Mashatu is a private game reserve in the south eastern part of Botswana and is the largest part of the Northern Tuli Game Reserve (NOTUGRE). The wildlife is free to move in and out of the reserve. To the east is the Shashi river which demarcates the border with Zimbabwe and is an area of intensive poaching. On the northern side of the reserve is the Tuli Circle. The western border is the Tuli Safari reserve. The southern border is along the Motloutse river which flows into the Limpopo river. In the dry season there is minimal water in the rivers so the water does not limit the movement of game. The elephants, lions and cheetahs seem to move wherever they want to.

“…few can sojourn long within the unspoilt wilderness of a game sanctuary, surrounded on all sides by its confiding animals, without absorbing its atmosphere; the Spirit of the Wild is quick to assert supremacy, and no man of any sensibility can resist her.” ~ James Stevenson-Hamilton

We visited Rock Camp in Mashatu in February this year which was mid summer and usually the period of highest rainfall. Mashatu is a reserve of massive seasonal contrasts. November to March is the highest rainfall period and the reserve transforms into what looks like the garden of Eden carpeted with yellow, mauve and pink flowers and the place is a verdant green. In winter, from June to August and early spring, there is no rain and it becomes very dry and barren away from the rivers. In particularly dry seasons it can look somewhat like a moonscape.

“One cannot resist the lure of Africa.” ~ Rudyard Kipling

We stayed at a syndicated camp called Rock Camp, so called because of the large outcrop of highly weathered rocks next to the camp, an unusual feature in Mashatu. The rock outcrop attracts a resident Klipspringer family, a leopard family with the cubs hidden in a cave, and a family of hyaenas which have made their den in other side of the rock outcrop. The klipspringers come into camp regularly and seem to prefer a section of the outcrop where there is a large fig tree growing out of the wall at one section of the outcrop.

The hyaena adults were returning from one of their nightly hunting forays. We usually get going by 6h00 in summer so we were lucky to see them. The clouds show how overcast some of the mornings were.

The returning adults make a low sounding contact call which brought the cubs out of their den. The den was a cave deep in the rocks which was home to two small cubs.

The eternal competition between cubs vying for attention when the adults return.

One of the older cubs found a large bone, possibly an Eland’s tibia. It walked away from all the others to gnaw on the bone in peace.

After a cool rainy evening, this colourful Common flat lizard was lying on top of the rocks trying to warm up and waiting for insects to appear on the rocks.

On a rare sunny early morning we found a family of Black backed jackals lying in the devil thorn flowers. The two pups were playing with each other while their mother rested.

The jackal pups were carefree in their play as the yellow devil thorn flowers had not yet turned into actual devil thorns so the yellow carpet of flowers was still soft underfoot.

On another morning we came across a family of Banded mongooses. There is one family that visits the camp each day but this one was was just beyond the rocks foraging next to the gravel road.

There were always some members of the family which were scouting for any danger. Close to where these mongooses were foraging was a grove of large Apple leaf trees which was home to a family of Verreaux’s eagle-owls so vigilance was necessary.

With the rain overnight, there were many puddles in the road which attracted the mongooses. Both the adults and youngsters played in the water.

“The eye never forgets what the heart has seen.” ~ African Proverb

Even though it was overcast most days it was still very warm. The mongooses seemed to really enjoy the shallow puddles of water in the gravel road.

There are many Steenbok in Mashatu. Away from the riverine areas it is more open countryside so these Steenbok were easier to see. This male Steenbok was resting amongst some bushes which the elephants had been feeding on.

A young male Steenbok, judging from the size of his horns, was lying under a young Shepherd tree partly for cover and perhaps some shade when the sun comes out.

There are many warthogs in Mashatu and they are prolific breeders. Warthogs live in small family groups called sounders. These consist of a male and female, along with one or more generations of their offspring. Sometimes sounders group together into larger groups, though each sounder keeps its identity.

Warthogs have litters of two to four piglets but their mortality rate is quite high due to predators such as lions, leopards and cheetahs. Two or three female warthogs form small sounders with their young as they look after the piglets.

A family herd of Plains zebra grazing amongst the mustard bushes west of the Majale river. In February, the heavy rain clouds always made a more interesting background. A sign of a health zebra is when its mane stands upright on its neck.

The Plains or Burchell’s zebra has black and white stripes which fade away under its belly and they have a shadow brown stripe on the sides and legs between its black stripes. This male zebra was full of the joys of summer and was playing around galloping and bucking all on his own.

A small herd of Wildebeest watching us drive by on our morning game drive. This herd was grazing on a low ridge close to the vlei area.

The Wildebeest and zebra were followed by flocks of Cattle egrets which were attracted by all the insects disturbed by the movement of grazing animals.

A Wildebeest calf’s attention was drawn to the Cattle egret next to it, but the egret seemed unconcerned.

“Animals try to live with nature. Man tries to change nature.” ~ Anthony Douglas Williams

Eland are always skittish in Mashatu and as a consequence are usually running away when you try to pass them. This female Eland was part of a larger herd, all running away from us. The female eland has longer wider horns and a small dewlap under her neck compared to the male.

Eland cows are usually shaded between ochre and tan, occasionally with faint white stripes running down the flanks. The bulls are darker in colour, and the dominant males take on deep blue-grey colour. Mature males carry a large dewlap under their necks which is thought to play a role in thermoregulation. While both sexes have a set of twisted horns. The bull’s horns are narrower and substantially more robust.

There are numerous giraffe in Mashatu. They are the Southern African species. This young giraffe was resting in the early morning.

Mashatu is also known for its numerous elephants which can be found all over the reserve. They need water every day so do not venture too far from water. During summer when there are abundant rains the elephants tend to be more spread throughout the reserve. The carpets of yellow devil thorn flowers brightened up the landscape.

“They say an elephant never forgets. What they don’t tell you is, you never forget an elephant.” ~ Bill Murray

Two young elephant bulls in the mobile herd were constantly playing and pushing each other around as they were walking.

We only saw this one young female leopard the whole week. This was partly because we could only go out on four of the 12 possible game drives in the six days because it was raining. The leopards are found along the rivers where the undergrowth is particularly thick in summer due to all the rain.

This female leopard was on morning territorial patrol and frequently sprayed her urine as she walked past croton bushes. When there is a lot of rain the cats have to mark their territory more often because the rains washes away their territorial scent markings.

The view from a ridge near the Majale river in Mashatu looking across a plain toward the red sandstone ridge on the other side of the Limpopo river. The rains transform this landscape into greens and yellows in summer which is in stark contrast to the browns of winter.

“The sky is an infinite movie to me. I never get tired of looking at what’s happening up there.” ~ K. D. Lang

We found this lone male also patrolling his territory in mid morning. He is one of a coalition of two males that have taken over the Mashatu territory in the last two years.

This male was cooling under the shade of a small Shepherd tree. He was not asleep around mid-morning probably because he was patrolling this territory after the rains.

This handsome male who did not look battle scarred so the territory take over must have been relatively easy as they took it from a large single male who was pushed out east onto the Charter reserve. Male lions are known to move between Mashatu, across the border into South Africa and Zimbabwe and back again.

Despite the fact we only got to do a third of the possible 12 game drives because of the rain, the drives we did go on were very productive with good sightings. Just to drive around when it was so green and verdant with carpets of yellow and pink colours made a superb visual spectacle.

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ~ Socrates

Mashatu Game Reserve does not have huge numbers of each species but it has a wide variety of species. Usually the leopard sightings along the Majale river are as good as you will see in any of the Greater Kruger private reserves. Being able to go off road is particularly valuable for photographers because it enables them to get into a better position and more often than not to get a lot closer to their subjects.

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” ~ W.B. Yeats

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike