Moremi Game Reserve - Day 7

Paradise pools sunrise. 

Our plan in the morning was to head first to Paradise Pools, and if nothing was there, we'd head into the area where we'd seen the leopard and then make our way slowly to Khwai. The good thing about paradise pools is that its only 4km from the entrance gate so we arrived there while it was still dark and were able to catch a few nice shots of the sunrise with dead trees as a focus point. 

The dead trees of Paradise pools. 

We headed around the corner to a shallow lake to see if anything was there. Opposite the lake is another waterhole that is the channel overflowing. And as we drew near, we saw an antelope in the water. It wasn't the usual water antelope so common in the delta, the red lechwe, and we took a closer look and then couldn't believe our eyes. There standing and staring at us close to the edge was a sitatunga - the rarest of antelopes and by far the most difficult one to see. 

Shaggy coat and back legs appear higher. 

This shy and reclusive animal is usually only seen deep in the swamps so to catch one in the open was absolutely amazing. We'd only seen a sitatunga once before when we'd taken a boat ride in the Caprivi region in Namibia and that had been a quick glimpse before they bolted into the rushes so to see this chap just calmly standing there was amazing. 

Habitat is swamps which is very different to anything else. 

It was unfortunately too dark to shoot him well but against all odds he didn't run off and eventually the light became better and we were able to take a few photos. In fact, we spent close to an hour with him watching him feed on the aquatic vegetation until he finally moved to an area in the lake that hid him from view and we left him still happily grazing. 

Red Lechwe, also like the water and unique to the swamps.  

While watching him, we were also able to get some photos of the lechwe in the opposite lake in beautiful light - a lovely start to the morning. We also found some Meyer's parrots, unusually down on the ground rather than in the tree canopy that allowed us to get some shots of these bright birds. Not having anticipated spending so much time in paradise pools, we headed out to search the area we'd seen the leopard the previous day, but there was no sign of him. 

Morning scenes at Paradise pools.

We made our way along the waters edge and found a small herd of zebra drinking in good light, so we positioned ourselves to get a few shots with their reflection in the water. We wound our way to an intersection that was blocked by the water and could see that the levels had risen from the previous day with the water snaking along the road. We stopped there to take a couple of photos of the rising delta waters as well as a couple of elephants that were grazing in the waters. 

Meyers Parrot. 

A stop further along gave us a delightful scene of an elephant bathing in the water. He was almost completely submerged with only a bit of his back showing, and every now and then blowing bubbles with his trunk. Anyone who says animals don't have feel joy has never seen an elephant playing in the water. It was starting to get hot and we decided it was time to make the crossing to Khwai where we'd be spending the next 2 nights. 

Picture perfect reflections, Zebs are so photogenic. 

The drive is a largely boring drive through mopane woodland on a straight corrugated road but there are a few stops along the way that lead to the water so we took advantage of that. We met a couple of hire cars that were going the same way and were amused to find that they were the campsite at Xakanaxa that was raided by the elephant. 

Big guys having fun in the water. 

Apparently he had ripped their fridge out the car and dropped it on the ground while they hid in the toilet block taking photos. Hopefully he doesn't become a campsite menace as sooner or later someone will get hurt. We also came across a lone brit that seemed to have no idea of where he was or what road he was on besides having a photo of a basic map. He just knew he needed to get to 3rd bridge, so Dru directed him to how to get there but we think he was a big candidate for getting stuck at the 2nd bridge detour. 

We made the Khwai campsite by lunchtime and were happy to see that the site did have shade as we hadn't been sure it would have when we'd booked. While having lunch we debated what to do. We'd got some intel from the gate and then guides that 3 wild dogs had been spotted near the camp this morning and lions had been spotted outside the park near the Khwai airstrip. 

We knew about these dogs as they were often seen and photographed in Magotho and we knew they had pups. A passing car had told us that they'd seen the dogs outside the park at their den this morning. Since it was still the heat of the day and a couple of hours until we wanted to start our evening drive we decided to check out the airstrip and see if we could get any intel on these dogs. 

Khwai campsite (#3), the water is high with the bridge in the back ground. 

We made our way out of the Khwai gate, across the bridge and through the Khwai village and then used Google maps to find the airstrip noting that there were quite a few lodges on this side of the river, outside the park but having a view of Moremi. Luckily as we got to the airstrip we came across a guide without any guests so he was quite willing to talk and give us the info we were searching for. 

The crucial piece of information was that the dogs had moved their den this morning so they didn't yet know where it was. Secondly there had been a few lions at the northern end of the airstrip in the morning but had disappeared. And they'd also seen a pride of 17 at the Dombo hippo pools the previous day. They were a pride that had come out of the adjacent concession, killed a baby elephant but had moved back into the concession after eating. 

The Wattled Crane, another Delta special. 

We planned to look for the wild dogs and started heading to where they had been seen but after working out just how far away it was and how much time it would take just to get to the area let alone search for the dogs, we decided that it was not worth sacrificing our park round, so we turned around and headed back into the park with a plan to head to Dombo hippo pools to see if there was any sign of this big lion pride. 

Happy days in the swamps. 

Unfortunately, we couldn't see any sign of lions at Dombo and the water channel was already flowing across the road that led to the hippo pools lookout making for a tricky crossing that looked full of mud. With no one else around in case we got stuck and needed to be pulled out we decided not to chance it and slowly meandered back between the forest and the floodplain. 

Water in dry grass, the beauty of rising flood waters. 

The highlight of the afternoon was an elephant scene - we came across at least 2 dozen elephants crossing through the mopane to get to the water to drink. We worked out where we thought they'd drink and were rewarded with a lovely seen of elephants drinking from the fresh delta waters in a grassland, with a surprising number of short tailed elephants, maybe the result of a genetic abnormality or of lions biting them off we weren't sure. 

It's always interesting to watch elephant behavior and this was no exception. All were happily drinking when suddenly they all started rushing out of the water as if they'd been spooked. And then as one they all froze. We've seen this happen before and we think when they freeze like that its because they're listening, normally for other elephants and they will only start moving again when the matriarch gives the signal. Again this seemed to be what happened and it was fascinating to watch. 

Saddle Billed Stork, always nice to see them. 

This side of the park seemed to be good for elephant and we came across plenty making their way out of the forest and heading to the nearest water point. Back close to camp we came across the 6 wattled cranes that were fishing in the shallow waters so spent some time with them before heading to the western side to see if we could catch a leopard in the dying light. That was not to be, so we headed back to camp and made our way to the ablution block that has hot water for showers before setting up camp. 

One of the numerous dead-tree islands in Moremi.

The biggest problem about Khwai campsite being so close to the village is that the village noises travel easily and so most of the evening we had to hear what sounded like a drunk man on a microphone babbling on to the background of the loud gate generator and the water pump that uses the generator to fill the ablution water tanks. 

Common Water Buck, hardly even see them in water!

The hyena stated whooping once it was dark and soon after we spotted him on his evening patrol through the campsites looking for any camper not paying attention and not protecting their food. We didn't give him any opportunity to steal our dinner and instead enjoyed our pork chops without hyena bite marks before heading up to bed with thankfully the gate generator now quiet for the night allowing for nature's chorus to lull us to sleep.

Clear water without green grass, signs of rising delta waters.