Off The Beaten Track - July 2010
| Despite an abnormally cold winter, wildlife viewing has still been exceptional. Mashatu Game
Reserve in Botswana remains incredibly lush and green thanks to the very late rains. This Kori
Bustard was one of many animals seen wandering through fields of purple Cat's Tail flowers.
Recognised as one of the heaviest flying birds in the world, it is one of Mashatu's magnificent
seven - another being the Leopard seen here hiding well inside a bush during a recent visit to
the Reserve. |
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Not a predator that is seen on every visit to the Reserve, Cheetah sightings at
Mashatu have also been excellent this year including a coalition of three
males out hunting on various occasions plus a female with two well-grown cubs found on one
visit feeding on an impala. The animals are always very relaxed and allow for some amazing photo
opportunities. |
| This Spotted Hyaena enjoyed a very large meal the night before the
photo was taken and was so full that it could hardly move! Unfortunately
we never found the remains of the carcass - maybe it was all inside
her! She was found close to a den that had several small cubs as well
as several other adults none of which were as well fed as this one. |
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A Hamerkop
entertained us at the river when it caught a large bream but couldn't
swallow it. The fish was bashed over and over to try to soften it
and make it easier to swallow but eventually the bird had to give
up and drop it in the water, moving on to catch a small frog instead.
Surprisingly several birds were still breeding despite the fact that it was mid-winter and we
were lucky to find this tiny Three-banded Plover chick feeding close to its parent on the edge
of one of the rivers in the Reserve. This tiny creature was no more than 5 cm high. |
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Back home in our wildlife estate in Hoedspruit an unusual sighting
was a pair of Bateleur's allopreening (mutual grooming) in a large
tree. While this is a common behaviour in selected species of birds
this was the first time that we had observed this behaviour in a large
eagle.
We have a small feeding station in the front of the house that attracts
a wide variety of seed-eaters and needless to say the occasional goshawk
comes visiting as well. This unfortunate immature Shikra (or Little
Banded Goshawk as it was previously known) flew into the window instead
and spent several minutes in a dazed state before flying away, but
gave us enough time to get a photo. |
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A real highlight early one morning was this Caracal
with two well grown kittens. Although its status is 'common', because
of its nocturnal and somewhat secretive habits, it is seldom seen, and
in fact this is only the third time that we have been lucky enough
to see the animal and obviously the first time we have been able to
photograph it! The adult sat quietly in the middle of the road for
a few minutes before following its kittens into the dense undergrowth.
Despite its small size it is an amazingly powerful predator capable of
killing antelope larger than itself. Unfortunately in rural farming areas it
will attack sheep and is regarded there as vermin and persecuted because of this. |
| In May I was lucky enough to be able to go back to South Luangwa
National Park with a colleague, Lee Gutteridge, to run a 10 day intensive
guide training session on animal behaviour and tracks & tracking at
Mfuwe Lodge. Lee assessed all of the guides on their tracking ability
and was able to award 95% of them with Cybertracking certificates
at the end. Activities in the field were often interrupted by various
large animals such as this elephant with armed National Park's scout
"Bottle" keeping a wary eye on it! |
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