Low Fare Africa

The latest edition of Wilderness Safaris’ Unusual Sightings comes courtesy of Grant Atkinson at Savuti Camp in the Linyanti Region of Botswana:

The sequence of adjoining images were all taken right from the deck of Savuti Camp which looks out over the currently flowing Savute Channel – one of the biggest events in Botswana in recent times. What has been even more interesting is how the elephant population has reacted to this rekindled water source.

I was deeply struck by the changes that have come about in both the environment and the elephant behaviour in the Linyanti Concession. In the years when the Channel was dry, from 1983 up until 2008, the onset of the dry season in June brought about a daily influx of elephants to the four artificially pumped waterholes that were situated along the dry river bed. Observation hides were in place at two of the waterholes, to enable up-close visuals with the thirsty elephants.

With the return of water to the Channel last year, this has all changed.  The narrow ribbon of grassland with a dusty river bed where the channel once flowed has now been replaced by soothing, clear water once again. The Channel is now flowing, bank to bank, and currently stretches for 60km, having just past the Chobe Cutline moving ever closer to the Savute Marsh. Hippos, waterbirds, catfish and water lilies have all recolonised the new water, with the Channel now even sharing wildlife affinities with the Okavango Delta.

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Last night’s edition of CBS’ 60 Minutes highlighted the ongoing struggle against illegal lion poisoning going on in Kenya. Farmers, whose financial livelihoods depend on their cattle, can ill afford to have lions poaching from their herds. Consequently they often resort to disposing of problem lions. The result has been an alarming drop in the lion population. View the full report on the issue and how conservationists and governments are working to solve it below.

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Botswana is a landlocked country about the size of France. Two thirds of the land is arid Kalahari savanna unsuitable for agriculture. Large areas have been set aside for wildlife reserves and these include some of the very finest in Africa.

The magnificent Okavango Delta, home to the Moremi Wildlife Reserve, fans out across the north-western corner and creates a paradise of islands and lagoons teeming with birds and wildlife. In the northeast, the famous Chobe National Park supports great concentrations of Elephant and Buffalo. Botswana’s Tuli Block lies at the south eastern corner of the country, with Zimbabwe to the north and South Africa the south.

Here some of Botswana’s only commercial farming coexists with magnificent game reserves. A unique array of wildlife can be seen in Tuli, with its most notable highlight arising in its immense elephant population.