Rainfall in Botswana
 

According to the monthly newsletters of the various camps from Wilderness safaris in Botswana, there has been a substantial amount of rain last January.

I read the following sentence in the newsletter from Mombo:

The large surface area of water is generating its own microclimate and reducing evapo-transpiration, so it is very likely that much of this water will remain here into winter - and the floodwaters will come in on top of already full water tables - so perhaps we will have a flood of historic proportions, but hopefully epic beauty.

I wonder how this will affect game drives in wintertime in certain areas? (Jao/Duba plains/...)

Thanks Johan......it should not affect Lagoon/Lebala end August, right???

Also, i read somewhere.......one of the other threads that Kwando does not charge a single supplement.......but i got a quote from my travel agent, saying that they do......can you confirm one way or the other, to the best of ur knowledge?

Thanks
Hari

Also, Johan.....i looked up the Duma Tau news, and am happy to note that they came upon 2 new unknown male cheetahs. I'm sure over time....they'd make their way into the Kwando concession.....Wow!!!

Hari

Kwando do not charge a single supplement during the 'secret season' from December to March. At other times they do.

FYI CCAfrica do not charge a single supplements for the first two rooms booked as singles

Richard

Hari

In late August the water is probably just starting to recede after having hit its peak earlier in the month. However it will have no effect on the gameviewing. There will still be plenty of dry land and you will be able to access almost all areas where the Lions could be.
Michael

mv,

That is encouraging. Where do you come by your expertise on the topic? Really want to know. Hope that does not appear to be a snotty question. Thanks and appreciate any other Duba info you have about the wildlife.

Wilderness Safaris produce for the trade a very good grid showing water/land activities as percentages at certain times of the year. I have never seen this on their website but it is a really useful resource when talking to clients.

This shows Jao as having 50/50 water/land in August, whereas Duba has 10/90. I would guess that wetter areas such as Jao may have problems accessing some of their game drive areas and would be intrigued to hear other thoughts.

Richard

Lynn
Valid question.
I have been to Kwando in August 2004 which was one of the biggest floods in many years. The Kwando river originates in Angola just like the Okavango River. The Kwando concession covers 2300 km2 or 580000 acres. It has about 80 km of river as the eastern boundary. Even with the flooding near the river it leaves a huge amount of dry land (dont know the percentage). During my visit there were very few areas we could not access although we had to drive through water frequently.
Last year I went in late September (and the flood was smaller) and it was an amazing difference. So much dryer.
Michael

Hello everyone,

Although I am not working in the travel business I have seen this grid but it's based on average flood levels. So I don't know how these percentages fluctuate when we are having a very huge flood.

In my opinion there a three things you can do:

- speak to very knowledgeable guides and ask about their experiences in the past;
- read some reports (like the ones of Duba - August 2004/October 2004) on the Wilderness website - I read some interesting things about the effect it has on the buffalos and lions over there;

- go and see it by yourself.

Three other important things to remember:

I know from past experiences that areas can look completely different during low flood seasons and high flood seasons.

Because something happened in the past, don't mean it will happen again because it's a dynamic environment.

The longer you stay in a certain area the higher your chances to experience some fine gameviewing even with higher floods than normal.

And it's obvious I think (if you are familiar with those places) that in the Jao area, the roads you can drive on are far more affected by the floods than the ones in Duba.

About Duba plains:

I am planning to have some in-depth talks with the people over there when visiting Duba in October 2006 and April 2007 about their experiences over the last years (changes over time in the environment - lion/buffalo densities - tactics adapted by buffalo to defend themselves). It won't help much now I guess ... Also very curious what Beverly Joubert will say in her book about Duba.

Greetings,

Johan

Johan: I don't know if you are familiar with James Rawdon but he was the Camp Manager of Duba Plains for a couple of years and had a research project going on the 4 prides (at that time). I think he is probably the foremost authority on the lions at Duba and he is writing a book on his findings, while working for W.S. in Joburg -- see link below.

http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/ou...?guide_id=5300

Thanks for the info.

I heard about James but I haven't met him yet. Would be an interesting person to speak to.

Greetings,

Johan

I met James in 2003 when he was managing Duba -- he was very nice and knowledgeable, and Duba Plains was simply the best run camp that I have been to at that time.

It might be worth your while to either have him come out and guide you in Duba (not sure what that would cost?) or at least meet him in Joburg one day on your way through.

Would be a good idea. The only thing that bothers me a little bit will be the price I think.

But for sure I should have a talk with James.

Greetings,

Johan