FISHING IN BOTSWANA
We watched as this leopard stood silently next to a pool, then pounced, and came up with her dinner.
johnsmachines
machines which I have made, am making, or intend to make, and some other stuff. If you find this site interesting, please leave a comment. I read every comment and respond to most. n.b. There is a list of my first 800 posts in my post of 17 June 2021, titled "800 Posts"
Tag: Botswana
March 11, 2015
VULTURES
I mean the sort with wings.
Before seeing vultures in Botswana, I had a Hollywood inspired idea of vultures as the bad guys of the air, hovering and waiting for the good guy to die in the desert. Ugly, with their featherless head and neck.
In fact, vultures do hang around, waiting for animals to die, or waiting their turn to feast on a carcass. But in the air, they look a lot like eagles or other raptors. They are big, with wing spans up to 2 meters, and soar magnificently.
Here are some photos of vultures, which I saw in Botswana.
Note the central cluster of young vultures looking at us. probably wondering if we might be dessert.
The guide told us that the elephant had been dead for about one week, of natural causes. There is no hunting in Botswana.
We smelled it long before we could see it. The stench was huge. Then we could see a large moving mound. As we got closer the movement resolved into dozens are large birds, mostly vultures, but some stork types also. There were constant landings and take offs of the vultures, and they were truly spectacular.
March 6, 2015
MORE BOTSWANA & ZIMBABWE
Every day we saw many lions. We were concerned that our Landcruiser had no doors, but the guides assured us that the lions do not see us as food as long as we kept all body parts within the vehicle.
The Landcruisers were mostly reliable, but here a flat tyre is being changed.
Pesy, our Kalahari bushman tracker guide.
Not a terrorist. Just my daughter on a cold early morning safari.
A bird. Got its name jotted down somewhere.
Wally again. We were lucky to see leopards on many occasions. They are incredibly beautiful, frighteningly fast, and very elusive.
We travelled between camps in a Cessna. At every landing, the dirt airstrips were overflown to check for elephants and other wildlife. This is Camp Okavango on the Okavango Delta
What are you staring at??
Okavango Delta
A walking safari at Okavango. 2 guides, no guns. We walked within 100 meters of lions, hippos, buffalos, elephants. The guides were most worried about the buffalos. We walked for about 5 hours. An unforgettable experience.
A fellow traveller from Rome.
Papyrus at Okavango.
March 5, 2015
John and the jawbone of an elephant.
The guide told me to be careful, because snakes like to live in the bone cavities. We saw quite a few elephant skeletons, but no tusks! Because the government rangers collect the tusks, to prevent the poachers getting them. They reputedly have a huge warehouse full of tusks, waiting for the world embargo on ivory trading to finish. Botswana has a total ban on hunting, and consequently has a problem with elephant overpopulation.
March 5, 2015
The Most Fearless, Savage Animal of all
A Honey Badger. About the size of a medium size dog. We watched it walk past a leopard. Unconcerned, and unmolested. Lions leave them alone. The guide told us that they can kill a buffalo, and if provoked, will attack an elephant. Here it is walking behind the skeleton of an elephant.
March 5, 2015
You are in my way!!
Botswana 2013
johnsmachines 