Brendon Reports: While searching for leopard tracks yesterday afternoon we were informed that Thandi, a female leopard was in the eastern part of the reserve, so we headed that way.We stopped on the way to photograph giraffe and then elephants, and a grizzly old buffalo bull with gnarled horns and plenty of character. This meant that by the time we reached the area, Thandi had wandered away.A lone young hyena was chewing vigorously on something or other. We photographed him for ages as his antics kept us completely absorbed. He chewed the remnants of whatever it was, then would glare at it, and attack again and again with renewed vigour - as if it would leap up and escape! The sun was starting to set when we heard another hyena calling, and a dialogue started ... the two hyenas called again and again until the caller arrived. The amazing greeting, leaping around,...
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Blog posts tagged in Elephants
Brendon Reports: While searching for leopard tracks yesterday afternoon we were informed that Thandi, a female leopard was in the eastern part of the reserve, so we headed that way.We stopped on the way to photograph giraffe and then elephants, and a grizzly old buffalo bull with gnarled horns and plenty of character. This meant that by the time we reached the area, Thandi had wandered away.A lone young hyena was chewing vigorously on something or other. We photographed him for ages as his antics kept us completely absorbed. He chewed the remnants of whatever it was, then would glare at it, and attack again and again with renewed vigour - as if it would leap up and escape! The sun was starting to set when we heard another hyena calling, and a dialogue started ... the two hyenas called again and again until the caller arrived. The amazing greeting, leaping around,...
From Wim: An extra early start meant that we were in Silver - Eye's territory before sunrise, searching for buffalo and lions.There was a breathtakingly beautiful mist over the plains, with glistening water channels peeping through here and there. Elephants, lechwe, warthogs and other game appeared and then disappeared into the mist with the golden rays of the sun shining behind them and creating a glorious scene which we watched and photographed in awe. We found the lions from yesterday right on the boundary of Silver - Eye's territory. They were hastening to catch up with the buffalo, stopping now and again for some playful interactions. We were saddened to see that the mauled lioness was not with her pride - and we assume that she has not made it....
Wim Reports:Heavy clouds rolled into the area overnight fuelled by a chilly wind that caused us to bundle up before setting out this morning. The animals seemed to react to the cold as well but as we moved around we saw impala and numerous Fish Eagles again. We moved to a side channel for a while and as we returned to the Chobe River the sun was breaking through the clouds, sending strong shards of light to illuminate patches of the beautiful scene.This afternoon we returned to our favourite spot - Elephant Beach. Many Fish Eagles were around, fishing and swooping above the water, keeping us busy for some time. A large herd...
Wim Reports:The sunrise found us on the river again after our usual early start.A large number of Fish Eagles inhabit the area and we were fascinated to watch as these beautiful birds persistently fished in spite of our presence. We were able to get really close to them to watch their activities, and watched in amazement as they successfully caught fish time after time. It was interesting also to see the poaching - occasionally, after a successful catch, before the bird had a chance to settle and enjoy its meal, the fish would be snatched in mid-air by a rival, sending the first eagle straight back to start fishing again.One eagle was particularly friendly, and used our boat as a cover as he flew over the water in search of fish. We felt that we got...
Wim's News:Breakfast on the boat in the still, magical predawn added an element of mystique and excitement to the early still dark morning.We were on the water about five minutes before an absolutely spectacular sunrise. Fish Eagles were out early and were swirling around, diving, and grabbing fish in full view. These magnificent birds fishing against that warm, vibrant sky created scenes to behold.(And photograph!) In a backwater we encountered a pride of lions. They had a kill close by but unfortunately for us they had dragged it behind a bush - inaccessible for our boat. But the interactions between the members of the pride and the arrival of hordes of vultures that were continually chased by the lions, only to return again and again, kept us busy until it was time to return to the Nguni Voyager for brunch.After relaxing and thoroughly enjoying the surroundings from the boat, we...
Hilton Reports ...The early predawn found us focused on reaching the edge of Paradise Island to see if the buffalo have returned yet. They are still on the island but on the way there we first encountered the pride of lions with the two cubs - the pride that finished the remains of the buffalo on Thursday. They are still feeling full, well- fed and very relaxed. They were lying around under the bushes and trees and showed no intention of action within the coming hours. They made such a peaceful scene, lolling around and barely twitching.The second pride of lions are very close to the buffalo and getting closer and closer. They are still surrounded by lechwe.We had a very exciting morning with this pride as we photographed them creeping up, stalking the lechwe. We held our breath as they crept closer, closer, closer.Then a bound ... a lion leapt...
From Andrew: We left about 45 minutes later than usual this morning because of the rain. At first we felt a little dismayed that some roads were closed and off-roading was impossible, but the rainy conditions brought us some amazing opportunities that may not have been possible or that we may have overlooked in sunny weather. After passing impala, zebras and giraffe we came across the Styx pride of lions. They were just finishing off a young zebra, and we stopped to watch the interactions between the four lions. As we watched the mother zebra came closer and closer to the lions, searching for her foal, and when she approached too closely the lions started to hunt her, causing her to turn and flee. Undeterred, however, she came back many times and as soon as she was close enough the lions gave chase and again and again she trotted...
Hilton's News: There was an ethereal mist covering our world this morning, giving the area that mysterious, isolating feel and when animals appear out of the mist everything takes on that almost surreal quality. As we peered into the mist, picking out shapes that became various animals and birds, we saw a charming sight that kept us entranced for much of the morning. The rolling, tumbling, leaping shapes turned out to be Salayexe and her cub. They frolicked, played, jumped on each other, then licked and groomed one another, only to start hunting one another again. The beautiful sight in the truly enchanting setting kept us busy and very reluctant to leave. Back at the Lodge we had breakfast and then spent some quality time on photographic post-production work. We enjoyed transforming some of our images -including this Thick-knee. This afternoon we headed back to where...
Andrew’s News: The morning was cloudy, giving a different ambience to our images. Rock Pratincoles were at the Rapids: We were excited to find some Lesser-striped Swallows preparing to nest. We spent an absorbing few hours watching the busy birds flying back and forth and busily constructing and maintaining their nests. We captured wonderful interactions and flying sequences. Fish Eagles were plentiful: In the Savannah Backwater we encountered two Yellow-billed Kites swooping and diving around. They were collecting debris off the surface of the water also to prepare to return to their nests which they were also repairing and reconstructing for the new nesting nests. We returned to the Nguni Voyager for brunch and to soak up the wonderful serenity before setting out again in the afternoon. Although it was still cloudy, we again managed to get great, moody, dramatic photographs. We moved...
Andrew’s News: This morning we headed straight out to the Rapids on the Chobe River. The light was quite poor because of some cloud cover so we headed up onto one of the side channels. There we captured wonderful images of Fish Eagles engaged in their early morning fishing expeditions. Grey- headed Gulls were swooping around, picking up scraps from the river and also providing wonderful photo opps for us, as Skimmers gracefully skimmed across the water. We spotted a large crocodile on the bank and edged closer and closer. He was so relaxed and unfazed by our presence that we ended up using 24-70mm lenses to capture full frame images of the slumbering reptile. The light had improved greatly giving us the chance to return to the rapids for photographs of rock Pratincoles, Yellow-billed Storks and more crocs draped across the rocks all the better to soak...
