We thought we were seeing things when we came across an enormous crocodile walking along the road.
Crocodiles will wander surprisingly far from water and are ectotherms, meaning they rely on the outside environment to regulate their body temperature. Although October is usually the hottest month of the year in Botswana, access to water on the Kwando Private Reserve means crocodiles regulate their body heat effectively using cool waters. They also have very high levels of lactic acid in their blood (which would be almost toxic for a mammal), which helps them remain motionless for long periods.
A pride divided
The soap opera of the Wapuka lion pride presented a plot twist: it has now split into two. The lions are divided into groups of two and three females, each having six cubs. One half of the pride made a base near Lebala camp, while the other has headquarters a few kilometres away.
We enjoyed almost daily sightings of the pride near camp hunting on the floodplains. They had little daytime success, however, nighttime proved productive, and we frequently saw cubs licking the blood of some unfortunate prey off their mother’s nose come morning. A massive bonus for the camp pride was an elephant’s (natural) death to the east of Lebala Camp, which granted several days of feasting. The young cubs spent much of the time using the skeleton as a climbing frame and playground.
This month, five leopards, including a mating couple, were seen on various occasions. One day, we followed the sounds of furious baboons to find a leopard high up in the tree above a large troop. A big male baboon is a formidable adversary, and they have been known to kill leopards. While the baboons were, perhaps understandably, not keen to go up into the tree, the leopard spent an hour uncomfortably perched in her hiding place. As soon as the baboons started to move away, she leapt down and vanished at pace into the bush. The next day we watched a different female leopard stalking three male impalas. As she crept closer and tensions ballooned, three large male warthogs exploded from the bush and charged her. Caught completely by surprise, and with the three impalas now heading at speed in the opposite direction, she had to retreat and nurse her wounded pride.
Two male cheetahs roamed the reserve, and we frequently tracked them to their favourite resting perch at a termite mound with full bellies.
Brown hyena den at Lebala Camp is still active
The brown hyena den was still active, but we only caught fleeting glimpses during the day due to sunny temperatures. The spotted hyena den was still in use too, despite attempts by the lions to dig out the pups last month. The lions revisited the site, so the cautious hyenas spent less time there, but we saw them periodically.
Like last month, we enjoyed large herds of elephants, buffalos and zebras, kudus, tsessebes, giraffes and wildebeests crossing the floodplains. Roan and sable also gathered in small herds, and we had the pleasure of sharing the bush with Crowned cranes, Southern ground hornbills and Secretarybirds.
(Please note: For the safety of the animals, we do not disclose the location of either rhino or pangolin sightings. Accompanying pictures are from our Kwando Photo Library which consists of all your great photo submissions over the years, it may not be the most up to date, but we felt it was worthy of a feature alongside this month’s Sightings Report!)
