Hwange National Park

A Final Look at Lake Kariba, Chobe National Park and Hwange National Park…. On Safari 24

/ Curt Mekemson / 19 Comments
I promised more sunsets as I continue the wrap-up on our African safari. This one was on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe. Today, I will be focusing on those photos from Lake Kariba, Chobe National Park and Hwange National Park that were blog-worthy but didn’t fit into our earlier posts.
After sunset, it’s time for moonrise. Right? We were entertained by a full-moon at Lake Kariba one night, when we out exploring later than usual. That’s a weaver bird nest on the right, BTW.
I was curious about how my new camera would handle a close-up.
This was our houseboat on Lake Kariba.
Numerous islands were on the lake.
Most of the islands were covered in vegetation. This one featured acacia trees.
Rangers from Matusadona National Park next to Lake Kariba took us on a trip back into the park that I covered in other posts. But I missed this photo of impala and zebras running. We found that the wildlife at Matusadona was much more skittish than it had been at other national parks. I figured it was because they saw far fewer tourists, either that or there were more poachers operating in the area.
We woke up at 5:00 on the morning we were supposed to return to port because the boat was rocking and rolling. A major storm had come in overnight that none of the weather forecasts had predicted. This photo was taken from where we were anchored close to the shore. Big waves were rolling on the lake. Lake Kariba is the largest manmade lake in the world by volume. The captain took the boat out, looked at the waves, and brought the boat back in. It was too dangerous. There was talk of bringing another boat in that could handle the waves better. Eventually the waves calmed down enough that the captain was willing to make the trip. It was a rough crossing. We knew how rough when we tried to walk and when the liquor bottles came tumbling off the shelves in the bar. We survived!
While we in Africa at the wrong time to see the massive migrations that take place, this herd of Cape buffalo moving along the Chobe River gave us a feel for what it might be like.
A closer view of the Cape buffalo.
A jackal in Chobe National Park.
Here I am with the warthog at our lodge on the Chobe River. You can see how close I was and how unconcerned he was about my presence. There were several photos of this fellow when I did my post featuring warthogs.
This photo provides a look at what much of the terrain looked like in Chobe National Park away from the river. We had stopped for a snack and potty break. You are looking at the restroom. It was called wander off into the bush where you couldn’t be seen and hopefully not eaten.
Samantha demonstrates how to headload toilet paper. Guides make a tremendous difference in the success of any tour and Samantha is among the best that Peggy and I have ever had. She was knowledgeable, efficient, and fun. Hats off to the Collette Travel Agency for hiring her.
The waterlilies along the Chobe River were magnificent.
Before moving on to Hwange National Park, here’s a photo of sunset over the Chobe River.
We stayed at Iganyana Tented Camp when we visited Hwange National Park. The swimming pool where the elephants came to drink while we were eating dinner is just off to the right.
Iganyana is the name for the African painted dog. This one was located in a shelter designed to provide care for the painted dogs that had been injured.
This was our tent, which was quite comfortable, glamping at its best! The dark spot to the right of the trail was where the Cape buffalo left its calling card.
Terry Anders, who co-owns the Iganyana Tented Camp along with his wife Sheona, took us on a safari walk through the area surrounding the camp. He and one of his staff were both armed in case of a wildlife attack. Here he stopped to talk about termites. Peggy’s brother John and I were persuaded to sample what the termite mound tasted like. Dirt.
Large termite mounds were found wherever we traveled in Botswana and Zimbabwe, as they were in West Africa when I served there as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We called them bug-a-bugs in Liberia.
Cal Nyer, a photographer and videographer from the Collette Travel Agency joined us on our journey through Botswana and Zimbabwe and added a lot to our trip. Here he has climbed the stump near the Iganyana Tenanted Camp that the lions had climbed up to escape the rampaging Cape buffalo that I blogged about. I can pretty much guarantee that the lions got up there much more quickly than Cal. But had he been chased by an angry Cape buffalo…
I’ll close today with this photo of Cal and me. Next up: South Africa and our last Safari post.
Bo-Kaap is a colorful neighborhood in Cape Town South Africa.

A Slightly R-Rated Post on Baboons: On Safari 15

/ Curt Mekemson / 12 Comments
Mom checks us out. Given the ‘look,’ I don’t think I would mess with the baby. We were at a water hole in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe when we came on this mother and her baby.

In the animal kingdom, baboons are close relatives of ours, sharing 94% of our DNA. While others are closer (chimpanzees at 99% for example), 94% is close enough to feel a sense of identity, or at least imagine one. This mom’s interactions with her baby were about as ‘human’ as they get.

Assuming we were harmless, junior trotted out for a closer look…
And received a lecture from Mom for his boldness. At least that’s the way it looks!
Like us, baboons are omnivorous. This one has found a tasty stick to chew on….
While carrying on a conversation with another baboon. He may be talking, in a way. Baboons have 10 or more vocalizations they use to communicate.
His communication with us seemed clear.
The baboons here were harvesting the fruit in this tree. Our guide told us they chewed off the outer rind, which was spicy, and ate the sweeter fruit in the middle. Impalas, apparently liking spicy, waited under the tree to gulp down the rinds.
Here’s a closer look.
An impala feasting on the rinds is at the base of the tree. Several more baboons can be seen on the ground. Groups of baboons are called troops.
I’ve already featured baboons sifting through elephant dung to find ‘tasty’ tidbits.
Two of them were hard at work with the chore.
We saw lots of baboons going about their business in Chobe National Park. This little fellow seemed to be in a hurry. Maybe mom was calling.
A distant photo caught a mother carrying its baby that was hanging on underneath. We saw another baby riding on its mother’s back like a cowboy rides a horse.
Mom and a teenage baboon make their way through the grounds of the Safari Lodge where we stayed next to the Chobe River.
This handsome dude seemed to be focused on something other than food. (Warning: Now’s the time for the R-rated part of this post.)
And found her. Females have patches on their rear that turn bright red when they are ready to mate. If males are a little slow on the uptake, the females ‘flirt’ by backing up to them. No flirting was required here. That’s it for today. And no more R-rated posts until we get to the mongoose. Monday’s post will feature a number of birds we saw on the safari that I haven’t covered yet: They range from sublime to ugly.

Come on in, the Mud’s Fine… Plus a Dramatic Rescue Effort by Elephants in Chobe National Park: On Safari (Part 1)

/ Curt Mekemson / 50 Comments
This baby elephant had just wrapped up a mud bath in Chobe National Park, Botswana. It was about to become part of a dramatic rescue effort.

Today, I am starting my series of posts on Peggy and my recent safari to Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. It was an incredible adventure, one of our best ever. We owe a large vote of thanks to Peggy’s brother John and his wife Frances for asking us if we would like to join them on the Collette Travel Agency organized trip. Along the way, we visited four national parks, Victoria Falls and Cape Town— staying in accommodations that ranged from a safari lodge, to a tent camp, to a house boat, and comfortable hotels.

Peggy, Frances, John and I with an elephant backdrop on safari in Chobe National Park, Botswana. We were in an open-sided river boat on the Chobe River that provided great views of the wildlife. Since elephants are my subject for the next three posts, I decided repost this photo I used in my last blog.

As for the wildlife we saw? It was incredible! That’s the only way I can think to describe it. In addition to seeing a great variety, we watched them going about their daily business of eating, sleeping, fighting, breeding and even pooping. (Elephants do a lot and hippos whirl their tails like a fan when going. It’s best not get caught in the splatter zone.) What we hadn’t expected to see was the colorful birdlife. It was a plus. Our guides also went out of their way to introduce us to local African culture, which I appreciated a lot, given my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa.

While we weren’t on a photographic safari, per se, we took a few. Make that 5,000. Grin. We will share some of the best. Exploring in open safari vehicles and boats, plus a “walking safari” provided excellent opportunities for both observation and photography. Our approach will be to feature one animal per blog for the major animals and then move to combined posts for the the birds and animals we saw fewer of.

I’m starting today with elephants. I was going to do two posts on these large, intelligent, family oriented animals but decided on three after I noted a rescue effort by family members when I was reviewing our photos of elephants enjoying a mud bath in Chobe National Park. It reflects an important aspect of how elephants care for one another.

But first, let me begin by noting that elephants take lots of baths, both by cavorting in mud and spraying water (and muddy water!) on themselves. Getting clean isn’t the objective, obviously. With minimal hair and few sweat glands, keeping cool in the hot African sun isn’t easy. The mud baths provide an opportunity to cool down, but they also serve as sunblock, and, to a degree, insect repellent. Elephants can get sunburned. And what blood sucking bug wants a mouthful of mud?

Many of the elephants we saw had mud caked on their wrinkly skin like this one in Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe.
This family of elephants had been grazing on an island in the Chobe River and then crossed over to the shore through the river. Along the way, they had washed off much of their mud. It was time for another mud bath.
The bath was located conveniently on their way back into the trees where they would feed on leaves, even if they had to knock over trees to get them. Mom, and the baby shown at the beginning of the post, seem to be having a grand time.
Not all was well, with the family, however. One was down and obviously having problems, possibly with a rock embedded in her foot. A concerted rescue effort was about to take place.
Members of the family were able to persuade her to stand up and worked out a plan. What happened next was dramatic, to say the least.
At first I thought that all of the elephants had crowded together to share the mud hole. Now I am convinced that they joined together to help push the young female out of the hole. Even the calf was lending a shoulder. The young male on the right may have been offering a trunk for support.
The adults, having achieved their objective of starting the injured elephant on her way, moved on. The two younger elephants continued to provide support.
But then, she fell again, despite their boost…
And ended up back in the hole. The youngsters switched locations to encourage her to get up again.
And put their whole bodies into the effort.
They succeeded and she began crawling out on her own. It wasn’t easy.
Note how she is using her trunk for leverage and balance, pulling it toward her and making the dust fly. I’ll write more about this marvelous appendage in my next two posts.
Between pulling with her front legs and pushing with her hind legs while using her trunk for balance, she inched toward success. The other elephants moving on likely provided incentive.
Finally, she made it! Ears flapping she rushed off to catch up with her family.

Searching on the net, I found where moms help their babies out when they are stuck in mud holes. I also read that when an adult went down, possibly because of old age, the other elephants gather around and help it stand, leaning in to provide support. Such behavior suggests the caring, empathetic nature of elephants. My post today provides a unique example, particularly the role played by the younger elephants.

I’ll conclude today by providing an example of another mud bath, this time traveling into Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Several artificial water holes have been established in the park to provide wildlife with water in dry season. It also serves to spread the animals out to reduce overgrazing. Peggy and I took these photos from an observation tower that had been set up beside one of the water holes.

One elephant left its bath while another remained, seeming to play submarine and blow bubbles. Actually, it was using its trunk and possibly its tusks and feet to stir up mud for its mud bath.
Having stirred up enough, the elephant surfaced. We were amused by the secretary bird who seemed shocked to see this ‘dark creature rising from the black lagoon.’
It seemed to offer a salute. Maybe it was scratching its head…
And who knows what it was up to with this pose. The photo-bombing secretary bird didn’t seem impressed.
It finished off its bath by spraying itself with muddy water it had sucked into its trunk. I’ll leave you with the vision. In our next post, we’ll continue to explore the fascinating world of elephants, plus visit an elephant graveyard.

Hippos and Lions and Elephants, Oh My… African Safari 2023— Up Close and Personal

/ Curt Mekemson / 47 Comments
Come on in, the water’s fine. How fast can you swim? I can manage 5 miles per mile galloping along the bottom and 19 miles per hour on land.

It took me a while to get back to Africa after my Peace Corps assignment there from 1965-67.  When my feet first touched African soil at Roberts Field in Liberia, Peace Corps was a baby of four and I barely qualified as a young adult at 22. That was 58 years ago. I always wanted to go back, but there was a lifetime of other things that needed to be seen and done…

A very young me as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gbarnga, Liberia in 1967 with the senior class. I taught African History, World History and World Geography at Gboveh High School. My students took top national honors in Social Studies that year.

Peggy and I made up for our lack of African travel this year. In February we flew off to Egypt and boated up the Nile to celebrate my 80th birthday. It was an incredible experience, packed with ancient history and magnificent structures stretching back over 5000 years.

Peggy and I doing the tourist thing after we had just re-entered the world of the living from our trip deep under the pyramid of Khafre at Giza.

Now, we have just returned from a journey to the southern part of the African continent that included national parks in Botswana and Zimbabwe, Lake Kariba, Victoria Falls and Cape Town. It was equal to, if not more impressive than our Egypt adventure. Imagine a herd of several dozen wild elephants joining us for dinner by drinking out of a swimming pool located next to our dining table.

Elephants kept arriving to drink out of the swimming pool which was located about 20 feet away from our dining table at Iganyana Tented Camp in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. One group would finish and another would arrive to take its place. This went on for at least an hour. I was kept busy with our iPhone taking photos. Best dinner show we have ever had!

Our recent trip started with a call from Peggy’s brother, John Dallen. Eleven years ago we took a delightful repositioning cruise with him, his wife Frances and friends Lee and Kathy Saaga, exploring the Mediterranean before sailing across the Atlantic back home. Since then, John has called several times with offers to join Frances and him in exploring the world. There were some great trips. But, as John likes to note, our travel styles differ substantially. If he is going to be out for six months, each day is carefully planned and reservations made, normally at four and five star hotels. If Peggy and I travel for six months, we have a vague idea of where we are going and make reservations a day in advance, if then. We once travelled for a year without making one.  Our normal mode of travel is with a van or small travel trailer— or, putting our backpacks on and disappearing into the wilderness.

Frances, John, Peggy, Kathy and Lee in Santorini, one of the many places we visited in the Mediterranean.

This time, John made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. “Would you like to go on an African safari with us?” It took us five seconds to say yes. There would be hippos and lions and elephants to see, not to mention leopards, wart hogs, baboons and numerous other animals and birds. I will be featuring the places we visited and the wildlife we saw in our next several posts.

Today’s photos will give you a taste of what to expect. Peggy was traveling with her usual camera, a Canon EOS Rebel with a 20 to 300 mm Tamron lens. For Africa, I upgraded from my pocket Canon Power Shot to a different version, a Canon Power Shot SX 70 HS. Due to the miracle of modern technology it comes with a 21 to 1365 35mm equivalent lens and weighs just over a pound. It made it possible for us to capture photos like the hippo above. 

The King of Beasts, proves his cat like nature by washing his face with a paw bath…
While the Queen of Beasts just looks regal.
It’s a croc! Is that a smile? Maybe he is dreaming of an impala dinner.
“Wait for me Mom. I’m hurrying as fast as I can!” This baby elephant in Chobe National Park, Botswana was playing catchup.
Gulp. Ostriches graze with their heads down and then raise it up to swallow. Obviously this guy had quite a gullet full. We came on him a couple of miles from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.
The local bus? Given this photo, it may be hard to believe that the Cape Buffalo is the most dangerous animal in Africa. The birds aren’t getting a free ride, however. They are picking bugs off, which is much appreciated by both the birds and the buffalo.
Would you believe my grey blue tongue is about 19 inches long?
Have you seen any road or lion kill? I’m not particular about where it is or how long it has been there.
We found this cute little fellow on Table Mountain above Cape Town, South Africa. I’m betting you probably don’t know its closest relatives. We sure didn’t. They are the elephant and the manatee.
I’ll conclude today with this photo of Peggy, Frances, John and me on the Chobe River with an elephant backdrop. My next post will feature these elephants and many more we met along the way! John, BTW, has a travel blog you might want to check out at: dallen.posthaven.com. He calls his blog “Are We There Yet?”