EARLY RAIN CATCHES US WITH OUR PANTS …AND TENTS DOWN!
We are so desperate for rain now at the end of the dry season. We dream about it, dance for it, wish for rain. BUT! Be careful of what you wish for!!!
At the end of September one of our saltpans experience safaris was ready to head out into the middle of the saltpans from base camp, on the edge of this vast flat dry lake bed. The intense heat building up the last week was unusual for the end of the winter, should have been a lot milder. There was no distinguishing where the pan surface met the sky, the horizon shimmered ahead of the quad bike safari convoy as they entered the 13,000 sq km pans. Hot salty dust air stung sunburned faces, eyes squinting from intense light reflecting off scorched bone white saltpan.
“…The heat was hot and the ground was dry but the air was full of sound…”
Two hours later at the pans camp in the middle of absolutely nowhere, the sun was low in the sky as it quickly approached the curved earth surface to suck with it the day’s heat and light. The first stars appeared before the sun was gone, not a cloud to be seen, as has been the case for months since the end of the rains in May. Relief! The deadly beautiful quiet night under the stars was perfectly cool. Supper, drinks round the campfire, then bed under the stars, has got to be one of the most incredible experiences ever. To lie there looking up at the big wide starry sky above, fighting to keep eyes open, is mesmerising. Waiting for just one more shooting star, or meteor shower, to not waste a second of it …impossible to describe it really, one has to experience it oneself, like an orgasm!
I tried describing it to my kids …orgasm that is …when they reached teenagerhood. “Yuk Dad!!!” See what I mean…
My eyes were closed, yet aware of a flash of light that was gone by the time I opened them. Must have been a huge meteor shower or asteroid burning up there. The light appeared again a second later, on the horizon …lightning! Yes lightning far off to the north. The first real sign of rain this season. Great! Or maybe not so great! Far enough away to not be a problem for us??? I don’t know, out in the middle of one of the biggest inland depressions in Southern Africa is not the best place to be in a thunderous Kalahari storm! You think I could sleep after that? No bloody way! Got up and lit a smoke. My eyes glued to the constantly flashing northern horizon. It was beautiful. Ten minutes later I was convinced the flashing sky was moving closer. Had a pee, another smoke. An hour later, shit! It’s definitely coming. It was 11pm, the guests were asleep. I wondered if anyone else was aware. I called to Steve in his bedroll a hundred metres from me. Mmmm? Steve, look to the north. Mmmm…shit, he replied!!!
The first gust of wind hit without warning. No trees or grass to rustle the alarm. It hit like a speeding train hits the compressed air in a tunnel. Like a St Bernhard dog’s bark …WOOOOOFFFF! That was when the tables and chairs went flying. The gusts came in waves picking up camp equipment, knocking things over, dust, canvas, pots and pans crashing, smashing glasses and plates. The emergency tents were rocking far off in the distance. They are there for this very reason, in case of unexpected storms in the dry season. The wind speed increased, the gusts intensified, tents seemed to disintegrate as guy ropes snapped, fly sheets stripped, tents collapsed.
The rain hit shortly afterwards, reinforcing the powerful frontline wind. Despite us taking shelter in the remaining stubborn tents the rain pelted the pan with so much water that by morning what was left of the camp was standing in a foot deep lake that stretched as far as the eye could see! It took three hours to travel by quads back to the shoreline through the water. The tracks were not visible at all, we needed jet skis, not quadbikes!
“…‘Cos the desert had turned to sea…”
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OKAVANGO FLOOD BIG BOOST FOR BOTETI RIVER
Despite our long and very dry season this year the Angolan rains were higher than average last summer, water levels in the Okavango Delta are spectacular! The delta has filled to the point it is overflowing water into the Boteti River in greater quantities than we have seen since the mid 1990s. The Boteti River water is still moving downstream along its riverbed, dry since 1995.
In my last Boteti Diaries in September I wrote that the water would reach us in October, this is not the case, it has so much dry riverbed to fill before it reaches Meno A Kwena. The river has slowed somewhat, levels in Maun are dropping, and little rain has fallen over the eco system since it started at the end of September. It’s more likely we will have better rain in November, and so keeping the faith strong for it to keep on keeping on.
The water recently arrived at Moreomaoto Village where it’s causing much entertainment and excitement amongst the villagers. It’s a huge social event causing great joy and interest, everyone is smiling uncontrollably. The children who have never seen water in their riverbed are in awe, their pets are inquisitive and not quite sure what to make of it. A narrow section of fast flowing water was a good spot to catch fish. Otomilwe, one of my camp staff was with friends. They were catching small 15cm bream with a net made from mesh wire. A small fire on the bank acted as a grill next to which was a pile of salt on a plastic bag. The little fishes were literally caught, thrown on the fire, sprinkled with salt, and the flesh sucked off the bone. Salty sandy grilled fish, very nice smoky flavour …delicious! It’s hard to believe after all these years living on the banks of a depressingly dry riverbed.
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Stories are already being published in our local papers of crocodiles killing livestock in the Boteti. Yup, the river, as life giving as it is, can also be extremely dangerous as crocodiles move into the deep dark depths of opportunity. There are numerous deep wells left abandoned in the recently flooded riverbed as the water flowed into them in the middle of the night. The under fifteen year olds will not know how to swim. We are initiating a project with the Moreomaoto Village Primary School to educate them of these dangers and to learn to swim in our camp swimming pool, under supervision. It did cross my mind that perhaps this is not as positive an idea as it may seem. Africans are not encouraged to swim as all rivers most likely have crocodiles in them! Livestock had access to both sides of the riverbed - that will have to change and further limit grazing especially during the driest months.
I will write about the water when it arrives at the boundary of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park where wildlife will have access to the river for the first time in over a decade. It will stop the elephants coming into camp to drink water from the swimming pool! The water is, as of today, less than 20 kms from Meno a Kwena. We need the rain now!!! The flow of water is finger biting frustratingly close to us, yet has so many odds against it flowing much further.
LOST LION CUBS STILL ALIVE!!!
The new Makgadikgadi Pans National Park fence was constructed by the government as a ceasefire gesture to the wildlife/livestock conflict that was resulting in extreme pressure on the survival of wildlife in the area. Its success eventually became evident when we noticed wildlife behaviour adapting to the security positively, especially amongst our lion population that was dependant on livestock during the wet season when the migration left the pride’s territory. They were becoming habituated, from a distance, to our presence hence increased sightings of the pride in daylight hours.
We had great excitement in late 2006 when we saw the first cubs in the Meno a Kwena pride since the fence went up in 2004. Three of them. But then reports of lion shootings in March 2007 had us very worried. We no longer saw the cubs, nor their mother in the area, and assumed the worst. The rest of the pride of five lions was still intact throughout the dry season, though a lot less tolerant of people than at the end of 2006.
And then, incredibly, while checking on the waterholes and pumps at night, just over a month ago, I was blown away with surprise when, in the car lights ahead, thirteen lions. The two males nervously faded away into the darkness, four adult females, three one year old cubs, four three month old cubs, all huddled together drinking. There were another two lions calling far away in the distance inside the national park. I was particularly surprised at how relatively calm they were about the car lights on them. Something they were not happy with in the past.
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A good predator population is a good indicator of a healthy balanced environment. This is a sign that conditions are improving and makes me quite happy. I do still worry about the possibility of them going into the livestock areas now that the zebra and wildebeest migration has gone, they are their speciality prey species here. If they cannot get through the fence then they will either have to learn new hunting tactics to specialise in hunting kudu antelope that are plentiful, or attempt to move far from their territory to look for other sources of food. Whatever happens, the pride is in for a very tough time until the migration returns at the end of the rains in about May or June.
LION HUNTING BAN
Most of our foreign guests are surprised that there is still a big hunting industry in Botswana, and the rest of Africa. I think they assume that as Botswana has a good wildlife conservation record they would not allow hunting safaris. Actually, I tell them, hunting is very much a part of wildlife conservation through sustainable resource utilisation, if it is sustainably managed. I personally don’t concur to trophy hunting, rather getting my rocks off on shooting them with a camera! …And I shoot a helluva lot!
The government has yet again put a blanket ban on the killing of lions in Botswana! The ban was put in place a number of years ago and lifted for the last two hunting seasons. I am happy about this as there is too much indiscriminate killing of predators, but do believe more than hunting bans are necessary to conserve wildlife. Wildlife in a geographic sense has to be of some sort of value to be considered viable.
Below are some comments about the reason why commercial hunting has an important place in conservation. It’s down to the utilisation of marginal wildlife areas where livestock pressure is threatening wildlife sanctuaries. Controlled trophy hunting acts as a necessary buffer between livestock ranch lands and protected national parks and reserves. As the situation stands right now in Botswana, as an environmentalist, I accept that sustainable controlled hunting is the better option than livestock. Non hunting tourism is not viable in these marginal areas at this stage, though definitely has potential for future development, and as wildlife corridors between the more productive protected wildlife areas.
“Lets not cloud the issue with animal welfare and hunting ethics debates.” - L. Patterson
Kalahari Game Services
“The best case scenario for predators is a network of protected areas linked by areas through which predators can move freely nationally and internationally.” - Graham Hemson (D.Phil),
“I personally believe that lions and cheetah are deeper in the red, genetically, in population status and human confrontation than what we’ve been led to believe.” - Tony Reumerman Wilderness Safaris Botswana
“A balance of farm management and wildlife management, including the removal of individuals that are chronic livestock predators, is the way forward on this issue.” - Matthew Swarner Graduate Group in Ecology, U.C. Davis
“The wildlife Department took a long time to follow up reported livestock killings and then they didn’t believe us.”
“I wish we could kill wildlife when it kills livestock, instead of getting little compensation money from the government.” - Livestock farmer, Moreomaoto Village.
“I raise cattle on communal range in Southern Kgalagadi where we are having a severe drought. The nearest good grazing at present is over 10 kilometres away and my animals are coming in for water, on average, every 2.5 days with some coming every third or fourth day. By October, if it doesn’t rain, I expect the majority to return for water every fourth day. It is not possible to kraal animals in these circumstances.”
“While it’s true that the economic cost of predation is small at the national scale, it can be devastating for the individual farmer - a pride of lions can and will kill two adult cattle a week. You need a very large herd to sustain that level of loss.” - Richard White. “I farm at a cattle post near Tsabong”
“We anticipate that the researchers and conservationists will reply to say that they need more information and need to do lots of clever things like tracking movements, counting populations etc. etc. BUT this is effecting the livelihoods of farmers NOW and their viability has a knock on effect on employment of workers etc.” - Kalahari Game Ranchers Association
“Lewis farms cattle on farm 188NL in the Ghanzi district - he is plagued by lion. On the 23rd March he noticed an incursion of a group of lion- thought to be 3 young adults one older one (mother?) and 3 or 4 cubs. He informed DWNP who asked that the lion not be shot as they would like to capture and translocate. DWNP then deployed with assistance from BDF who were / are interested in catching the cubs for their own purposes. They have been unsuccessful despite around 15 personnel with 3 vehicles being part of the team. Around 15 May the owner not being happy with lack of results took an active role and deployed his own vehicles and staff to assist. I think at that point permission was given to shoot 1 lion in the hope of chasing the group away. During this exercise they identified a further 3 big males active on the property and the adjacent farms, the lions modus operandi being to enter at night kill eat and then depart. From May 18 to date they have verified 22 cattle kills, 4 gemsbok, 2 hartebeest - these verifiable - in all probability more. Last Friday due to continued lack of success the farmer was given permission to shoot them all.” - Gavin Richards Kanana Wilderness.
“The fence is successful in separating wildlife from livestock, but not stopping poaching.” - Kumaga Village resident.
“Some of us will be involved in tourism in the future and have a better life.” - Boteti Resident
“When conducting research in a hunting area we should also have realistic expectations. As a researcher you cannot expect to collar a significant proportion of the limited number of trophy predators in an area and in doing so deny the operator access to a resource that is part of his business, especially when we are conducting long term projects. We do need good communication with the hunting operators regarding specific collared animals to ensure that we do not lose a critical study animal at a time crucial to the study instead of relying on a blanket hunting ban of collared animals.” - Christiaan and Hanlie Winterbach
“The other big issue is compensation. Botswana is one of the few countries in Africa that compensates for wildlife damage. Although we can appreciate the support, whilst good in theory, in practice it is very difficult to maintain and run effectively. Other options are no compensation at all, community run compensation schemes and insurance schemes.
It does become more difficult to deter predators in a game farming situation. It is one thing to deter predators away from livestock towards their natural prey. However, on game farms this is what they find in abundance. The options are more limited:
1. Regular boundary patrols - one of the most effective deterrents for predators is human presence.
2. Effective fencing and swing gates - these gates can be effective in excluding predator species. They allow entrance to hole digging animals like warthogs but are not recognized as entrances by predators.
3. Conservancies.
4. Sustainable utilisation.
What about the idea of a predator hotline? I heard they were launching this idea in Namibia. When farmers have a proven problem animal the hotline is called and a hunting safari operator is alerted that the animal is available. Could such a thing work somewhere like Ghanzi?
What about the old system mentioned by Richard White, where a proven problem animal could be shot and the trophy sold? What were the reasons this was discontinued?”
- Rebecca Klein, Cheetah Conservation Botswana
NEW HIPPO POOL
Now here is a pretty picture, let your imagination go and you may even smell it!
Pour into a bath tub, until two thirds full, a concoction of shit, slimy terracotta clay and algae. Fill the rest of the tub with sulphurous concentrated water, real smelly stuff. Add to that enough salt to make the muck three times saltier than sea water. Add a few rotting animal carcasses infested with maggots. Now get in it …and try to enjoy your wallow, the only one you have, and you need it to survive, SO GET IN!!!
As said before, the Boteti River previously flowed to the Makgadikgadi Saltpans until it dried up in the 1990s. One large depression in the riverbed at Kumaga exposes the water table and so most of the hippos that once lived in the Boteti either escaped into the Okavango Delta, or were trapped here for the last decade, with nowhere to go. There were probably over 50 hippos stranded there in the late 1990s. Now there are seven, the rest died of starvation, or were killed by adult bulls. They have been living in this filthy muck of excrement, sulphur, salt, rotting carcasses, and God knows what else for a decade now. The water is toxic to drink and so the hippos will wander along the riverbed to look for water where elephants have dug into cleaner seeps.
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I am happy to say that on my last trip in the Kumaga area was pleasantly surprised to see a much happier group of hippos in their new swimming pool! Ian Khama, Botswana’s Vice President, and President to be next year, commissioned the excavation of a new pool with much much cleaner fresher water, and better still, deep enough for them to completely submerge under the surface. Their old pool was too shallow from so much junk.
NEW PARK WATERHOLES
A brief note to say the construction of the last two of thirteen new waterholes in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is almost complete. This is going to make a huge difference to the wildlife when they return to Boteti next dry season. As of next year we expect to see the end of the fifty year steady decline of the largest zebra and wildebeest migration in Southern Africa. These new waterholes will decrease the unacceptably large wildlife concentrations at Meno a Kwena and Kumaga, as we have had over the last four years.
Despite the possibility of the river flowing through the area again, the new waterholes will still be necessary since the new fence does stop wildlife access to its water along most of the length of the riverbed.
PYTHON IN THE BATH!
The wildlife coming to the vicinity of camp is attracted by the water we supply for them, both the large animals to the waterholes, and birds flocking to our birdbaths in camp. The birdbaths are a hive of activity all day long as the conditions are ideal for them, particularly as they have habituated to the relative safety due to predators being more wary of people.
A guest was riveted to the never ending flurry of birds, camera clicking away, when all of a sudden the birdbath water exploded like a fountain! The birds fled into the thick thorny acacia bush above, all but one. The python, wrapped itself around the small finch in a death lock for a few minutes before starting the process of swallowing. This has turned out to be a regular occurrence for the opportunistic predator that we see lying in wait in the birdbath most days now.
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STUDENT VETS
Animal vets and nurses recruited in the UK by the Maun Animal Welfare Society come to Botswana to assist making the village cats’ and dogs’ miserable lives somewhat better. A team of them came to stay at Meno a Kwena Tented Camp while they worked in Motopi and Moreomaoto villages nearby. I like the concept, as it really helps to control the ever increasing domestic pet population that will ultimately result in disease and encroachment affecting our wildlife.
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Mervyn Palmer, who arranged this project, explained to me that the benefits to the villagers were a controlled healthier population of domestic animals. The animals were spayed to prevent excessively high over populations that resulted in unhealthy physical condition of individuals. On some occasions the villagers requested that their pets be put to sleep as they could not afford to keep them. Very often the pets were injured, or suffering from illness that required treatment. I hope these visits become a regular occurrence in our area to reduce the human/wildlife confrontation further, perhaps even to treat wildlife that we often find injured as a result of the park fence.
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NEW TV DVD PLAYER FOR SCHOOL
The incredible couple Mike and Margaret Hingley drove into Maun in their old Land Rover shipped out from the UK. It is an inspiration to see this relentlessly adventurous couple of characters, in their 70s, doing what most people can only be bothered to watch on The Travel Channel, or National Geographic. They spend months on the road crisscrossing Southern Africa. On their last visit to Meno a Kwena they brought materials for the local primary school, books, pens, games, posters, their Landy was a Christmas sled and Mike was St Nicholas with his fluffy white beard …ho ho ho!
This time they arrived with the gesture of cash they had raised to buy the primary school a television set and DVD player. We went to Atlantis Electronics shop here in Maun to purchase the equipment. I explained to the owner of the shop that Mike and Margaret were here to help us with our school environmental education project. The plan is to give the school natural history DVDs. These are easy for people, who want to contribute to our projects, to bring out when they come on safaris with us. Atlantis very kindly offered to contribute too and gave us the DVD player for free. This meant we could buy a bigger screen TV set as I am very sure the whole school will be watching every time they watch a movie.
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I asked Liam, one of the volunteers in camp, to go to the school to help set it up for them. The head teacher and teachers were so fired up about the gift they arranged for the traditional dance group to put on an impressive display for Mike and Margaret to show their appreciation. Liam told me one of the teachers was so keen on how the system worked that he couldn’t help notice she was holding a DVD of her own. The Gods Must Be Crazy! I suppose we are going to have to accept that a certain amount of abuse has potential. Still, I can’t help but give them the benefit of the doubt. We are all guilty of that, aren’t we…
FOOT & MOUTH OUTBREAK!
The recent paranoia outbreak in Northern Botswana has resulted in paranoia alerts that have resulted in paranoia restrictions that have resulted in paranoia action. The road to Meno a Kwena involves a detox at Makalamabedi vetenary fence. It’s quite an event. On the road transfer to camp, I tell my guests they have to stand on the pesticide soaked mat then put their foot in their mouth! This is how they control foot and mouth in Africa! The most gullible ones do give me that ‘you gottabejoking’ look.
VISIT TO MOREMI ‘CIRCUS’ GAME RESERVE
I haven’t been to Moremi Game Reserve in a long time. Must be a few years, been tied up down Boteti way. One of the things I love most about the Kalahari, besides the stunning wildlife, is the fact we can experience it almost exclusively. Yes that will change with the growing interest in the region as the Okavango and Chobe become saturated with safari visitors.
Moremi has got to be one of the most pristine and beautiful wildlife protected reserves in Africa. And everyone wants to go there. What pisses me off is how very little respect and control of this precious place is maintained.
We came across a pride of lions on the banks of the Khwai River, male consorts, their queens and five cub princes. My Brother Roger stopped the car on the track a hundred metres from them, a well placed position of precision. Half a dozen ‘paparazzi’ safari lodge vehicles encircled the pride in the open plain, off the track, breaking the law of the jungle. Too close. One by one the annoyed royals got up to go get some space. They padded towards us in single file. We dipped our heads, they confidently passed by the vehicle within five yards of us. The paparazzi were relentless as they raced towards the pride in an attempt to cut them off. The lions were obviously distressed and clambered into the nearest thickest bush to hide for the day.
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I dedicate the song ‘A Horse With No Name’, by the band America, to everyone who lives in, works and visits the Okavango River Delta. This is my choice of an appropriate soundtrack for the Boteti Diaries.
A Horse with No Name - America
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound
I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
‘cos there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La la …la la la la la…
After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
You see I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
‘cos there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La la …la la la la la…
After nine days I let the horse run free
‘cos the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with its life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love
You see I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
‘cos there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La la …la la la la la…