This is the second post showing a small selection of the birds we saw in Zakouma National Park in mid-March this year. Zakouma’s wildlife is like nothing I had ever seen before. Firstly, Zakouma is in the Sahel which is the gap between the Sahara desert and the tropical rain forests of the Republic of Congo and the Cameroon. Its location dictates you will see both different (to southern Africa) resident and migratory birds. Its location also dictates extreme seasonal changes with flooding in the rainy season and very hot dry conditions in summer.

“Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” ~ Jamie Lyn Beatty

Being above the equator there are similar species with striking colour and physiological differences to the birds we see in southern Africa. There are also many unique species and many migrants stopping over on their way back to Europe and Asia. Because of our timing in mid-March we did not see many migrants as it was too early.

Besides new species and fascinating variations, Zakouma offered astounding congregations of birds around the drying pans and pools of water remaining in the Salamat river. In my 50 plus years of wandering through the African bush I never seen the size of bird congregations that I saw in Zakouma.

“One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.” ~ Henry Miller

Birding enriches my wildlife experience in the bush by adding another layer of observation and appreciation for the natural world. This encourages a deeper connection to the ecosystem. The deeper connection and more holistic understanding of wildlife and its habitat creates endless fascination and mystery.

This Abyssinian roller flew back to its hunting perch after having caught an insect. The gorgeous blue colours in the plumage of this species looks like a bright gem in the Sahel’s red/ochre coloured habitat. We had stopped to look at a small pride of Northern lions lying in the shade at the edge of the water in the Salamat river when this roller landed behind us.

The weather was obliging with sunny days though by mid-morning it was getting very hot, above 40 degrees centigrade which created heat haze, affecting photographic long lens focus. My camera’s “procapture” feature allowed me to shoot a sequence of this roller taking off from its perch. I always look for indications that a bird gives when it is about to take off from its perch but rollers and bee-eaters are tricky because their signals vary so much. Procapture solves this problem.

In the previous post I mentioned that Black-headed lapwings were common waders in Zakouma but this was only the second of two individuals we saw the whole trip. This lapwing species tends to be more active at night and in the crepusular hours. This species has a black head and wispy black crest, black bands across its neck and down its throat which make it conspicuous.

A typical scene looking along a long pool of remaining water in the Salamat river with its gallery of Tamarind, Acacia, Jackalberry and occasional Sausage trees. The banks of the river were lined with many waders which were fishing. In this section we saw Great egrets, Yellow-billed, Saddle-billed and Marabou storks, and Grey and Black-headed herons. There were Pied and Giant kingfishers sitting in the branches overhanging the water. There were also many Black-crowned night-herons both on the far bank and in the trees overlooking the pools of water.

While we were waiting for a herd of buffalo to come down to the river to drink, we watched an unusual gathering of Black-headed herons standing in a channel next to a sandbank which seemed to be an ideal place for many West African crocodiles to warm themselves. I have never seen this species of heron lined up like this in the water so assumed there must have been very good fishing in that channel.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” ~ Jawaharial Nehru

We saw White-backed vultures in Rigueik pan drinking and bathing and every day we saw several Hooded vultures around the pool of water just below the staff quarters at Zakouma camp. Palm nut vultures can be seen in the southern section of the park where there are many more palm trees.

The Clapperton’s spurfowl is the only species of spurfowl found in Zakouma. Each bird species has a specific ecological niche within an environment. Zakouma’s ecological conditions do not seem optimal for multiple spurfowl species to coexist.

The afternoon we went canoeing, we came across a mixed congregation of White-backed pelicans, Black crowned cranes, Great and Intermediate egrets and Yellow-billed and Marabou storks. The afternoon sun illumed these pelicans beautifully. The pelicans were there because of the concentrations of fish.

On our way down to the southern section of Zakouma, our guide, Doug and driver Torgi, took us off road to a little known pan where there were thousands of White-faced whistling ducks. In amongst theses ducks, there were Spotted redshanks, Grey herons, Great egrets, Saddled billed and Marabou storks.

This was another interesting drying pan which had attracted many ducks and waders. The latter were fishing. The pan was lined with a gallery of large trees which must have hidden many raptors and kingfishers. We saw numerous Yellow-billed kites trawling these pans and pools of water.

“Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventures.” ~ Lovelle Drachman

In the southern section of Zakouma near our “fly camp” we stopped to look at a new section of the Salamat river. On the far side bank Doug pointed out a single Egyptian plover. This was another “lifer” for me. It has striking colouration with a black crown, back, eye-mask and breast band. The rest of the head is white. The remaining upper part plumage is blue-grey, and the underparts are salmon coloured. This species eats invertebrates such as worms, molluscs, aquatic insects and small flies. It picks food from the surface and probes the damp sand with its beak for edibles.

On the same section of the Salamat river I saw an unusual interaction between a Water thick-knee and a pair of Spur-winged lapwings. Initially, it looked like the thick-knee was resting on the cool sand next to the waterline.

The lapwing on the left hand side began to move closer to the thick-knee. The thick-knee must have been judged the move as threatening and so responded causing the second lapwing to come to the aid of the first one. Despite the rucus it did not last long and neither party got hurt. The thick-knee moved away and the lapwings paraded side by side declaring victory.

Another pan filled with waders. There were many Yellow-billed, Marabou and Saddle-billed storks fishing as were Grey herons. In amongst the fishers were White-faced and Knob-billed ducks. It was a very quiet and peaceful scene.

“Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret.” ~ Oscar Wilde

Overlooking the pan from a discrete perch was a Lizard buzzard. It was waiting for sparrow, quelea and waxbill size prey to come down to drink. This is a small, chunky, greyish raptor with a distinctive pale throat spliced by a vertical black throat stripe.

One afternoon on our way to watch the Red-billed queleas return to a large pan to roost and drink, we found a pride of Northern lion lying in the shade on the cool sand. I was intrigued by the diverse mix of waders which were foraging so close to the lions. Great egrets mixed with Openbill and Woolly-necked storks, Black crowned cranes and Hammerkops.

A successful Great egret. It did not seem to fuss about the West African crocodile which was close by. The crocs did not seem too interested in the smaller waders but they did try to go for Great egrets, and Yellow-billed and Marabou storks while they were wading in the water searching for fish. I never saw a croc catch any wading birds.

Further along the gravel road to the queleas we again crossed the meandering Salamat river and judging by the number of Marabou storks there must have been good fishing in this pan.

After spending a night at the “fly camp” on the bank of the Salamat river, the next morning we were given a unique show by Little egrets and Hammerkops. Hundreds of these waders were flying above the water while dragging their feet in the water. Perhaps the dragging of feet in the water caused the fish to scramble and in doing so many swam to the surface.

Both Hammerkops and Little egrets were plucking fish off the water’s surface while flying. I have never seen this behaviour before. These waders were highly successful.

I have never seen so many Black-crowned night-herons as I did in Zakouma. This species is nocturnal but we saw many adults and juveniles sitting at the water’s edge during the day. They were also very active flying up and down the river during the day.

We saw many Pied kingfishers along the Salamat river. They were very successful fishers but with so many fish I was interested to note fewer Pieds along the Salamat than I have seen along the Chobe river in northern Botswana. I am not sure what the reason could be but I surmise it could be the extreme seasonality along the Salamat compared with the perennial flow in the Chobe.

A family tussle over landing rights. The male had a lot to say to his mate. Males have a double band across the breast, while females have a single broken breast band.

We saw a remarkable number of Marabou storks all over Zakouma. Given the numbers we saw very few tussles between them. This was probably because there was enough food for everyone.

On our last afternoon, we at last found a small flock of Northern carmine bee-eaters. This species is as colourful as its southern cousin. Its belly, neck and nape are carmine coloured. Its wings are a mixture of carmine and orange. Its head is blue-green and it has a black eye band.

In flight, the Northern species reveals a blue-green rump, and rosy underwings with black trailing edge. Carmines are usually seen in flocks and they breed in colonies in riverbanks.

It was very hot in the afternoon, well over 40 degrees centigrade. The carmines were hyperactive so needed to cool off by diving into the water. They are strong enough fliers to lift themselves out of the water and fly off with wet wing and body feathers.

On our last afternoon, after watching the carmines for about 45 minutes, we travelled down to another new pan east of the Zakouma Park headquarters. I never noticed at first but Doug, our guide, pointed out that the female Saddle-bill stork in Zakouma had yellow wattles under her lower mandible. The yellow wattles were smaller than those on the male. What was unusual was that female Saddle-billed storks in southern Africa do not have wattles under their lower mandible. The male’s colouring is the same as we see in southern Africa.

“It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

In the same pan in the late afternoon we managed to get reasonably close to a pair of Black crowned cranes without them walking away from us. They are stunningly beautiful cranes.

Again, at the same pan as the sun began to sink we saw more and more Black-crowned night-herons. The next two of images are of a juvenile Black-crowned night-heron. Juveniles’ plumage is very different to the adults and is brown and streaky and it has yellow eyes. Adults are pale grey overall with a black cap and back and their eyes are ruby red in colour.

As it got dark we saw flocks of hundreds of night-herons returning to this pan. It was too dark to photograph them but I have never seen so many. This juvenile managed to catch a relative large catfish. We did not wait to find out whether it managed to swallow it or not as we were distracted by a leopard which came down to the pan to drink.

A juvenile Black-winged stilt foraging in the shallows together with a Wood sandpiper.

We saw a few individual African spoonbills but never large numbers of them. They were also successful fishers. At birth, spoonbills have a short beak which develops into its spoon-like shape.

The African spoonbill forages by swinging its open beak side-to-side through the water. When something touches the beak, it snaps shut usually catching the prey. This species feeds on small fish, molluscs, amphibians, crustaceans, insects and larvae.

A cellphone video of the murmations of Red-billed queleas which returned to the pan to drink and roost for the evening. There was no way to count the numbers of incoming queleas but there were wave after wave of thousand and thousands of queleas coming into the pan over a period of around 90 minutes.

As you can see from the previous images there is a diverse variety of birds most of which are attracted by the abundant food in the drying pans and pools of water in the Salamat river. The numbers of waders in and around these bodies of water were incredible and like nothing I had ever seen before. Beyond their numbers, wonderful variety of shapes and colours there was fascinating physiological intelligence at work.

“Senses that seem paranormal to us only appear this way because we are so limited and so painfully unaware of our limitations.” ~ Ed Yong

The water in the pans and pools in the Salamat river was not particularly clear yet there were waders by the thousands foraging in the water. Waders have a specialised bill-tip organ with dense clusters of mechanoreceptors, called Herbst corpuscles, embedded in sensory pits within the beak bones. These receptors are highly sensitive to vibrations. When waders probe into wet sand or mud, their repeated actions create pressure waves. These waves are distorted by the presence of solid objects, like buried prey. The mechanoreceptors in the bill-tip organ detect these subtle changes in the pressure waves, allowing the bird to sense the location of prey even without directly touching it. This remarkable sensory adaptation called “remote-touch” in their beaks, allows them to detect vibrations in water and mud and in so doing locate prey that is hidden beneath the surface.

“It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realise the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realise how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn.” ~ Anthony Bourdain

There were many birds we saw which I did not get a chance to photograph which is why I will have to go back next year.

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

Have fun, Mike

I was part of a group who visited Zakouma National Park in mid-March this year. What an incredible place, experience and privilege. While many of the storks and larger birds were similar to those in southern Africa, all the smaller birds where different so many “lifers” were to be had!!

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” ~ Rachel Carson

Zakouma’s floodplains, rivers, marshes, and pans are valuable stopovers and breeding grounds for migrating birds, and the south-eastern wetlands form part of the Inundation Plains of Bahr Aouk and Salamat Ramsar site which is one of the largest in the world. Migrating birds typically stop over in Zakouma National Park during the dry season, from late November to late May or early June. During the wet season (June-October), the park is flooded and closed to visitors. The dry season is also when the park’s wildlife and birds congregate around remaining water sources, making it an excellent time for birdwatching and game viewing.

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ~ Socrates

Red throated bee-eaters were as abundant in Zakouma as White fronted bee-eaters are in southern Africa. This species has beautiful colouring. It makes the typical melodious short trilling bee-eater sound and it seems to thrive in the heat which brings out all the insects.

At lunch time on our first day, with camera in hand, I was watching Tantulus monkeys cavorting in the large Tamarind trees in from of the dining area in Tinga camp. There was plenty of bird life in the trees but difficult to photograph. One speciality was a male Red shouldered cuckoo-shrike. Males are entirely black with a red or occasionally yellow-orange shoulder patch. Females have olive-gray upperparts and pale underparts with fine dark barring. Cuckoo-shrikes are neither cuckoos nor shrikes, but are so called because their feathers have similar patterns to those of cuckoos and their beak shape resembles that of shrikes.

Abyssinian roller. It looks similar to a European roller in colouring but has two long outer tail streamers. At first I thought I was looking at a Racket-tailed roller but the Abyssinian’s face and head are bluer and it does not have racket shapes at the end of its streamers. This particular roller looked to be perched on a tree stump just above a nest hole.

The Abyssinian roller is ubiquitous in Zakouma. This species of roller is found throughout the Sahel region. Like all rollers it is a perch hunter.

On our morning game drive to the Rigueik pan we came across this Long crested eagle on a dead tree trunk. It was scanning the surrounding area for prey. It did not seem too fussed about us close by but did eventually fly off to find a better view. Rodents make up to 98% of their diet.

A North African green bee-eater. It is small just slightly larger than a Little bee-eater and is predominantly emerald green with a black throat necklace. Like many bee-eaters it has a black eye band which presumably reduces the sun’s glare when hawking insects.

One of the birds I really wanted to see was the Abyssinian ground hornbill. It is one of the two ground hornbill species found in Africa and is the only species found north of the equator. Both male and female have black body feathers and both sexes have a blue eye ring. The adult male has an inflatable pouch of bare skin on the neck and throat which is red, apart from the upper throat which is blue.

Both the male and female Abyssinian ground hornbill have a large grooved truncated casque above their upper mandible. Various theories suggest functions for the casques of hornbills could include feeding, fighting, mating and species recognition. The casque is also thought to act as a resonating chamber to amplify their calls. Like the Southern ground hornbill this species makes a booming call which can usually be heard just before dawn when the air is cool and relatively denser which allows the boom call to carry further.

The female Abyssinian ground hornbill has entirely blue facial skin and a blue throat pouch. She is slightly smaller than the male but also has long eyelashes and a beige slanted stripe at the base of her upper mandible. The reason for the stripe is unknown.

Another special for this region is the Black crowned crane. It differs from its grey cousin with its charcoal neck and breast feathers. The darker appearance of the Black crowned crane emphasises its facial colouring and golden crown.

Both the Black and Grey crowned cranes have a golden crown at the back of their head and a small red gular pouch. Both species have white and gold wing panels. The Black crowned crane has red and white facial patches, while the Grey crowned crane has a white facial patch with a small red patch just below its golden crown. Both species have a luxurious velvet looking forehead.

In Zakouma you will see Black crowned cranes in their thousands, especially at Rigueik pan. They seem to congregate in the pan from mid-morning. The drying pan attracts thousands and thousands of birds from cranes to storks, herons, egrets, geese and ducks. Crowned cranes are omnivorous so must find abundant food in the pan and surrounding wetland.

“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.” ~ Wayne Dyer

Zakouma’s drying pans and pools of water in the Salamat river attract thousands of Spurwing geese. This species is so-called due to its prominent carpal spur. The male differs from the female, not only in size, but also in having a larger red facial patch extending back from the red bill, and a knob at the base of the upper mandible.

A few Spurwing geese which had gathered at a pan close to Tinga camp. Interspersed in the multitude of spurwings where numerous White-faced whistling ducks and Knob-billed ducks. These types of congregations of birds around drying pans at the end of the dry season is a feature and one of the many attractions of Zakouma National Park.

“Living the life that you love and loving the life that you live in the truest demonstration of abundance.”~ Lisa Nichols

A typical scene around one of the many drying pools of water in the Salamat river. An abundance of Yellow-billed storks, Great, Intermediate and Little egrets, Grey and Black-headed herons, White-faced whistling ducks and Black-crowned night-herons, Hammerkops and Yellow-billed kites. In the background were two Kordofan giraffe crossing the shallow pan.

At Rigueik pan, one of the three major pans in Zakouma, you will see massive congregations of birdlife all mixed together. Large numbers of Black crowned cranes, Yellow-billed storks, White backed pelicans, Marabou storks, Spurwing geese and White-faced whistling ducks to name just a few.

“On this journey through nature’s Umwelten, our intuitions will be our biggest liabilities, and our imaginations will be our greatest assets.” ~ Ed Yong

A closer look at the density of White-backed pelicans, Marabou and Yellow-billed storks and Great egrets all mixed together. We could not get too close so had to use long focal length lenses which made focusing tricky as the morning heated up, creating the heat haze.

The Black-headed lapwing is commonly found in Zakouma. That said, we only twice saw a single Black-headed lapwing. The other lapwing species found in Zakouma are the Spur-winged, African wattled, White-headed and Long toed lapwing.

I was surprised and amused to see Helmeted guineafowl without the characteristic bone like casque on top of its head. The body plumage was very similar to its sub-equatorial cousins but the neck plumage was darker and although they had the light blue facial skin, it did not extend down the sides of the neck and it did not have the blue and red wattles extending from the lower mandible. This was another example of the similarity but with unique differences.

Sunbirds were not common in Zakouma but one sunbird we saw several times was the Beautiful sunbird. The individuals I saw appeared to be moulting into their breeding plumage. Although the individuals I saw were somewhat mottled, the male in full breeding plumage has a greenback and belly but his breast is a combination of red and yellow and he has a blue-purple necklace.

A mating pair of Hammerkops. This species was abundant around the pans and remaining pools of water in the Salamat river. Although we saw hundreds of Hammerkops in Zakouma we saw very few of their large nests.

A Lesser spotted eagle. We only saw a few of these migratory raptors which may have been on its way back to eastern Europe. When in flight, the wings are dark brown with the distinctive white tips to give the namesake “spotted” effect. The Lesser spotted eagle is mostly a solitary raptor, except for when in breeding season, when they travel around in pairs.

We saw many Spur-winged lapwings and Crowned lapwings but no Blacksmith lapwings.

A scene looking onto Rigueik pan. I have never seen so many Marabou storks in one place.

“I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

We saw a huge flock of Great white pelicans roosting in the Rigueik pan. There was plenty of activity with storks and pelicans flying in and out.

Our guide Doug MacDonald spent a couple of hours each night showing us the nightlife in Zakouma. The mammals such as servals, civets and White and Black tailed mongooses were easier to see than the nocturnal birds, This was a Long-tailed nightjar but you can also see the Plain and Standard-winged nightjar in the park.

A Greyish eagle-owl perched on a dead tree searching for prey. It looks similar to a Spotted eagle-owl but is smaller. The Verreaux’s eagle-owl is also found in Zakouma as are the African scops owl, Northern white-faced owl and Pel’s fishing owl. We heard the Scops at night but never saw the latter three species.

This is part one of a two part post on the birds we saw and photographed in Zakouma. What was so intriguing about going to a completely new park is that I did not know what to expect. While I could recognise many species almost all had a unique colour or shape variations. I have Charles Darwin’s ideas ringing in my head.

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” ~ Stephen Hawking

Apart from the newness, variety and number of birds what made our daily ventures into the Zakouma bush so fascinating is that Doug, in group conversations, would each day introduce a new idea which I had never thought about before. One such idea was the concept of tetrachomacy. Birds are tetrachromats, meaning they possess four types of cone cells in their retinas, allowing them to perceive a wider range of colours than humans who have trichromatic vision. This expanded color vision includes the ability to see ultraviolet light, which humans cannot. Those beings that are tetrachromatic can perceive an estimated 100 million colour variations. With normal colour vision, humans can see approximately one million different colours. Tetrachromacy amplifies the eye’s ability to distinguish between shades of colours.

“By giving in to our preconceptions, we miss what might be right in front of us. And sometimes what we miss is breathtaking.” ~ Ed Yong

Vision is complex, but the calculus of colour is strangely simple: Each cone confers the ability to distinguish around a hundred shades, so the total number of combinations is at least 100^3, or a million. Take one cone away — go from being what scientists call a trichromat to a dichromat — and the number of possible combinations drops a factor of 100, to 10,000. Almost all other mammals, including dogs and New World monkeys, are dichromats. The richness of the world we see is rivaled only by that of birds and some insects, which also perceive the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.

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

One of the miracles of wild development is that nature will seek out, change and adapt to and make use of the earth’s free resources. In essence, tetrachromacy provides birds with a more complete and richer visual experience, enabling them to navigate their environment, forage for food, and engage in social interactions more effectively.

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

Have fun, Mike

On the eastern side of Zakouma National Park it is flat with the Bahr Salamat and Bahr Auom meandering through this large floodplain. “Bahr” translates to sea or ocean. It can also refer to a specific body of water, like a lake, river, or gulf, in the case of Zakouma it refers to a river.

“Don’t let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions. It’s your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you; do what makes you feel alive and happy. Don’t let the expectations and ideas of others limit who you are. If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours. There is more to life than pleasing people. There is much more to life than following others’ prescribed path. There is so much more to life than what you experience right now. You need to decide who you are for yourself. Become a whole being. Adventure.”
~ Roy T. Bennett

On the second day of our trip, our guide Doug MacDonald took our group to the Rigueik pan. The three main wetlands in Zakouma National Park are Tororo (north), Rigueik (east), and Maniam/Al Kalam (south). These wetlands include pans and pools of water all of which are part of the Bahr Salamat river system.

The Zakouma floodplain incorporating its bahrs and pans is located in the upper south western extension of the Sudd. The Sudd wetland, with an estimated area of approximately 57 000 km2, represents one of the largest freshwater ecosystems in the world stretching from Egypt to Sudan, Chad, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. It is drained by the White Nile, Blue Nile and Atbara rivers, all of which feed to the Nile.

According to UNESCO, the Sudd is Africa’s largest wetland and one of the largest tropical wetlands in the world. The IUCN world heritage site gap assessment identified the Sudd-Sahelian Flooded Grasslands and Savannas eco-region, of which the Sudd is a part, as a key unrepresented ecological system globally. It is a vast social-ecological and hydrological system driven by the dynamics Nile basin’s water regime. Its unique assemblage of extensive freshwater and grassland habitats are characterised by extensive seasonal rain fed flooding and low substrate permeability.

We left the Tinga camp in Zakouma at 5h00 to visit the Rigueik pan. It was an early start because it gets so hot during the middle of the day in mid-March in Zakouma. The hotter it gets the greater the heat haze which is a focus killer especially for long focal lengths. Dawn was a very pleasant 25 degrees centigrade and in the diffused pink light of dawn we saw a few Kordofan giraffe lying down in an open area along the side the road.

As the morning brightened this Long-crested eagle posed beautifully for us. It had a superb high perch from which to search for prey in the surrounding area.

This was one of the bird species I really wanted to see, the Abyssinian ground hornbill. This African species is found north of the equator and is one of only two species of ground hornbill found in Africa. Its cousin is the Southern ground hornbill and is found throughout east Africa and in the southerly latitudes of Africa.

Both male and female have blue skin around the eye. Males have a mix of blue and red bare facial skin, while females have entirely blue facial skin. Both sexes have throat pouches on their necks: the female’s is blue but the male’s turns red. The bill is long and black except for a reddish patch at the base of the mandible. On top of the bill there is a short open-ended black casque. The Abyssinian ground hornbill’s truncated casque is thought to be an adaptation for amplifying calls. The casque, a bony structure on the upper beak, is hollow and believed to help project and resonate vocalisations, especially during courtship and communication with other group members. The Southern ground hornbill does not have a truncated casque but its call is also a booming sound often heard at dawn.

After some interesting detours and distractions along the way we arrived at the Rigueik pan. We drove around the eastern side of the Rigueik pan as Camp Nomad is positioned on the north western side of the pan. We drove along the tree line at the edge of pan. From the tree line we had a clear view of the vast grassland and swamp which makes up the pan. The first antelope we saw was a family of Bohor’s reedbuck feeding on the floodplain grasses surrounding the pan. Reedbuck generally prefer grasslands and marsh areas.

Bohor’s reedbuck took sanctuary in the wetland and found good grazing. Only the male Bohor’s reedbuck has horns and they are short, heavily ridged and point forward. The openness of the grasslands around the vast pan provided safety for many herbivores as they could see any threats coming.

Black crowned cranes gathered at this wetland in huge numbers. They must have numbered thousands, but impossible to count. These are the northern cousins of the Grey crowned cranes found in east and southern Africa but not in the numbers seen at Rigueik and through Zakouma.

We saw huge gathering of Black crowned cranes where hundreds continued to fly into the pan. These crowned cranes are omnivores, meaning they eat both plant and animal matter. The majority of their diet consists of grasses, seeds, and grains, but they will also consume crustaceans, small mammals, reptiles, and seeds. The wetland is ideal for them as all of their dietary preferences would be catered for.

“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.” ~  Lewis Carroll

Lelwel hartebeest watching us from the safety of an open area next to the wetland. This species of hartebeest is classified as endangered by the IUCN. There do not seem to be recent population counts on Lelwel hartebeest but the population is estimated to have declined from 285 000 in 1980 to around 70 000 in 2008, as reported by The Rufford Foundation.

It was a wonder to see the multitude of Spurwing geese which gathered at Rigueik pan. We saw huge numbers of Spurwing geese and White-faced whistling ducks around most of the pans in Zakouma. As the morning progressed the numbers of Spurwing continued to grow in Rigueik.

Spurwing geese flying in from their overnight roosting sites. It was interesting to see all the birdlife mingling at the pan. Humans could take a few cues from our avian friends. The pan must have provided everything that this mass of avians needed.

Around mid-morning more and more Black crowned cranes arrived at the wetland together with Spurwing geese. Among the incoming visitors were a huge number of Vinaceous doves. The latter looked very similar to the southern African Cape turtle dove.

As the morning progressed squadrons of crowned cranes and then pelicans started to fly in to the pan.

The morning got progressively hotter and hotter. As a consequence the heat haze began to influence the image sharpness especially with the greater depth of field. The small herd of Bohor reedbuck were keeping a wary eye on us even though we were a few hundred metres away.

The marvel of Rigueik pan is the huge congregations of birds and mammals.

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” ~ Christopher McCandless

Great white pelicans mixed with Marabou and Yellow-billed storks and a herd of Tiang in the background. Tiang is a sub species of the Topi.

You begin to get a sense of the incredible gatherings at Rigueik. The number of birds is spellbinding.

The main tent of the Nomad camp which is sited at the edge of the wetland. Visitors at this camp would get the benefit of the early morning and late afternoon wildlife gatherings.

At the tree line around the wetland we saw a lone Side-striped jackal who looked to be scouting for something to eat.

An Abyssinian roller perched on a dead tree stump which gave it a commanding lookout from which to hawk insects attracted by the wetland and all the wildlife.

Tiang making their way out of the trees towards the wetland to graze and drink. The wetland provided greater safety because it is so open and there are many eyes watching for predators.

No air traffic control here but despite the numbers the larger birds seemed to manage perfectly with minimal squabbling.

A Defassa waterbuck bull resting under an acacia at the edge of the wetland. He had his back to the wetland and was looking into the woodlands to make sure no predators were around.

A mixed herd of Tiang and Defassa waterbuck with a troop of Olive baboons in the background. A few Marabou storks were wandering in amongst the herd.

An amazing array of storks, cranes, egrets, herons and pelicans. I have never seen so many Marabou storks in one place.

The wetland appeared to be an ideal place for feeding and resting. There must have been an abundance of fish in the remaining water in the pan. We did not get close to the water so as not to disturb the congregation. It was the opportunity to see this type of huge mixed congregation of wildlife that drew me to Zakouma. I was not disappointed.

“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfilment.”
~ Sir David Attenborough

It is the luck of the draw as to whether you see buffalo and elephant and perhaps a lion in the pan. We did see a few buffalo on the edge of the pan but no elephants and no predators other than a single Side-striped jackal. As a birding enthusiast the numbers and variety of birds in and around the pan was mind boggling.

Rigueik pan and wetland does make me wonder what the wildlife is like other parts of the Sudd and especially in southern Sudan.

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

Have fun, Mike

The International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that between 22 000 to 25 000 lions remain in the wild. This is an estimated decline from ~33,000 lions in 2006 (IUCN 2006 a, b), a 30% loss in 17 years (i.e., less than three generations). Estimates are difficult to obtain because of lion cross border movement and dynamic expansion and contraction of populations in different regions. Nevertheless, the apparent decline is devastating having fallen from an estimated 200 000 a century ago, with lions now confined to about 15% of their former range. The distribution of lions across Africa is very uneven with Tanzania having 41% of the estimated total. Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and Zambia are home to about 72% of the African lion population. (Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/lion-population-by-country).

“The silence of the African night is pregnant with the sounds of life – the chirping of insects, the distant roar of a lion, the haunting songs of nocturnal birds. It’s a symphony of the wild, a lullaby that speaks of nature’s timeless mystery,” Peter Matthiessen.

According to IUCN, the lion is assessed as Vulnerable under criterion A2abcd based on an estimated over 30% decline in the species’ range over three generations (approximately 21 years). Without major future intervention a similar population reduction is suspected. If the population loss continues on the current trajectory, wild lions in Africa could be extinct by 2050. The decline in West Africa has taken the population perilously close to extinction. It is thought that just 400 lions remain in three separate populations. The last count in Zakouma revealed a population of between 140 and 150 in the park emphasising why Zakouma is a crucially important protected area in this region and one of the most important in Africa.

“There is a silence in the imminence of animals and also in the echo of their noise, but the dread silence is the one that rises from a wilderness from which all the wild animals have gone.” ~ Peter Matthiessen

Zakouma National Park in Chad is a significant haven for West African lions. These lions are part of a genetically distinct, endangered population known as the Northern lion.

In February 2025, Zakouma partnered with a lion expert from the Lion Recovery Fund to develop a park-based lion monitoring protocol. This initiative aims to enhance the understanding of lion numbers, age distribution, and overall presence within the park.

We found this lone female lying in the shade in the late morning well away from any water. This is one of the unusual features of the Northern lion, it can often be found on its own in the park. There is plenty of small enough prey for a lion to catch on its own,

A lone male Northern lion lying in the shade. Our guide, Doug MacDonald, said this was a large specimen by Northern lion standards. This male was the size of a large female in southern Africa. The lions in this area are noticeably smaller than the lions you will find in the Kruger Park or the Kalahari.

Male Northern lions do not have big black manes as you would see on Kalahari male lions. There is a general acceptance that the colour, length and overall thickness of a lion’s mane is primarily determined by the local climate, with testosterone levels also playing a part. Lions have manes to make them appear bigger and to advertise their strength and fitness to competitors but this comes at a cost, because of their large size males are prone to heat stress. A few ideas have been postulated as to why the male Northern lions have minimal manes. One, it is extremely hot in Chad in the spring months so perhaps their manes are smaller due to reduce the heat stress. I have also seen this characteristic in the lions in Tsavo. Another factor might be that the level of lion competition which is substantially lower than would be the case in many of the southern African parks.

“A world without the distance roar of lions at dawn as the mist starts to lift is too terrible to contemplate.” ~ Dereck Joubert

A few days into our trip we found three lionesses lying in the shade next to the Salamat river. One lioness lay in the mudstone rocky outcome next to the water with her gaze fixed firmly on us in the game vehicle. This was probably a cool place for her in the rising heat in the late part of the morning.

The other two lionesses moved away to the other side of the river to keep an eye on us from a safe distance. The lionesses all looked to be in good condition suggesting no lack of prey in that area.

The lionesses did not seem to be afraid of us but just did not want us to get too close and as we approached the river they moved further along the river bank.

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” ~ John Muir

A lioness lying at the edge of the river in the shade of a large Tamarind tree with the fallen red leaves of the tree as her background.

There is no lack of prey for these lions. All they need to do is wait in the shade on the bank of a river or drying pool of water. The gallery of large trees provide plenty of cover for an ambush.

Despite the recovery of the population of many species in Zakouma in recent years, for some reason, the Northern lion numbers have not increased. There are several suggestions as to why this could be the case. Conditions in the park vary massively from the wet to dry season. During the rainy season the eastern section of the park floods forcing much of the wildlife to leave that part of the park. The lions probably follow and it is possible that they are persecuted by livestock owners during this time. During the dry season, water is limited to the series of pans and river courses in the east of the park. At this dry time the lions concentrate around the remaining water which must increase competition with the consequent effect on their numbers. Another suggestion is that the very high density of Olive baboons may result in high levels of lion cub mortality as baboons have been observed killing lion cubs left stashed in hiding places while their mothers are away hunting. The prevalence of this behaviour is unknown. The Lion Recovery Fund has provided African Parks with funds to study the lions to understand what is limiting growth of the population.

“Shallow ecology is anthropocentric, or human-centred. It views humans as above or outside nature, as the source of all value, and ascribes only instrumental, or ‘use’, value to nature. Deep ecology does not separate humans – or anything else – from the natural environment. It does see the world not as a collection of isolated objects but as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. Deep ecology recognises the intrinsic value of all human beings and views humans as just one particular strand in the web of life.” ~Fritjof Capra

We drove down into the southern part of the park in the late afternoon to find the quelea evening gatherings. On the way, as we crossed the Salamat river, we came across a small pride with three cubs which were probably three months old.

As we approached the adult lions by vehicle they just lay casually in the shade watching us but the cubs immediately ran for the river bank and clambered up it and out of sight in the trees at the top of the bank.

The lone male lion was interested in one of the females and walked over to her and exhibiting his flehmen response. The flehmen response in lions is a behavioural display where they curl their upper lip, lift their head, and inhale deeply, often while smelling urine or other scents. This action directs scent molecules to the vomeronasal organ (Jacobson’s organ), allowing lions to analyse chemical cues for information like reproductive status or individual recognition.

“Every animal can only tap into a small fraction of reality’s fullness. Each is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world. There is a wonderful word for this sensory bubble—Umwelt.” ~ Ed Yong

This lioness thwarted his advances without being too aggressive. The male’s sense of smell is crucial in determining the female’s readiness. He will frequently smell the female’s rump or areas where she has recently urinated to get a sense of her scent profile. Females let males know they are ready to mate by releasing a specific scent. Once the couple pairs up they will mate every 20-30 minutes around the clock sometimes for up to 5 days usually without eating.

A peaceful scene late in the afternoon down in the south of the park along the Salamat river. The shade and cool wet sand along the river bank must have been a welcome relief from the over 40 degree centigrade heat in Zakouma in March and April.

On our travels around the park we found bones of giraffe and buffalo. These remains suggested that the lions must have teamed up to hunt larger prey. It was also evident that the lions could easily hunt kob, tiang and hartebeest on their own which is probably why we found several lions on their own in the bush.

“The distant roar of a walking lion rolls against the stillness of the night, and we listen. It is the voice of Africa bringing memories that do not exist in our minds or in our hearts – perhaps not even in our blood. It is out of time, but it is there, and it spans a chasm whose other side we cannot see.”
~ Beryl Markham

The pride dynamics are very interesting in this park, unlike what we see in southern Africa. The pride appears to be a lot looser in structure. This is probably in response to lower lion numbers, ample food and the extreme seasons which cause the movement of prey. Although lions are usually territorial the looser dynamic appears could be affected by the vastness, availability of water and availability of prey.

This was just another one of the variations this park throws up. The deeper we delve into the behaviour and movement the more we see the overall environment has such a profound effect on the lion dynamics in this part of the world.

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

Have fun, Mike