Tag: Nature

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Okavango Photo Safari: Day 5: Finding the Painted Wolves at Splash

As planned, we left slightly earlier than usual, since we had a long drive ahead of us to the place where ST suspected we might find the Wild Dogs. Fortunately I had fully recovered from the side effects of the malaria prophylaxis and was feeling ready for the day. We drove in a westerly direction from Splash camp, almost to the boundary with the Khwai concession.

After about 90 minutes drive we reached the crossing onto an island where the Wild Dogs had previously denned. We started exploring the island. Almost 2 hours 30 minutes after leaving camp, we first spotted the Wild Dogs, who were in the middle of a hunt, which turned out to be successful. However, before all of them could eat, a lioness came storming out of the bushes, chasing them away and stealing their food. Warnings were sounded and the Painted Dogs were on full alert. We did get some good photo and video opportunities.

We followed them until they settled down for their midday nap. We counted 28 of them, an unusually large pack, including 9 pups, around 5-6 months old. Apparently these 9 pups were the survivors from an original 13 that were born in June/July.

Returning to camp for brunch, we decided to make an early start in the afternoon, hoping that they would not move off while we were away.

In the afternoon, we skipped high tea and left an hour early, for the long drive back to where we had left the Painted Wolves. Along the way we spotted a male leopard resting under a bush in the midday heat.

We were very happy to find the Wild Dogs where we had left them, still fast asleep. Soon we got word that several other vehicles were on their way from Splash and Kwara camps, having been informed that we had found the Wild Dogs. This was bad news to us, as there is a limit to the number of vehicles allowed at a sighting and, since we were there first, we could potentially be forced to leave in order to make way for latecomers, which could result in us missing the greeting ceremony when they woke up, and the subsequent hunt. Fortunately our guide, ST, managed to convince some of the other guides to combine their guests in one vehicle, resulting in us being able to stay.

As the Painted Wolves started waking up, yawning and moving around, there was much excitement. The youngsters started playing.

After a while they started moving off, intent on hunting, since some of the pack had not eaten in the morning and were still hungry.

Soon they made a kill, which was given to the pups to feed on, while the adults continued the hunt. Since the sun was setting, we had to leave them at this point and return to camp, exhausted after a long, but very satisfying day. We had achieved success, finding the Painted Wolves and spending time with them, having an awesome experience.

As an aside, I have had some enquiries about the exact locations of the places we visited, so found these maps on the internet, indicating the position of the Okavango delta in Botswana and the various concessions and camps within the Okavango

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Okavango Photo Safari: Looking for the Painted Wolves: Day 4: Pom Pom to Splash

On this morning we again went out early, looking for the Painted Dogs in the region where another guide had told Ryder that he had seen their tracks recently. I had stopped taking malaria prophylaxis and was starting to recover from the side effects.

Although I am not a true “birder”, more of an occasional opportunistic bird photographer, I did enjoy photographing this beautiful African Hawk Eagle in flight.

Soon we came upon two beautiful cheetahs, who were rather shy and not overly keen to be photographed. We managed to get some long range photos of them, but when we tried to approach closer, they moved away and we decided not to disturb them further.

Moving further in our search of the Wild Dogs, we found a leopard cub in a tree, happily eating a young impala. The cub’s mother was nearby, eyeing an adult impala for the kill, possibly even the mother of the one being eaten by her cub. One is reminded that nature, in all its beauty, can be harsh.

We returned to camp, still not having found the Wild Dogs. After brunch, it was time to depart Pom Pom, on our way to Splash camp. We flew across Moremi Game Reserve, from South-west to North-east, landing at Kwara landing strip. Flying across the Okavango delta, one cannot help but to be impressed by the beauty of the flood plains below. At this time of year, there is very little water and the areas which are covered by water in the flood season, are seen as large green, grass covered plains.

Landing at Kwara, we saw an elephant next to the landing strip and were later told that the guides had to chase it away from the landing strip just before our arrival.

We were met by our guide ST (who jokingly told me that ST stands for “Serious Trouble”) and tracker SB.

After settling in to our accommodation, we went for an afternoon drive. ST told us that the large pack of Wild Dogs had moved to neighboring Khwai around 4 or 5 days earlier, but could be expected back in the Kwara concession soon. We explored in the direction of Khwai, up to the boundary between the concessions, without finding their tracks. ST indicated that he thought they could be on an island, to which the only vehicle access was a crossing in the Kwara concession, close to the Khwai boundary. Due to the distance from our camp, we could not explore this in the late afternoon, but would return in the morning.

On our way back to camp, we stopped for sundowners and to appreciate another beautiful sunset.

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Okavango Photography Safari: Looking for Painted Wolves, finding another leopard: Day 3: Pom Pom

By now we were into our routine of an early wake-up, light breakfast and being out of camp before any of the other guests. On this, our last full day at Pom Pom we traveled a long way in search of the wild dogs, spending little time on other sightings. This was also the day on which I realised that my system was not reacting well to the malaria prophylaxis I was taking, resulting in a hard day for me.

Our first sighting of the day, was a hyena in the long grass.

We did spend some time with a leopard along the way. This one had a few wounds, possibly having been in a fight. Since the light quickly became very harsh, I decided to experiment with some black and white photos.

I also managed to photograph my nemesis, the Lilac-breasted Roller. One day, I will get the perfect shot of this bird, but until then, I have to keep trying.

Having found no Wild Dogs, we returned to camp for brunch and a siesta. In the afternoon, we again went all out in search of the Wild Dogs, once more without success. We did not have too many photo opportunities either on this afternoon. However, when we stopped for sundowners, we did get some surprise visitors joining us for a drink.

This was perhaps our least successful day of the trip from a photographic perspective and also a very hard day for me personally due to side effects from the malaria prophylaxis, but still an excellent day spent in the beautiful nature of the Okavango region.

Liana managed to get some beautiful video while at Pom Pom. Look at them on YouTube and also subscribe to her channel to see when she posts new content from our travels.

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Okavango Photography Safari: Looking for Painted Wolves: Day 2: Pom Pom Leopards, Lions and more.

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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Okavango Photography Safari: Looking for Painted Wolves and finding so much more. Day 1, Gqeberha to Pom Pom

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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Flowers, Stars & More: The missing videos

So, at last, after a hectic few days back at home, Liana managed to get around to editing her videos, so here are the videos for Day 5, Day 6 and a lovely video she made using my astro photos from this and previous trips.

Day 5 blog post here

And the video for Day 5:

Day 6 blog post here

And the video for Day 6:

And the astrophotography video:

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Flowers, Stars & More: Maps and info

Following a few requests for more detailed information about our trip, I have decided to put together some details with links for routes on Google Maps, so no photos or videos in this post, but suggestions for an itinerary which will show you some of the most beautiful parts of our country, especially if you do it in flower season, which is usually sometime between mid August and early October.

Please click on underlined text to follow the relevant links.

The resources we used in planning the trip were Google searches, Google maps, SANParks website, Booking.com and Mountain Passes South Africa website

Day 1: Summerstrand to Lentelus Farmstay, Barrydale, via Steytlerville :

Blog post and photos for Day 1 here

In Steytlerville, visit The Verandah Coffee Shop and Pegasus Early Motoring Museum

Barrydale is an interesting town, which we will definitely explore in more depth in future. For now, Lentelus Farmstay, approximately 10 km outside Barrydale, was a comfortable overnight stop.

Day 2: Lentelus Farmstay to Orca House, Yzerfontein, via Bainskloof Pass and Postberg section of the West Coast National Park.

Blog post and photos for Day 2 here

Bainskloof Pass is a lovely drive for those who enjoy mountain passes and history and has been declared a National Monument.

Postberg section of the West Coast National Park is only open during flower season, but the rest of the Park is open all year round. Plan to spend around 3 hours in Postberg.

Orca House offers magnificent accommodation right on the beach, is well appointed and very comfortable. Enjoy the sunset on a dune with a glass of wine in hand.

Day 3: Orca House Yzerfontein to Dogstone Cottage, Hondeklipbaai with a detour to Maskam Guest Farm

Blog post and photos for Day 3 here

Quite a few areas of gravel road, some better than others, in this stretch. We were also warned not to take the Hondeklipbaai turn off from the N7 just after Garies, but continue to the Klipfontein turn which is tarred to about halfway to Hondeklipbaai.

Along the way, a detour to Maskam Guest Farm for flower viewing and a light lunch, is quite worthwhile.

Dogstone Cottage offers lovely accommodation in Hondeklipbaai, but one must be aware that this is a very far off the beaten track little town or perhaps rather settlement, at first glance looking somewhat run down, with no fuel available (so fill up in Garies), the shops only stocking basics, the tap water a bit brackish (so take own drinking water), but probably two of the best and most affordable seafood restaurants in South Africa. Rooi Spinnekop was our favourite, but absolutely nothing wrong either with Dop en Kreef and I would suggest everyone should try both and determine their own favourite.

Day 4: Dogstone cottage Hondeklipbaai to Skilpad section of Namaqua National Park and back

Blog post and photos for Day 4 here

Google maps or your GPS will show you a shorter route, but the locals in Hondeklipbaai warned us that some of the routes in the region carried virtually no traffic and that getting stuck on those could result in a day or two’s wait for help. If traveling alone, it is therefor recommended to stick to the more frequented roads. For that reason, we took the road back via Klipfontein to the N7 and on to Kamieskroon and then to Skilpad. At Skilpad there are short hiking routes, which we did not explore due to the rain, as well as two short circle routes which can be driven. One of these is labeled 4×4 only, but in fact can easily be driven with a high ground clearance vehicle without 4×4 capability.

Day 5: Hondeklipbaai to Clanwilliam, with a detour to Graafwater

Blog post and photos for Day 5 here

A visit to Ramskop Nature Garden in Clanwilliam is quite a treat. This apparently used to be magnificent, became quite run down under municipal management, but enthusiastic locals are busy restoring it to its previous magnificence.

Day 6: Clanwilliam – Biedouw Valley – Wupperthal – Eselbank – Mount Ceder

Blog post and photos for Days 6 and 7 here

Biedouw Valley is famous for its flowers. Unfortunately we visited on a cold, rainy day and did not see it in its full glory, but from what we saw, certainly on our list of places to return to.

Do not be fooled by Google Maps telling you this is only 2h47min drive. Eselbank pass, which is supposedly a 4×4 route, although the locals apparently drive there with their Nissan NP200’s, will slow you down and at one point your GPS will start adding on two minutes to your ETA for every one minute you drive. But it is completely worth it for the amazing scenery.

Mount Ceder offers a range of accommodation options. We stayed in a lovely self catering Villa overlooking the valley, a great spot for astro photography, if only the clouds would have allowed.

Day 7: Mount Ceder to Cape Town

Some more lovely mountain passes along this route, but we drove it in pouring rain and howling wind, would like to go back there in better conditions, for photography.

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Flowers, Stars & More: Day 6 & 7: Mountain Passes, Rugged terrain and Severe Weather

After a large breakfast at A State of Grace guesthouse in Clanwilliam, we started our trip by filling up with diesel and then proceeded via Pakhuis pass and Hoek se Berg pass to the Biedouw valley

On a very cold and overcast day, the flowers were not open, but still provided a spectacular sight. I can just imagine how much more spectacular it must be on a sunny day with the flowers open.

We were too early to get coffee at the Biedouw Valley Farmstall, which only opens at 11:00 and decided instead, to proceed over the Kouberg Pass to Wupperthal for coffee at Lekkerbekkie Coffee Shop.

Since some social media posts had suggested that the Eselbank Pass might be closed due to recent flooding, we enquired in Wupperthal and were assured that the pass was open to 4×4 traffic. We decided to tackle this pass on our way to Mount Ceder. Although very narrow and certainly a major challenge if encountering traffic going in the other direction, this pass is actually not difficult to drive and does not require serious 4×4 skills, mainly just some common sense. Luckily we only encountered one other vehicle and even more luckily, this happened in a place where there was space for passing. The reward was spectacular scenery, better captured on video than photos (video to follow in a separate post).

A visit to the waterfall at Eselbank was a bit of a failure, since we could not find an actual viewpoint of the main waterfall and were unwilling to clamber over the rocks and risk a serious fall, especially in the windy conditions. After passing through Eselbank, we proceeded towards Mount Ceder passing through more ruggedly beautiful terrain in the Cederberg, including Grootrivier hoogte, stopping along the way to photograph some more flowers.

Google maps will tell you that the drive is 123km and should take approximately 2 hour 15 minutes, but that doesn’t take into account the terrain and roads. A more realistic estimate is probably about 4 hours for that distance.

We had a lovely cottage at Mount Ceder, overlooking a valley. Unfortunately it was overcast and my planned astrophotography didn’t materialise. The positive aspect was that we got a very good night’s sleep.

At breakfast the next morning, the staff at Mount Ceder, informed us that they expected severe weather over the next 24 hours, our planned hike in the mountains was cancelled and we were warned that anticipated flooding could see us stuck and unable to travel the next morning. We made a quick decision to change our plans, leave while we could and use the spare day for an impromptu visit to our children in Cape Town.

Returning to our cottage to pack up, we saw a beautiful rainbow over the valley, ending at our cottage.

After a very informative and interesting olive oil tasting, we had a cheese and olive platter for early lunch and then hit the road. Light rain already started falling while we were on the Blinkberg Pass.

As we reached the tar road, we started encountering the first of the severe weather. On the beautiful Gydo Pass, near Ceres, the rain was bucketing down.

Michells Pass was equally rain drenched

Arriving in Cape Town, we were again reminded of the Cape Town traffic, one of the major reasons we could not imagine living there again.

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Flowers, Stars & More: Day 5: Southward

We made an early start from Hondeklipbaai, driving on a dirt road still muddy and slippery from the previous day’s rain, stopping in Garies at the Garies Toeriste Stal, for coffee and toasted sandwiches, before heading on to Clanwilliam.

Arriving in Clanwilliam, we went for a stroll in the Ramskop Wildflower Garden. This had apparently become quite run down under Municipal management, but is being revived by local enthusiasts. We spent an enjoyable hour walking around here, taking some photos and video.

Then it was on to Graafwater, where we had a thoroughly enjoyable visit and lunch with friends.

Carrying on with my theme of photographing church buildings, I walked around the church, looking for a good angle for a photo, eventually finding one with a sunburst.

Late afternoon, we returned to Clanwilliam to check in at our accommodation, where we were just in time to see the beautiful sunset over Clanwilliam dam, from the guesthouse pool deck.

After dark, we returned to Graafwater, to continue where we left off our visit with friends and to photograph the Milky Way over the church.

Returning to Clanwilliam, I just had to take another Milky Way shot over the Clanwilliam dam, even though a few clouds were starting to appear.

Another late night, this time with Liana deciding to postpone her video downloading and editing for a day in order to get some rest.

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Flowers, Stars and More: Day 4: Stars, at last

Day 4 arrived, cold, dreary, overcast, not what we had been hoping for, but true to the weather forecast, which had been accurate for once. We decided, nonetheless, to take the drive to the Skilpad section of Namaqua National Park. The locals in Hondeklipbaai advised us to take the detour, returning to the N7 the way we had come, due to road conditions.

We stopped in Kamieskroon to get fuel for the car and ourselves. Entering Kamieskroon, we saw a beautiful little church.

In Kamieskroon, I also saw a street carrying my name, but quite sure not named after me or any relation.

After fuelling the car, we drove towards the National Park, stopping along the way for breakfast at Die Murasie

Once in the Park, we decided to forego the planned hike, since it had started raining and we did not want to get drenched. Instead, we drove the two circle routes in the Park, one of which is new and labelled a 4×4 route, but really a very easily driveable route.

As expected, in the rain, most of the flowers were hiding their faces. However, this did not really detract too much from the spectacle and we still had a really good time.

Near the end of the 4×4 loop, we saw a few Springbok in a field of flowers, a very special sight.

Making our way back to Hondeklipbaai, we were quite pleased with ourselves about the lovely day we had and the fact that we would be able to get to bed early, but this was not to be. About 20km before our destination, we encountered a quartet of elderly people struggling to change a flat tyre. By the time we had finished assisting them, not only were we rain drenched, which we had avoided in the Park, but also covered in mud.

Eventually arriving at out accommodation at Dogstone Cottage, we took a quick shower and then went to the Rooi Spinnekop Restaurant for an early supper, which turned out to be an excellent choice. The reception was very friendly, the atmosphere relaxed and the food excellent. Liana had a marrow bone starter and I had prawns. For mains she had lobster and I had pan fried snoek and sweet potato.

Exiting the restaurant, we were just in time to catch the sunset, the clouds starting to clear.

With the clouds rapidly clearing, I was able to grab a few Milky Way photos as well.

Tomorrow we turn back south, heading towards Clanwilliam.