November 2003

The intense heat blowing from the north, and sudden arrival of insects, the thatching grass sellers on the side of Maun roads covering their piles of grass with tarpaulins, solifugids, or Kalahari Ferraris, half spider, half something else, freaking me out at bedtime! Yes, my phobic creature of choice, come out at the onset of the rains, to plunder unfortunate insects, with great speed. They are apparently the fastest running creatures on the planet, clocked at 260 km per hour on the ground, up walls, across ceilings! Glad Im not an insect, though the sight of them makes me feel like one creepy! Thankfully they are harmless to humans. All the signs that rain was imminent were there, still, the temperatures rose, to an astonishing 39 degrees, in Maun, at 8pm!
On my way into town from camp, in the hair drier heat of the day, I slowed to avoid a herd of goats walking down the hot sticky tarmac. Two baby goat kids ran for the car! I hit the brakes! The little devils ran right under the car the only shade for miles just came to town! I couldnt believe it, looked around for some sort of confirmation, just some villagers curiously watching from the shade of their huts, wondering why I just stopped in the middle of the road while the rest of the traffic flew past around the car that looked more like it had a burst radiator, or something, than providing some great shade from the scorching sun for a couple young kids - in the middle of the road! Definitely not something they see every day, and me too.

Getting the little guys out was another story. Each time I returned from the side of the road with one goat, to get the other one out, I was followed, bleating, back to the shady car! It was too hot for this, so called the curious villagers from their huts to help.

The heat added to the stress of little grazing and huge distances the zebra and wildebeest had to travel to water. More foetuses were being aborted at the water hole. The pressure on drinking water was heavy; the elephants didnt help with their persistent attempts to get the freshest water out of the pipes and pumps.

One night the herd of bull elephants were particularly thirsty after a short absence away in the dry country. I sensed they might go for the pipes, blocking the flow of water into the water hole. I couldnt sleep so woke Taryn and told her I was going to drive down and sleep next to the pump. She rolled over, thought I was joking, I wasnt, we loaded the bedroll into the back of her car, an open backed pickup with hardly the space for us to fit stretched out. Still, we drove down into the valley of dust kicked up by hundreds of animals marching to the water hole.

Sleep seemed out of the question, dust so thick our chests heaved, the pump rattled in our ears, the elephants trumpeted, and the zebras made all the sounds possible. Amazingly, Taryn was asleep, and within minutes gently snoring! I was half aware of the goings on around, couldnt not be, it was hectic down there, and uncomfortable. I fully awoke again as the hundreds of zebra and wildebeest began stampeding, their pounding hooves could be felt through the ground and up into the car. Both Taryn and I were bolt upright straining through the dust. Then the alarm calls and snorts. Lion! I jumped out of the car to get the spotlight from the cab; the dust was too thick to see. Taryn shouted, in a whisper, lion! Running past the car, a lioness was chasing a zebra, there must be others, dust too thick, just stand still near the car. Elephants gone, lion come; we go now to sleep in camp where the lions are not! Man-eaters, it is said, are a result of predation on livestock in and around human settlements; eventually they grab a human and learn to hunt them in a cunning way so as to not get caught. I dont want to be responsible for the Meno A Kwena pride becoming man-eaters, thank you!

And then it rained!

24 mm fell at meno A Kwena in an hour. It was magical. The stress and trauma of this past very dry year seemed to wash off in that hour. Not a single zebra and wildebeest came to drink in the 24 hours after that storm. Their break came and they took it, wasting not a minute to move to better grazing where drinking water was in close proximity. Wildebeest are particularly sensitive to localised rainstorms and move in their direction instantly, the zebras follow.

It was a massive relief, in a strange sort of way, to not have all those animals coming to the water hole. It was so quiet, so peaceful, so relaxed. Still I wondered where they were, still concerned for them in the event more rain didnt come, and they would have to make the terrible journey back to the Boteti from afar. I did a drive down the riverbed towards Kumaga. It was unbelievable; there were pools big enough large sections of the riverbed looked like a river. The area had double the rain we had at Meno A Kwena 52mm! I saw Chris Brookes of the Makgadikgadi Migration Research, he was like an over excited zebra! The sight was magnificent, yet ironic. Months of stress and trauma to dig water out of the river bed sand in their thousands, and then the dry river bed turns to a river overnight, and the only zebra and wildebeest left, are the ones that didnt make it, lying in stiff piles of skin and bone, some half submerged in pools filled with fresh rain water. Sadly, another hippo died and lies bloated, floating in a large rain-filled pool.

Chris told me he had driven the length and breadth of Makgadikgadi Pans NP, didnt even pick up a signal from his tracking collars on zebras. We both agreed they had gone north, where it looked like a lot of rainy weather had come from. We would both head up into Nxai Pan NP and look for them.

We met at the turn off from the main Maun/Nata road; the zebra and wildebeest tracks were thick in the recently splattered sand. Lion were after them too, big pug marks on top of hundreds of hoof prints. Headed towards Baines Baobabs. We caught up with the zebra and wildebeest on the open grassy plains just before the pans where the famous baobabs painted by Thomas Baines in the mid 1800s, scenic splendour, easy on the eye. Add to this, hundreds of animals grazing peaceably, and seemingly content. For how long? Not much water in the pans, and the grass still sparse.

Thankfully, the wildlife department has halted the wiring of the fence until rain has driven most of the wildlife from the clutches of the Boteti area. This will greatly reduce the impact on the wildlife until they have got their strength up by the end of the rains next year. Still, I am concerned for the animals that are spending a lot of time on the wrong side of the impending barrier. Most of the kudu we see spend more time in the thickly vegetated scrub outside the national park. The leopard that comes to drink at Meno A Kwena comes from outside the park, same reason of thicker habitat to hunt and hide in. The elephants seemed to spend more time in the tribal area rather than the park. What of these animals when the rain-filled pools dry up next year?

Recent visitors to Meno A Kwena were two charismatic green revolutionaries, I was going to call them environmentalist terrorists - too extremist for this sensitive world we live in, eco warrior - sounds more like a new age traveller in the English countryside, paid by some wealthy celebrity to be cannon fodder for an environment cause. Anyhow, Ian Michler spent a couple of days getting a feel for the reasons the government is taking such drastic steps to settle a universal and archaic struggle wildlife verses agriculture. Ian writes for African Geographic magazine published in South Africa. The magazine delves into controversial aspects of environmental exploitation, corruption, mismanagement, degradation; sometimes resulting in death threats and lawsuits directed at the activist journalists. Ian is no exception with his hard-hitting research and facts, his photographs add to his attacks on the illusionary tough targets, revealing soft bellies. He is writing a piece that reveals the threats to the Okavango River system, including the delta. His research will probably take him to the lions den, the EU!

The beautiful Karen Ross arrived with Lovemore in their clean, far too clean looking, white Land Rover with the Conservation International logo on the door. Karen was in Botswana to get depressed again. Her fighting force within spurned by the sight of wire, the chemical smells of creosoted termite proof fence poles, and the stench of carcasses rotting against fences. Her battles are directed from a Cape Town office where she generates the support of the public through passionate fundraisers. She strives to at least get consideration for the effects on wildlife and their environment of policy making beaurocrats, or Eurocrats, who havent the least concern for much more than voters confidence.

We drove along the 7 km stretch of fence erected along the Makgadikgadi Pans NP before the order to stop was implemented. We saw at least one carcass every kilometre kudu, zebra mostly. Trapped on the national park side cattle, many cattle. Imagine if the entire, approximately 200 km was wired! Karen tells me the fence is part of a bigger picture. Always is Beef exports to the EU, no less. Karen will keep me updated on the situation.

I was curious to know more about the lions in the Meno A Kwena area. Where they are from, who they are? I asked Graham of Lion Research to fill me in on their history.

David & Seamus,
Historically (1999) there used to be two females (pinky and perky with 4 cubs (3 males and 1 female). The males from LLT (Good Bad and Ugly) used to split there time between LLT Khumaga and Meno. Then for some reason the Bad split off never to return to LLT and stayed up in Meno.
Big mistake as it turns out as first a male cubs died (suspect shot), Pinky got shot at the Cattle Post next to Meno A Kwena whilst watching cars drive down the gravel (in itself unwise), Bad got trapped halfway between Meno A Kwena and Leroo La Tau (Nxwee cattle posts) and Perky got poisoned out the back towards Kwedum. Hey presto, the honeymoon was over before it began. Cubs disappeared presumed dead.
However a year later in 2001 they turned up 20km East of Khumaga so I collared 1 male (Pancho) they eventually returned to Meno A Kwena before the 2 boys got restless wandered up to Shorobe quarantine and several other strange capers before deposing the Nxai Pan male and taking over up there. As far as I understand it, that is where they are now. My guess is that the females you have there now might be the 1 remaining female (5 years oldish now) and possibly the females originally associated with Heli (hangs out near main road near Nxai Pan Junction) that we never see with her since we originally spotted her in 2002 or others pressing in from the North. I don’t think its sub adults from LLT but could be females from closer to Nxwee Ngamisane moving up. However my best guess is new females/heli friends from the north.
You might see Good and Ugly up there a little, they pass through perhaps once or twice a month and Jet Ranger from the main road and perhaps the Johnnie Walker character that I know nothing about. However if they haven’t any cubs and haven’t had them for a while they may be having troubles finding mates at the mo.
Graham Hemson,
Makgadikgadi Lion Research Project,
Oxford University Wildlife Conservation Research Unit,
Zoology Dept.,
South Parks Road,
Oxford.
OX1 3PS.

The latest dispute over land, possibly linked to the new fence, has been raised again between the Khumaga and Moreomaoto Chieftains. Meno A Kwena is in the middle of it! Khumaga and Moreomaoto are arguing over where the boundary between the two areas is. I hear that the case has been brought up before and settled in Moreomaotos favour. If the Chiefs cant settle it, the matter is taken to Land Board who will measure the exact distance between the two Kgotlas, (village meeting places), and draw the boundary at that spot.

Talking of boundaries, I was very excited, a couple of weeks ago to see a pack of wild dogs near camp. I saw six pups, about 6 months old, and two adults, one of whom was chasing a kudu. It was a glimpse, but great to know they are in the area, and still alive! We saw them over the next few days and then they moved away, normal behaviour as they travel large distances, knowing no boundaries.

The swimming pool has been a great success these last very hot weeks, and is attracting more wildlife than Homo sapiens, tadpoles, hundreds! The kids have a lot of fun catching them. A lot of birds are drinking from the pool as we sit quietly in the cooling water, and the beautiful scarlet-chested sunbird came for a three second drink! Leopard tracks in the sand tell us that it is drinking from the pool now, quite regularly, sure is calling a lot too.

I want to take this opportunity to go back to 1999. My Brother, Roger took a group of artists on safari through Botswana. The group photographed, sketched and painted their way round the wilderness a great way to stimulate creative talents. Anyhow, Meno A Kwena was used for our mobile safaris; there were no permanent structures. We set camp up for the two or three days we were in the area and then moved camp into the Okavango. Roger told the group of artists of his plans to sink well points and start pumping water for the wildlife on a more permanent basis. Rogers passion rubbed off on the artists and they busily photographed and sketched the beautiful scenery and its wildlife. They were going home to the States at the end of their safari to exhibit their works and raise funds for the Boteti Water Project, that was the plan. The artists raised $3000 from their sketches and paintings, and a further $2000 came in from awareness generated by their creativity. Roger busily set forth sinking well points and setting up a water system in the dry riverbed that has been operating reliably since.
Read more…