This trip happened in 2018 so the report is a little late but I thought people might be interested anyway. For me it was an important trip because it really got me into listing my wildlife observations.
An invitation to a family wedding in Johannesburg led to my wife and I visiting Africa for the first time in March 2018. Naturally we wanted to view some wildlife in the short time available, and the initial thought was of course Kruger. However, somebody recommended Chobe National Park in Botswana and a further recommendation led us to the Bakwana Eco-lodge in Kasane. We booked in for four nights, and as rates are fully inclusive including two game drives per day, this suited African neophytes like us.
Kasane is located at the north-east corner of the national park on the Chobe River with Namibia on the northern bank. It is also an easy drive to Victoria Falls and many tourists take a day trip to Chobe NP from there. Most other guests only stayed a night or two but staying slightly longer enabled us to get to know the staff and their culture a little better. We were also able to develop a relationship with our guide who by the end of our stay was doing everything he could to allow me to see the animals I was interested in.
Wildlife watching was easy, with a morning and afternoon game drive every day in open-sided four-wheel drive vehicles with a capacity of up to 10 guests and a driver/guide. While some vehicles we saw on drives were packed we never had more than one other couple with us. The guide was excellent, very knowledgeable and willing to help. Wildlife guiding is obviously a prestigious job in Botswana, one for which he had to complete an extensive course to qualify.
We were not allowed to leave the vehicle except at designated rest spots. Honestly, I could not see the difference between the rest spots and where the lions were resting one kilometre down the track, but it all seems to work. Every evening drive included a stop for a sundowner.
There were of course other vehicles around, though not enough to annoy or hinder us. There were a lot of day tripping tourists from Victoria Falls who tended to turn up just as we were leaving after our morning drive. Otherwise, everybody else was from one of the lodges in Kasane. One group consisted of very prim and proper older women all dressed in neatly ironed khaki, clutching sketch pads and pencils. Probably a group of aspiring wildlife artists. Most of the time you could not hear anything from other groups, but one memorable comment was a loud American female voice asking “is that lion going to eat that buffalo?”.
There was also the opportunity to take boat trips on the river in place of a drive, and we did that twice. Unfortunately, no night drives were allowed because of poaching. I think the problem is if you are mistaken for poachers, the results could be fatal. Botswanans take wildlife protection seriously.
Game drives went for about four hours each, giving us a total of 32 hours over the 5 days / 4 nights we were there. Between drives, we rested at the lodge, dipping in the pool or watching birds at the feeder. We could have taken short cultural excursions but the only trip we made was to Caracal, a rescue centre come environmental centre come mini zoo nearby (see separate report).
However, wildlife watching was not limited to the drives, there was plenty of wildlife around the lodge, which was situated in regrowth forest on the river. There was a resident population of bushbuck as well as a family of banded mongoose, while a warthog ran into the compound one day. Best there were southern galagoes in the trees in front of our tree house every night.
Chobe is known for its elephants and we must have seen around 100 on the first game drive we had. It was fascinating watching these massive animals in all aspects of their lives. There were three prides of lions in the region and we were recognizing individuals by the end of our time. My wife practically jumped into my lap when our guide virtually parked on top of a big old male and his mate.
There were so many highlights but there were also disappointments. We never saw a leopard, the closest we came was parking opposite a corpse of trees in which we knew there was a female and cubs. Likewise, we saw hyena tracks but no animals. I would have liked to see more small animals but with no night drives and having to stay in the vehicles this was difficult. Sometimes though it is the small things that are memorable, watching giant millipedes making tracks in the sand, a dung beetle rolling his ball across the road, or a column of army ants on the march.
After leaving Kasane we crossed the border into Zimbabwe for a short, touristy, visit to Victoria Falls before flying home.
Animals seen:
Mammals
Almost all species were seen in abundance and multiple times. Only the slender mongoose was seen only once.
1. Bush elephant
2. Vervet monkey
3. Chacma baboon
4. Southern galago
5. Smith’s bush squirrel
6. Black-backed jackal
7. Lion
8. Slender mongoose
9. Banded mongoose
10. Common zebra
11. Common warthog
12. Hippopotamus
13. Southern giraffe
14. Impala
15. Waterbuck
16. Puku
17. Greater kudu
18. Bushbuck
19. African buffalo
Birds
Birds were abundant and easy to see. Had we been with a birdwatching group no doubt we would have identified many more species. As it was some of the people we went on drives with were a little annoyed at the time spent on birds. Strangest thing is that we did not see any sunbirds.
1. Egyptian goose
2. White-faced whistling duck
3. Spur-winged goose
4. Helmeted guineafowl
5. Coqui francolin
6. Red-billed spurfowl
7. Little grebe
8. Namaqua dove
9. Laughing dove
10. Ring-necked dove
11. Senegal coucal
12. Kori bustard
13. Red-crested korhaan
14. Grey go-away bird
15. Marabou stork
16. Yellow-billed stork
17. Hamerkop
18. Great egret
19. Squacco heron
20. Western cattle egret
21. Black heron
22. Little egret
23. African sacred ibis
24. Reed comorant
25. African darter
26. Spotted thick-knee
27. Water thick-knee
28. White-crowned lapwing
29. Blacksmith lapwing
30. African jacana
31. Lesser jacana
32. Common sanderling
33. Shikra
34. Tawny eagle
35. African fish eagle
36. Gaber goshawk
37. Black kite
38. Martial eagle
39. Bateleur
40. White-headed vulture
41. Trumpeter hornbill
42. African grey hornbill
43. Southern red-billed hornbill
44. Southern ground-hornbill
45. Crested barbet
46. Acacia pied barbet
47. White-fronted bee-eater
48. Southern carmine bee-eater
49. Blue-cheeked bee-eater
50. Little bee-eater
51. Olive bee-eater
52. Lilac-breasted roller
53. Pied kingfisher
54. Malachite kingfisher
55. Red-footed falcon
56. African golden oriel
57. Brubru
58. Fork-tailed drongo
59. Magpie shrike
60. Southern red bishop
61. White-browned sparrow-weaver
62. Village weaver
63. Southern masked weaver
64. Red-billed quelea
65. Blue-breasted cordon-bleu
66. Village indigobird
67. Long-tailed paradise-weaver
68. African pied wagtail
69. Wire-tailed swallow
70. Yellow-bellied greenbill
71. African red-eyed bulbul
72. Red-billed oxpecker
73. Cape glossy starling
74. White-browed robin-chat
Reptiles
I did not really think of reptiles on this trip but had I asked I’m sure I could have been shown chameleons or other small lizards around the lodge.
1. Nile crocodile
2. Nile monitor
An invitation to a family wedding in Johannesburg led to my wife and I visiting Africa for the first time in March 2018. Naturally we wanted to view some wildlife in the short time available, and the initial thought was of course Kruger. However, somebody recommended Chobe National Park in Botswana and a further recommendation led us to the Bakwana Eco-lodge in Kasane. We booked in for four nights, and as rates are fully inclusive including two game drives per day, this suited African neophytes like us.
Kasane is located at the north-east corner of the national park on the Chobe River with Namibia on the northern bank. It is also an easy drive to Victoria Falls and many tourists take a day trip to Chobe NP from there. Most other guests only stayed a night or two but staying slightly longer enabled us to get to know the staff and their culture a little better. We were also able to develop a relationship with our guide who by the end of our stay was doing everything he could to allow me to see the animals I was interested in.
Wildlife watching was easy, with a morning and afternoon game drive every day in open-sided four-wheel drive vehicles with a capacity of up to 10 guests and a driver/guide. While some vehicles we saw on drives were packed we never had more than one other couple with us. The guide was excellent, very knowledgeable and willing to help. Wildlife guiding is obviously a prestigious job in Botswana, one for which he had to complete an extensive course to qualify.
We were not allowed to leave the vehicle except at designated rest spots. Honestly, I could not see the difference between the rest spots and where the lions were resting one kilometre down the track, but it all seems to work. Every evening drive included a stop for a sundowner.
There were of course other vehicles around, though not enough to annoy or hinder us. There were a lot of day tripping tourists from Victoria Falls who tended to turn up just as we were leaving after our morning drive. Otherwise, everybody else was from one of the lodges in Kasane. One group consisted of very prim and proper older women all dressed in neatly ironed khaki, clutching sketch pads and pencils. Probably a group of aspiring wildlife artists. Most of the time you could not hear anything from other groups, but one memorable comment was a loud American female voice asking “is that lion going to eat that buffalo?”.
There was also the opportunity to take boat trips on the river in place of a drive, and we did that twice. Unfortunately, no night drives were allowed because of poaching. I think the problem is if you are mistaken for poachers, the results could be fatal. Botswanans take wildlife protection seriously.
Game drives went for about four hours each, giving us a total of 32 hours over the 5 days / 4 nights we were there. Between drives, we rested at the lodge, dipping in the pool or watching birds at the feeder. We could have taken short cultural excursions but the only trip we made was to Caracal, a rescue centre come environmental centre come mini zoo nearby (see separate report).
However, wildlife watching was not limited to the drives, there was plenty of wildlife around the lodge, which was situated in regrowth forest on the river. There was a resident population of bushbuck as well as a family of banded mongoose, while a warthog ran into the compound one day. Best there were southern galagoes in the trees in front of our tree house every night.
Chobe is known for its elephants and we must have seen around 100 on the first game drive we had. It was fascinating watching these massive animals in all aspects of their lives. There were three prides of lions in the region and we were recognizing individuals by the end of our time. My wife practically jumped into my lap when our guide virtually parked on top of a big old male and his mate.
There were so many highlights but there were also disappointments. We never saw a leopard, the closest we came was parking opposite a corpse of trees in which we knew there was a female and cubs. Likewise, we saw hyena tracks but no animals. I would have liked to see more small animals but with no night drives and having to stay in the vehicles this was difficult. Sometimes though it is the small things that are memorable, watching giant millipedes making tracks in the sand, a dung beetle rolling his ball across the road, or a column of army ants on the march.
After leaving Kasane we crossed the border into Zimbabwe for a short, touristy, visit to Victoria Falls before flying home.
Animals seen:
Mammals
Almost all species were seen in abundance and multiple times. Only the slender mongoose was seen only once.
1. Bush elephant
2. Vervet monkey
3. Chacma baboon
4. Southern galago
5. Smith’s bush squirrel
6. Black-backed jackal
7. Lion
8. Slender mongoose
9. Banded mongoose
10. Common zebra
11. Common warthog
12. Hippopotamus
13. Southern giraffe
14. Impala
15. Waterbuck
16. Puku
17. Greater kudu
18. Bushbuck
19. African buffalo
Birds
Birds were abundant and easy to see. Had we been with a birdwatching group no doubt we would have identified many more species. As it was some of the people we went on drives with were a little annoyed at the time spent on birds. Strangest thing is that we did not see any sunbirds.
1. Egyptian goose
2. White-faced whistling duck
3. Spur-winged goose
4. Helmeted guineafowl
5. Coqui francolin
6. Red-billed spurfowl
7. Little grebe
8. Namaqua dove
9. Laughing dove
10. Ring-necked dove
11. Senegal coucal
12. Kori bustard
13. Red-crested korhaan
14. Grey go-away bird
15. Marabou stork
16. Yellow-billed stork
17. Hamerkop
18. Great egret
19. Squacco heron
20. Western cattle egret
21. Black heron
22. Little egret
23. African sacred ibis
24. Reed comorant
25. African darter
26. Spotted thick-knee
27. Water thick-knee
28. White-crowned lapwing
29. Blacksmith lapwing
30. African jacana
31. Lesser jacana
32. Common sanderling
33. Shikra
34. Tawny eagle
35. African fish eagle
36. Gaber goshawk
37. Black kite
38. Martial eagle
39. Bateleur
40. White-headed vulture
41. Trumpeter hornbill
42. African grey hornbill
43. Southern red-billed hornbill
44. Southern ground-hornbill
45. Crested barbet
46. Acacia pied barbet
47. White-fronted bee-eater
48. Southern carmine bee-eater
49. Blue-cheeked bee-eater
50. Little bee-eater
51. Olive bee-eater
52. Lilac-breasted roller
53. Pied kingfisher
54. Malachite kingfisher
55. Red-footed falcon
56. African golden oriel
57. Brubru
58. Fork-tailed drongo
59. Magpie shrike
60. Southern red bishop
61. White-browned sparrow-weaver
62. Village weaver
63. Southern masked weaver
64. Red-billed quelea
65. Blue-breasted cordon-bleu
66. Village indigobird
67. Long-tailed paradise-weaver
68. African pied wagtail
69. Wire-tailed swallow
70. Yellow-bellied greenbill
71. African red-eyed bulbul
72. Red-billed oxpecker
73. Cape glossy starling
74. White-browed robin-chat
Reptiles
I did not really think of reptiles on this trip but had I asked I’m sure I could have been shown chameleons or other small lizards around the lodge.
1. Nile crocodile
2. Nile monitor
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