OKAVANGO & BOTETI FLOOD
BREAKING NEWS! Big deal the United States of America has a new president with roots in Africa! Here in Botswana we have a new president with roots in the United Kingdom!!!
OKAVANGO & BOTETI FLOOD
As miracles are being realised in the west, so too are we experiencing the miracle of the rebirth of a river, lost for over a decade, returning life to a desolate world! The Boteti River is flowing deeper into the thirsty Kalahari than it has for sixteen years. A significant volume of water is seeping into the heart of the dry desert sands from the Okavango Delta. There is no other permanent water in Botswana besides the Okavango. Only the great green greasy Limpopo River a thousand kilometres to the south, and the Chobe, five hundred kilometres in the north.
This sequence of images was taken during one hour in the Boteti Riverbed at Lazy J Bend, near Moreomaoto Village, end of October 2008.
The Okavango inflow from Angola this year, according to the experts at the University of Botswana, was not responsible for the higher than normal flood levels in the delta, it was the high local rainfall we had during the 2007/08 summer. The high water levels this year are also the result of a gradual increase in local and regional rains over the last eight years. It’s mostly about what water is still sitting in the delta left over from the previous rains and floods. Global warming? Or a natural cycle? Apparently we experience thirty year cycles of dry and thirty years of dry periods. Been like that for quite some time, like thousands of years, maybe.
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I have been monitoring the water levels in the Thamalakane and Boteti Rivers regularly, to the point of being intensely possessively obsessed by it. No, not hanging out at The Bridge and Okavango River Lodge with the usual suspects at the bars! Rather to scrutinise the water flowing through The Old Bridge, while enjoying a bacon cheese and banana burger lunch! Willing the river to rise, higher and higher so it reaches Meno A Kwena this year, as I have desperately dreamed it would for too many years. God, we are the most impatient species! The water is just over ten kilometres from Meno A Kwena! It’s still flowing towards us at a rate of about one kilometre a day.
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Watching the kids at Moreomaoto Village on the banks of the Boteti River playing along the edges of the water reminds me of the first time I saw snow in Europe at the age of sixteen on my first travels off the African continent. Most children from this village, a hundred kilometres from the Okavango Delta, have never seen water in the river right on their doorstep. They are instinctively fascinated by the fishes that are moving in their watery environment through the deep dry dusty river valley reincarnate. Little fishes, over-anxious swimming faster than the flowing river …flop flop flop on powdery talcum dust. Kids run shouting, frivolous village dogs loping alongside in the shallows, egrets take flight. Cattle stand bewildered where water was not the day before. A party of cheerful adults indulges in St Louis beer shifting from one shady acacia to another as the seeping water encroaches on their seated gathering. An immature fish eagle settles atop a dead tree surveying its new fishy surroundings.
The Boteti flood plain below was dry the day before, note the thorn enclosures around wells now flooded. The Boteti River has finally reached the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park’s western boundary. For the first time since 1995 there is water for wildlife in sustainable quantities. The deadly drying up of the Boteti in the 1990s resulted in 100 000 zebra and wildebeest deaths. Countless other wildlife was negatively impacted by the receding river that acted as a barrier between wildlife in the national park, and farmers living along the opposite bank. Water levels up stream in the delta are dropping fast, I am holding my brrrrrrrr……………eath! In geological terms, according to the UB experts, the water could be an impossible distance away from Meno A Kwena this year. The distance on a map is just over fifteen kilometres. In my head, well let’s say the river will be at Meno A Kwena in less than three weeks. There is hope, the first rains of the season have started with 10mm falling at camp in early November. My Brother, Roger splashes through the Moreomaoto Village causeway, dry the day before in early November 2008.
HEAT & FIRE
Most of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve has burned in the last two months. Nxai Pan National Park is on fire. Fires raged in Moremi and Chobe too. Hot winds blew freely and unobstructed across the waterless flat Kalahari, relentlessly engulfing all in its path, exhaling smoke and ash, charred flesh and bone. Luckily so far Meno A Kwena and Makgadikgadi are safe. Now, with the first storms approaching, we keep vigilant eyes on lightning strikes, for orange glows on far horizons at night, for mountainous smoke clouds. Our fire fighting equipment ready for fast action speaking louder than words, instant deployment to keep the migration’s grass safe from destruction and despair…
THE MAKGADIKGADI MIGRATION
This is the first year in over a decade we have not been seeing excessive numbers of zebra at Meno A Kwena. It has been a much less stressful year for them, and us. Less pressure on water, more grazing within reach of the waterholes. Decreased mortalities amongst the yearlings. Why? A number of possibilities exist, perhaps they are all responsible. Higher than average rainfall improving grazing. The decommissioning of the fence between Nxai Pan National Park and Moremi. Artificial waterholes in the hunting concession between Boteti and the Okavango along ancient migratory routes. Changes in water utilisation resulting from new government sponsored waterholes along the Boteti Riverbed. A large number of zebra have died since last year? One answer is the most exciting of all…
Once not so long ago, ancient migrations across southern Africa were traversed by tremendous herds of zebra, wildebeest, springbok and other roaming wildlife. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of animals. Unrelentless in their demanding necessity to move from dry season favourable grazing and water, to wet season favourable grazing and water, an area stretching over the vast Kalahari sands from the southern Congo to the Cape. Then people came, they put a spanner in the wheel and it all ended in a very brief time from a geological perspective. God we are an impatient species!
Researchers have been monitoring a female zebra and her family this last year. They have observed some exciting unexpected migratory patterns between the Okavango Delta Meno A Kwena and the Makgadikgadi Saltpans. Distances of nearly 300km from the delta to saltpans. This is fantastic news for wildlife conservation management when considering social development plans for Botswana.
This information from one family of zebra is important data as it is representative of an ancient migration of possibly the whole zebra population of northern Botswana. This proves that once upon a time massive herds of zebra and wildebeest inhabited the Okavango fringes, central Chobe National Park and Boteti River system during the dry season Jul-Nov. They would migrate to the high nutrition grasses of the saltpans during the wet season (Dec-Jun) to breed. It is especially good news that despite these herds being blockaded by fences for some decades, they have amazingly resumed these migrations since a key fence between Nxai Pan and Moremi was decommissioned in 2006.
Good news for Makgadikgadi & Nxai Pans National Parks, the largest remaining zebra and wildebeest migration in Southern Africa has an escape route to the Okavango, should fire or serious drought occur. This single factor will greatly encourage an increase in the decades’ long decline of the Makgadikgadi zebra population. We have twenty thousand zebra left, from hundreds of thousands just fifty years ago. We can now expect in ten years, as conditions improve favourably, the population will increase to a hundred thousand zebra. Excited!
I have heard of recent increased numbers of zebra along the Chobe River. Can anyone out there verify this as I would be very interested to know, if this is the case, where they came from???
LIONS OF MENO A KWENA
The nocturnal hunting strategy of the Meno A Kwena pride females is being fine tuned. Their hunting successes are evident as they take advantage of the steep river bank cliffs. Camp sits on one of their favourite cliff ambush sites! So yes we see and hear many lion hunts, ambushes and kills in and around camp. Yes, we have to be extremely alert and aware and cautious. This is why all our tents are pitched inside thorn enclosures with sturdy pole doorways, all guests are accompanied by guides to the safety of their tents. To lie awake listening to the hunters …and the hunted.
On one particularly busy hunting night of stampeding snorting zebra and heavy breathing lions around camp, we expected the human sounding zebra scream, then silence, before tearing flesh and crunching bone sounds. It was not a successful hunt and we all slept soundly. Next morning we were awoken to the death scene right at the pole doorway to the research camp, next to the guest camp. Dabe and Dabe, the two Naro San guides were standing over a dead village dog with teeth puncture wounds to the neck! I noticed that Dabe and Dabe were gathering information from the tracks and signs in the sand and were about to give us a re-enactment of what happened at 5am that morning.
They heard the event from their tents just ten metres away. While hunting zebra the lions turned their attention to a dog that had sneaked into camp from nearby cattle farms to look for scraps from the camp kitchen. The dog bolted up the hundred metre long straight path to the research camp.
The lions gave chase. Dabe points to the sprinting dog’s deep paw and claw tracks in the sand, on top of the dog’s tracks are the giant cat’s paw prints gaining fast and furious. The dog must have been terrified seeing up ahead there was no gap in the pole entrance to the safety of the camp. Dabe and Dabe lying in their tent hearing the sound of pounding paws getting closer and closer to their campsite entrance held their breath and strained sensitive ears. They both hoped the last person to bed the night before had closed the poles properly. Otherwise the lions were going to get into the camp’s enclosure following after the desperate dog racing for its life.
There was a crash against the thorn branch enclosure. A brief yelp. A deep growl. Then rustling in the dry grass. And …quiet, except for Dabe’s and Dabe’s thumping hearts and a nearby jackal howl. Dabe showed us in the sand where the dog had, at great speed, crashed into the pole gate. Dabe points out the lion tracks where it skids and pounces onto the dog before it attempted plan B, the impenetrable thorn fence next to the pole entrance, too late. The giant cat pinned the dwarfed dog down as it bit easily into the neck, breaking it instantly with a crack, the Naro San guide articulates with a click of his tongue. Dabe lifts the damaged pole doorway where the impact of lion pouncing on dog had almost collapsed the structure. The lions played with the dead dog like it was a stuffed toy, tossing and dragging before dumping it to carry on with them stripy buggers.
This pride of lions has a deep rooted history of fear and loathing of village hunting dogs in these parts. The farmers hunted cattle rustling lions down using dogs. Cornering the big cats in thick bush so the farmers could shoot them. This unfortunate dog was alone and outnumbered, the tables had turned for the big cats, they took full advantage of these new times, now their land truly is theirs since the fence has stopped livestock encroachment into the national park.
Note the pole doorway behind Dabe. The poles are closed for the safety of staff Sleeping in the research camp at night. 2008
RARE BROWN HYAENA MARKING ITS TERRITORY IN CAMP
It is always a great joy to see rare wildlife, to see brown hyaenas is extremely rare. To have them drinking from the bird bath in camp, and while we sit at the campfire just ten metres away, is very special. The image is not great but that’s an even more rare opportunity, for our guests to get photographs of brown hyaenas.
Brown hyaena drinking from the camp birdbath just 10 metres from the fire bowl where we sit in the evening. 10pm 12th September 2008.
WATER FOR LIFE PROJECTS
Our conservation and community projects are progressing very slowly due to a lack of funding. The Meno A Kwena Water for Life Trust was registered beginning of 2008 and we are about to get the website and prospectus completed soon. Getting the word out there is the stumbling block at the moment. In the meantime we continue to have volunteers joining us from around the globe to assist with these valuable projects.
Janaina Matarazzo is with us at the moment from Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is involved with the Moreomaoto Village Primary School projects that include helping the teachers with typing endless exam papers they would otherwise painstakingly handwrite. Leaves very little time to teach so this is a small thing but makes a huge difference.
Janaina is working closely with Inajame Sandu, a professional musician who is instructing the children to play the marimba, traditional xylophone. Inajame has been a magician with the children and after just one term has taught the children not only how to play but to tune, and maintain these complexed instruments. The sounds they produce are sweet as birdsong! We are planning to hold a mini concert for our guests at the school before the end of term later this month. The ultimate goal is to produce a musical play that involves traditional instruments to tell a story about the need to respect our environment.
Inajame instructs the primary school children to play marimbas, Moreomaoto Primary School. 2008.
I take this opportunity to thank Martina Freyer and the staff of Uhambo eAfrica in Germany for their recent contribution towards our wildlife conservation and community involvement projects. We appreciate that our foreign partners are also taking responsibility for the need to protect our natural resources.
THE CHAOS OF MAUN VILLAGE!
Yes Maun is still a dusty village, the hub of Botswana’s tourism industry is like something out of a movie set. Yes, there is every chance of seeing your favourite movie star sitting at Bon Arrivee Bar and Restaurant opposite the airport terminal building! A thick concentration of modern cars, safari rigs and donkey carts compete for the few limited spaces of road through central Maun. The dramatic increase in vehicle traffic has overcome the development of road infrastructure over the last couple years. A direct result of the cheap second hand imported Japanese cars available in Botswana. As modern buildings and new paved parking replaces thatched mud huts and sandy tracks, the shamble of transition is quaintly evident despite the frustration of queues and reckless drivers. Gone are the days when we waved at passing vehicles, knowing people by the cars they drove. We don’t park outside the stores we visit any longer, finding parking is now an inconvenience.We don’t leave keys in the ignition of our open4X4 game drive land cruisers. We don’t greet everyone we walk past like we did up until just a few years ago.
A lot has not changed though, donkeys and village dogs still wander the busy streets following their noses and other asses! Adding to the already chaotic roads and pavements of masses of asses and piles of turds! Vehicles of all sorts of practical design for safaris, photography and wildlife documentary filming. White government trucks everywhere. Herero women in their traditional 1800s German colonial dresses like pretty dolls. Dust, yes there is still an atmosphere filled with dust.
The new chaotic mix of traditional and modern is bringing a sense of speed to the once sleepy slow village. Bottle necks at fuel stations and taxi ranks are bustling with people making appointments with buses and the countless stalls selling road trip snacks and other bare necessities like chappies chewing gum, sweet fizzy Iron Brew drinks, wild fruits from the Kalahari. Music. Boom boom. Always loud music. Boom boom. ‘The dusty air is alive with the sound of mu…sic. Boom titty boom. A different track plays through disco speakers in front of every store …boomshikaboom…shika…boomboomboom!’
To put this chaos into perspective I copy from the journals of Botswana Notes & Records written over 30 years ago.
Urban Migration in Botswana: Gaborone December 1975
By Betsy Stephens
Dept of Statistics
Botswana currently (1975) has one of the highest rates of urbanisation in Africa, and the capital, Gaborone, with an annual growth rate of about 15%, is the fastest growing town in the country. Prior to Independence in 1966, Gaborone was a small tribal village, and a colonial administrative centre. It was designated in 1964 as the site for the new capital (which was previously in Mafeking, Republic of South Africa, and nearly all of the present day population are migrants to the new town.
Until 1966, Botswana was a British protectorate, almost totally dependant on a rural
economy of subsistence agriculture, cattle-rearing, and the export of labour. The only ‘modern’ towns were Lobatse, Francistown, and the fledgling Gaborone – with a combined population of around 20 000. However, since Independence, urbanisation has been spurred by important mineral exploitation, some industrialisation, and an expanding government bureaucracy. While more than 50% of the population still lives in settlements of less than 500, a dramatic increase in employment opportunities in the towns, combined with a significant expansion of educational facilities, has resulted in the exponential growth of migration to the urban areas: At the same time, the population of the larger villages is increasing slightly, which may be related to the introduction of small scale industries, and other attributes of the modern economy. However, these villages remain predominately identified with the traditional rural lifestyle, and are not yet thought of as ‘urban’.
Historically, Botswana has a very distinctive settlement pattern and an unusual
tradition of mobility. Villages are the focal point of tribal life and originally, all tribal householders were resident in the village. They ploughed and ran their stock in the adjacent lands. Over time, a combination of population pressures and exhaustion of the land forced the chiefs to allocate outlying areas for cultivation (called ‘the lands’ by the Batswana), and further afield, to designate ‘cattle posts’ for herding activities. Families built temporary homes at ‘the lands’ and, if they also own large stock, at the ‘cattle post’ as well. There was regular seasonal movement out, and back to the village after harvest, or at the behest of the chief. Today, there is evidence of some permanent settlement at the lands, as the power of the tribal authority wanes. In addition to considerable internal movement, since the end of the last century, there has been an exodus of persons leaving to work in South Africa, predominately on short term contract in the mines. The 1971 Census found approximately 25% of the males of working age absent.
It is not unusual for members of an extended family to be resident at a given time in five different locations, although there is one settlement, or village, which they all call ‘home’. The kinship bonds remain strong, and are particularly manifested by ties to the place of origin.
INDEPENDENCE “BOIPUSO”
We celebrated “Boipuso” on the 30th September in camp with a staff party. There were no guests in camp so the party had no limits so to speak. Well it did end when the booze ran out. The 42nd year of Independence celebrates this extraordinary country’s development to be extremely proud of. PULA!
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ASHES & SNOW
For anyone who appreciates art and nature, to do themselves a favour and look at the images on this website, they are an inspiration.
Get the book. Incredible. www.ashesandsnow.orghttp://www.ashesandsnow.org/
- David Dugmore