Another week has gone by with the world learning more and more about COVID-19. One thing that seems sure is that we will be living with it for some time to come. Nations are managing to reduce the infection rate to very low, and keeping it in check, but global eradication is still far from realistic. We all hope for a vaccine soon so that people can protect themselves, and those they come into contact with, and so that tourism and travel can begin once more.
We had enjoyed some fantastic times in the bush this week, with several family outings and a couple of days spent up north in the area around Lion Camp. I created a real-time safari journal while I was up there which can be watched on my Instagram page. That video journal provides behind-the-scenes footage and the story of how the sightings came about. (Some web browsers don’t allow the sound from the story, so try viewing on a phone).
As always, what follows is the weekly update of sightings from the bush, some of which are from the excursion to the north of the park that is covered in the instagram stories. Thanks for reading!
Early morning on a cloudy day, I sat with some hippos who appeared to be playing in the shallow water. The jacanas wanted to stay nearby to capture insects flushed by their movements, but got one hell of a fright when one of the hippos burst through the weed!
The play escalated at one point, with spray and teeth going in all directions!
Soft, enveloping light on this young elephant gives a beautiful glowing image.
Waterbuck eye us suspiciously. The massive floods generated great grazing so we are seeing more waterbuck early in the season this year.
On the way to the north of the park, we found a coalition of three male lions on the river bank. One male was already embedded in a bush, the second was lounging in the warm sun and this guy was scowling at us intently.
Arriving in the ebony grove behind Kaingo Camp, we found the Baobab Forest pack of wild dogs. The light was bright, and they were rather lethargic, but we took some shots and planned to return in the evening.
Beautiful river scenes in the north of the park.
The dogs were active in the afternoon, with nice greetings and the start of a hunt. The light was very poor but we had fun following them at dusk.
Fish eagle lagoon – one of my favourites for all the amazing sightings that I have enjoyed there – still holds lots of water. A large hippo was holding his ground in the shallows.
A ground hornbill briefly shows off its large wings and bright white flight feathers which are used for courtship and as a hunting tool.
We were thrilled to find the Hollywood pride close to Lion Camp, including this very sleepy male….
….and his “brother” who roused only after sunset when it was nearly dark!
Very early the following morning I went out to find the Hollywoods again. The males gave me a great display of calling, and the females joined (see my Instagram story) before they snoozed through the morning.
The male occasionally raised his head to check on the females who were moving around nearby.
Back in the central area of the park, I spent some time one cold morning with the baboons at the main entrance to the park as they warmed up in the morning sun.
A duo of egrets; a great white on the left and a yellow-billed on the right.
Sparring youngsters blocked the road for some time when I took my family out one morning. The trunk-in-the-mouth gesture is used as a greeting between elephants when herds meet or close relatives wish to reinforce their bonds.
On our family outing, we decided to look for Lucy and her cubs (featured highly in last week’s edition of this blog) so combed the area where they can often be found. Mum and the male cub were out somewhere, but the female was in her usual area and being pestered by a hyaena. The addition of a vehicle to mix proved too much for her and she broke cover and moved away from the hyaena. She hid for a little while before coming out to bask in the sun on a sandbank. We left her to it, hoping not to attract the attention of the hyaena once more!As always, I thank you for following along with my solo safaris this season and I wish you all the best as your countries navigate whatever stage of COVID you have reached.
