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.

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.

Hippos are not usually preyed upon by lions – not only are they a fearsome opponent, but they spend much of the day submerged and hidden from sight in pools and rivers.

This particular hippo had clearly been in a territorial fight with another hippo, and was badly wounded. His injuries were serious enough for him to remain out of the water, and this is what led to his ultimate demise.

Two hungry male lions discovered the hippo standing next to Teal Pan, and as the opportunists they are, decided they were more than a match for the injured animal. However, the hippo was still extremely strong and put up a good fight against the two lions. Some five hours after they first spotted the hippo, and after a truly exhausting battle, the lions finally brought the hippo down and were rewarded with a meal fit for the king of the bush.

Based at Shinde’s Footsteps Camp, the children, in groups of six, were put through their paces amongst the diverse animals of the concession. Fantastic sightings of lion and wild dogs combined with hands on practical camp skills such as learning how to make a fire and fire arm safety to make this an unforgettable experience. The ‘fun’ element was ever present with spotting competitions and sundowner football. At the end of camp all received caps, T-shirts and certificates to prove that they are true ‘Young Explorers’.

Bana Ba Letsatsi (which means ‘children of the sun’) cares for over 240 vulnerable and orphaned children in Maun. Their mission is to keep children at risk in Maun off the streets and away from negative influences by empowering them through education and support. The children are at risk because they suffer either a lack of parental care; have never been to or have dropped out of school, suffer abuse at home or in the neighbourhood or they abuse drugs and/or alcohol.

The Lala Palms at Shinde are full in bloom and the dates are much sought after by the resident elephant population. These gentle giants visit the camp at regular intervals, shaking the palm trees in the hope that some dates will fall to the ground for them to feed upon.

Great sightings continue away from camp

Lions featured heavily on the game viewing menu, with a pride of six taking up residence around an elephant carcass on the channel. Easily visible from both land and water, the pride gorged themselves for a week.

Juvenile Hippopotamus - Shinde Fire Deck

Shinde is renowned for the refuge it provides to wearily travellers from all over the world. A couple of weeks ago this include a juvenile hippopotamus, who seeking refuge from an older bull spent some time on the fire deck reflecting on the trials and tribulations of growing up.

One such incident occurred at the famous Killing Fields when a sounder of warthogs were grubbing peacefully early in the afternoon, blissfully unaware of the impending danger in the grass.

The lionesses had killed a lechwe that morning and swiftly closed in on the warthog. The lionesses pounced on a young warthog and when the mother attempted to rescue her offspring, the lionesses turned on her killing both female and young.

During all the commotion, a male lion arrived intent on taking his share of the feast. Initially he was fended off by the females, but returned later forcing the females to concede their prey. Having lost their meal the females were again hunting less than an hour later.