We watched this incredible scene outside Jao Camp for two hours. A hippo we were watching started gnawing on what we suddenly realized was a hippo corpse - his opponent defeated in the battle we had heard the night before.

For the previous post on this story and photos click here:

http://roarafrica.blogspot.com/2010/05/hippo-canabilism-okavango-delta.html

Facebook users: view original post for this video.

After some initial nervous ear-flapping and trumpeting these elephants gathered around for a closer look at us - a wonderful encounter.

Notice how they surrounded the calf protectively. We were en route to the beautiful Kings Pool camp in northern Botswana. Minutes after arrival on the airstrip we were in the thick of things Botswana style.

Facebook users - Please go to original post for the video.

ROAR AFRICA invites you to be our special guest at the screening of The Last Lions documentary film.

Come and meet National Geographic Award winning film makers Dereck and Beverly Joubert at the screening of their dramatic storytelling and breathtaking footage of a gripping real-life saga.

Lions are vanishing from the wild. In the last 50 years, lion populations have plummeted from 450,000 to as few as 20,000.

Where: Angelika Film Center
18 West Houston Street (between Broadway & Crosby St)
New York, NY 10012
When: Friday February 18, 2011 from 7:20 PM EST
Please click on the link below to register or RSVP.
Click to Register Now.

View the trailer here:

(Available on the original blog post.)
Derek, Beverley & I look forward to seeing you at The Last Lions.
Should you have any questions about the event or how to register please feel free to contact Deborah at ROAR AFRICA. email
Sincerely,
Deborah

Last December at TEDWomen I was fortunate enough to see this incredibly inspiring speech by Beverly + Dereck Joubert. Documentary filmmakers Beverly and Dereck Joubert have worked to conserve wildlife for more than 25 years. As National Geographic Explorers in Residence they live in the bush, filming and photographing lions and leopards in their natural habitat in Botswana. With stunning footage (some never before seen), they discuss their personal relationships with these majestic animals -- and their quest to save the big cats from human threats.

Watch the speech here:



Note: If you're reading this on Facebook visit the original blog to play the video.

February sees the release of their new movie "The Last Lions". ROAR AFRICA will host an evening at the cinema on the opening night in New York City. Beverly and Dereck will be present for the Q&A session. Check back for details.

For more on Legadema see our previous blog posts here.
Or slideshows of Botswana here.

First time visitors to southern Africa seldom visit the Kalahari. They are typically more focused on Cape Town, the Winelands and a Safari in greater Kruger area. But the Kalahari is a spectacularly beautiful part of Africa with huge skies, few people and abundant wildlife.

The Kalahari is a semi-desert covering 900,000 Square kilometers (350,000 square miles) in the South West of Africa. It covers parts of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The desert is characterized by recent windblown red (iron) sands over white calcite deposited salts of thousands of millions of years ago and as with all deserts there is no surface water.

Amazingly large predators, antelope, birds and insects exist – all waiting for the annual rain which creates windows of survival or death. During August/September winter slowly regresses from the bone dry land and temperatures start to rise. This is when the small carnivores start their breeding activity.

A magnificent Black-maned Kalahari Lion photographed on my last trip to the Kalahari

More on the lions here

By the end of August the Sociable Weaver chicks are hatching and clambering for food in the large family nests, each nest can accommodate more than 100 families. As it is still too cold for reptiles such as snakes these chicks survive well, even when wind and dust storms blow over the trees and nests. By September the harvester ants can been seen collecting grass cuttings to take down into their mounds. The insect eaters are feathered and furred and ant bears have a time of plenty.

Unfortunately the antelope suffer their most at this time as feed value is almost nil, temperatures are rising and there is no available water, in light of this they lose weight and many die. This is when the predators and scavengers have their time of plenty.
The acacia trees start flowering – insects and animals utilize these flowers to their full extent. All is tinder dry and large clouds with lightning bolts occur. At this time fires are devastating to the animals and limited grass cover, often bird, insect and reptile homes in trees are burnt.

Short swift localized cloud bursts occur and the intensity of a sudden deluge can be devastating especially near river beds where the clay beds are impervious. The little creatures are drowned and the river floods the river bank areas with plant and debris being washed away. Water drips down from the trees and water may even flow in the river beds for a short while.

Millipedes and beetles emerge to take advantage of soft soil on the riverside. Trees and grasses burst into life providing the time of plenty for the antelope which are now calving. Insects appear by the millions and set about breeding. The rains are brief and short lived. Temperatures soar into November, December and January. The grasses and Tsama melon sustain life until the next rains……

Famous inhabitants of the Kalahari are the San or Bushmen people who have lived in the Kalahari for 20,000 years as hunter-gatherers. Today there are more luxurious options for accommodation. For example Tswalu Kalahari in South Africa.

You'll find more on this beautiful lodge on our website here

One last thing- the night sky has more stars than you can possibly imagine. Period!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Amiee and Craig Pollack captured this amazing footage in Botswana. A leopard nonchalantly climbs a tree. It's hard to distinguish a plan emerging, but it clearly has something on it's mind. After surveying the branches above it from a fork, there's a moment's hesitation. It looks like it might jump but it changes it's mind opting for more height. Then it's all action....

It's a brazen approach. I find it incredible that it seems so unhurried. We realize after the fact that it had spotted it's prey in the other tree already and was using a very creative outflanking maneuvre. If it had attacked from below the animal would've just retreated to the treetops out of reach. Or run circles around the truck, hiding behind it. As for accurately crashing through another tree, making the kill, and landing safely on the ground.....priceless.

The prey:

I'm not sure what the unfortunate kill was. Possibly a Tree/Bush Squirrel; Paraxerus cepapi. It is known as the mopane squirrel becuase it is common in mopane woodlands. Interestingly they retreat up trees specifically for safety and position the trunk between themselves and the hunter. It seems they need a new tactic to avoid being a quick snack for leopards.

I grew up in Zimbabwe where we spent many wonderful weekends and vacations on a house boat on Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the world. We'd watch the wildlife, fish for the ferocious Tigerfish, and even water-ski despite the crocodiles. You'll never catch me water-skiing there again, but you will catch me further upriver aboard a much improved "houseboat", the Zambezi Queen.The Zambezi Queen sails the Chobe River, a tributary of the mighty Zambezi River that feeds Lake Kariba. It is a new 150-foot-long river boat described by its owner, Tony Stern, as a “five-star floating boutique hotel”. It truly is. It makes our old houseboat seem like a dugout.
The Zambezi Queen is eco-friendly, with solar-heated water, jet propulsion (instead of propellers) and limited air-conditioning. A breeze cools you as you cruise past some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife in Africa. Welcome to the Chobe National Park in Botswana with it is teeming wildlife including approximately 120 000 elephants and over 400 species of birds.
All 14 suites with floor-to-ceiling windows have private balconies, modern colonial-style décor and plenty of mosquito netting. The ship also has a bar, reading room, plunge pool, and top-class service.The boat is also only 70km by road from one of the 7 great wonders of the world, the Victoria Falls, and just 3km from Kasane International Airport.
Activities include land-based game viewing, and tiger fishing. Water-skiing is not offered.
See you there!

In Travel + Leisure's 14th annual poll, they once again asked their readers to rate the best hotels, cruises, airlines, outfitters, cities, islands, and more.

Cape Town came in at number 2 in the Top 10 cities overall. We think there's a mistake but #2 in the world is still pretty good. Udaipur (India) was number one.

Some of Roar Africa's preferred accommodations featured very well in the Top 100 Hotels Overall. 11 of the top 100 in the world, including number 1, are in South Africa and 5 are in Botswana:

#1 Bushmans Kloof, South Africa
#3 Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve (Earth Lodge), South Africa
#6 Singita Lodge, Sabi Sand, South Africa
#10 Jack's Camp, Kalahari, Botswana
#13 Eagle Island Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana
#15 Twelve Apostles, Cape Town, South Africa
#24 Lion Sands Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sand, South Africa
#29 The Saxon, Johannesburg, South Africa
#29 Singita Reserve, Kruger Park, South Africa
#34 Londolozi Private reserve, Sabi Sand, South Africa
#44 Khwai River lodge, Okavango Delta, Botswana
#58 Cape Grace, Cape Town, South Africa
#60 Le Quartier Francais, Franschhoek Valley, South Africa
#69 Mombo and Little Mombo, Okavango Delta, Botswana
#75 Savuti Elephant Camp, Chobe National park, Botswana
#77 Mala Mala Game reserve, Sabi Sand, South Africa

For more on Travel + Leisure's website click here.

Bushman's Kloof, South Africa: #1

We're proud to announce that Southern Africa (and the Indian Ocean islands), the home of Roar Africa, has 11 entries currently competing for inclusion in the New7Wonders of Nature. Of those 11 the Kalahari Desert (Botswana/Namibia/South Africa) is the current front runner. We have two coming in at number 7: Sossusvlei (Namibia) and Table Mountain (Cape Town, South Africa). Not bad!

Wonder, Country, Current Rank
Kalahari Desert, BOTSWANA/NAMIBIA/S.AFRICA, 1
Sossusvlei, NAMIBIA, 7 (group A)
Table Mountain, SOUTH AFRICA, 7 (group C)
Mount Karthala, COMOROS, 11
Okawango Delta, BOTSWANA, 18
Victoria Falls, ZAMBIA/ ZIMBABWE, 25
Aldabra Atoll, SEYCHELLES, 26
Malolotja Nature Reserve, SWAZILAND, 29
Mount Nyangani, ZIMBABWE, 30
Avenue of the Baobabs, MADAGASCAR, 35
Maletsunyane Falls, LESOTHO, 57

And we can think of far more than 11 reasons to visit southern Africa!

The New 7 Wonders of Nature will be determined by votes from the public.
Vote here.

Why elect the New7Wonders of Nature?
The campaign to choose The Offcial New7Wonders of the World was a resounding success, in which more than 100 million votes were cast and which took democracy to a new, global level. The New7Wonders of Nature campaign will raise awareness of the incredible variety and beauty of nature around us. “If we want to save anything, we first need to truly appreciate it!” This is something that is very important - more awareness and more tourism income means that these natural treasures can be better preserved for future generations.

The New7Wonders Foundation, which is behind the New7Wonders campaigns, has the express aim of undertaking documentation and conservation works of monuments worldwide under the motto: "OUR HERITAGE IS OUR FUTURE". The Foundation was established in 2001 by the Swiss-born Canadian filmmaker, author and adventurer Bernard Weber to contribute to the protection of the world’s human-built and natural heritage and to foster respect for the cultural diversity on our planet. Fifty percent of net revenue raised by the New7Wonders Project is to be used to fund monument documentation and conservation efforts worldwide.

Rob and Victoria Sears kindly shared these photos of two elephants lying down sleeping right outside their bungalow at Eagles Nest Lodge, Mashatu Reserve in south eastern Botswana.

"Victoria and I were awoken by loud snoring outside our bungalow at about 4am. Victoria shone the torch outside and saw 2 huge Elephant having a snooze 1 meter away from the patio!!! I managed to take a few snaps (with flash) and the old boys didn't even stir, they were fast asleep..." Rob Sears (April, 2009)

You quite likely haven't seen an elephant lying down. That's because elephants don't sleep much and when they do they usually nap standing up. They might lie down if they feel secure and then generally only for about 30 minutes or so at a time usually while others nearby are awake and alert. In the case of calves, who you are more likely to see lying down, the herd will stand around them keeping watch while they sleep.

Apparently these two elephants felt very relaxed at Eagles Nest Lodge. Perhaps Elephants Nest would be appropriate.

Mashatu Game Reserve is a wholly preserved and untainted wilderness in eastern Botswana at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers. Mashatu, ‘Land of Giants’ takes its name from the locally-sacrosanct Mashatu tree and the giants that roam its terrain. As one of the largest private game reserve in southern Africa, Mashatu is 25 000 ha (75 000 acres).

Thanks Rob and Victoria.

ZZZzzzzzzzzz

Last week while in Botswana I was fortunate to see this beautiful male sitatunga. We were in the Okavango Delta near near Xugana camp, about 70kms due north of Maun, on eastern edge of main delta. He posed beautifully for us which is unusual for this shy and cautious antelope most often spotted by aircraft.


The sitatunga or marshbuck (Tragelaphus spekei) range throughout Central Africa and are semi-aquatic antelope. They spend a good portion of their time in the dense reed beds and submerged in water up to three feet in depth. They will even submerge themselves up to their nostrils when disturbed. In Botswana they are confined to the permanent water areas of the Okavango Delta and in the Linyanti river system.

The sitatunga's hooves are well-adapted to walking through the papyrus sedge. They have 7-inch long hooves which splay out as weight is placed on them, enabling them to cross over mud, floating vegetation and in the reed beds. The rams have long twisting horns which curve like a kudu's but to a lesser degree.

Their main predators are lions, which ambush them along the reeds, but they are also hunted by leopard and wild dogs. When chased, they will head straight to deep water and they are excellent swimmers.

This was a rare and memorable occasion for us.

A wildlife photographer, Mike Holding, captured a pink baby elephant on camera in Botswana. The pink elephant calf was amongst a herd of about 80 elephants in Botswana's Okavango Delta. It is thought to be an albino elephant. The albino condition is rare in African elephants and unfortunately this youngster may face blindness and skin problems due to it's condition. It will have to seek shade which will be somewhat easier in the Okavango delta than in many parts of Africa. Apparently it already appears to be seeking the shade of it's mother. More on this story from the BBC here.

It's seems there's a lot of news about elephant calves at the moment. See our previous post from Lion Sands about an elephant birth.

A BBC Team has captured a herd of elephants' clever trunk trick in the Kalahari. Instead of wading into the water - as is typical for elephants- this herd has learned amazing control. When faced with limited water in a stagnant pond they have learned to restrain themselves, enter the water gingerly and use their trunks to skim the surface for the freshest water.

The video was captured by Mike Holding for the show "Nature's Great Events: The Great Flood", which follows the annual flooding of Botswana's Okavango Delta, where, for a limited time, the surrounding desert is transformed into a lush wetland.

Watch the video clip narrated by David Attenborough on the BBC website here and another clever elephant drinking trick captured in the Kruger Park on this blog, here.

We're proud to report that seventeen lodges from Africa have made the latest National Geographic Adventure World's Top 50 Ecolodges list and nine of these lodges are in Southern Africa and neighboring islands.


"A decade ago, you could count the number of true ecolodges in the world on two hands. But today we are witnessing one of the most significant transformations in the history of modern travel. And ecolodges are at the center of this movement. Once located exclusively in the African bush and Central American jungles, these retreats now span nearly every ecosystem and every budget—and their mission has never been more vital. "
National Geographic Adventure

Ecotourism is "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people" (Ecotourism Society). A good ecolodge should engage in responsible travel practices which can broadly be defined as:

1. Environment: travel that minimizes negative environmental impacts and, where possible, makes positive contributions to the conservation of biodiversity, wilderness, natural and human heritage.
2. Social/Cultural: travel that respects culture and traditions and fosters authentic interaction and greater understanding between travelers and hosts.
3. Economic: travel that has financial benefits for the host community and operates on the principles of fair trade.

The nine ecolodges in Southern Africa which have been recognized by National Geographic Adventure are Phinda Private Game Reserve (South Africa), Tswalu Kalahari Reserve (South Africa), Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve (South Africa), Desert Rhino Camp (Namibia), Wolwedans (Namibia), Vumbura Plains Camp (Botswana), Zibandianja Camp (Botswana), Vamizi Island (Mozambique) and North Island (Seychelles).

Congratulations from Roar Africa!