Lebala visit Sept/October 2008
 

Hello all,

I guess after all the anticipation and waiting, another safari has come and gone. I am certain Monday morning is going to be a reality punch in the face.

As usual, right now the first thing I miss are the people. Many many thanks to Spencer and Mr.Mo at Kwando Lebala. They were Friend, guide and host all in one and they will be sincerely missed ........

I had possibly some of my best ever cheetah viewing over the past two weeks. The star of the concession (to me atleast) is the female cheetah with a cub (approx 7-9 months). Had some amazing sightings that even surprised some of the experienced guides.

Spending a lot of time with the mother and cub - saw every kind of interaction. Went on hunts, high speed chases (including two missed hunts right across the front of camp on two evenings in a row), two kills, play kill of the steenbok, and a lot of bonding between the two.

Oh! before I forget - My first Pangolin sighting on Wednesday October the 8th.

Yes, Dogs being the stars up north at Lagoon - but, to me Cheetahs it will be.......

Also saw the Three brother coalition and the new Two brother coalition (the ones that removed the old two brother coalion). All said and done, none of these boys are all that photogenic. The Three brother coalition are okay when they are resting, but, hate being followed when they are marking their territory and move around a hell of a lot and really love the woodland areas. They cover a lot of area from well north of Lagoon. Still trying to discover some of the Southern areas.

The Two brother coalition are still a bit skittish as they are still feeling their way around the southern areas and they look like real beasts. Very big males.

If all of this was not enough - we heard from the guides in the Selinda that they found a new female with 4 cubs near the spillway. We took a morning drive this past Friday to Twin Pools as we figured that most cheetahs in the neighborhood eventually pop up over there at some point passing through. Lo and behold - we found them as soon as we got there. Forget any photo ops of them however, as they probably have only started seeing vehicles now as they took off and bolted away. Probably also from the mixed woodland areas..... did see them through the binocs. Didnt try to follow them as they were A.) Skittish B.) they ran off into the Selinda concession.

Oh! yes - there are dogs too but who's looking? :)

Had very good Cheetah, Wild dog and Leopard viewing, Roan and other plains game.

Reasonable Elephant and buffalo viewing, but, no where close to normal years with lower water levels. Lots of water in the Eastern side of the concession.

Will hopefully work on the photos this week and put them up on the pbase after I catch up with work.

Dogs - the lagoon pack and the denning pack (remaining members of the Selinda pack) were in a fight at Water cut this past Monday. One of the dogs from the Lagoon pack was hurt. That pack are now 8 adults and 6 pups.

The denning pack are 5 adults (4 males and one female) and 4 puppies.

There are atleast three other nomadic packs moving in and out of the greater Linyanti area. Two different packs of 5(one of them have the second female from the denning pack that have split off).

One pack of two females running between the two concessions.

Lion Viewing wasn't too great - They have a new pride of 6 or something like that who have taken over the void created by the other prides. They were seen near Lagoon camp - but, too far for me to give up the cheetah viewing to drive all the way up there to see sleeping Lions. Didn't bother....... did see the two new Male Lions that travel between Lebala and Selinda. .... Saw them twice and also one of them another time.

Lesson learnt on this safari - if you have a specific subject of interest ..... stay with it for as long as possible. Start every drive with tracking them. Resist the urge to respond to the radio.

Rgds,
Hari

Great news Hari!!!! Glad you had great Cheetah sigtings, along with everything else. Sounds like Lebala scored again. I cant wait to go back.

Thanks for the report, Hari. Great news on your sighting a pangolin: I'm still waiting for my 1st.

The only consolation I can offer about Monday is that it's 1 day closer to your next trip.

As you get punched in the face, you can drift back to the amazing sightings you had. Welcome home. or maybe sorry you're back home is more like it.

And thanks for the safari lesson Professor Hari. Good advice!

Welcome back, I'm looking forward to your pictures. Love those cheetahs.

What about the fires, Hari? Is Botswana really burning away? Will Kwando camps be there in March when I'm coming?

The fires are deep into the mopane at the moment - very Westerly and far and away, but, did see them on Friday evening. Lots of water around Lebala and Lagoon, so should be okay.

Weather right now - Gosh there is a huge temperature swing in a given day. You definitely need a fleece in the Am for the first two hours, especially as it has been windy almost August like.

Then the temps heat up well into 40-42 degrees C. That converts to well over a 100F. Not for those who can't tolerate hot climates and I don't recommend it, if you are heat sensitive. I loved this time of the year as I could pack lightly without the heavy clothing. However, the light conditions etc etc., was only average. One or two days hazy.

Thanks Hari,
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the fires don't reach into the Okavango and Linyanti. I hear that Moremi is burning now. I wonder about Deception Valley? It sounds devastating.

Hi Hari,

It seems that Lebala delivered again for you and how lucky you are to see a pangolin.

Best regards,

Johan

Thank you all for the welcome and well wishes .....

For those of you planning safaris for 2010, 2011 etc etc., all I can say is this ........ you can't read web sites or TA marketing and say let me go here for one species and there for a different species. Every area is constantly changing in terms of the predator dynamics and in a productive area you will always see something or the other - For example, in previous years we were seeing a lot of Hyenas in Kwando. Now not that many. This probably is one of the reason why they are seeing so many cheetah and dogs in the area.

Cheetah - also, possibly the fall out of the savuti boys coalition has seen more male cheetahs popping up more regularly trying to make their mark on the area.

Missed a few important sightings -

I guess there is always a day on every safari where everything goes right in terms of the sightings - that was Wednesday October 8th. The Am drive started with tracking the female cheetah as we do every morning - While doing so, we picked up tracks of the 3 males also that joined up together - within a half hour found all 5 of them together!!! What a find? A two for one tracking mission ...... Surprised everyone. The males were interested in the female who wasn't. After a half an hour of trying to harass her, they took off and left on their march northwards to the Lagoon area through the woodlands.

That afternoon, she had not fed for 3 days already and looking quite hungry. Started early for the PM drive and she was active by the time we located her. She killed almost within 5 minutes of us finding her. She made us wait for the two or three days prior - she was hunting those days right in front of the camp and missed. One of the misses was a clear visual of the high speed chase. The impala jumped through the blue bush that stopped the cheetah from bringing it down.

After we saw the feeding and just when the light went out drove along to the pangolin encounter. We radioed all Lebala vehicles and they came racing to the spot and we all got photographs with the pangolin.


Other sightings of note:

Quite a few Honey Badgers - atleast 6 different ones.

Some good quality leopard sightings

Caracal on my first drive

Boomslang

Civet on the roof of the lounge

Great sights, Hari!
Will be in Lebala in November for 4 days.
Private vehicle on two days. I hoped to have Spencer as guide. Contacted Kwando for that and they wanted to charge me an additional € 135,00 per day for having him as guide (in addition to p.v. fee). I don´t know, if this is normal. Will see who´s gonna be our guide.
Can´t wait to get to Botswana.
Thomas

I guess I'll add another person to my "I hate you" list.:) You saw a pangolin! And all that cheetah action - 2 kills, training with a steenbok and chases - wow! Sounds like another great trip for you.

It sure is hard to get home and back to the real world, isn't it.
((#))Cindy

Who needs the Big 5 when you can score the Big 3 - Honey Badgers, Cheetah and Pangolins!! (None of which have I seen).I may ask you to buy me a lottery ticket while you are still "hot"!

Look forward to seeing your always excellent photos.

Awesome sightings Hari! It's perfect that Lebala is becoming a cheetah stronghold, at the moment combining your favorite area, camp, and species.

Pangolin, caracal, boomslang, civet, many honey badgers -- you had fantastic luck with the fascinating less seen species. Usually just one of those is a big score and you had them all.

Hello Hari,

You had a great stay in Kwando, my favourite place in Botswana and Africa. Your sightings were exceptional, particularly the cheetah sightings. After so many trips, I am still waiting to see my first pangolin, and aardvark also.
I am leaving for Tuli on thursday,....

Regards

Mike

Wow, with sightings like these I may have to re-think my dred of Uri vehicles. A year after our trip to Botswana, the Kwando camp (we stayed at Lagoon) upon reflection was really the highlight (the remaining 4 were WS camps) because of the guiding and sightings. Next tiem I'll try Lebala. Good advice about ignoring the radio.

Thank You all - Will try to put up some photos later in the week.

Hari, welcome back.

Did you happen to see any sable? I missed them in August although I saw two groups of roan. Also, were there any tsessebes? I was surprised to find just one group. In case you haven't figured it out, I am interested in the ungulate dynamics as well as predators.

Hi Safaridude,

Sorry - missed out on the ungulate details. Bear in mind the flood levels this year, so sable I didn't see any in the Lebala area. There is a much better chance up north at Lagoon - but, I didn't drive that far except a couple of times.

Lots of Roan in the Lebala area. One morning saw a herd of about 30. All the other plains game in plenty - tsetsebe, impalas, zebras, giraffee, red letchwe, wildebeests.

Plenty of smaller cats African Wild Cat and Serval. Didn't do night drives most times as I was generally with the cheetah very close to camp - 10 to 20 mins at most and just drove straight home when the light goes flat.

Hari

On the topic of missed details. Celebrated Botswana Day on Sept 30th. My first Botswana Day - was a terrific evening. Traditional Botswana meal and had the entire camp staff at dinner - We were at the table with Mr.Moe and his team. Good times!

Welcome back, Hari.
Glad you saw the cheetah and enjoyed.
Sounds like the Selinda pack wondered off again from Selinda - we saw 8 very healthy dogs as well. One female was pregnant. BB thought she wasn't that far along - don't know what the gestation time is. Is the Selinda pack now 2 sub packs?

Glad you also saw the pangolin. It was such a highlight for us, as well.

Hi Hari,

Good gameviewing and good guiding, is no surprise to me. Kwando is so superior to its neighbours, some think otherwise No accounting for taste is there!

Hari, I totally agree with your statement about how constantly things change in terms of predator (or other animal) dynamics. Mombo as you probably know, for example, used to be THE place for wild dogs. Now there are too many lions for the dogs to thrive there. I guess that's why Africa enthralls us all.

When I was at Lebala in late August, I did not see a single hyena. Also, flying into the Selinda concession, I was struck by how much water the mopane pans still held. I had flown over the mopane forests in northern Botswana twice before (both times in late August as well), and the pans were dry. As expected, I saw very few elephants in the Kwando concession this time.

Great report

Botswana Day, pangolin, all that exceptional cheetah action, and a civet on the roof! You are outdoing us all!

Thanks all for your continued comments - some answers.

Hi Sherry,

The Selinda pack have been pretty dynamic over the years and have been constantly having some break away members every year. This past year they lost their alpha female to old age. With this the pack did split up.

That's a different pack of 8. The Selinda guides mentioned this pack to the Kwando guides during one the airstrip pick ups last week.

The current denning pack at Lagoon (Selinda pack members) are currently 5 dogs (4 male and 1 female) with 4 puppies.

safaridude,

We saw Hyenas for sure. But, going back the last couple of years they were all over the place with those clans being very strong.

Ken,

I think it's probably the mixed woodland areas that are being productive. We weren't doing too many drives down South to Twin Pools etc etc., Driving more towards Baobab road, Kubu pan, Nari pan etc etc., as that area seems to be more rewarding at the moment

But there were lots of Elephants apparently at Twin Pools in the evenings.

Cheers
Hari

PS: One group saw an Elephant giving birth etc etc., I was with the cheetah as usual not too far away and declined the sighting.

While you were outdoing us all your safari-mates in another vehicle were watching an elephant being born?!

Kwando is pretty incredible!

Looking forward to the pics.

Hari

Great safari and great report. I was in Bots for Botswana day, last year - great time.

Matt

Thanks, Napamatt. Yes, Botswana Day was a lot of fun and this time of the year was very good for gameviewing - yet the light conditions were pretty challenging.

Regards,
Hari

Hi Hari,

I'm just back from Switzerland and

France, watching Bath Rugby lose to

Toulouse,alas. Great trip though.

I've just read about your

adventures at Lebala and can't wait

to get there. I leave London on

Tuesday and arrive at Lebala and

meet Spencer on Wednesday. It all

sounds very promising, and I'll try

to give you the latest news about

your cheetahs.

I hope you put your photos up

before I leave.

I get back from Botswana on

6th November.

Jan

Hi Jan,

Here are a few pictures to begin with. Sorry, it's taking me awhile to get to the pictures. Will upload more over the weekend.


http://www.pbase.com/haris_7/lebala_october_2008


You will have a great time with Spencer that's for sure. Yes, please give me an update of the cheetah and cub. That will be much appreciated.

I will make an update, once more pictures are posted.

Hari

Thankyou, Hari,

You've certainly whetted my appetite. I'll tell Spencer that I have instructions from you!

Jan

Hahaha. Please say hello and my Best regards.

I shall be pleased to do that.

Hari you are a cheetah magnet!! You have captured their spirit well. Not sure which lens you are using, but its very sharp at its long end.

Hari,

Thanks for sharing these wonderful pictures. It looks like the female cheetah is still in very good condition.

Best regards,

Johan

Thanks a lot Fred and Johan. I promise to have more pictures during the weekend.

That's right, Johan - She's in great condition. You'd remember that I narrowly missed her in June last year when you saw her at the spillway.

Regards,
Hari

i've seen several comments about the NEW TENTS at lebala but no pictures. not even on their site which seems odd.

we're planning a trip in Nov 09 and trying to decide between a few camps in botswana (in additon to little bush in SA)

does anyone have pictures they'd care to share

jeff