November 2007 Botswana, Africa Trip Report Part 2 Lagoon Camp Near our new camp (Lagoon), we are handed off to our new guides, A.T. and Steve. They are quite outgoing and enthusiastic and will be our favorite guides of the trip. They quiz us on our animal preferences and help us use our birding field guide ("Birds of Southern Africa by Princeton Field Guides") to identify new birds. We see our first "kill" of the trip, a Pied Kingfisher has a fish in its beak and it is bashing it to death on a tree limb. A little killing machine near Lagoon Camp, Botswana We admire the huge communal nests of the Red-Billed Buffalo Weavers and the wooliness of the Wooly-Necked Stork. A very handsome Broad-Billed Roller flies by; this is the smallest roller in the region. The colorful Carmen Bee-eater makes its first appearance. Steve tells us that the African Wild Dogs have been spotted in the area and if we are lucky we will find them. After a bit of scouting they find them resting in the shade of a tree. There are 13 of them, 6 of which are yearlings. They point out a darker one they have nicknamed "Killing Machine" due to his hunting skill. The pack is mostly sleeping in the heat of the day so we agree to look for them again later in the afternoon. Nice clean teeth near Lagoon Camp, Botswana We drive into Lagoon camp and have breakfast in the open-air dining room near the swimming pool. Lagoon Camp lies on the shady banks of the Kwando River and has 6 tents for guests. Steve gives us the usual camp safety briefing and we check out our new tent. It is not as nice or private as our previous tent at Lebala, but it is still pretty good and has a view of the river (we can hear and see hippos in the water from our tent). There is a nice deck area over looking the river and I relax in a chair and watch a trio of elephants pass by in the reeds. The deck overlooking the river at Lebala Camp, Botswana On the afternoon game drive we revisit the dog pack. A light rain falls as they snooze near the dirt road. The drivers chat to each other softly in Setswana over the radios as we wait for the dogs to wake up, I wonder if they are talking about the tourists? The dogs finally get up & wander over to a pond and take drinks of water very nervously, they must have experience with crocodiles trying to snatch them. Wilddog nervously drinking near Lebala Camp, Botswana The younger dogs are trying to get the older dogs interested in a hunt and after about some more waiting they are off. Steve warns us to buckle in cause once they take off after some prey our car will be flying through the brush. They set off in a straight line down the road at a slow lope and then fan out into a wall of dogs running at a fast trot. "Killing Machine" pauses to make sure that younger dogs are still with the pack. Suddenly they come across some impala and the pack explodes into a chase. The car barrels through the brush as we try to keep up with them. It is fairly hopeless to try to take a photo of the chase as the car is bouncing up and down. Wow. We lose the pack in some thick brush strewn with rocks. As the sun is coming down we decide to break for drinks. According to the radio reports from the other cars in the area the dogs did not make a kill this night. On the night drive Steve and A.T. find a civet for us and then the rarer Caracal (amongst the heaviest of all small cats). We follow it as it slinks into the woods. Back at the camp a French tourist asks the bartender to make him a very stiff drink. It turns that his camera was not very secure during the dog hunt and his camera fell out of the car, smashing his $7,000 telephoto lens. At dinner some English chaps tell stories about other safari trips to Botswana. It seems that some of them come back here every year. Nov 19th Mon We are off to find the dogs again after a 5am breakfast. This morning the dogs decide to hunt near the airstrip and we watch as they check out each clump of bushes in case a mother hid her baby impala there. They find one unlucky baby and it is quickly ripped apart. One dog trots around with a hoof its mouth quite proudly. When the dogs kill it is amazing how fast the prey disappears into their bellies. If you blink you will miss it. Ripping apart a baby impala near Lagoon Camp, Botswana Holding the hoof near Lagoon Camp, Botswana. Some yearling dogs try their luck at "hunting" a group of huge buffalo, I think they are just testing their hunting skills but the buffalo are not amused and charge them many times. No body gets hurt this time. Pushing their luck near Lagoon Camp, Botswana We follow a lone dog as it chases a herd of Kudu, it comes very close to the heels of one and then turns back at the last second, it must realize it needed some help to bring down large prey like this and the other dogs were not close enough to help. After these adventures the dogs lie down to rest for the day and we head out for our tea break. We pass by the nearby Botswana military base, the guides tell us how some of the army guys told them they had spotted a large pack of leopards one day and they were very confused until they realized they were referring to the wild dog pack. Later that morning we get a good glimpse at the interestingly shaped Hamerkop. Hamerkop (note unusual head shape) near Lagoon Camp, Botswana On the way back to camp we stop in a field of tall grasses near a large heard of Cape Buffalo. Most of them have Oxpeckers on their backs. These birds eat ticks, botfly larvae, and other parasites which lodge in the buffalo skin and must be dug out. The guides tell how when the buffalo in Kruger National Park in South Africa were dipped to prevent parasites, many oxpeckers started to decline in numbers. Buffalo with Oxpecker near Lagoon Camp, Botswana In the afternoon we see another very interesting bird, the oddly shaped African Hoopoe. This bird graces the cover of "Birds of Southern Africa". We find the dogs and watch them hunt again. A few of them disappear into the thick brush and the rest of the pack settles down to wait for them. The guide tells us if a hunter gets a kill it will call for the rest of the pack. We wait patiently and A.T. asks us about the American rapper T.I.'s recent legal problems. After about 30 minutes the remaining dogs return to the pack empty handed. The pack moves on looking for some food. This time they lope out of the camp's border so we cannot follow them, the guides say this will be the last time they may be seen in the area for many weeks. I think we were quite lucky to be able to watch them hunt. We notice lots of tortoises crawling slowly through the bush and wonder how many are casualties of Range Rovers. Tortoise near Lagoon Camp, Botswana After dinner we head out on a bonus "late night drive". Unfortunately there is a half moon out; not very good for spotting our intended target the Aardvark (they prefer the cover of total darkness). The first thing we spot tonight is a tiny Bush Baby in a tree. It leaps from one tree to another in front of us. We see tons of Springhare and even start counting them as a joke (giving up after the total exceeds 100). These creatures resemble tiny rabbits with a kangaroo body. When the guides stop the car for us to take a bathroom break, it is amazing how quiet it is out in the bush at night. We see lots of hippos out of the water grazing. They appear to be quite shy when out of their natural element and run away as our car approaches. Get a great view of the rarish Bat-eared Fox; it eyes us for a bit before scampering away. We also are able to approach a large porcupine, it bolts when we get near it. We get back to the lodge at the very late hour (for safari) of 12:30am. Nov 20 Tues We "sleep in" until 7am. After breakfast we go on a river cruise along the Kwando River, see some hippos swimming under our boat and watch the colony of colorful Carmen Bee-eaters for a bit. They nest near the ground and we watch a monitor lizard snatch a baby out if it's hole and devour it alive. Nature is cruel I guess. A Purple Heron flies over the river with a snake in its beak. Steve pulls up a huge water lily and makes a necklace out of it. Back at the camp it is time to pack up our gear. As we are waiting for our lift to the airport I watch a Yellow Basket Weaver add to its nest. House building near Lagoon Camp, Botswana We tip our guides and then get delivered to the "airport" for our flight to our next camp, Footsteps. While in the air I watch a giraffe wade across the water below the plane. On to Part 3 Footsteps Camp Back to Part 1 Lebala Camp Trip Report Index