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Tuskers Bush Camp : Piecing Together the Lion Puzzle

A distant rumble and cough-like roar echoes through the Kwatale concession. The night is piercingly quiet, yet full of promise. The crisp stillness of the darkness hovering over the landscape ensures that sound carries far – a prime reason as to why cats contact call during the dead of night. The sound reverberating through the Kwatale is passive yet firm enough to make those at Tuskers Bush Camp stop and listen. If sounds were accurately interpreted, these roars would be deciphered as “this is my turf, I’m here – where’s my gang?”

The rasp of the contact calling from the lions is often heard in the early hours of the morning and by all accounts, they seem to be in close proximity to camp. But, where are they hiding? They’re there all right – it’s just a case of Dan and the team honing in on their tracking skills. Which is exactly what happened a few nights ago. The pan in front of the camp was the chosen spot for the cats. At 4:30 am, Dan set out to track and observe the lions of Tuskers Bush Camp. He uncovered a part of the puzzle – there appeared to be two males and one lioness on the scene.

It was reported that there were other lionesses in the thickets but there was no visual. This leads us to believe that this is the loosely constructed pride often seen on our traverse.

Before we regale the story of Dan’s cat viewing experience, let’s recap about our recorded sightings of the lions of the Kwatale Concession. This is an excerpt taken from another one of our Kwatale lion blog posts.

A large male lion was photographed on our secret camera trap. There is confirmation that we have four lions in the immediate area and one large, dominant male. Two males and two females were seen over the weekend in the vicinity of the partially filled pan. One lioness appears to be quite a bit older than the rest – at least 4/5 years old and there’s speculation that she is the mother of at least two lions.

It appears Dan spotted 3 lions from the above the pride. When Dan went on his lion spotting expedition, little did he know what lay ahead. By the time he’d reached the pan where the calls were coming from, the lions had wandered off in hot pursuit of something more entertaining.

Visibility was poor which meant Dan couldn’t follow the tracks. A despondent Dan decided to switch off the hum of the engine so he could listen to the sounds of the night and the potential return of the lions. Unfortunately, his efforts lead him nowhere. Out of the blue Dan heard a lone elephant kicking up a fuss on the road close to the pan. The lions were contact calling close the elephant drama so Dan followed his instincts and decided to investigate. What he found was an angry elephant in musth!

Dan was now engaged in a serious comedy of errors – he couldn’t move because of the temperamental elephant but desperately wanted to locate the lions! At that moment in time, the lions decided to walk across the road, providing a nice sighting for Dan.

However, the angry pachyderm took it upon himself to knock over a tree and block the access road. Dan watched the highlight of the night’s sighting rapidly disappear over the ridge close to the road. Not one to give up, he found a different route and spotted his lions.

We can confirm that this slightly splintered pride operates in the area surrounding Tuskers Bush Camp.

Stay tuned for information about the lions of the Kwatale concession.

Week in Pictures : A Flair for the Unusual

Our lodges and camps all have one thing in common this week in the wild – a flair for the unusual. It could be the tiresome threat of the ominous weather approaching pockets of the Kruger or the madness surrounding Valentine’s day causing this erratic and strange wildlife behaviour. Whatever the reason, this week in pictures we’re celebrating wildlife engaging in eccentric and offbeat scenarios. Wide-mouthed beasts, friendly ostriches and jackals hugged by vultures are just a few of the sightings we’ve enjoyed over the past week.

Umkumbe Safari Lodge

There’s a female ostrich in the Sabi Sand that often comes right up to the vehicle when guests are out on game drive. It’s an unusual experience for Umkumbe, but always a delightful one. The Sabi Sand is renown for its big cat sightings, but it’s nice to see something off-the-wall! The very friendly female ostrich is quite famous on the traverse and she now has a family in tow.

And our standard predator sightings? This week saw the rise of lion pride sightings – the Mhangeni lionesses being the main cats that were seen.

Tuskers Bush Camp

Our Botswana camp has enjoyed a spate of African wild dog sightings recently, which has taken our team by surprise! It’s good to know that there are parts of the Kwatale Concession that the endangered dogs call home.

The lions have been contact calling in the early hours of the morning – there appeared to be three of them, but Dan could only get visual of two cats.

Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp

The Klaserie camps have had a few exciting new developments. The camps have had a soft refurb, which has meant a new look and feel. Decor is simple, but tasteful and has bursts of colour which seem like an extension of the natural colours of the wilderness.

In sticking with modern sundowner trends, the camps decided to treat guests to a surprise gin tasting in the bushveld. Craft gin tasting while on safari? Don’t mind if we do!

The looming storms and presence of rain haven’t thwarted the predator sightings in the Klaserie. The Ross Pride Breakaway lionesses and a lone leopard were spotted on Wednesday night’s game drive. There was even hyena, vulture and jackal feasting on a rather fresh zebra carcass. Apart from those highlights, guests enjoyed plenty of buffalo, elephants and plains game sightings.

Ezulwini River Lodge and Ezulwini Billy’s Lodge

Over the past week, wildlife enthusiast Lance Van de Vyver visited the Ezulwini Game Lodges. Lance was lucky enough to spot the River Pride of lions, their cubs and one of the Mohlabetsi males.

The skywalk at Billy’s always offers the perfect vantage point to observe the breeding herds of elephant that flock to the waterhole.

During Lance’s visit he photographed the pachyderms making themselves comfortable in thickets underneath the skywalk. Of course, there were numerous sightings of birds, raptors, primates and other mammals throughout the week.

South African Craft Gin Tasting on Safari

It has arrived: craft gin has followed in the footsteps of South African artisanal beer and become ‘a thing’. We certainly aren’t complaining that the ancient ‘drowner of sorrows’ known in 17^th century London as Mother’s Ruin has made a huge comeback over the centuries and is now the latest craze. Here, in the world of safari, the classic gin & tonic (with a slice of lemon) is a firm favourite among khaki clad locals and fashion-forward guests alike. We always say it keeps the mosquitos away, and that gives us all the go-ahead we need to have a second glass (extra precautionary), but now it seems that good old London dry gin has been overshadowed by specially distilled and infused craft gins from our very own South Africa.

Safari Wines is the local supplier of the spiced up variety of gins, and last night, on the eve of Valentine’s Day, the teams set up a craft gin tasting in the Klaserie wilderness as a surprise for guests at Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp. Guides pulled in with their guests just as the sun began to sink, soaking the land in warm golden glow, and glasses of aromatic, fynbos-infused, berry, bubbly G n Ts were handed out to thirsty guests.

Gone is the classic ‘double gin and tonic with lots of ice and a slice of lemon’; the new way to drink gin is with herbs and spices, sprigs of rosemary or thyme, muddled with basil or lime, and stirred with a cinnamon stick for a final pizazz. Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries bleed in the bottom of the glass, releasing their delicious fruity flavours and infusing the variety of Cape plant aromas present in the gin. It is a performance, visually appealing and appetizing, not to mention refreshingly sumptuous!

Wilderer – one of the most popular South African gin distilleries – has produced the highly acclaimed fynbos gin, and it is infused with (you guessed it) fynbos! Wild dagga and buchu make this gin sing, and when paired with a selection of fruit, and spices, it becomes that essential, Instagrammable, sunset beverage you’re seeing all over the Internet. Our safari craft gin tasting celebrated Musgrave gin, too, which comes from Cape Town and goes ever so well with Fever-Tree tonic water – also a new invention.

It was one memorable (or not so memorable depending on how many cardamom-infused ginger gins were consumed) evening on safari, surrounded by the wild and sipping on the latest gin cocktail combination in South Africa. A truly local and truly special sundowner hour!

The Week in Pictures: TGI Friday Fix!

Another week of golden mornings, rose-tinted evenings, and humid summer days spent sipping something cold and allowing an afternoon siesta to take its course has passed us by. The hours just after dawn are well worth waking up for in the bush, where a world of unpredictable wildlife activity awaits. The sunrise spills its light on a new day, and the evidence of the night’s happenings is revealed. Diurnal animals emerge at waterholes, keen to quench their thirst, and birds sing loudly to announce the dawn of a new day. It has been our pleasure, yet again, to set out and capture the most vivid of colours, the starkest of contrasts, and the best performances of nature from the last week. Here, another Friday into the year, we bring our latest edition of the Week in Pictures, displaying the best photography coming out of our camps in the Kruger Park and Botswana. Enjoy!

Xobega Island Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana

Tuskers Bush Camp, Kwatale Conservancy, Northern Botswana

Africa on Foot, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger

nThambo Tree Camp, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger

Ezulwini Game Lodges, Balule Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger

Umkumbe Safari Lodge, Sabi Sand Wildtuin, Greater Kruger Park

Guest Blog : Twitching at Tuskers Bush Camp

Guest travel blogger Mike McCaffrey (Nomadic by Nature) visited Tuskers Bush Camp and documented his journey with words and images.

Tuskers Bush Camp is that quiet little place in the bush that birders seek. Just sitting on the couch overlooking the waterhole there are yellow-billed hornbills, red-eyed bulbuls, and crimson boubous drinking water and hunting insects around the bush.

However, it is even more rewarding to do a walking safari from camp out to the surrounding pans. Crowned lapwings call their warnings from above, sandgrouse take off in front of your feet, and francolins skirt around the bushes. High overhead eagles and kites survey the land, and magpie shrikes and bee-eaters peer down from their perches.

Although I quite enjoy watching the bee-eaters hunt, my favorite sighting was right in camp. Just before dusk, I was walking around tent five looking for leopard tracks, and found a beautiful barn owl roosting in the roof. Of course he cruised off before I could ready my camera, but it made me feel that there was a lot for birders to explore in the area.

Further, for those also interested in seeing waterfowl, it is easy to take a game drive to the swamps and lagoons in the south of the Okavango Delta. The birdwatching here is great. I recommend staking out under a shady tree around the Bodumatau Lagoon, or taking a silent mokoro (canoe) trip up one of the little channels in the delta.

At the lagoon I saw a number of herons, and carmine bee-eaters. I also got to watch a jacana hunt in the marsh and a pied kingfisher dive bomb for fish. We had some great sightings in the pampas grass during the mokoro ride as well. We saw a fish eagle, and heard barbets calling along the shore. The highlight though was having a Bateleur eagle swoop down along the channel in front of us.

Tuskers Bush Camp is a good base for birders because it is comfortable and private, and allows access to a number of different ecosystems where good sightings are common. So bring your spotting scope, and field guide, and come discover the birds of the Moremi East Wilderness Area.

Game Drives at Ezulwini Game Lodges: Observing the Wild

The Balule Nature Reserve covers a wide expanse of land comprising a mix of savannah, riverine vegetation, leadwood and jackalberry trees. Forming part of the Greater Kruger Park, the reserve is home to the big five. But, at Ezulwini, we like to celebrate the small creatures, the sneaky rodents, the large herbivores and those that get lost in the eternal quest to spot the big five. Nature is a place filled with harmony and wonder; where each living organism has its role to play in the ecology of an area. Here are a few facts about the wildlife recently spotted on our game drives.

The African Elephant

We don’t have to travel far to spot our wrinkled pachyderms. The breeding herds frequent both lodges and feast on the crunchy vegetation surrounding both Ezulwini Billy’s and Ezulwini River Lodge. The elevated skywalk at Billy’s Lodge is the best vantage point to view these gentle jumbos.

Elephants are raised in matriarchal herds and all females help to raise the young calves. The sub-adult females will ensure the young ones learn how to navigate obstacles and use their trunks effectively.

Young males will take to the waterholes and engage in gentle sparring matches in an effort to display dominance. Males, when they reach a certain age, will form loose associations with other bachelors and split from their maternal herd. They tend to reunite with groups of females when its time to breed.

Honey Badger

Relentless. Industrious. Fearless. Intelligent. These are just a few of the adjectives used to describe the adorable looking honey badger. This species is notorious for brazenly waltzing into camps and lodges in a search for food and comfort. They’re not afraid of anything and will quite cheekily walk through a pride of lions in order to get to its destination.

Cobra venom? Not a problem. If bitten, they’ll pass out for a bit. The honey badger is resistant to potent doses of venom and its thick armoured skin also protects them from other potentially nasty wounds. The badger also has claws that remind us of Edward Scissorhands. Their “blades” allow them to dig burrows and successfully bash through termite mounds where they can access an easy snack.

Honey badgers are not selective with their diet and will eat a host of things that include beetles, scorpions, snakes and larvae.

Herons

In the image below you have a close-up of a grey heron. These predatory wading birds are found in abundance in the Balule and we often spot them in a statuesque position close to water sources. These waders remain stationary for a period of time before launching their attack. They’ll gently wade towards their intended victim and stab it with their bill. Their prey includes an array of fish, amphibians, insects and even ducklings.

Big Cats of the Balule

The Ezulwini traverse is teeming with big cat activity and there are plenty of lion prides patrolling the areas close to the lodges. There’s a strong chance you’ll see lions while staying at Ezulwini. Coupled with the lion sightings, there are a number of leopards that have made the traverse their territory. Chavaluthu is the blue-eyed wonder boy of the Balule and then there’s the Van Wijk’s leopardess that is often seen crossing over onto Chavaluthu’s homeground.

Lions spend up to 20 hours a day sleeping and you’ll find them sleeping in the shade out in the open. When darkness falls these cats begin their patrolling and hunting excursions. When a kill is made, lions will devour their meal until they can no longer move, hence their need to relax afterwards.

Leopards are somewhat more aloof and tend to hide in drainage lines and at the tops of trees. When they conduct a kill it is done so with stealth and graceful prowess. When the kill is made, they’ll drag the prey up into the closest tree to avoid theft from scavenging hyenas.

And cheetah? Yes, these cats are also found in the Balule ! These delicate diurnal hunters are also spotted strolling the open roads and resting on termite mounds.

The Small Things

The bushbuck, nyala, scrub hares and high concentration of plains game certainly adds a different dimension to our game viewing. The smaller antelope often come up the grounds of Ezulwini River Lodge because of the availability of fresh greens and shrubbery. There’s also over 30 species of small mammals and 340 species of birdlife just waiting to be photographed.

Plenty to see while out on game drive with Ezulwini Game Lodges!

Lion Kill Taken Over in Hyena & Vulture Frenzy!

Fantastic predator action in the Klaserie this weekend with the presence of the Mapoza male lions who took down a buffalo and began to feast on Friday morning. These coalition brothers are in great condition, and it was a wild and raw experience to watch them tucking in to their kill gruesomely. When we arrived at the scene on Saturday, the rotting carcass had brought about the presence of nature’s clean up crew: the vultures. Hundreds of these meat-eating birds were perched on the surrounding trees, eagerly awaiting their chance to swoop in and take over the kill. Then, from the thick vegetation, the hyenas emerged, and then the take over really began!

It was a breath-taking scene was something special to watch. Every one of our senses was paying attention to the action in front of us: The sounds of giant wings displacing the air, taloned feet landing heavily on the ground, rasping calls from the vultures intermingled with the groaning voices of the hyenas. Let us not forget to mention the smell of the buffalo after a couple of days in the sun! Once the lions vacated the scene, it was warfare between the scavenging parties, and it was certainly one for the books. A beautiful sunrise set the backdrop, and soon melted away to reveal the true heat and light of the day, bringing this scene into full view for guests at Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp.

We could not have banked on a more exciting start to the day! We got to watch 3 of Africa’s most iconic species in competition for the same carcass, seeing how one single buffalo feeds so many animals in the wild. This is the food chain in action, and undoubtedly, it continued once we left. From the lion, to the hyenas, to the vultures, then onto jackals, birds of prey, and the smaller carnivorous insects, flies, and maggots… Soon, all that will be left are the most impenetrable bones of the buffalo. What a magnificent piece of action in the Klaserie!

Week in Pictures: Safari Stars

Time might seem like it’s flying as we enter the second month of 2017, but the timelessness of the bush slows us right back down and reminds us that every moment holds something special. The stars come up every night, but so seldom do we take the time to glance up and gaze at it. Every rustle in the untamed bush, every flash of movement, every crack of a twig brings time to a standstill and our senses to a peak. There is no predicting what we will see in the bush, so every moment holds the promise of something, anything, everything. Slow down the pace and scroll through our top captures in the Week in Pictures – it’s the weekend, make every second count!

Africa on Foot, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger Park

nThambo Tree Camp, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger Park

Tuskers Bush Camp, Kwatale Conservancy, Northern Botswana

Ezulwini Game Lodges, Balule Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger Park

Umkumbe Safari Lodge, Sabi Sand Wildtuin, Greater Kruger Park

Moremi Game Reserve Self Drive from Tuskers Bush Camp

We set out before the sun. By 4:30am we are having coffee and scones in the Tuskers Bush Camp dining room. By 5am high beams are on, and we are winding through the sandy roads of the Kwatale Conservancy. It is an hour on quiet, sandy roads to the gate, and we already spot a hyena and giraffe before we even get to Moremi Game Reserve on our self drive excursion.

We enter South Gate and turn into the Black Pools circuit to search the plains for the painted dogs and cheetahs that can be found there. We see some buffalo, giraffe, and zebra, and continue on the main road to Bodumatau Lagoon. The water is clear, and hippos and elephants are everywhere; however I am equally impressed with the kingfishers, jacanas, and bee-eaters cruising above our heads.

Continuing on the main road through sand and mopane scrub, we rumble over First Bridge and Second Bridge and out to Mboma Boat Station. This is a good place to stop for lunch, and take a mokoro or power boat ride through the delta to break-up the drive. We select an hour-long mokoro paddle and slide silently through the pampas grass, admiring the red dragon flies zooming over the day lilies, and startling sitatunga drinking at the shores.

At Third Bridge there is a campsite and toilets to freshen up. If you took a longer boat ride, or just want to have an easier day, you can loop around Xhoro Road, and head back out through South Gate. However, for those with adventure in their hearts, continue to Xakanaxa, through Paradise Pools and out on the Old Khwai Road looking for leopards and lions.

At this point it is mid-afternoon, and our colleagues have just reported two leopard sightings, and hundreds of elephants in Khwai, so we push east through the deep sand roads along the Khwai river. We see some waterbuck, kudu, and elephants, but could not locate the leopards. We have been unlucky with the leopards, but have sure found the adventure we were seeking!

Exiting North Gate, we drive through Khwai Community Trust, then on to Mababe, and continue south back to Tuskers Bush Camp. We arrive at 7pm, after 14 hours and 300 kilometers of wild exploration. We were happy, tired, and so, so ready for Jennifer’s squash soup and pulled pork!

If you attempt this wildlife loop on your own, GPS and a copy of Shells’ Moremi Game Reserve Map will be indispensable. Also be sure to get advice from the guys at Tuskers Bush Camp on road conditions. If you have Jennifer pack you a lunch, I would kindly request her famous vegetable quiche. It’s delicious.

Sun Destinations invited Mike McCaffrey to help document the activities and wildlife in the area at Tuskers Bush Camp and Moremi Game Reserve. His travel writing and photography can be found on his website: Nomadic by Nature.

Expedition to Little Nxai Pan, East of Kwatale Conservancy

Warwick Hendry, together with photographer Dan Dugmore and guests, went exploring the Little Nxai Pan area which is to the east of the Kwatale conservancy. Warwick documented his journey with words and Dan documented his journey with images. We’ve combined the two so that we can deliver this blog post and formally introduce the Little Nxai Pan region.

Last week an intrepid team led by photographer Dan Dugmore set out on an expedition across the Kwatale Conservancy in search of a very special place: Little Nxai Pan. This exquisite hidden gem has lain unseen by human eyes now for years, tucked away in the far eastern corner of the massive Conservancy area.

The team, consisting of a couple of lucky guests at Tuskers Bush Camp, Alex the guide, Vera the tracker, Dan and myself, began by preparing two vehicles for a few days out in the bush. They had to be completely self-sufficient, including camping gear, provisions, photographic equipment, navigation gear and everything they might need to coax their vehicles through the tricky terrain and overgrown roads of this vast wilderness area.

All packed up, with vehicle suspension groaning under the weight of it all, the expedition team headed out into the lush bushveld of green season Botswana. The landscape at this time of year is not only beautiful to look at, but bursting with life of all kinds.

Wild-flowers bloomed across open grassy areas and around water-filled pans that just months ago were bare scars on the dry crumbling earth. Foliage abounds, and the herbivores that eat it are scattered about everywhere.

During the day’s drive we encountered throngs of grazing elephant, plentiful herds of buffalo snorting and grunting to each other as they gorged themselves. We chanced upon shy roan antelope and a breeding herd of gemsbok as we moved through the concession of alternating biomes of mopane woodland, acacia lowland and open scrub-land.

The journey was an incredible one, with the bush throbbing with life and sound all around us as we passed through. After pausing for lunch at a pan – which was soon visited by a breeding herd of elephant as we looked on, munching sandwiches – we continued through the final stretch of verdant, waterlogged terrain.

We thought it couldn’t get any better, that surely the old-growth forests interspersed with pans and grasslands we were moving through could hardly be topped, but we were wrong. Quite late into the afternoon we moved through a final stretch of dense forest and emerged on the other side to be greeted by an incredible sight.

There it was in all its splendour – Little Nxai Pan. The pan itself was large and, at that moment, full of bathing elephant. The area surrounding it, consisting of wide open meadows punctuated with rotund acacia trees all set about with woodland was a sight for sore eyes. It was like nothing we’d seen on the Kwatale Conservancy before.

Elephant were everywhere, and large herds of zebra moved all around us, nervously sniffing the air and trying to work out what these two strange visitors to their leafy green fastness could possibly be. Bullfrogs emitted their deep booming calls from the little pools of water and larger pans that littered the area as thunder-heads crashed and snarled overhead in unison with the insects chirping and buzzing in every direction.

As we surveyed the scene around us we all new that we were seeing something very special. This place was absolutely unique in the Kwatale Conservancy area. Perhaps the most striking feature of this place, though, was the pale mud of Little Nxai Pan itself, which had the effect of turning a bathing elephant a bright shocking white as they emerged from their wallow.

As we rushed off to pitch camp in a pretty corner of the area’s extensive meadows, we considered ourselves lucky. We still had two full days to explore Little Nxai Pan and the surrounds – to cut our way through old hunting roads that had not seen a vehicle for at least three years, to explore every reach and forgotten corner of the place we could get to. We had plenty of time to do so, and the expertise of Vera who had been to this part of the world prior to the Tuskers team arriving on the scene.

There was perhaps no better way to enjoy the pleasures of wet season Botswana. True, we did occasionally get rained on, but this was more than made up for by the sheer abundance of wildlife and the incredible beauty of an arid landscape flushing green after a prolonged drought and a particularly difficult dry season.

Little Nxai Pan is the very definition of a hidden gem; spectacular, beautiful, rich, diverse, and up until a few days ago, almost completely unknown to the outside world. Visiting this place was a privilege I will not soon forget.