Our last morning game drive was done in cold, overcast and windy conditions, with the animals inactive and hiding from us. We did get to see a group of three lionesses with one young male with them, eyeing the wildebeest before stalking away in the long grass. They were so well camouflaged that you would not see them if you didn’t know where to look.
The bravery of the trackers never ceases to amaze me.
We saw one more sleeping adult male lion on our way back to the lodge.
Our flight from Madikwe to OR Tambo ended up being 90 minutes late, resulting in a mad rush to make it in time for our flight back home. Fortunately Federal Air, who were responsible for our lateness, arranged to have us fast tracked through bag drop and security, resulting in us arriving at our boarding gate for the flight home with 10 minutes to spare.
We had our usual early morning start. Sam decided to take us to a spot close to where hyenas with their cubs were known to den. According to him, the curious cubs would often come out to look, when they heard a vehicle stop nearby. We could see them lying under a bush, but after waiting a while, we thought that they were not going to come out and we decided to leave. Soon Sam got a call on the radio, informing him that they had emerged when another vehicle stopped there, as we were leaving. This led to us making a U-turn and returning to the site.
Adult hyenas may be considered part of the “ugly five”, but their cubs are extremely cute.
After this we drove north to an area with open plains, where we saw some Springbok
and also found the lions we had seen at the zebra kill on our second day, now relaxing and sleeping in the grass. One male briefly acknowledged our presence, before lying down again.
The afternoon was cold, windy and overcast, the animals pretty much hiding from the elements and from us. My attempt at photographing a Wahlberg eagle in flight was not a great success, the dark eagle against the white clouds not photographing well. I did take my obligatory Lilac Breasted Roller shot though.
Once again, we saw numerous elephants and Wildebeest (Gnu).
In the overcast conditions, darkness arrived rather quickly, with none of the previous days’ spectacular sunsets. Just before dark, we found a group of two lionesses with 8 cubs. With aperture wide open, shutter speed as slow as I was comfortable with while shooting handheld and ISO as high as I was comfortable with, the photos were still very dark and some work in Lightroom and Topaz Denoise was required afterwards to make them usable.
A Jumble of Lions
This day was also an unfortunate reminder that things do not always go to plan during traveling. First there was an unfortunate little incident, resulting in my one camera meeting with a sharp edge on the floor of the game drive vehicle. This rendered the camera inoperable, but at least it was at the end of the day and I did not lose any photography opportunities due to this.
As if this wasn’t enough, when we arrived back at the lodge, we were informed that our flight out of Madikwe the next day, was going to be at least an hour delayed, causing concern about our ability to still be in time for our flight home. Not much one can do about that except wait and see.
The usual early morning start, after a quick cup of coffee, had us out on our game drive as the sun was rising, providing a lovely background for a shot of a Pale Chanting Goshawk in a dead tree.
My pursuit of the perfect Lilac Breasted Roller shot (as mentioned in a few of my older blog posts) continued.
You cannot move far in Madikwe without seeing elephants. Sadly, elephant conservation in Madikwe is a victim of its own success, with the number of elephants now exceeding the carrying capacity of the reserve, resulting in significant destruction of vegetation. While debates about the management of this problem are ongoing, the size of the problem just seems to be increasing.
There was much activity at a nearby water hole.
About 90 minutes into our game drive, Sam received a radio message that the Wild Dogs had been seen in the far eastern part of the reserve, where they had caught an impala. Obviously we wanted to go there despite the distance and time involved. After another long drive to the east, we arrived close to the sighting, where we had to wait a while for our turn, since only 3 vehicles at a time are allowed at a sighting. But it was absolutely worth the wait. A pack of 14 Painted Wolves, including six pups of about 5 months old, with full tummies and in a playful mood, greeted us.
Liana got some lovely video
All too soon we had to move along and allow others their turn at the sighting. Driving along on our way back to the lodge and aware that we were going to be quite late for brunch, we just had to make a brief stop when we saw a group of four lions chewing on the remains of a wildebeest right next to the road.
After an action packed and exciting morning, the afternoon game drive was a somewhat more uneventful affair, but I did continue my pursuit of the perfect Lilac Breasted Roller shot
After our 5:30 am wake-up call and a quick cup of coffee, we were off at 6 am for our morning game drive. Soon Sam, our guide, received an update about a sighting of lions feasting on a zebra kill and we proceeded in that direction. Upon arriving, we saw a group of two adult males and several females and youngsters feasting on what remained of the zebra.
Some had already finished eating and one male moved away to go and drink at a nearby water hole, then returned to start grooming himself.
He seemed a bit irritated by our close attention, but soon decided to ignore us.
Leaving the lions to finish their breakfast, we returned to the lodge to enjoy our breakfast, after which we did some photo downloading and editing.
During the afternoon we spent some time in the hide, seeing elephants, kudu and a klipspringer visit the water hole.
After high tea, we set of on a game drive to look for the Painted Wolves, whose tracks had been spotted in the eastern part of the reserve that morning. This was a pretty long drive, during which we saw a few Black-backed jackal, a spotted hyena and many elephants, but, unfortunately no Wild Dogs.
During our afternoon drinks stop, we were mesmerised by a beautiful sunset.
Despite spending a long afternoon, not finding the Wild Dogs, it had been a very pleasant game drive. Back at the lodge, we had another excellent dinner, after which we tried to catch up on some sleep.
We were up early, eager to get to the Kgalagadi entrance gate and start our drive to Nossob. The plan was to use the drive into the Park as our first game drive, so although only 166 km from Twee Rivieren, we were estimating that it would take us between 5 and 7 hours.
With the recent rains, the grass was lush and green and, apart from large numbers of Oryx and the occasional Black Backed Jackal, no too many four legged animals visible.
However, the birdlife did not disappoint. Since I am still a beginner in the bird identification game, I rely on my Merlin app to identify them for me. If you disagree with my ID please let me know.
Stopping at the Melkvlei picnic site, we got a nice surprise in a tree right above us
Southern White-faced Owl
We also saw many Kori Bustards walking along, but didn’t see any of them in flight.
Arriving at Nossob in the mid afternoon, we checked in and settled into our campsite. At the shop, we were informed that they had run out of Wi-fi vouchers and the new vouchers would only be arriving in two days’ time, so although there was Wi-fi available, we could not connect to it. Once more, no uploading of photos or blog posts possible.
A late afternoon drive, yielded a sighting of a very sleepy lioness lying in the road north of Cubitje Quap. Occasionally, if a car came too close, she would open her eyes or lift her head.
I got a nice photo of our Toyota Hilux reflected in her eye.
The evening was rounded off with a braai and “kuier” (no proper English word exist to encompass everything included in that Afrikaans word) around the fire.
After our usual light breakfast, we headed out to the west, soon encountering fresh leopard tracks, apparently belonging to a young male, usually still seen in the company of his mother. This led to a prolonged search for him, with a second vehicle eventually joining in the search, but with no success.
We tried photographing birds, but also with limited success, since the wind direction was not favourable. I did manage to get a nice shot of a Broad-billed Roller in flight.
Eventually we decided to head back to camp a little earlier than usual. Along the way, James spotted the elusive young male leopard lying at the base of a tree. The leopard was quite curious, giving us ample opportunity to photograph him and eventually approaching and inspecting the vehicle, before moving into a bush where we could no longer see him well enough to photograph.
Back at camp we went through our usual routine of brunch, followed by downloading photos and videos, backing up, clearing memory cards and charging camera batteries. By this time we were exhausted from lack of sleep and extreme daytime heat and tried to get a brief afternoon nap, before setting out for our afternoon drive. I did find that the advice given to us, to lie under the fan under a wet kikoi, was quite an effective way of cooling down in the extreme heat.
In the afternoon we headed out in the direction where a group of lionesses had been spotted the previous day, two of them with cubs. We had been informed that they had left their cubs somewhere they considered safe, in order to go hunting. This was also the direction where we could possibly expect to find Wild Dogs, but these had not been seen at 4 Rivers for quite some time.
Along the way, we spotted two Red Lechwe males, having a bit of a tussle, but soon deciding to go their different ways.
A lone lioness was seen approaching in our direction. Clifford was of the opinion that she was part of the group previously seen, but this was obviously not one of those with cubs.
She was clearly feeling the heat, since she was walking from one shady spot to the next, eventually approaching our vehicle and lying down in the shade, looking quite aggrieved when we decided to drive off, taking our shade with us.
One of the other vehicles had found the cubs and we drove to their location, where we found some forlorn looking cubs, clearly pining for their mothers to return.
The sun was setting and we left the cubs to drive back to camp, the end of another stunning day in the Okavango.
With a feeling of great satisfaction and gratitude, after spending two full days with the Painted Wolves, we departed Splash, taking a short game drive on our way to the airstrip. At the airstrip, while waiting in the “VIP lounge”, we saw two Wild Dogs running across the runway just as the plane came in to land.
A 10 minute flight to 4 Rivers with a 20 minute drive to camp, saw us arrive just in time for brunch, after which we settled into our luxury tents. In the afternoon, our guide, Clifford and tracker James picked us up for a game drive. Soon they spotted two male lions, fast asleep in the shade of a tree.
Moving along, we saw a beautiful Bateleur, which unfortunately turned away from us when taking off, as a result we could not get any in-flight photos of it.
A kite flew up out of the long grass with a snake clutched in its talons
A small herd of Roan Antelope, unusually, stayed still long enough for us to get some nice photos.
By this time the sun was low above the horizon
We decided to return to the sleeping lion brothers, finding them waking up and starting to move around
Look at the video with sound on. These guys roared ferociously.
With the lions’ roaring shaking the ground, Liana still getting great video of them, but the light becoming too low for photographing them, I turned to the sunset for one last photo of the day.
Once again we made an early start, driving east to the crossing, onto the island and then starting the search. We eventually found the Painted Dogs on the western side of the island, almost directly opposite Splash camp, but still only accessible via the long route to the crossing on the eastern side of the island.
When we found them, they had already concluded a highly successful hunt and their bellies were clearly full. They were starting to settle down for their daytime nap.
Some were still nibbling on the leftovers, but the hyenas were also starting to approach carefully, hoping to get a share.
Some Wild Dogs remained alert and a few token attempts were made to chase the hyenas away, but eventually they got their share.
Another visitor who managed to get a share, was a Kite (need birders here to tell me whether this is a Yellow-billed or Black Kite, since my apps give different opinions)
Some of the Wild Dogs were still playing around and nibbling on a tree stump, while others were clearly ready to go to sleep.
When they finally settled down, we departed for the long drive back to camp. As we were driving away, we also saw vultures approaching, looking for their share.
Still on the island, we saw a lioness with three subadult cubs and were told the amazing story that these were her younger siblings who she had been taking care of since their mother died from a snake bite.
In the afternoon we made an early start again, hoping to find the Painted Wolves where we left them in the morning.
Along the way, we saw a Side-striped Jackal
When we arrived, the Dogs were still fast asleep, but a few Hooded Vultures were moving around. These Hooded Vultures are know to follow the Dogs around, cleaning up after them.
Soon the pups started to wake up and look around.
With their bellies full, the Dogs were clearly relaxed, with a less frenzied greeting than the previous day, some rolling around in the grass.
There was no urgency to start the hunt and they seemed to be going on a stroll, exploring the countryside. We drove past and parked up ahead of them, managing to get some really nice low level shots of some curious Dogs as they approached.
Having spent as much time as possible with the Painted Wolves, we drove back to camp in the dark. This had been a magical two days, finding the Painted Wolves, seeing them at play and hunting. These are such amazing animals and it is such a tragedy that this species is at risk of extinction. If you want to learn more about them and support their conservation, please have a look at The Painted Wolf Foundation website.
Just before reaching camp, we spotted a male lion in the dark.
Liana managed to get great video footage during these two days with the Painted Wolves. Have a look at her video here, or if you want to watch it in full screen mode, follow the link to watch on YouTube.
Our first full day at Pom Pom started with a thunderstorm and rain, which passed quickly and did not delay our planned early start, with a 5am wake-up call, quick light breakfast and out on our game drive by 5:45am.
Very soon our excellent guiding team found a male leopard, who seemed to be sniffing around for something. He had a deformed tail, possibly previously injured and healed with a deformity, but this did not seem to bother him too much. He did interrupt his sniffing to pose for a few quick photos.
We followed him until he eventually reached a tree in which there was a half eaten impala, possibly a kill left behind by another leopard. This one may have been sniffing around because he had gotten the scent and was looking for it. He proceeded to jump into the tree and enjoy the leftovers.
We received information that lions had killed a wildebeest nearby and proceeded to that site, where we found two lions, shortly joined by a third. The beautiful morning light after the rain, offered more opportunity for low angle photos.
Moving along, almost unbelievably, we found a female leopard and her cub. We had been informed of their presence in the vicinity and that hyenas had stolen their food. Mom was resting on a tree stump and junior was lying in a nearby tree.
When the mom started stirring, she offered excellent photo opportunities with the partly cloudy skies in the background.
When she got up, she called her cub down from the tree and they strolled along to where a dead impala was lying under a bush, presumably another kill she had made after losing her first one to they hyenas. She looked like she had already eaten and the cub started to eat.
With the day just a few hours old, we had already had the most amazing sightings and in between, a few other photo opportunities with Warthog, Red-billed Oxpecker, Lilac-breasted Roller, Striped Kingfisher, Fish Eagle and others.
By 11am we returned to camp for brunch, then settling into the usual rhythm of these photography trips: download and backup photos and video, charge camera batteries and clear memory cards to get ready for the next session. “Siesta time” was spent processing photos instead of resting.
At 4pm we went for “high tea” before starting out at 4:30pm for our afternoon drive. We spent some time trying (wholly unsuccessfully in my case) to photograph Carmine Bee-eaters in flight. After spending a while watching Pied Kingfishers hover, fish and fight, we proceeded to find a beautiful male lion, lying in the grass, looking interested.
Soon, he got up and started walking with intent. When we looked around, we saw a lioness approaching enthusiastically from behind. They met up and he started following her.
She made him work hard for it, but eventually he caught up and the relationship was consummated.
Returning back to camp after sunset, we stopped briefly to watch hippo’s emerge from their pool.
Reflecting on the day, even though we did not find the Painted Wolves, it had been almost too good to be true, an amazing experience. Throughout the day, Ryder and Zuma had managed to get us the most amazing sightings and Grant had made the occasional invaluable comment, helping us to get great photos and video.
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This trip was almost two years in the planning. We first met Grant Atkinson at Pangolin Photo Safaris in Chobe in October 2022. In our conversations, I mentioned that I would like to photograph African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). His response was that the best place to do this, would be the private concessions in the Okavango region of Botswana. Almost a year later, and after a visit to Kruger National Park, where I was fortunate to see and photograph these magnificent animals twice, but in less than optimal circumstances for photography, I contacted Grant again. We started organising this trip with the help of Joanne from Biggestleaf Travel.
A lot of effort went into planning the trip in such a way that we had the best chance of finding the Wild Dogs, while keeping it somewhat affordable. We eventually decided on three Kwando camps: Pom Pom, Splash and Four Rivers.
At last the time arrived and we were on our way, taking an early flight from Gqeberha to Johannesburg, where we met Grant at the airport. From here we flew to Maun in Botswana, where we transferred to a 6 seater plane, piloted by a charming young lady, Ruby, for our short flight to Pom Pom.
At Pom Pom we were met by our guide, Ryder and tracker, Zuma and taken to camp. After settling in to our rooms and a quick snack, we were out on our first game drive. We started with a little warm-up at a pool filled with hippo’s, who were quite active.
A lioness, initially lying on short grass and then getting up and walking towards us, gave me my first opportunity to try out the technique of low angle photography, lowering the camera from the vehicle with a monopod and using a remote shutter release, both of which I had purchased on Grant’s advice, during the planning stage of the trip.
As the sun was setting, we encountered a Cheetah in the long grass, a difficult photo to take in low light.
The end of our first day, brought the first magnificent sunset.
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