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.

Tsebes would not usually be the preferred prey of leopard, not only because they are renowned as Africa’s fastest antelope, but also because they are too large for a leopard to carry up a tree, where they like to secure their prey from lions, hyenas and other scavengers. For this reason leopard would usually hunt smaller antelope such as impala or lechwe.

It is also unusual for a leopard to kill during the day, as they prefer to stalk their prey under cover of darkness. However, in this case the startled tsebe had been chased literally into the jaws of this leopard, who was probably enjoying an afternoon nap in the shade of a tree, but was not going to pass up the opportunity of an easy meal.

When the guests first arrived, the leopard was only just starting to open up the tsebe. They returned an hour later on the afternoon game drive to find he had opened the carcass and was enjoying his meal. They also witnessed him removing the stomach contents in an attempt to make the carcass light enough to move.

Once he had eaten his fill, the leopard attempted to cover the carcass with grass, and settled down to rest, panting heavily. Over the course of the next couple of days, guests revisited the site of the kill and found the carcass moved to a new position about 20 metres away. The stomach contents have a distinctive smell which attracts scavengers, so these had been left behind. Although the carcass was too big even for a leopard this size to take up a tree, amazingly he managed to hang onto his kill until it was entirely eaten. Clearly the lions and hyenas in the area were not fully ‘on the ball’!

Words and images courtesy of Dawn Perkins.