The male pin-tailed whydah uses his long tail to attract a mate
African elephants often pull down trees in order to feed from them
A lone impala watched them from the distance, as white-headed, white-backed and hooded vultures, along with tawny eagles and yellow-billed kites, circled overhead. One of the wild dogs soon spotted it and gave chase. We were treated to the spectacle of the African wild dogs manoeuvring themselves, driving the baby impala towards other members of the pack who were patiently waiting. As the wild dogs took down the impala, Letz's keen eyes revealed the lion pair from yesterday resting beneath a nearby tree. He drove over to them, predicting that they would see the circling vultures, come to investigate the kill and drive the wild dogs away from it, stealing the impala for their own. Letz was proved right as the pair, lead by the female, slowly strolled through the woodland and towards the kill. Upon seeing them, the wild dogs barked ferociously and jumped in the air, but for all this noise they knew that they couldn't take down the pair and slowly retreated. The male lion voraciously devoured most of the corpse, leaving the female hungry once again. Finally, the vultures, tawny eagles and yellow-billed kites swooped down on what was left and gorged themselves. Later on, we saw the African wild dog pack resting under a tree and rolling in mud after the hunt, a young wild dog still holding the jaw of the impala the pack had killed earlier. It was amazing, unlike anything I've ever seen before.
Obediently, this African wild dog stood to block the approaching impala
Male lions always eat first at a kill, with cubs eating second, and females last
Further south in the Kalahari, lions have even darker, blacker manes
The tawny eagle occurs in both a dark form (shown here) and a pale form
The white-headed vulture is quite rare, considered Critically Endangered
Slowly, the lioness strode towards the kill, her partner following behind
Angrily, this pair of African wild dogs barked at the approaching lioness
Though he was the last to arrive, the male lion happily gorged himself on the kill
As soon as the lions left, this white-backed vulture hopped onto the kill
This young African wild dog was given the impala's jawbone by the alpha
After the hunt, the African wild dogs rested in the shade of this tree
Due to the marks on its coat, the African wild dog is also called the painted wolf
We watched the pack rest, then moved on to a site where the leopard from yesterday was resting. She was still there, relaxing under the cover of some shrubs. Afterwards, we drove on to Dead Tree Island, an area of the reserve with poor soil covered in dead trees. We immediately met a group of female Southern giraffe, one of which had a few red-billed oxpeckers perching on her. Along the way to Dead Tree Island, we stopped to see a tree where Verreaux's eagle-owls were roosting. While looking at the eagle-owls, we turned around to see a spotted hyena watching our jeep! It looked at us for a few seconds, before continuing on. Letz told us that hyenas often follow wild dog packs, trying to scavenge from any kills that the wild dogs make.
Leopards are one of the most widespread big cats, found in much of Asia and Africa
Of the 4 giraffe species, only the Southern giraffe occurs in Botswana
The largest of the giraffes was chewing a sausage fruit
Witches in parts of Tanzania are believed to use spotted hyenas as mounts
The Verreaux's eagle-owl is Botswana's largest species of owl
We then travelled to an area of wetlands in search of one of my last target species, the saddle-billed stork. Along with several Southern carmine bee-eaters, many egrets, grey herons and a shy rufous-bellied heron hiding in some shrubs, we got great views of a pair of beautiful saddle-billed storks, just as pretty as I'd imagined them. On the way back, we saw a large male leopard watching us. It was quite shy, vanishing into the nearby grassland as soon as it saw us approach. After several minutes of searching the grass, we returned back to the lodge for lunch, with birds such as arrow-marked babblers and broad-billed rollers abundant. But one last surprise waited - as we drove through an area of thick trees, Letz spotted a massive Pel's fishing-owl roosting in the foliage! How he managed to spot the bird is beyond me, but thankfully he did, and we spent some time trying to photograph it.
The saddle-billed stork is a rare bird, with a stronghold in the Okavango delta
This Southern carmine bee-eater looks absolutely stunning
The Pel's fishing-owl stared at us initially, before realising we weren't a threat
This shot of the Pel's fishing owl was taken by Letz with my camera
At brunch, we saw some bushbuck, more Holub's golden weavers, a woodland kingfisher and a Hartlaub's babbler.
The Hartlaub's babbler is Botswana's only babbler with a white rump
Later in the afternoon, we had planned to do a boat trip but rain lead to us doing another game drive. As the rain was quite heavy during the drive, it was not as productive as it could have been. However, we did get great views of the lion pair resting out in the open (so as to avoid water dripping down from the trees of the woodland), along with looks at African elephants, greater kudu, red lechwe, impala and plains zebra doing the same. A large group of Cape buffalo was also seen. Bird-wise, the best birds were visible around a small lake where we spotted a Nile crocodile. Here long-toed lapwings, African sacred ibis, various egrets, grey herons and some distant African skimmers were all seen. Later on, near the end of the drive, we got looks at some more waterbirds. A small puddle in a dried-up lake was being sifted through by a flock of spur-winged geese and white-faced whistling-ducks. Despite the rain the drive was still quite successful and we returned satisfied.
Though occasionally hunted by lions, an adult Cape buffalo takes 5 lions to kill
The long-toed lapwing is another waterbird with a stronghold in the Okavango
Though commonest in Africa, a small remnant population of lions exists in India
The top red-billed oxpecker on this male greater kudu is still in its juvenile plumage
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