Falie and the pilots took a spotlight and went to investigate. To their surprise they discovered a young hyena was chasing the elephant across the plains in front of the camp. As the hyena raced along the grass Falie noticed four more hyenas lying in the camp’s undergrowth, watching with great interest.

Every once in a while the elephant would spin around, trumpet loudly and chase the hyena away. However, hyenas are known for their persistence and the pair put on quite a show before the elephant finally decided he’d had enough and retreated to the papyrus bed at the rear of the camp.

Entertainment of this nature happens more often than you’d imagine in camp and often involves the same leading stars. The elephant in question is a camp regular, Snorey (so named for his terrible snoring habit), and Falie suspects that the young hyena might be Mike the Mechanic, a name he picked up as a pup after stealing parts from underneath a game drive vehicle!

It was the morning of 13th July and Eleanor and Lizzy Appleby were getting dressed, ready for breakfast. They’d had an interrupted night’s sleep due to all the elephant activity during the small hours but they didn’t mind and were looking forward to another exciting day of activities at Shinde.

As they opened the door of Room 3, the guests giggled hysterically. Someone had left them a present on their deck! What could it be?

Well, it didn’t take the Applebys more than a split-second to realise that these were not giant breakfast muffins, but instead freshly-baked elephant muffins!

Yes, Snorey and his friend had visited the room and one of them had deposited a rather large present on the deck. Whether the elephant did on purpose or just by accident we will never know but he aimed very well. We’re not sure which of the elephants was the culprit, but we like to think it was Snorey as he likes to keep us entertained. It has never happened before but now Snorey is back on his old turf we’ll be looking out for this again!

Photos courtesy of Eleanor and Lizzy Appleby.

During July, after not having been seen for months, a particular favourite of ours made a triumphant return to Shinde.

It around 8am on 6th July and the managers had just waved the guests off on their morning game activity. As they sat on the fire deck, soaking up the warmth of the sun and discussing the plan for the day, a noise startled them. As they looked up, an elephant appeared. Magda and Falie smiled at each other – it looked like Snorey was back.

This bull elephant was taking the nearest palm tree to task, pushing at the trunk to see if the fruit were ready to fall. As hard as he tried he couldn’t dislodge the fruits and he was visibly getting more and more frustrated. Suddenly a curious noise started to emanate from his trunk… a noise which sounded like extremely loud snoring. This confirmed everyone’s suspicions – it was indeed Snorey.

Snorey had not been seen since January 2010, and Magda and Falie had become so worried about their uninvited but much-loved guest that they’d even asked the Department of Wildlife officers to look out for him. They’d originally assumed that he ‘snored’ due to having a hole in his trunk, but on closer inspection they realise this was not the case. Snorey can in fact control his snoring and only makes this noise when he is frustrated. The more frustrated he gets, the louder the snoring becomes. He is not the only snoring elephant in the area, but all of the other elephants restrict their snoring to when they are asleep!

Guests at Kanana enjoyed a very rare sighting this week. Out on an afternoon game drive with Wago, there was suddenly a gasp of excitement as something went dashing through the grass.

The picture doesn’t quite capture the beauty of this incredible animal, but is proof for our guests that they saw this elusive and mainly nocturnal creature. Our guests had never seen a pangolin before, but interestingly enough, neither had Wago despite seven years of almost-daily guiding.

All of the DWNP-managed parks prohibit night drives. This is for good reason – these parks and reserves are home to many lodges and thousands of self-drive campers, and without regulation there could be many problems, including disruption to the wildlife.

As a private concession we are permitted to bypass this rule. Kanana is a very intimate lodge – just eight rooms – and as a result the number of vehicles out on a game drive at any one time is minimal. Our guides are highly trained and know how to look for wildlife without causing any disruption; for example, scanning the terrain with a torch but taking care not to shine it directly at the animals’ eyes.

Obviously night drives are not as game-rich as day drives for the simple fact that it is dark and the headlights and the guide’s torch only give off a relatively small circle of light. But the excitement of spotting a leopard strolling off into the dark, or a pride of lions stalking its unwitting prey is incomparable.

Night drives also give guests the chance to see the nocturnal animals which are usually extremely elusive. Just a couple of nights ago our guests saw a spotted hyena walking along the road, and just a few minutes later a bush baby, also known as Galago, jumping from branch to branch in the tree canopy. The bush baby in particular is a stunning sighting as these tiny primates are almost never seen during daylight hours, and our guests were rightly amazed.

We tell our guests they will sometimes see game drinking at the waters’ edge, but to remember that much of the beauty of a trip like this is in the small stuff: brightly-coloured frogs no bigger than your thumbnail, clinging to the swaying reeds; kingfishers which hover, transfixed, before plunging into the water to grab a shiny silver fish; water lilies opening and closing in the sun.

Therefore, imagine our delight – and of course our guests – when they returned from a Mokoro trip having seen a lioness and her four cubs drinking the crystal clear delta waters. Our poler, Moja, had just gently poled around a bend in the river when he carefully but quickly sat down on the Mokoro. He had seen a lioness and her four cubs approaching the water, and knew that if they saw his tall frame standing in the boat, they would immediately scatter at the sight of a human.

Moja and his guests sat quietly in the Mokoro, slowly drifting towards the lioness and her cubs as they drank. The Mokoro is so quiet that the lioness did not realise it was there for some time. Suddenly something must have alerted her, and she got quite a fright. She growled at the Mokoro before turning and following her cubs which had shot off into the grass – each in a different direction!

Our guests – understandably – were delighted by this sighting. Seeing a lioness with four healthy cubs is remarkable enough, and a sign of a healthy pride, but to see them from the tranquillity of a Mokoro is really special.

Paul Moleseng (Ker & Downey Botswana Senior Specialist Guide) and Derek Flatt (COO of Chobe Holdings) present the cheque to Sarah Cahilane (Bana Ba Letsatsi Acting Co-ordinator).

Bana Ba Letsatsi (Sunshine Children) was established in 2004 to support Northern Botswana’s orphaned, at-risk and vulnerable children. The charity’s Maun-based centre supports more than 230 underprivileged children by providing them with food, clothing, education, counselling, sports, and arts and music activities.

Fiona Hatton, Executive Coordinator of Bana Ba Letsatsi, says “The support of Ker & Downey Botswana over the last year has been tremendous, and they are by far our biggest local donors. Ker & Downey Botswana not only provides us with financial contributions every month, but also understands and has a passion for improving the lives of these children.”

The children at Bana Ba Letsatsi are aged from 1-18 years, and without the centre would be living on the streets, lacking adequate food and care. Ker & Downey Botswana’s monthly donations are based on a percentage of safari sales, and enable Bana Ba Letsatsi to buy essential everyday items such as food, clothing and classroom materials. Bana Ba Letsatsi also sets aside a proportion of the donations each month to cover any unexpected medical emergencies with the children.

Ker & Downey Botswana’s Nicky Brandon and Paul Moleseng (a specialist guide who recently ran the New York Marathon to raise funds for Bana Ba Letsatsi) visit the Bana Ba Letsatsi centre regularly to see how the money is directly helping the children.

Ker & Downey Botswana is pleased to announce that it will continue to support Bana Ba Letsatsi throughout the 2011.

Even those not so interested in birds will never forget the spectacular sight that awaits all visitors to Kanana during the months of August to November.

Birds of a feather flock together, but not in the case of Kanana’s heronry… the heronry erupts with birds of all kinds mingling together – Grey Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons, Pink-backed Pelicans, Marabou Storks, Open-billed Storks, Yellow-billed Storks, Great White Egrets, various Cormorants, and a few other species.

To be able to witness these birds up close and personal building their delicate nests in Water Fig and Waterberry trees and protecting their eggs and chicks is truly magical and a sighting that can’t be missed for anyone coming to Botswana’s Okavango Delta during these four months.

In August one can witness the arrival of these different species; September is the egg laying month and a few short weeks after that hundreds of chicks hatch to make this bird paradise even more spectacular and alive. November sees the departure of the adults and their young, leaving the heronry quiet and silent once again, until the next year when the circle of bird life starts all over again.

Article and photos © Karien Joubert

Two male leopards have been spotted on numerous occasions; at just 18 months old they have defined their territories with one living right under our noses at camp, and the other one keeping his distance over the bridge.

Kanana’s pride of seven lions have been seen every day so far this month. Lions aren’t particularly good or keen climbers, so it has been interesting to see the lionesses sitting in mangosteen and jackalberry trees – it appears that they are climbing the trees to evade the biting flies which pester them constantly on the ground. The male lions don’t seem to be so bothered by the flies, although this may simply be because their minds are on other things: one of the lions spent a full five days mating with four different lionesses.

The same pride of lions seems to have a taste for giraffe at the moment. Together they took down a giraffe in the woods near camp last week and almost immediately discovered another one by the bridge. This second giraffe had recently died of old age – a fact which didn’t seem to bother our hungry pride – and the seven lions shared two large giraffes over the course of just a few days.

A pride of eight lions – three male, five female – have been making their way in and out of the area around Pom Pom, and crossing the river at the Pontoon where the water is extremely deep. Two of the females have collars on, courtesy of a local research team, and we are sure the researchers will be gaining some valuable information from the pride’s activity.

When the lions are out of sight, a number of leopards brave the area. We have spotted at least three different leopards and believe them to be a mother and her two male offspring; however, they are always seen alone and remain solitary. We have not recorded any kills of recent although we have seen tracks through the camp most nights, possibly in search of baboons.

Other notable sightings around the islands include the elusive Pel’s Fishing Owl, and the much sought-after Sitatunga, plus our usual contingent of hippos, crocodiles and so on. A particularly entertaining sighting last week occurred courtesy of a fish eagle and a vervet monkey: the fish eagle was defending its nest from the vervet which was hoping for a tasty meal. Suffice to say, the fish eagle won.

As the seasons change in the Okavango Delta and a complex web of migrations occur, so elephant herds have returned to the area – and in large numbers. We’ve seen two separate herds every day for the last five days, and the bulls are wandering in and out of the camp, much to the guests delight.

Finally, we have also spotted several Dagga Boys of late. These are the old male buffalo which have left the breeding herd in their old age. Buffalo are cantankerous by nature: the Dagga Boys even more so. We’re hoping this sighting is a prelude to the arrival of the breeding herds.