October 2021
Safari Notes: Linyanti Bush Camp, Drive #3 – Botswana
Morning Drive Notes:
- Baboons troop
- Heard an owl but could not find it
- Thousands of water buffalo – thousands! As far as the eye could see we saw dust kicked up by the water buffalo and it went on for miles. We spent a lot of time watching them cross the water. It was so amazing to witness. They were very comfortable as they galloped and played together. There was one point where a break in the line caused the group to stop crossing the water and they waited there for a while. There was a mother that crossed that seemed to be looking back to the group waiting to cross and Ken thought perhaps a calf was in the group. The line backed up and eventually someone took a leap of faith and started the crossing again. Then, the calf reunited with the mom.
- Troop of baboons
- Impala – black markings on the butts. Butt markings seem to be common among antelope as a way to identify markings and follow each other.
- More water buffalo
- Gray hornbill (zazu but gray peak)
- Warthog plus two babies, trotting along – again, very fast and difficult to photograph.
- Checked leopard tracks, not able to find – too far into the bush to track.
- Found two buffalo sleeping inland
- Guinea fowl – the chickens of Africa
- Warthog – posed for a photo for once!
- Herd of wildebeest
- Stopped for our morning coffee and snack with 8-10 hippos in the water – it was really fun to photograph them! The one male was clearly territorial (very common for the dominate male) and continued to show his size by showing his body and wide mouth – made for great photos for us!
- Warthog again
- Tracking lions again – it would be so awesome to see lions on this trip!
- Impala, same herd of wildebeest
- We passed by where we saw the baby elephant the previous night and the baby elephant was not there – it seems to have been collected by the mother! My heart sung!
- Vultures spotted in trees then left to circle in the air – perhaps to enjoy a carcass or recent lion kill?
- But we could not get to the spot to continue tracking – this section on trail has not been used since 2019 so even though Ken had been doing quite a bit of machete work, it was getting too dense. We turned back to head back to the camp.
- Spotted giraffe solo on the airstrip – the animals lick the ground for the mineral salts
- Three warthogs at a water hole in the mud
- Two dwarf mongoose
- Impala and water buffalo sleeping in the shade
- Two elephants laying down – amazing to see these giant animals laying on the ground
