Discover wildlife and plants of Chobe, Botswana

2/11/2016

By Roxanne Reid
We were just two people dreading being swamped and squished by two large groups. Imagine our joy when we discovered they’d kept the groups together and given us our own safari vehicle, just the two of us with a guide to discover wildlife and plants of Chobe, Botswana.

That’s what happened to us at Chobe Marina Lodge in Kasane. Ten minutes later, at the Sedudu entrance gate into Chobe National Park, about 15 safari vehicles jostled to enter at opening time. This early morning rush is my least favourite part of the Chobe experience. But once inside with our guide Mapa Seromo we took it slowly, stopping to look at plants and watch the sunrise, a gentle pink glow spreading through low clouds behind silhouetted trees.

Eight or ten vehicles passed us quite quickly, failing to appreciate the early morning magic. They were rushing off to find lions; we were content to see what nature would reveal to us.

The Sedudu Island stalemate
Mapa stopped on a sandy track with a view of Sedudu Island in the middle of the Chobe River, although with the floodwaters in May it was hard to make out the borders of the island. The other side of the island is Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, now renamed the Zambezi Region.

‘Buffalo, elephant and red lechwe walk across to Sedudu in the dry season to feed on the green grass,’ he said. ‘Old elephants with worn molars really like it because it’s soft. But now there are no animals because of the deep flood waters, except for a few big bulls that can swim across.’

He recapped the international conflict between Namibia and Botswana over who owned Sedudu Island, for reasons that went back to 19th century colonial days and some high-handed writing of a treaty. Now both countries claimed it as their own. There may even have been some flag raising and lowering shenanigans. Neither party was backing off.

The case was referred to the International Court, which ruled that the deepest channel would be declared the border. Experts sent to do the measuring noted that even when the Chobe River was full it was only 9m deep, whereas the water on the Namibian side was 14m deep – and therefore the international boundary. So in 1999 the island was officially declared part of Botswana.

The water in the Chobe River comes from Angola via Namibia, the Okavango and Linyanti. In the dry season the Chobe River flows east towards the Zambezi. ‘But when the Zambezi is full it pushes back and the Chobe flows west, so this is maybe the only river in Africa that flows both ways,’ Mapa grinned.

Guide Mapa Seromo when we stopped for coffee at a stretch point

Plants for every use
He was a mine of information on who eats what, as well as local medicinal plants and anti-witchcraft practices.

‘Local people use the fever-berry tree to kill fish,’ he said. ‘You put a branch in the water and fish will float to the top.’ The paralysing effect of the bark doesn’t taint the flesh so the fish can be scooped up for the pot. You can also burn the leaves and branches and use the smoke as a mosquito repellent in your house.

Water lilies and other flowers grow in the river

A shrub with an orange flower was conspicuous against the dry landscape. It was a cat’s claw, so-called for its vicious curved claws that snag on to everything. ‘Only kudu will browse on it because of those thorns,’ he said. ‘It can also be used for medicine to bring success to your business because it holds success like a cat holds prey in its claws.’ Like camel thorn trees, it grows only in thick sandy soil and has a long taproot that can penetrate down to underground water.

What about that woolly caper bush growing from the top of a giant termite mound? ‘You can burn the roots in your yard and the smoke will give protection against witchcraft.’

Animals big and small
But our game drive wasn’t all about plants. We saw a pair of African fish-eagles on a dead tree, another on a nest of sticks. They’re territorial and mate for life. ‘One goes out while the other stays behind to hold the territory, and they call to each other to check the other is still there,’ he said. The male will feed the female on the nest, but otherwise it’s every bird for itself and they never share what they catch.

Red-billed spurfowl

‘See that red-billed spurfowl?’ he pointed. ‘It’s a male. You can tell because it has an extra toe higher up on the leg for fighting. The female doesn’t have this extra toe.’ Just like hens and cocks, but a detail we hadn’t noticed before.

A pod, or raft, of hippo

A crocodile lurks in the shadows

When we stopped to watch small creatures, it was quiet enough to hear a pearl-spotted owlet calling insistently from a nearby tree, ducks whistling as they flew overhead and a black-backed jackal yowling in the distance. A large pod of hippo peeped up at us from the water, snuffling occasionally as they resurfaced. ‘Hippos are territorial only in the breeding season, which is about six months starting around November,’ said Mapa.

The osprey, usually solitary, feeds on fish from the river

An osprey perched in a dead tree and some army ants were on the march. They crossed the track in a long line that just kept coming and coming. Their favourite lunch is termites, so a single ant goes out on a scouting expedition.

Once he finds a termite mound, he backtracks to the ant nest laying a chemical trail so he can lead the raiding party back to the mound. They break it open, sting the termites and drag them to the surface. When the raid is over, each ant will carry around ten termites back to the nest.

Marauding ants are no less fascinating than much larger predators

If this was the behaviour of larger predators like lions, people would be queuing up to watch the carnage. But we had these small but equally powerful creatures to ourselves. It was a fascinating glimpse into a microscopic world we know very little about.

Note: I was a guest of Chobe Marina Lodge and the aha Hotels & Lodges group for two nights, but had free rein to write what I chose. I paid for all travel costs.

Like it? Pin this image!