Kwando Camps: Botswanas große Katzen, März 2011

Spannende Begegnungen mit Leoparden, Löwen und Geparden melden die Kwando Safari Camps in Botswana. Da sage noch einer, im März zum Ende der Regenzeit kann man keine Tiere sehen. Hier der Bericht der einzelnen Camps im Original: Nice sightings of lions including the pride of 10 lions – 3 lionesses, 5 cubs and 2 males, and the so-called Moremi pride – another grouping of 10 lions.One of the male leopards that are known to frequent the area created a buffet-style menu for himself by killing an impala as well as a water monitor lizard, and hanging them in the tree. He spent four days in the area, going back to feed on the impala, and what little remained of the lizard…Our airstrip was temporarily closed for repair, which resulted in us using our neighbouring airstrip. Although a long drive to and from camp, it provided us with some excellent sightings of general game, elephants, and even a male leopard out in the middle of the hot afternoon, stalking warthog piglets.It was hard not to find the lions, at one point in the month they just seemed to be everywhere! Yes, there is a fair amount of water about this year, but this does not stop Delta lions – growing up in an environment where their territories are flooded at certain times of the year, lions learn early that they just have to cope with the water, and swim across it. That doesn’t mean they all enjoy it – a curling upper lip on a lion seems to convey the same amount of distaste as on a human! But they put up with it and cross when they feel they need to. Lagoon Camp, Linyanti First day of the camp re-opening, the wild dogs were seen on game drive killing a baby kudu. Not a bad start to the month. Sadly they then proved to be a little elusive – plenty of tracks and plenty of time spent tracking them – all part of the adventure – but it was a week or so before they were sighted again.The lions spent a bit of time playing hide and seek with the guides – roaring at one end of the camp during the early morning, yet leaving no foot prints. No sooner had the guide driven out along the road in the direction of the call, than the snuck across the tyre tracks and vanished. Looping around, the guides were frustrated to see the furry paw prints right on top of where they had just driven. Eventually their work paid off, and the lions were found lolling around near the remains of a kill.There actually seemed to be quite a reshuffle amongst the lions this month, with some lions that had not been seen before. Four males moved through the area that no one had seen before. One was particularly rambunctious, and would make random charges towards the vehicle, before losing bravado (and a healthy respect for the size of the car!) and slinking off. His brothers didn’t seem overly impressed with this behaviour, and ignored him, for the large part.Quite a few leopard sightings, with particularly memorable ones of a relaxed female who lost her kill to a male lion (all the effort made and no return!). Another leopard was found on an afternoon game drive, and didn’t mind people watching him for over and hour and a half!An unusual sighting of the three cheetah brothers – relaxing after an ostrich kill! Unfortunately we didn’t see the actual hunt itself, but one can only imagine the combination of events that happened to bring down an ostrich… Legs and feathers everywhere… Not just a giant chicken, an ostrich has extremely powerful legs, and a kick from an ostrich can be quite disabling. Nxai Pan Camp, Nxai Pan NPLions were heard calling most nights, and the resident pride was seen on several occasions. An interesting sighting of a male leopard out for a stroll across Nxai Pan… probably not very enjoyable for the leopard as he was being continually harassed by black backed jackals. These much smaller animals work together to make the leopard know that he is not welcome at all in the area.Early on in the month we also had two great sightings of leopards, including one male on top of a tree, and another male walking along West Road.Still quite a few bull elephants in the area, and a small breeding herd were also seen drinking at the waterhole. Tau Pan Camp, Central Kalahari Living up to its name, Tau Pan did produce some Tau – Setswana for ‘lions’. Although the two males are regularly seen in the area, as well as two lionesses, it was the pitter patter of little paws that made everyone quite excited. Three lion cubs born in early March were seen with their mother towards the end of the month. If she does well and raises them without any trouble from competitive predators such as hyenas or other lions, these cubs will provide months of entertainment to future guests.Since there is a source of water in the area, and sufficient game for the lions to prey on, the cubs stand a good chance. The two lionesses pulled down an Oryx this month, and were seen feeding on that.Although cheetah are seen quite regularly in the Central Kalahari, one particular female cheetah with two cubs had not been seen in the area for over two months. We were delighted to see her again this month, with all three of them looking fit and well-fed.Another surprise sighting was of four wild dogs hunting in Tau Pan. They spent some time trying to catch springbok, but were unsuccessful.Even more surprising – signs of elephant activity was found along Passage Valley, including fresh dung. Perhaps making their presence felt, they also knocked down the Tau Pan signboard along the cutline.March being the end of their denning season, honey badger activity is on the increase... Time to start barricading the kitchen stores again against their greedy nightly attempts at break in!