By Jackie Tauberman (University of Vermont)
It was another exciting week in the bush! Here are some highlights from our last days in Mababe and our first day in Khwai.
St. Patrick’s Day
The day started off as a typical day in the bush. We did herbivore transects in the morning and had a lecture in the afternoon. The excitement started when we were told that we could go for a walk by the Mababe River in the late afternoon. Now, this was quite monumental for us because we do not typically get to walk around much due to the high density of wildlife in most areas, so we were all very excited for this nature walk. We all walked down to the river around 4:30pm to observe some wildlife and study some trees and plants on our species list. Emma spotted a woodland kingfisher, a spectacular turquoise bird that normally hangs out by the river. From there, the walk turned into an exciting birding walk. We saw little bee-eaters, an African darter, green wood hoopoes, and a coppery-tailed coucal. We stood by the river for a while taking in the beautiful landscape. When we were walking back along the road towards our campsite, we spotted some small paw prints. We thought they might have been from a spotted genet. When we got back to camp, we took a green-themed photo for St. Patricks Day.
Our green threads for St. Patrick’s Day. Along with some of our green camp essentials, including dish soap, our tea box and a can of peas.
The excitement did not end there! As Rebekah and Vehi were starting to cook dinner, a huge storm started rolling in. It got very windy and started to rain and then pour. The wind blew over the stew pot on the fire and we had to scramble to pick it up and add new ingredients. We ran to the trucks after closing the rain flaps on our tents and securing camp. We sat in the trucks as the storm raged with Rebekah occasionally running out to check on the stew. When the rain slowed down for a few minutes, we ran out to get dinner and then sat in the trucks eating it as the rain started to die down. Genifer, Emma, Hailey and I decided this was the perfect time to eat the few chocolate bars we had picked up on the last Maun run. I ran out of the truck and quickly got them out of the fridge and passed some to the other truck where Eda, Lindsay, Maya, Rebekah, and Vehi were sitting. We sat there enjoying our chocolate as it rained. It was quite an eventful day!
Hooting
On Thursday, February 19th, we went hooting! Hooting is when you play owl calls in hopes of calling owls in. We went out around 7pm and drove down to the Mababe River. We stopped our cars and played the pearl-spotted owlet call. We waited a few minutes and then played it again. Shortly after, a pearl-spotted owlet flew in! We located it in a nearby tree. They are one of the smallest owls here in Botswana. We drove on a little further and tried calling in the African scops owl, another of Botswana’s small owls. After a few tries, one flew into a tree right by our car! We listened to it for a little bit and then moved on to try a barn owl call. We ended up calling in two barn owls! For the grand finale, Rebekah and Genifer had a surprise for us. Rebekah turned on the radio in our car and out came the sound of lions calling! We played the lion calls on and off for a few minutes and we got a response! We could hear lions off in the distance calling and growling back! Sadly none came within our view but it was still very cool.
First Day in Khwai
On Friday, February 20th, we moved camp from Mababe to Khwai. It was a lovely drive through a small section of Chobe National Park. When we got to our campsite in Khwai, we were all excited by what the new environment would show us. As we were unpacking and setting up our tents, we heard Sixteen and Vehi telling us to move carefully back towards the cars. As I got out of my tent, I saw seven African wild dogs strolling down the road! They were breath-taking. We had seen a large pack while we were in Santiwani (near Sankuyo) but not so close and not when we were on foot. We walked towards the cars after quietly getting our cameras. We stood and watched them in awe until they strolled farther down the path and out of sight. I think they are one of my favorite animals that I have seen here so far.
I am excited to see what our time in Khwai brings us!
P.S. Happy Birthday Dad! I hope you had wonderful day!
(Top photo: The African wild dogs that passed by our camp in Khwai.)