Slideshow from April trip: Karkloof Spa (South Africa), Natures Valley (South Africa), Okavango Delta (Mombo and Jao Camps) and Linyati (Kings Pool Camp).

For the full album click to visit Picasa web albums.

Winner of Shutterstock’s 2010 Photo Safari Contest!

"Congratulations to John Batdorff of Chicago, Illinois, for winning Shutterstock’s 2010 Photo Safari Contest, sponsored by B&H Photo and Zozi! Batdorff wins a safari for two in South Africa, including three nights on safari at the Lions Sands River Lodge and three nights exploring Cape Town courtesy of Roar Africa, plus $2,000 which can be used towards airfare."

South African Airways is advertising a last minute limited availability fare to get you to the World Cup. Click the advertisement to enlarge or click here for more. At ROAR AFRICA we are still managing to find people last minute accommodation for the World Cup.
It's still possible! Call us on +1 877 ROAR AFR.

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Last week we spotted this magnificent black-maned lion at Tswalu Kalahari, South Africa.
Many people are not aware that lions vary considerably around Africa. Adult male lions weight generally ranges between 150–250 kg (330–550 lb). On average about 5% heavier in southern Africa than East Africa. The presence, absence, color, and size of the mane is associated with genetic precondition, sexual maturity, climate, and testosterone production; the rule of thumb is the darker and fuller the mane, the healthier the lion (other things being equal). The Kalahari lions are renowned for the large size and black manes. This one was in beautiful condition.

Congratulations to TravelScope, the documentary travel series for television that has just been nominated for an Emmy. ROAR AFRICA hosted TravelScope last year for the filming of two episodes of the new season which begins next month: South Africa - On Safari and Mozambique.The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the nominees for the 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards on May 12th. Travelscope is nominated for an Emmy® in the Outstanding Special Class Series category.

You can read more about the filming of these two episodes on our BLOG: Safari & Mozambique or on Travelscope's website (see below).
Travelscope press release.
Episodes ROAR AFRICA hosted: South Africa - On Safari & Mozambique

Have a close look at the picture below (click to enlarge).Your eyes are not deceiving you - that's an African Wild Dog taking an afternoon nap very close to a Black-backed Jackal.

Botswana is full of surprises. Last month we came accorss this female African Wild Dog living with Jackals. Firstly Wild Dogs normally can't survive long alone. They need their pack to hunt and protect one another. Secondly, Jackals are normally competition for them. Competitors fight one another or at least drive one another away.

Apparently this female Wild Dog somehow got left behind by her pack on Chiefs Island, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. That was more than a year ago. She is an incredible hunter and has managed to hunt by herself and stay safe from lions and hyenas for all that time. Our guide Dr Malinga told us she has formed this remarkable partnership with the Jackals. Their new Dog-Jackal pack is a neat symbiosis whereby the Jackals offer some protection in the form of additional eyes, ears and noses, and she provides additional food. The Jackals can't keep up on the hunt but yet she shares the kill. In fact, most remarkably of all, she was apparently regurgitating food for the Jackals pups. That absolutely amazed us!

Last month we met Legadema, the famous leopard on Chief's Island in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Legadema (lah-heh-deem-uh)—Setswana for "light from the sky"— is the star of the award winning documentary Eye of the Leopard by Beverly and Dereck Joubert. The Jouberts tracked and filmed her from eight days old for for three years.

There are some intense scenes in the film. For example when she narrowly escapes an attack by a pride of lions. Lions will kill rival predators when the opportunity presents itself. We actually watched a lioness hunting Legadema last month. We were watching the lions when both we and the primary hunter, a one-eyed lioness, heard Legadema's call. She was marking her territory nearby. We followed the lioness as she stalked Legadema for 10 minutes before giving up the chase. Click to enlarge the picture of the one-eyed lioness. You can see her large, swollen, purple eye. Apparently it has been like that for more than a year and she is still the most successful hunter in the pride.

Another remarkable scene from the Eye of the Leopard is when Legadema kills a baboon which, unbeknownst to her, has a tiny infant clinging to it's belly. I was telling this story on the Land Rover when our guide, Dr Malinga, said "Yes, that is the Leopard we just saw...Legadema. She's a movie star". I could hardly believe it.

In the baboon incident Legadema's maternal instincts seem to get confused as the infant reaches out to her for protection. She mothers the baby baboon for the night curled up on a tree branch. The infant dies during the night. You can watch that clip below...

It's not the first time I've heard of predators looking after their prey. A lioness adopted a baby Orynx in Kenya and looked after it for two weeks. You can read that story here or watch the video below:

Here's a link to the Eye of the Leopard

If you'd like to find out more, Legadema even has a Facebook page here.

Last week ROAR AFRICA hosted a cocktail party at the home of Henry Buhl. This was a celebration of our 5th anniversary and the upcoming FIFA World Cup which is being hosted South Africa. In this vein we honored our friend and artist Joseph Peter. With his partners Coca-Cola and FIFA, Joey traveled 53 countries in 75 days with the FIFA trophy and produced an amazing work of art; The African Book of Happiness. What a wonderful project to share the inherent optimism of the African people instead of what we see on the news every day.

Many people wanted further information on Joey's book so he has kindly written up some more detailed information that I have attached. (Click each page below to enlarge).

It was a great honor to celebrate his incredible work and we look forward to the many new editions that will follow as Joey covers the globe.

www.theafricanbookofhappiness.com

All photographs copyright Joseph Peter.
www.josephpeter.com

One beautiful night in Botswana, between dinner at the boma and our tented suite, we were amused to find this elephant browsing next to the path. He couldn't have been more precise with his chosen spot. (Click to enlarge the photo.)

Last month at Jao Camp in the Okavango Delta there was a big ruckus in the middle of the night as two Hippo bulls dueled to the death. It's not uncommon for a territorial fight to end in the death of a hippo, but what is unusual was what we witnessed the following morning. (click image to enlarge)

We came across the victor practically in the camp before we saw the corpse of his vanquished rival on it's side in the shallow water. We watched as the hippo approached the corpse, circled it, and then tentatively chewed on it's front leg. Next, using the leg for leverage, it rolled the corpse over, and held it like that for a while. It didn't seem to be biting pieces off. In fact the behavior reminded me of elephants I have heard of trying to rouse their dead friends. See previous post here. I wondered if there was some kind of emotion there. I even wondered if there was regret. I seriously doubted it but I had never heard of or witnessed such behavior and neither had our guide. Before too long it lost interest and waded off.

I have spoken to a few people about what to make of this. Apparently it is not unheard of. Rob Moore of Lion Sands speculated that perhaps it was latent aggression from the night before. They are very aggressive animals and that dead hippo was still in the others territory. Hippos certainly are not normally carnivorous, but there are reports of hippos actually eating other animals or each other. These are probably cases of aberrant behavior. (for Carnivorous Hippo reports: click here.)

Whatever the cause it made for a fascinating safari experience. We spent two hours at the entrance to camp watching this scene and returned in the evening to see the eyes of the first few crocodiles who had found the corpse. The following day the corpse, already bloated and stinking, was towed a little further away from the camp. By now I am sure there is little left of it.

Note: a video of this scene will be added to this post in due course.

Press Release from SAA: [Shortened by ROAR AFRICA]

JetBlue Airways and South African Airways Proudly Announce New Interline Agreement

-- Effective May 12, 2010, travelers can purchase flights between several JetBlue destinations and 40 SAA cities in Southern Africa via New York’s JFK Airport--

New York (May 7, 2010) – New York’s hometown airline JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU) and South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, announced today that they have established a comprehensive interline agreement, providing new and convenient connection options for both SAA and JetBlue customers wishing to travel between the U.S. and Southern Africa. Effective May 12, 2010, customers will be able to purchase a single itinerary for travel on flights of both carriers in one simple transaction, enjoying easy connecting service between select JetBlue cities and 40 cities in the South African Airways network via JFK. ....

New York’s JFK is a key gateway for SAA with their daily non-stop flights to South Africa and is also the base of operations for JetBlue Airways, where it is the largest domestic airline. By working together at JFK the carriers will offer more options for travel between the United Stated and Southern Africa and provide customers with a smooth travel experience.

This new partnership will offer increased convenience to customers on both sides of the Atlantic by allowing customers to travel on one single e-ticket and by offering through check-in. Customers will be able to check their bags to their final destination and receive boarding cards for both carriers’ flights upon check-in with either JetBlue in the U.S. or SAA in Southern Africa.

....

Marc Cavaliere, executive vice president, North America for South African Airways: “Additionally, there are great synergies in service between the two airlines as we both put a premium on customer service and satisfaction,” he added. “Perhaps best of all, this agreement comes just in time for the soccer championship in South Africa, and is a new and convenient way for JetBlue customers to experience the excitement of the tournament.”

......

South African Airways has a specially-created corporate division in place dedicated to ensuring that fans have the most comfortable and convenient service to and between the World Cup matches, including a round-the-clock domestic African flight schedule that will make it easy to fly to and from matches in the different cities. This schedule will complement SAA’s already extensive flight schedule throughout Southern Africa that connects with the airline’s daily flights from New York/JFK.

In addition, all South African Airways flights in Johannesburg depart from the new, state-of-the-art Terminal B, providing for smooth and timely flight connections through a beautiful and modern terminal packed with many shopping, dining and relaxation options. A new lounge will provide Premium Business Class passengers with a luxurious haven in which to catch up on work, grab a bite to eat, or freshen up with revitalizing rainfall showers. Upon arrival in New York customers will transfer to JetBlue’s new state-of-the-art Terminal 5 at JFK with its wide array of shopping and dining options as well as free Wi-Fi throughout the terminal and enjoy a seamless connection into the JetBlue network.

Domestic service in the U.S. will be operated by JetBlue’s fleet of Airbus A320 and EMBRAER E190 aircraft. Both aircraft feature comfy leather seats equipped with personal seatback TVs that offer JetBlue’s signature in-flight entertainment: 36 channels of free, live DIRECTV programming and more than 100 channels of free XM Satellite radio. On flights longer than two hours, a selection of first-run movies and bonus features from JetBlue Features is also available.

About South African Airways

South African Airways features daily nonstop service from the U.S. to South Africa with morning departures from New York JFK, and afternoon direct service from Washington Dulles (with a stop in Dakar, Senegal) that offer travel convenience and award-winning service with state-of-the-art Airbus A340 aircraft. Travelers in Premium Business Class enjoy 180° fully flat-bed seats, and in economy class enjoy the most legroom versus competitors......SAA’s unrivaled network, featuring seamless connections to nearly 20 destinations within South Africa, and more than 25 cities across the rest of the continent, makes the airline the savvy traveler’s “gateway to Africa.” .....For more information on South African Airways, please call (800) 722-9675 or visit www.flysaa.com, where travelers can sign up to be notified of great travel deals and vacation packages.

About JetBlue Airways

Voted "Most Eco-Friendly Airline" by Zagat's Airline Survey in 2008 and 2009, New York-based JetBlue Airways has created a new airline category based on value, service and style. In 2009, the carrier also ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Low-Cost Carriers in North America" by J.D. Power and Associates, a customer satisfaction recognition received for the fifth year in a row....For information or reservations call 1-800-JET-BLUE (1-800-538-2583), TTY/TDD 1-800-336-5530 or visit www.jetblue.com.

Twenty villages in Botswana have been evacuated after the Okavango River burst its banks. Officials in Botswana have called for a joint intervention to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases and more than 200 families have been moved to higher ground.

The Okavango Delta receives it's water from rains which falls months earlier mostly in the highlands of Angola. Part of the beauty of this ecosystem is that the waters finally arrive in the delta as the dry season begins, thereby supporting an amazing array of fauna and flora.

This year's flood waters have been particularly high. When we were in the Okavango Delta two weeks ago the water levels were already above the peak of 2009, and that's with a month or two to go before the expected peak. As you can see in the chart below, on April 20th the flow of water at the entrance to the Delta was almost at the rate of the very high 1984 levels. All that water is still pushing out into the Delta.

click to enlarge...
cubic meters per second on the Okavango River just as it enters Botswana. Source: eyesonafrica.com

Some safari camps in the Delta are going to face challenges with transportation of guests and supplies. In fact some may close this year. Many bush roads we traveled on already had water coming up to the the Land Rover doors. That's not unusual and it was all part of the fun but at a certain point it will become a logistical nightmare. All the more incentive to enjoy the wonderful water-based safaris by motor boat and makoro.