Golf, anyone?
An early season bush fire which some how managed to jump the water ways and islands across from Namibia in late August burnt back an area of dry grass almost entirely circling the camp. Within days, due to an amount of residual underground water and an out-of-character splattering of rain, the blacked ground had been replaced by sweet, short, green grass. Almost overnight, a perfect golf course was formed: broad fairways with brilliant greens, complete with ready-made holes (admittedly, some were more aardvark-sized than golf ball-sized), sandy bunkers, (termite) mounds, and several natural water hazards (complete with crocodiles and/or hippos to add that extra local hazard to the sport).
Due to luggage restrictions, and an inconsiderate lack of forward notice from Nambia that we would be having a golf course shortly, no guests came prepared with their clubs to play a round on Botswana’s newest course. However, the area was not entirely wasted. Finding the grass much more to their liking than the surrounding areas, large herds of wildebeest and zebras moved in to crop it. Although not quite the equivalent of a Serengeti migration, the numbers of beasts collecting on the open area was a wonderful sight. A green-keeper’s worst nightmare, the elephants followed along with them, pulling up any delectable shoots that were trying to push their way through. B
ack in the UK in the late 15th Century, hunting, hawking and heraldry were the three main pastimes for anyone who wasn’t a peasant. One (presumably rainy) day, when hunting wasn’t possible, someone decided to jot down a list of collective nouns, which was published in the Book of St Albans in 1486. St Albans, obviously being a major safari destination at the time, included leopards on the list. Since in our times, leopards are generally solitary beings, having a collective noun for a group of them seems somewhat optimistic. However, on the 2nd of September, the Lebala guides got to pull out that official word, and probably use it for the first time – a ‘leap’ of leopards was sighted. An adult was feeding on a reedbuck, whilst another leopard lounged nearby in a tree… We also saw a female leopard on the in a branch of a sausage tree, waiting patiently for a group of impala to move under the tree so that she could pounce on it!
The pack of 25 wild dogs are bounding around the concession, juggling from Lagoon to Lebala and back again. Whilst at Lebala, they chose to dine on an appetising warthog, and enjoyed it so much, they went to the same spot the next day and caught another! At the end of the month, they spent a few days close to the camp, chasing the wildebeest that hang out in the area.
The lions, mean while, were working their way through a rather large meal of giraffe. Five lionesses and two young cubs were seen often, and caught several buffalo, as did the males on separate occasions. An elephant which was seen tussling with another bull elephant in the water one day, was found dead half in the water the next day. Around 20 hyenas took the opportunity to grab a free meal, and feasted on the carcass.
