| Africa |
Dec 6th, 2006 08:06 AM |
DAY 2 – THE ELEPHANT MIGRATION (and not to Angola ;) )
By 5:55am we were on the move and immediately received news that a lioness had made a zebra kill very early this morning. She was part of the Chitabe pride that consisted of 4 males and 6 females, but she was on her own and being very secretive. When we caught up with her, she had already had her fill and had done quite a good job of hiding the rest. The kill was a young zebra – not a baby but still young. Surprisingly there were no vultures in sight as the kill was so well hidden out of aerial view. But there were two hyenas in attendance but they weren’t brave enough to challenge this girl and kept a safe distance. While we were watching the lioness and hyenas, Newman was engrossed studying a herd of zebra in the far distance. He singled out a female zebra by her behaviour and calls and stated that she was the mother of the dead zebra, still hoping to find her young one. This gave us a very different perspective on the situation, where most guides usually only focus on the predators and the kill. The lioness was very relaxed and it looked as though she would be there a long time, so we continued our journey thinking that other members of her pride will join her later.
We soon had our first close-up of tsessebes (this was a first for us). We had seen hundreds of topi before in east Africa but never a tsessebe. We also encountered more zebra, wildebeest, black-backed jackals, elephants, impala and many raptors. We then went to take some photos of the pelicans that we ignored on the previous day in our haste for the leopard. Close to the pelicans there were some more wattled cranes and saddle-billed storks. Then Newman saw some WILD DOG tracks but these were old and we continued our drive. We then found some fresh buffalo tracks and Newman explained that it was quite a large herd, so off we went looking for them. By the time we caught up with them they had already crossed the “channel” and were in the Moremi Game Reserve so our pursuit came to an end but we could still see this healthy herd of about 200 members. The Chitabe concession borders the Moremi Game Reserve and the two are separated by a “channel” (only 3 meters wide in some places). When we were there, it was possible to walk across the “channel” without barely getting your feet wet – but rules are rules. Even a troop of baboons were running backwards and forwards across the channel feeding on water lilies. Newman told us that he enjoys driving along the border with Moremi because sometimes he sees members of the Stix pride of lions who reside in Moremi but like to patrol this border. But Newman’s most enjoyable border sighting was a pair of white rhinos that were very close to the border. All guests and staff at Chitabe rushed to the sighting as fast as they could. For many members of staff it was the first rhino that they had ever seen!!!!!! Those rhinos on Chief’s Island do like to move around a bit. We then made our way back to camp.
Afternoon siesta time at Chitabe Trails was always interesting as there were always animals wandering around the camp. During our stay we saw elephant, zebra, wildebeest, impala, bushbuck, reedbuck, baboons, ground hornbills, wattled cranes and lots of other bird life – most of these sightings were from our verandah!!! We even saw a rock monitor lizard which was another “first” for us and a very strange and mysterious cat that you will hear more about later.
As we were leaving the camp for the afternoon game drive, we saw a lioness making her way to the channel for a drink. She was only 250m from the camp and then Newman explained that she was the same female that we saw this morning and that the kill was made very close to the camp!!!! We didn’t realize how close because our different route to the sighting in the morning made us lose our bearings. The kill had now been hidden in a different spot and she was still on her own. No vultures or hyenas in sight – this girl was good at keeping a secret. The zebra carcass had hardly been touched since we last saw it. There were some giraffes near by but they seemed to be aware of her. Other animals encountered included yellow mongoose, warthogs, female greater kudus and an interesting group of ground hornbills. One in particular, was carrying a mouse and frog in its mouth as though it was saving them for later (see photos). When it came across a tasty looking insect, it would put down the frog and mouse, gobble up the insect and then move on again carrying the frog and mouse. We also encountered another big herd of buffalo (about 300). Apart from the buffalo in Duba Plains, all of the herds we encountered during this trip were quite skittish. It only took one buffalo to start running and this would be followed by a stampede in clouds of dust. This herd did not disappoint and it was great to capture this thunderous stampede on video. We noticed a small breeding herd of elephants, so we left the buffalo to follow them. The elephants headed through some bushes, so we followed them. When we came out on the other side of the bushes, the enormous scale of the situation started to unfold. There were elephants all around us (Newman estimated about 250). Then we drove a bit further ahead and there were another few hundred elephants. In the space of one square kilometer, Newman estimated a total of 600-700 elephants. It was an extraordinary sight and something that the still and video cameras were really struggling to capture (even at their widest angles) – you really needed to capture this scene from the air. They were everywhere and concentrated along the tree lines of the small islands. But where were they all coming from and what were they all doing in Chitabe??? Newman explained that the elephants were migrating south from Chobe but taking a different route by cutting out Linyanti. The last time I witnessed an elephant migration on a similar scale, I was in Amboseli during April when 300-400 elephants were heading towards Mount Kilimanjaro – and this was in open plains, so probably more spectacular. But the Chitabe migration was awe-inspiring and after passing another herd of buffalo (about 50), we stopped for sundowners. We stopped in a safe spot but could still see elephants moving and feeding in all directions around us – this was great!!! Under spotlight we passed many more elephants and went to check on our lioness but she was still on her own. That night after dinner, we were walking back to our room, escorted by Andrea, when we heard a male lion calling. Then Andrea shone his torch on to the channel right outside our room and there were many eyes looking back at us. The large herd of 300 buffalo had decided to spend the night outside Chitabe Trails camp but they were very well behaved and quiet during the night.
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