By Roxanne Reid
We were relaxed. The pressure was off. The day before we’d had the best sighting of our lives so now we had no expectations. Whatever our game drive brought us, we’d already experienced the wildlife wonders of Botswana’s Okavango Delta here on the Chitabe concession south-east of Chief’s Island.
We were relaxed. The pressure was off. The day before we’d had the best sighting of our lives so now we had no expectations. Whatever our game drive brought us, we’d already experienced the wildlife wonders of Botswana’s Okavango Delta here on the Chitabe concession south-east of Chief’s Island.
‘Let’s just see what nature has to show us,’ guide Phinley Mwampole suggested. We cheerfully agreed.
We were staying at Chitabe Lediba Camp where there’s a diversity of habitats over a fairly small distance, from grassy floodplains, acacia and stunted mopane woodland to permanent swamps full of reeds and papyrus. So we were happy just to sit back and enjoy the changing landscape.
We were staying at Chitabe Lediba Camp where there’s a diversity of habitats over a fairly small distance, from grassy floodplains, acacia and stunted mopane woodland to permanent swamps full of reeds and papyrus. So we were happy just to sit back and enjoy the changing landscape.
Chitabe Lediba from the floodplain
Chitabe Lediba's sitting and bar area
This was the joy of having a guide to ourselves. No need to consider first-time safari goers’ urgent desire to see lions, lions and more lions. No need to worry that they might be getting bored with our bird watching or our nitter-natter about plants.
Chitabe Lediba guide Phinley Mwampole has worked at Chitabe since 1998
An aromatic tang filled the air as we drove through a dense patch of wild sage. Zebra drank at a pan in the floodplain and we saw an oversized hippo in a smallish pool. There were lots of small waterholes, natural depressions that collect rainwater. By early May they were drying up and would have to wait till the Okavango’s floodwaters arrived in June or July.
Hippo in a shrinking pool
Suddenly we were hemmed in by stunted mopane shrubs that looked as though they’d been pruned. ‘We call it the “elephant garden” because they’re the ones that keep the trees small like this,’ said Phinley.
Small-tusked elephants among the short mopane shrubs of the 'elephant garden'
And sure enough we saw a breeding herd of elephants. We noticed that they had small thin tusks – a hint of both the lack of minerals in the soil and of a past when big bulls were shot for their ivory, before this land was protected. Sadly, their big-tusk genes weren’t passed on.
Mokolane palm trees around a natural waterhole
We learnt that Kalahari apple-leaf and silver cluster-leaf trees grow in thick sand in fossil riverbeds, and can be a useful indicator of where you may need to engage low range to get your safari vehicle through the sand. That termites are keystone species that can change the environment – some 70% of islands in the Delta began as termite mounds where plants took root. That red-billed buffalo-weavers live in large, messy communal nests and that when a red lechwe is startled it will always flee towards water.
We watched a martial eagle on a dead tree with a kill in its talons, its crop enlarged from its meal. Then Phinley stopped the vehicle again. We looked around, but saw nothing. ‘Over there,’ he pointed, ‘is a spotted hyena den.’
We watched a martial eagle on a dead tree with a kill in its talons, its crop enlarged from its meal. Then Phinley stopped the vehicle again. We looked around, but saw nothing. ‘Over there,’ he pointed, ‘is a spotted hyena den.’
Martial eagle with kill and a full crop
Spotted hyena den
For 45 minutes we waited. Occasionally the top of a small head would pop up out of a hole in the ground to look at us and then quickly disappear again. We chatted to pass the time and learnt that Phinley was 30 when he started learning to be a guide. His brother-in-law worked in tourism and asked one day if he’d like to become a guide. ‘I had to ask him what that meant,’ he smiled. What a change 20 years can make.
Then a babysitter adult appeared, back from the elephant carcass where the rest of the hyena clan was feeding. The old elephant’s natural death was a windfall for smaller species.
For 45 minutes we waited. Occasionally the top of a small head would pop up out of a hole in the ground to look at us and then quickly disappear again. We chatted to pass the time and learnt that Phinley was 30 when he started learning to be a guide. His brother-in-law worked in tourism and asked one day if he’d like to become a guide. ‘I had to ask him what that meant,’ he smiled. What a change 20 years can make.
Then a babysitter adult appeared, back from the elephant carcass where the rest of the hyena clan was feeding. The old elephant’s natural death was a windfall for smaller species.
When the babysitter arrived the cubs felt safe enough to leave the den
Feeling suddenly safe, the first cub popped up above ground, then another and another. After 15 minutes six cubs of three different ages were milling around the sandy area deciding how best to get into mischief. Sniffing and nibbling the tyres of our safari vehicle was a popular game. When that brought no response they turned to brawling with each other instead.
Did you know that spotted hyena cubs are born with their teeth fully erupted?
The smallest was about two months old, still teddy-bear brown before it gets its spots at four months. It tried to drink but there was no milk from what Phinley said was a male babysitter, although it slightly raised a back leg to accommodate the cub – perhaps for comfort.
One of the biggest cubs bullying the smallest
The bigger cubs bullied the little one, which was the offspring of a subordinate female. They chased it and bit it, wrestled it to the ground and held it there by the neck. Each time its eyes would bulge but somehow it would wriggle free and run off in a puff of dust towards the babysitter.
Clearly it didn’t yet understand its own smallness or its lowly place in the clan. In no time it would be back, jumping up to pester the bigger ones. And then the whole nipping-biting-wrestling cycle would start again.
Clearly it didn’t yet understand its own smallness or its lowly place in the clan. In no time it would be back, jumping up to pester the bigger ones. And then the whole nipping-biting-wrestling cycle would start again.
Baboon on a termite mound
On our slow drive back to camp we saw a pearl-spotted owlet streak past into a tree and heard double-banded sandgrouse calling as the sun went down. It was getting dark when we spotted a baboon on top of a termite mound with its penis in its hand.
Phinley had seen this only once before. Apparently they rub it between two hands to get some friction. When they’re about to ejaculate they bring it to their mouth and eat the semen. ‘Last time I saw this it was when two males were fighting over a female,’ he said. ‘The one that lost did this.’
On our last morning at Chitabe Lediba we woke to the sound of lions calling in the distance. Pink dawn nudged the sky and the sun kissed the tops of the ebony trees around our tent. A fish-eagle gave a loud ringing call, echoed a few seconds later by the deeper tones of the female. These Okavango sounds, the rhythm of the wilderness, would endure long after we were gone.
Note: I was a guest of Wilderness Safaris for two nights, but had free rein to write what I chose. I paid for my travel costs to Botswana.
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On our slow drive back to camp we saw a pearl-spotted owlet streak past into a tree and heard double-banded sandgrouse calling as the sun went down. It was getting dark when we spotted a baboon on top of a termite mound with its penis in its hand.
Phinley had seen this only once before. Apparently they rub it between two hands to get some friction. When they’re about to ejaculate they bring it to their mouth and eat the semen. ‘Last time I saw this it was when two males were fighting over a female,’ he said. ‘The one that lost did this.’
On our last morning at Chitabe Lediba we woke to the sound of lions calling in the distance. Pink dawn nudged the sky and the sun kissed the tops of the ebony trees around our tent. A fish-eagle gave a loud ringing call, echoed a few seconds later by the deeper tones of the female. These Okavango sounds, the rhythm of the wilderness, would endure long after we were gone.
Note: I was a guest of Wilderness Safaris for two nights, but had free rein to write what I chose. I paid for my travel costs to Botswana.
Like it? Pin this image!
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Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
Highlights of the Okavango Delta, Botswana
Okavango: where the mokoro is king
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
