This month, something arrived that we had been waiting a very long time for. Rain. And lots of it. Actually, all over northern Botswana, the weather appeared to be trying to make up for lost time, and dumped as much as it could in a few days. They also heralded the (very late) start of the zebra migration. Normally peaking in January or February, the zebras had not arrived at all prior to March, as they waited for the rains that would signal the start of a good growth of grass. By mid March there were hundreds, if not thousands, dotted over the open areas of Nxai Pan. A wonderful sight to see – and very welcome. (Welcomed also, by the lions, who now concentrate on eating as much zebra as they can whilst the season lasts!)
Last month the lions seemed to take extended holidays in the south of the park, making forays out into the village area to hunt cows. This month, they were firmly resident in central Nxai Pan. They were not seen on only five days – probably the days where we didn’t do any game drives! The rest of the time the most commonly spotted lions were the two females with two sub adults. However, the two males were also seen often as well, and one day there was a grand total of 20 individual lions found!
With so many lions, the cheetahs were keeping a slightly lower profile. The adult female was seen several times, but by far the most sightings were of her two off-spring, now independent of her, but still learning all that it means to be an adult cheetah. They are sticking close to the home range that she introduced them to.
Four wild dogs also spent some time in the area. We saw them chasing impala, but they didn’t have any luck catching the one we saw, as it dashed out into the large open area, running through fairly deep water that had collected after the heavy rain that had fallen that morning.
And with the rains – at last the pressure eases off the camp to continually pump water for the elephants! The herds soon disappear off into the further reaches of the park, where there is ample water to drink in the pans and pools.
