have lost their leaves and look dead.

While our first camp Xigera was surrounded by water and lush vegetation, Duma Tau is on the Linyanti River and has swamp, grassland and bush fed by the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers.

Sunset at a sundowner.  (A Sundowner is where we take a break from driving and have drinks with appetizers.)

Sunset.

Sunset.

One of our sundowner stops.

Elephants love eating the bark of trees.  Once they have eaten all the way around the trunk the tree will die.

Evidence that the elephants have been here.

The fire department next to the runway.

Mongoose

Twisted, tortured landscape.

Mother and baby baboon.  It was fun watching the baboons playing.

Mommy with baby baboon.  Such a cute little face.

Honey badger.

Honey-badger.

Beautiful flowering tree.

Our tracker was tired of dodging a tree limb.  Out came the machete.

It's good to take a break after being bounced around while on and off roading.

I can't get over the beauty of the landscape.  Next to the tree is a termite mound.

We watched the fires in Namibia.

Beautiful Botswana Birds

Lilac Breasted Roller

Birds!  Birds!  Birds!

We went to Botswana wanting to see animals.  Big Animals!  Isn't that what everyone goes for?  What we weren't expecting was to find that there are over 550 recorded species of birds in Botswana.  Their habitat ranges from wet delta to desert bush and they have both waterbirds and dry-country species. There are dazzlingly brilliantly colored birds.  Others have vivid patterns.  Some are quietly designed to blend in.  The total equals amazing sights.  October through April they have great numbers of migratory birds. While it helps to have a keen eye and good binoculars, better yet is a skilled guide pointing out the birds. The guides we had were amazing.  They are superb multi-taskers.  They can drive, follow the tracks of all sorts of wildlife, listen to the messages from the animals and birds, and spot creatures of all sizes from high up in the tree tops to those scurrying to hide under a bush.  All this while helping us with our cameras, teaching us about our surroundings, and answering all our questions.

These birds were all photographed at the Duma Tau Camp.

I call this my Christmas Tree.

 The tree was filled with African Bee Eaters.

African Bee Eaters.

Saddle Billed Stork before his dance.

This stork performed the most magnificent fishing ballet.  I've published only a few of the many pictures I took.

His partner joined the stage.

Yellow Billed Hornbill

Guinea Fowl

Lapwing Plover

Starling

Red-Crested Korhaan

Tawny Eagle

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Helmeted Guinea fowl

Pied Kingfisher

Fish Eagle

I gave up trying to learn the names of all the birds.