We visited Mashatu in mid-September 2019 with family and long standing friends, Simon and Cora Ford and their daughter Kate and fiancee Jack. Simon and I grew up as children in Zimbabwe and both developed our love of the bush from our early childhood. Our friends have a deep love of the bush and it was a privilege to show them around Mashatu.

“More than any other creature, beyond insects, birds offer a kaleidoscope of colours, shapes, and behaviours and they are exquisitely designed for their environment.” ~ Mike Haworth

In mid-September, it is early spring in southern Africa so the migrants have not yet arrived and the residents are preparing for the time of plenty.

This tawny eagle was perched on top of a large bush just above a kudu bull which looked to have died from natural causes. The reason the tawny was in the tree and not on the ground was that a leopard was surveying the carcass.

Not far way, the lions had taken down a female Eland. There was not much left after the lions had had their fill followed by the hyaenas and then the jackals. Needless to say, the real waste disposal team were on the scene, an assortment of vultures and Marabou storks were also congregating. Marabou do not have ability to tear off flesh from the carcass so rely on pieces removed by the vultures. Marabou are not shy to use that strong dagger like beak to steal a morsel or two.

Another diurnal resident is the ubiquitous Kori Bustard. This is one of Mashatu’s big seven. It is the largest flying bird in this part of the world. It is very seldom you will find an image of a Kori bustard walking towards you, they are very wary of vehicles and like all wildlife have a distinct safe distance which they like to keep from something they are unsure about.

After driving around the Majale river environs looking for lions, cheetah and leopard we traditionally find a prominent spot to get off the vehicle and have a “sundowner” and watch the sun setting. This is normally a time of animated chatter about what we had seen in the past hour or two. This means it is dark by the time we head back to camp. There is a spot light on the vehicle which we use after dark. It has a red filter to reduce the effect on the wildlife. On the way back we saw this Spotted Eagle owl.

The Spotted Eagle owl was quite a sighting at night. Even with our vehicle turned off and everyone silent on the vehicle this owl would turn its head back and forth picking up sounds in the night air which we could not hear.

Another excellent night time sighting was this Three-banded courser. The Three banded and Bronze-winged coursers are mainly nocturnal and tend to freeze when approached. Their eyes are large and wide open, ideal for nocturnal activity. I have also frequently seen the diurnal Temmnick’s courser in Mashatu.

A Red-eyed dove. This is a common visitor around camp in Mashatu, it is bigger than both the African morning dove and the Cape turtle dove but they all have the distinctive black collar on the back of their neck. This dove likes the riverine forest habitat around our syndicate, Rock Camp, in Mashatu. I find the best way to try to remember their calls is to verbalise. For a red-eyed dove it is ” as if to say – I am”.

A pair of Tropical boubous visited camp every day. They were usually seen burrowing around in the leaf litter under the large Mashatu tree just next to the main lodge. These boubous have an astounding medley of call. The Tropical boubou is a bush shrike and it pairs for life. They can often be heard duetting. To vocalize, they move higher off the ground than during their usual activities, and may perch on an exposed site. They also nod their head and bow their body when calling, making them even more conspicuous sometimes. As many as seven different types of duet have been recorded and seem to form some sort of morse code like language.

“Hear how the birds, on every blooming spray, With joyous music wake the dawning day.” ~  Alexander Pope

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A Jameson’s firefinch distinctive because of its red belly, neck and face and black-grey bill. The crown, nape and back are a washed pink. They normally come to drink from the bird bath in ones or twos.

These are Green wood-hoopoes. They travel in family groups of up to ten individuals. They scour the bark on the trees for insects and grubs. They make a racket like babblers and are colloquially called “cackling widows” because of their noise and dark plumage. It was interesting to see them in what looked to be sucking up water with their long red bills.

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence. ” ~Robert Lynd

This was a young Kurricane thrush which was just starting to develop its malar markings on its throat and cheeks. This was also an afternoon visitor around camp. It also scoured and tipped through the undergrowth looking for insects and grubs. Although a common resident in southern African I have not regularly seen them.

These white helmeted shrikes were wild but are quite habituated to all the comings and goings in the camp so do not fly off at the first sight of people.

White helmeted shrikes normally travel in family groups of around six birds. They chatter constantly but are not as noisy as babblers. They are alway a welcome sight around camp and visit daily for a drink and dip in the bird bath at the camp.

These were the birds that we saw on out travels around the Mashatu game reserve and we did not specifically stop for the birds. The rest were seen around camp in the middle of the day. There is abundant birdlife in Mashatu at all times and it becomes overflowing in summer when all the migrants from lesser spotted eagles to all the cuckoos and woodland kingfishers and carmine bee-eaters arrive to feast on the abundant insect life.

“There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.” ~Robert Wilson Lynd

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

This is the last post from my trip to Mashatu in late October 2018. In this post I want to show you the varied landscapes you are likely to see while travelling around Mashatu. This is a private game reserve and all visitors are driven around in Mashatu game vehicles by Mashatu guides.

“The best dreams happen when you are wide awake.”~ unknown

There are three aspects of this game reserve which make it especially appealing for a wildlife photographer. Firstly, there is a wide variety of mammals and birds to see, but you will not see buffalo and rhino. Secondly, the guides will take you off road to get those special sightings and thirdly, the terrain, rivers and different biomes add many interesting perspectives.

“Landscapes even when their general type is similar, are capable of as many expressions as the same type of face, and, without our being able fully to tell why, affect our spirits as we look at them with as many moods and meanings.”~ William Hurrell Mallock

Mashatu also undergoes a radical transformation from winter to summer. In winter it cools down especially at night though the days are warm. It is dry as the last major rain falls in April. The flora progressively looks drier and the colours turn to browns, reds and yellows. By contrast , summer is very hot day and night and the rains usually start in November and carry on until March or April . The flora blooms and the reserve turns into a garden of Eden which is a verdant green and the rivers have plenty of water in them. This creates fascinating differences in mammal and bird behaviour.

Two ostrich pairs had, between them, around 14 chicks of different ages.

The magnificent male lion who dominates Mashatu – for now!

On the southern border of Mashatu close to the border post is a large outcrop of broken granite and sandstone which is home to rock dassies, leopards and klipspringers. The occasional black eagle is also seen cruising over the overcrop in search of dassies for dinner.

“Photography is a story I fail to put into words.”~Destin Sparks

Driving down one of the numerous sand river tributaries in search of lions and leopards.

Mashatu has four cheetah groups. Three females with cubs of different ages and a coalition of three adult males.

One of the many hills from which to look out over the plains. These spots are ideal for a morning coffee or sundowners while watching the sun illuminate a blaze of colour across the evening sky.

“The camera makes you forget you’re there. It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much.”~Annie Leibovitz

Looking at one of the stoney ridges in Mashatu. This shows you just how dry it gets during winter and spring.

A family herd of elephants were digging in the sand of the Limpopo river for water. A pair of impala males were hanging around waiting for the elephants sate their thirst so they could get a chance for a drink of fresh water.

The water table is not too far below the surface of the apparently dry Limpopo river. Within a few feet the elephants are able to find water which is clean, being filtered by the sand.

“Photography is a love affair with life.”~Charlie Waite

The last remaining pools of water along the Limpopo river. The water was stagnant so the elephants usually sought out underground filtered water.

A typical scene looking west and watching the sunset with a sundowner in hand.

Travelling south back towards Rock camp, we passed a large marsh area which was dry and not the waterlogged marshland it had been in previous years. The dam wall broke a few years ago and it has been very dry since.

One of the more unusual areas of Mashatu to visit is Mmagwa Hill to see Rhodes Baobab and look down on the Motloutse river. Mmagwa was one of the satellite settlements of the the legendary Mapungubwe Dynasty.

We climbed up the rugged Mmagwa Hill in the late afternoon to see the sunset from this wonderful vantage point.

Growing on top of Mmagwa Hill is a lone baobab inscribed with Cecil John Rhodes’ initials. The story told is that Rhodes once stood here, envisioning his dream of a railway from Cape Town to Cairo.

As the sunsets and it starts to get dark, we can hear a lone hyaena whopping in the valley below and decide it is time to break the magical spell created by the sunset and make our way down the rocky path in the last light.

“You can speak with spiritual eloquence, pray in public, and maintain a holy appearance… but it is your behaviour that will reveal your true character.”~Unknown

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike

This is the sixth post from my Mashatu trip in late October. This post offers a gallery of some of the diverse mammal sightings we were privileged to have seen during the six days we were in Mashatu.

“Wild animals, like wild places, are invaluable to us precisely because they are not us. They are uncompromisingly different. The paths they follow, the impulses that guide them, are of other orders. The seal’s holding gaze, before it flukes to push another tunnel through the sea, the hare’s run, the hawk’s high gyres : such things are wild. Seeing them, you are made briefly aware of a world at work around and beside our own, a world operating in patterns and purposes that you do not share. These are creatures, you realise that live by voices inaudible to you.”
~ Robert Macfarlane, The Wild Places

This post only shows the mammals seen in October. At this time it is mid-spring so it is very hot during the day and very dry as this part of the world has not had any rain since April.

An adult male steenbok lying in the shade of a small Shepherd’s tree.

A young Rock dassie looking down at us from his rock outcrop near Rock Camp .

An even younger Rock dassie – not sure of what to make of us on the road below.

Two impala ewes and one sub-adult male impala drinking from the water hole in from of Rock Camp.

A group of four teenage baboons looking for trouble.

Two adult female baboons, one with a very hungry baby. Both were walking in a troop which was advancing through an area next to the Majale river.

“We cannot navigate and place ourselves only with maps that make the landscape dream-proof, impervious to the imagination. Such maps – and the road-map is first among them – encourage the elimination of wonder from our relationship with the world. And once wonder has been chased from our thinking about the land, then we are lost.”
~ Robert Macfarlane

A pair of black-backed jackals trying to keep the vultures at bay while feeding on a elephant calf carcass.

A magnificent young male eland who was already developing a thick, strong neck and impressive dewlap.

A pair of adult Bat-eared foxes. The female was not so sure about us. They were lying in front of their den.

A male warthog having some fun in the waterhole in front of Rock Camp. He would dig out areas of mud and then go and lie in it and then roll about.

“Everything you can imagine, nature has already created.”
~ Albert Einstein

The dominant resident male lion in Mashatu. Regal and relatively unscarred.

In the large rock outcrop behind Rock Camp resides a pair of Klipspringers with a youngster. This was the adult male.

A female giraffe with her youngster close by. A little further on we found two lionesses, we wondered what would have transpired in the next hour or two.

A solitary older eland bull. His coat was starting to darken with age but his dewlap was still relatively small as was the tan fringe on his forehead. 

“In the hopes of reaching the moon, men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.“
~Albert Schweitzer

One of a family of three young male cheetahs.

Unusual to find a female steenbok out in the open but it was early morning so was still cool.

An old eland bull came down to drink from the waterhole in front of Rock Camp in the middle of the day. He had a fully developed dewlap and impressive tan fringe on his forehead.

A female klipspringer in her element.

“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.”
~Henry David Thoreau

A late morning procession along the Majale river. The last elephant continually looked around to keep an eye on us.

A cheetah mother walking to find shade with her sub-adult son.

A tree squirrel drinking from the bird bath at Rock Camp.

A vervet monkey watching all the goings on around Rock Camp.

“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, and quiet enough to pay attention to the story.”
~Linda Hogan

Two young warthogs play fighting in the mud in the waterhole in front of Rock Camp.

A wily Hammerkop was standing close to the fighting warthogs, waiting for insects to be disturbed by all the activity.

Sometimes the activity got a little too boisterous for the opportunistic hammerkop.

Spooked by dark wings and everything scattered off the elephant carcass.

A magnificent pair of adult kudu bulls stopping to assess if we were a threat or not.

“We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do.”
~Barbara Ward

A young leopard relaxing in the early morning shade of a large Mashatu tree.

A female steenbok foraging next to a large Shepherd’s tree in the rich light of the early morning.

The dominant male lion getting up to move into deeper shade as the morning sun rose.

“At some point in life, the world’s beauty becomes enough.”
~Toni Morrison

A young male leopard guarding an impala kill which had been dragged up into a Mashatu tree.

A female vervet monkey suckling her baby near the bird bath at Rock Camp.

“We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on the earth. Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh

An procession of elephants in the late morning. The light was so bright, a black and white treatment was required.

A silhouetted klipspringer with a characteristic pose standing on tiptoes on the rocks.

“There is a quietness that comes over you in the bush. Once your chatter quietens the symphony of the wild will envelope you. When you look not with preconceived ideas but allow awareness of what is around you to seep in, then you begin to see. We are sensual beings and the wild will fill your sensory cup to over flowing.” ~ Mike Haworth

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This is the fourth post from my last trip to Mashatu Game Reserve in the south eastern section of Botswana called the Tuli Block. The eastern section up to and including Redshield on its south western border has been declared a game reserve, known as the Northern Tuli Game Reserve (NOTUGRE), of which Mashatu is a significant part. NOTUGRE has the Tuli circle as its northern border, the Shashe river as its eastern border, the Limpopo river as its southern border and the Moutloutse river as its western border. It was late October so it was hot and the first good rains had still to fall.

“This is a place which will flood your senses, lift your soul and will tease your intellect. Its diversity will intrigue you and its predators will excite you. Travelling along meandering river beds lined with giants or creeping through croton groves builds expectations of what could be just around the corner.”~ Mike Haworth

Mashatu is a small unique part of Botswana. Unique because of its varied geology and landscapes. It also has three main seasonal rivers which flow through it during the summer rainfall period. These are the Majale, Pitsani and Matabole rivers. They are dry for most of the year but flow strongly during good rains. Mashatu is especially well-known for its predators, which range from lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyaenas, wild cats, Black-backed jackals, Bat-eared foxes, aardwolf, genets and civits.

“True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation. One’s inner voices become audible… In consequence, one responds more clearly to the lives of others.”~ Wendell Berry

Mashatu has four cheetah groupings. One is a three male coalition, the second is a female cheetah with three sub-adult male cubs,  another female with two younger cubs around six months old  and a third female with two small cubs possibly three months old. What makes it especially impressive is that these cheetah females rear their cubs in an area teeming with predators such as lions, leopards, hyaenas and jackals.

“Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought with ardor and attended to with diligence.”~ Abigail Adams

Cheetahs are diurnal and  hunt during the day when most of the nocturnal predators are asleep. The black spots on their tan coats help provide camouflage. Cheetahs have a distinctive black “tear stripes” down from their eyes to their months on either side of their face. The tear stripe is thought to reduce the glare during the day.

In late October when its is particularly hot and there is little shade in the open areas, the Shepherd trees provide valuable respite from the intense sun.

Further away from the rivers, the landscape is dry and quite barren in spring. This gives the cheetahs plenty of room to use their competitive advantage to hunt steenbok and impala. The Cheetah’s long thick tail has spots, which turn into rings and at the end is tipped with white. Half way down the tail it flattens and this acts as an aerodynamic rudder at high speeds. The cheetah also does not have retractable claws

The three sub-adult male cubs were feisty and often tackled each other in play fighting.

The play fighting is a critical part of their development where they learn to tackle and fight their prey.

It was interesting to see two male cubs gang up against the third. This was just playing and the third cub being picked on did not hold back and gave as good as he got.

All the playing took place in the shade of a Shepherd tree even early in the morning. We were waiting for them to play out in the open sunny area  around them but they never did.

This particular morning we went out early  and were on the vehicle and moving out of camp by 5h45 just because it got so hot around 10h00. We drove back where we had left the cheetah mother with her three sub-adult cubs the evening before. Cheetahs do not move around at night if they can help it as the nocturnal predators are active at that time. I like the next image as the cheetah mother was passive and unfazed by her boisterous cubs fighting around her at around 6h30 in the morning.

Although there was much play, as soon as their mother got up they all sat up and started looking around. It was early in the morning so there was a chance that some nocturnal predators were still making their way back to their dens. Cheetah females are usually solitary when they have not got cubs.

The second cheetah mother with her two approximately six month old cubs. They were lying in a very rocky side of a low hill overlooking the Majale river. Their stony bed did not seem to bother them one bit. The area in front of these cheetahs adjacent to the Majale river was a large open area, a perfect kill zone for a cheetah. It was remarkable how well camouflaged these cheetahs were in the shade in this stoney area.

“I gaze upon a female cheetah with wonder. I see strength, form and tenacity. I see independence, resourcefulness and a creature that does not waste. I see keen senses and maternal nurturing. I am looking at the fastest land mammal with eye watering acceleration. I am also seeing them disappear from the precious earth.”~ Mike Haworth

When the adult female was lying on the stones in the previous image we did not see that she had quite a large wound on her left shoulder. It did not seem to worry her too much and she did not limp when she walked.

Cheetahs have good eye sight and are looking around for signals from other animals and birds whether danger was approaching in the form of other predators or opportunities for hunting were coming. Cheetahs are thought to be able to see detail up to five kilometres away. Usually a cheetah will stalk to within 50 metres of its prey before accelerating to speeds of 100kms per hour within three seconds and reaching top speeds of 120kms per hour for short bursts. The cheetah uses its speed and momentum to knock over its prey, after which it wrestles its prey until it can get a throat grip to suffocate it.

It is heartening to see cheetahs thriving in Mashatu. According to the African Wildlife Foundation there are approximately 6,674 adult cheetahs remaining in the wild.

“Be curious, not judgmental”~ Walt Whitman

On our last morning we found the third cheetah mother with her three small cubs. We found them in the saga grove feeding on an impala which their mother had killed for them. The cubs were hungry and tucked in but were dead quiet. They has no visibility on any approaching threats so often stopped looked up and listened.

Cheetah are usually born in litters which vary from three to five, and more is isolated cases.  After two to three weeks the cubs begin to walk but are vulnerable to predators while their mother hunts. In the first few weeks the cubs are dark grey with a long grey-white mantle of hair on their backs and necks. This colouring provides effective camouflage and begins to disappear at around three months of age.

The cheetah is the only big cat in the feline family that cannot roar because it does not have a floating Hyoid bone in its neck.  An article in the Journal of Anatomy, showed that the tetrapod hyoid apparatus provides the skeletal scaffolding supporting the tongue, upper vocal tract and larynx, and thus forms the core of the vocal production system. Hyoid anatomy in mammals is consistent in terms of the number and general shape of segments, and the muscles connecting them. Five cat species (lion, tiger, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard) have the Epihyoideum which is an elastic ligament, whereas in all other species of the Felidae, the epihyal is completely ossified. It is  hypothesized that these differences in hyoid structure are correlated with differences in the species’ vocal repertoires: those felids with an elastic epihyoid are able to roar but not to purr, while species with a completely ossified hyoid are able to purr but not to roar. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1570911/).  Cheetahs also vocalize by making a unique bird-like sound called a “chirrup” when they are excited or calling their young cubs.

“Cherish sunsets, wild creatures and wild places. have a love affair with the wonder and beauty of the earth.” ~ Stewart Udall

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

It was late spring in Mashatu in October and it was hot and dry.  The first good rains had yet to fall. The wildlife was pairing up for what looked like preparation for the breeding season. We saw numerous pairs of Bat-eared foxes and Black-backed jackals, and in the twilight, Wild cats.

“The best things in life aren’t things.”~ Art Buchwald

What was particularly heartening was that we found numerous pairs of Bat-eared foxes. We have not seen Bat-eared foxes since 2011. The general speculation was that many of the Bat-eared fox families drowned in their den at night when the Limpopo river flooded its banks in a massive flood in early 2012. The miracle of nature, if left alone, it will slowly rebuild itself. All the Bat-eared foxes we saw were in pairs. They were very wary and so they should be of humans!

The male Bat-eared foxes frequently moved away from their den perhaps as a decoy.

The Bat-eared fox females never seemed to venture far from their dens, preferring to hunker down or dive into the den.

One of the intriguing aspects about photographing wildlife and wild birds is that you can spend many hours trying to get a decent image of a particular animal or bird with not avail. Then out of then blue one particular animal or bird poses beautifully completely unperturbed by you. These are treasured moments when you get an insight into that animal’s life and its behaviour, if only for a brief period..

This Black-backed jackal female lay down in a hollow in the road where the sand must have been soft and cool and she relished it.

We must have spent about fifteen minutes watching her just sunbathing in the early morning light as the sun was beginning to warm up.

At first light one morning on our way out of camp we found this female Black-backed jackal tending to her pups. 

She had kept them out of harms way in a small drainage pipe under the road.

“Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live unreflectively and begins
to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to raise it to its true value.
To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will to live.”
~ Albert Schweitzer

Not 200 metres away was a hyaena den. Needless to say any one of the hyaenas would have happily  taken a jackal pup as a meal.

The jackal den was effective and the female was an attentive mother. The pups were still nursing and we were very fortunate to get a glimpse of them when she called them out of their confined den.

Bat-eared foxes are fairly common throughout the drier regions of Southern and Eastern Africa, where they are most often seen foraging at night or in the early morning in warmer months and during the day when the weather turns colder.

Bat eared foxes dig their dens to provide shelter for their young from high temperatures and predators. They eat small invertebrates such as ants, termites, spiders, scorpions and crickets but will also eat small birds, mammals and reptiles, and even desert truffle if the opportunity arises.

In the late afternoon, the crepuscular and nocturnal wildlife becomes more active. We saw quite a few African wildcats but they were very skittish.

This was the only African wildcat which stayed put long enough to get a photograph. Somewhat ambitiously, the wildcat moved off to the right through the thicket as a Swainson’s spurfowl  wandered past and the wildcat thought it had an opportunity for an early meal. Unfortunately the wildcat missed the spurfowl so dinner would be later.

Large-spotted genet. This not particularly good image was taken on our way back to camp one evening after the sun had set. The Large-spotted species is clearly distinguished because it is bigger than the Small-spotted genet and it has a black tip to its tail. The Small-spotted genet has a white tip to its tail and has more distinct black and white coat markings.

“If you look at the creation of the earth, you’ll see that all the forces of physics combined to create an ebb and flow that keeps everything running in a continuous, harmonious circle of life.”
~ Amy Leigh Mercree

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

It is the end of the dry season, late spring, in Mashatu Game Reserve in south Eastern Botswana. It is very hot and dry but the rains are coming, how good they will be we do not know! For herbivores it is a question of hanging on; for the lions it is a time of plenty.

“These are the animals that are the reason why you don’t see old animals in the wild. You don’t see sick animals in the wild. You don’t see lame animals in the wild, and its all because of the predator: the lion, the tiger, the leopard, all the cats.” ~ Tippi Hedren

We left camp at 6h00 to get into the park while the light was still soft and the predators were still active. Less than 15 minutes into the drive, we found two lionesses walking along the dam wall in the south east of the reserve. They were relaxed and stopped periodically to just look around. At one point both the lionesses stopped and lay down on top of the dam wall in the early morning light.

Later that morning, we found a second group of lionesses with cubs. The cubs looked well fed and alert.

“Watch, don’t stare. Listen, don’t talk. Sense, don’t opine. There is more going on here than you are remotely aware of! ~ Mike Haworth

This well-fed cub must have been around six months old. I liked the reclined pose and just look at that small bulging belly.

Other cubs were more inquisitive. The two lionesses in this pride had two cubs each.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the light grew brighter and the contrast stronger.  At this point I decided a black and white treatment would suit the image better. I liked the shadows on the the lioness.

“Why are wild lions in danger? Habitat loss which has led to a reduction of prey!~ Mike Haworth

The next day we set out looking for the dominant large male Lion in Mashatu. This king has dominated this territory for around the last four years.

This is a large, muscular male lion, in his prime with little competition. Most of the young males in this area have been pushed out into the surrounding territories.

This side view gives a sense of the size and muscular build of this male. I liked the different tones of light on him.

“His size triggers primal fear. His silent gaze hides intention. A regal and confident pose. Little fazes him and there is little to dispose him.”~ Mike Haworth

A regal, dominant male lying in the shade of a Shepard tree away from his family who were about forty metres away.

He looks so docile lying in his position….but don’t try getting out of the vehicle!

I always try to take a close up of one feature of an animal. This male’s mane looked is perfect condition, well groomed with highlights and all.

“Is the lion walking across the road or is the road crossing the lion’s path?~Mike Haworth.

A black and white image of this magnificent male to show his bulk, all of which is pure muscle. This is a big, burly male lion quite capable of defending his territory and family.

An up close facial image of this male lion showing his regal pose and varied tones in his mane.. 

There is something awe inspiring about being close to a large male lion. You get a first hand impression of the size of this predator. It is very humbling to be sitting in the protection of vehicle so close to this apex predator.

“Every creature was designed to serve a purpose. Learn from animals for they are there to teach you the way of life. There is a wealth of knowledge that is openly accessible in nature. Our ancestors knew this and embraced the natural cures found in the bosoms of the earth. Their classroom was nature. They studied the lessons to be learned from animals. Much of human behavior can be explained by watching the wild beasts around us. They are constantly teaching us things about ourselves and the way of the universe, but most people are too blind to watch and listen.” ~ Suzy Kassem,

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let  it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This the second post from my recent trip to Mashatu Game Reserve in south-east Botswana. The game drives through Mashatu provide exceptional wildlife sightings and opportunities to photograph wildlife. The game drives usually take place first thing in the morning from 5h30 to 9h30  and 16h00 to 19h30 in the evening in the summer. After each morning game drive we have a hearty brunch when everyone discusses the morning’s sightings. After brunch  it is usually very hot so everyone either goes for a swim or a snooze. There is nothing better than a lunchtime sleep after a morning of fresh air and excitement.

“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird.” ~David Attenborough

A few bird baths formed from natural rocks have been placed around the camps and these baths are regularly filled with water. This attracts many birds and small mammals into the camp, especially when the area is very dry and still waiting for its first good summer rains.

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence.”  ~ Robert Lynd 

Once everyone had retired to relax, the areas around the bird baths were quiet and undisturbed.  This is the time when the potential for bird bath photography starts and you need to be part of the quiet. I set up my camera with a 840mm focal length lens on a tripod and began my vigil knowing a key ingredient for success would be patience.

Many of the birds call as they approach the area of the bird baths. The white-helmeted shrikes chatter, the arrow-marked babblers babble and sparrows and waxbills twitter. Most of the birds normally fly into a nearby shrub or tree just to see whether it is safe to come down to the bird bath.

“Pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.” ~William Wordsworth

A family group of white helmetshrikes were frequent visitors to the bird bath in the six days we were in the camp. These birds are cooperative breeders with an alpha pair which bonds for life.

The Arrow-marked babblers also came in groups, they were very noisy and seemed to love to bathe in, as much as drink from the bird baths. This babbler’s name is derived from the downward pointing arrow marks on its throat, breast and belly plumage.

A female Kurricane thrush, like her partner arrived very quietly. This means that you have to be attentive at all times as some of the birds arrive unannounced. These thrushes prefer the woodland vegetation and avoid forest and grasslands.

The Grey-headed sparrows always flew into the nearby branches with much twittering to check if it was safe to come down to drink. This sparrow has a diagnostic grey head and is larger than a waxbill and smaller than a weaver.

Blue waxbills, like the Grey-headed sparrows, were wary drinkers never just flew straight down to the bird bath. This waxbill has a beautiful powder blue face, breast, rump and flanks.

“The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense is his life, large-brained, large-lunged, hot, ecstatic, his frame charged with buoyancy and his heart with song.” ~John Burroughs
A male Southern Masked weaver in full breeding plumage. He was quite an aggressive character. This weaver could be confused with a Village weaver but the Southern Masked weaver has a red eye and the Village weaver a yellow eye. The latter is a slightly larger weaver. The Village weaver’s back is much more darkly speckled  and its back face mask extends further down its throat than the Southern masked weaver.

A White Helmet shrike looking for the rest of its flock. This Helmet shrike has a white crest which it raises when alarmed.

A female Southern Red-headed weaver.

A male Southern Red-headed weaver in full breeding plumage.

A Crested Barbet, colloquially called the marmalade bird because of its red and yellow colouring and its crest which is raised when excited or alarmed.

A male Kurricane thrush wandering around in the brush next to the bird bath.

A Jameson’s Firefinch came down to drink in groups and individually. It can be identified by its pinkish-red colouring and blackish bill. It is a similar size to the Blue waxbill.

“I don’t ask for the meaning of the song of a bird or the rising of the sun on a misty morning. There they are, and they are beautiful.”~ Pete Hamill
A grey-headed shrike came down to drink at the bird baths in the shade of a large Mashatu tree next to the patio of the camp. Its haunting piping whistled call could be heard throughout the day. This bird is unmistakable because of its colouring and cannot be confused with an other shrike. This is a large shrike quite capable of killing a Bloomslang, a venomous green tree snake which can grow up to two metres in length.

A male Kurricane thrush can be identified by its speckled throat and broad malar stripes and bright orange bill and orange sides to its breast.

A female Paradise flycatcher flew around the bird bath without ever coming down to drink, when I was watching. These flycatchers seem to dance around in the trees and do not perch on a branch for any length of time making them tricky to photograph.

A male Red-billed Buffalo weaver having a drink. This is also an aggressive bird which does not tolerate smaller birds drinking next to it. These weavers breed in colonies and usually make their untidy nests on the west side of a thorn or Shepherd tree.

A Crested barbet sitting in a nearby sapling checking to see if the bird bath areas was safe. This barbet has a distinctive black collar dotted with white spots.

A male Southern red-headed weaver enjoying its drink of water in the hot part of the early afternoon. The dappled light around the bird bath was constantly changing dictating the use of a flash and single point exposure metering.

“Nature’s colour combinations are beyond our imagination. The subtlety, the contrast, the blending and the tonal balance only become apparent when we look closer. Have you ever noticed that birds colours seldom look dirty and yet birds seldom see themselves other than perhaps in their reflection in the water.”~ Mike Haworth

A common but beautifully adorned Laughing dove walking on the sand next to the bird bath. A flash helped to softly illuminate this subtly coloured dove.

A male Southern red-billed weaver taking off after drinking his fill and showing its contrasting red head and white belly.

A White helmeted shrike with its striking yellow wattled eye ring.

A Tropical boubou in the shade of the large Mashatu tree next to the camp patio. The male and female of this species are identical in colouring. This boubou is more often heard than seen. It has a wide repertoire and one of its calls could be mistaken for the Grey-headed shrike’s call. This bird has a voicebox called a syrinx not a larynx which enables it to sing in two voices at the same time.

A male Red-billed weaver enjoying its morning drink of water. The female has the same red-bill but a brown plumage. 

A male Jameson’s firefinch on the left of its female flanked on the right hand side by a Red-billed firefinch. The male on the right had side has a blue top mandible and red lower mandible and does not have the same all over pink breast. 

A Fork-tailed Drongo came down for a drink, they are usually alone. These birds are amazing mimics so you can be deceived by its call.

“Man can now fly in the air like a bird, swim under the ocean like a fish, he can burrow into the ground like a mole. Now if only he could walk the earth like a man, this would be paradise.”~ Tommy Douglas
This Natal spurfowl came very quietly to drink next to the large Mashatu tree in the shade. The Natal spurfowl has a red bill with a yellow base, its eye is black and it has heavy dark barring on its breast feathers. The distribution area in which it is found does not overlap between the Natal spurfowl and Red-billed spurfowl. The Red-billed spurfowl is usually not found in the centre of Southern Africa and it has a yellow eye ring and pure red bill.

A thirsty lone male Red-billed firefinch differentiated from the Jameson’s firefinch by its different coloured mandibles with the lower mandible being pinkish red.

A ubiquitous Grey-headed sparrow.

A Blue waxbill. You have to be quick to get a shot of this small seedeater as it comes in for a quick “in and out” drink.

“Each day has a story to – deserves to be told, because we are made of stories. I mean, scientists say that human beings are made of atoms, but a little bird told me that we are also made of stories.”~ Eduardo Galeano

A female Paradise flycatcher- a brief furtive visitor.

A juvenile Southern masked weaver developing his adult yellow breeding plumage.

A Brown-hooded kingfisher having just had a bath.

A male Puff-backed shrike with its black and white plumage and bright red-eye. When excited the male puffs up its back feathers hence the name. The female has a white forehead and eyebrow.

The beautiful but shyly obliging female Paradise flycatcher. I got shots of the male with his long tail but in the close up images, I cut off his long tail feathers.

There is a meditation in being quiet and alone for an extended period just sitting, watching and listening to all the bird life around. Although not quiet there is something very soothing about all the bird activity around you. I saw many more birds than I photographed and could not get a decent shot of Hammerkops, various woodpeckers, Grey louries and more. Even though 11h30 to 15h30 was a snoozy time of the day, there were times during that period when the paradise flycatcher or grey-headed shrike came to visit which was thrilling.

“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life. “~ John Burroughs

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

Last week I visited Mashatu Game Reserve for six days. Mashatu is a privately owned 29,000 hectare game reserve in a conservation wilderness area in south east Botswana known as the Northern Tuli Game Reserve. This game reserve has a uniquely diverse landscape with its wide open plains patterned with Shepard trees, stunted Mopanis and Mustard bushes, Croton groves, riverine forests with towering Mashatu trees, Leadwoods and Apple Leafs, rocky hills, marshland and majestic sandstone ridges. It has three main rivers flowing through it – the Majale, the Matabole and the Pitsani all of which flow into the Limpopo river. This reserve is located where the Rudyard Kipling’s “Great Green Greasy” Limpopo river meets the Shashe river. This is the confluence of three countries Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

“Late spring in southern Africa comes with mixed blessings.The predators have bounty but the land is parched and the herbivores survive on scant offerings.  In the dryness and dust of the parched earth lies millions of seeds pregnant with the next season’s abundance, just waiting for the first rains. The rain brings life. The rivers start to flow and the parched earth transforms into green grass and flowers and the landscape is renewed. Mashatu reveals the miracle of the seasons”. ~ Mike Haworth

In late October in this part of the world it is very hot – 30 degrees centigrade in the shade and over 40 in the sun and very dry as the parched landscape waits for the first rains of the summer season. The rivers are dry. The river courses are lined with Mashatu trees, Leadwoods and Apple Leafs and there are Croton groves on each side of sections of the Majale river. It is in these treed courses and groves that we find Africa’s secretive independent predator, the leopard. Mashatu is well known for its exceptional leopard sightings. 

“I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy” ~ Ernest Hemingway

On our first morning out game viewing, our guide called Justice, who had particularly sharp eyes, saw this female leopard crouched on a sand bank under some Croton bushes close to the Majale river. She was perfectly camouflaged in the dappled light, so much so that a small group of impala were walking past her, about twenty metres away, and they had not seen her.

The impala moved off after seeing the vehicle but I do not think they saw their nemesis at all, such is the effectiveness of the leopard’s camouflage in the dappled light.

Once this leopard flattened herself  on the sandbank among the leaf litter she was incredibly well camouflaged.

After watching this beautiful female leopard for about half an a hour and having scared off her prey she decided to rest where she was.

“I hope you have an experience that alters the course of your life because, after Africa, nothing has ever been the same”~ Suzanne Evans

There are numerous leopards along the Majale, Matabole and Limpopo rivers. This young leopard peered at us through a gap in his arboreal hideout.

“Humankind must begin to learn that the life of an animal is in no way less precious than our own.” ~ Paul Oxton

On our way back to camp one morning at around 9h30, we passed an extensive rock outcrop which is home to many Rock Hyraxes and rarely seen Black Eagles and leopards. To our surprise we had a young male leopard watching us making our way back to camp for brunch. It was only his white under belly that revealed his presence. As soon as we stopped he quickly slunk away into the rocks out of sight.

The next morning up at 4h30 and after a requisite cup of hot coffee and rusk we were on our way by 5h30 as the sun was rising. If you want to see the cats, the best time is in the early morning. Unless you are lucky, the leopards are up in the trees and lions have become “flat cats” two hours after sunrise. This was a young female lying on the ground at around 6h30. There were two large Mashatu trees in a Croton grove. A young male leopard had an impala kill stashed up one of the Mashatu trees and was guarding it. This young female was nearby but very wary of the young male who was from the same father but a different mother.

When a leopard lounges on the large branches of a tree it usually provides cameo photographic opportunities.

This was the young male up in the Mashatu tree carefully watching his kill and ensuring the young female did not steal a few mouthfuls.

Young and relaxed but not prepared to share his kill. What was so unusual about this sighting was that there were two adult leopards in and around the same tree. It seemed that they had both recently been separated from their mothers.

The young female was taking in the scent from what looked like a midden of antelope droppings.

A playful young female leopard stalking and pouncing on a piece of wood close by.

Catching the scent and sight of prey, the play was forgotten and she went into full alert mode. She walked off in the direction of some impala she had seen and that was the last we saw of her that day.

We went back to see the two young leopards a few times. The last time we visited these two Mashatu trees we only found the young male up the tree. The guide said that the young female had come back to the two Mashatu trees but had been chased away by a troop of baboons which had passed through the area.

“I have great respect for leopards. They are powerful, independent, and skilled hunters. Being solitary they have no backup. They choose their fights carefully. You only see them when they want you to and it is then you see their striking beauty”~ Mike Haworth 

On our last morning after watching two different families of cheetahs, we found this young male at the base of large Mashatu tree overlooking a patch of wild sage. It was a perfect place as it was cool and gave this leopard a good view of the passing parade in front of him and he had his back covered by the massive tree.

The young male leopard climbed up onto a large fallen branch of the Mashatu tree for a better view. As usual we found all the adult leopards alone as they are solitary by nature only coming together to mate or fight.

Ever alert, independent and ready to take advantage of an opportunity.

The young male leopard at the base of a large Mashatu tree.

.

This character was very relaxed and not fussed about us at all. He was much more interested in dosing and watching all the animal movement behind us.

Well rooted!!

“Nature only reveals her complexity and wisdom to those who take the time and care to seek and learn her patterns and rhythms”~Mike Haworth

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

It was late on a winter afternoon in August at one of the remaining pools of water in the Majale river in Mashatu Nature Reserve, the sun was low and shining fully onto the section of the river we were overlooking, when a troop of baboons came down to drink.

“Animals should not require our permission to live on earth. Animals were given the right to be here long before we arrived.”

~Anthony Douglas Williams

The boss was the first to arrive, a large dominant male baboon, presumably the troop leader. He walked with confidence and purpose.

Before getting to the pool he stopped sat down and just looked around, probably just assessing the lie of the land to make sure there were no potential threats to his troop.

“Much of human behavior can be explained by watching the wild beasts around us. They are constantly teaching us things about ourselves and the way of the universe, but most people are too blind to watch and listen.”
~ Suzy Kassem

This young male stopped in his walk to the pool and just stared at us. His mannerisms were so human-like, I could not help but smile.

The baboons were not the only ones keen to have a drink in the late afternoon. A small herd of impala also came down to sate their thirst. Baboon and impala will often be seen together as they work symbiotically and provide more eyes and ears to watch and listen for danger.

“Symbiosis is a much higher reflection of intelligent life.”
~Frederick Lenz

Three young baboons came down to drink. I am sure the water was did not taste clean and fresh, but there was no alternative. You can see they were looking over the water while drinking, ever alert.

This young male baboon was bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight.

This young lady was preoccupied with a little thigh  grooming.

“Well, best to remain vigilant. It’s when everything is calm that you need to be most alert.”
~ Brandon Sanderson

It was so peaceful and warm in the late afternoon sun that this male started to doze off while watching us. Obviously, the sun made more of an impression than we did, happily.

Mother and baby on the rocks above the pool. The sun has to be reasonably low in the late afternoon to get the baboons eyes fully illuminated because of their substantial forehead and eye brow.

These youngsters hang onto their mother’s hair which I am sure must hurt the mother.

“Don’t be intimidated by other people’s opinions. Only mediocrity is sure of itself, so take risks and do what you really want to do.”

~Unknown

This young female baboon was taking in the whole scene with serene acceptance.

I just loved the pose. She could have been on the beach in Saint Tropez with the camera crew all around her.

Unfazed and unperturbed, just soaking up the warm afternoon sun.

One of the youngsters must have done something wrong because it was about to be chastised.

Just like a human youngster, the young baboon screamed and shouted when being chased by a parent or adult.

“Baboons are incredibly social beings, and just like human families, they comfort and support each other, and squabble and fight!”

~Baboon Matters

This youngster was looking for some comfort and protection from the adult. I am not sure if the adult was the youngster’s parent because there was already a baby clinging to the adult’s belly.

The next day we found two families of baboon sitting on the ground warming up in the early winter morning sun. The adults were grooming each other while the youngsters played on the branches around them.

These young baboons are so strong, nimble and flexible. It is great fun to watch their antics.

Baboons provide endless entertainment and photographic opportunities for wildlife photographers when on a game drive. If you are camping they can be very destructive. The big males can be aggressive and should be treated with great respect. The adult male baboons are often twice the size of the female and develop huge canines which they display as a threat when needed.

“A baboon troop is a complex and fascinating hierarchy, where males are dominant but their ranking is tenuous and changes often, while females inherit their social status from their mothers.”

~Baboon Matters

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

Winter is a time when predators prevail in Mashatu. This is a wild place in the south-east of Botswana, where game, notably the elephants and the lions, are free to move back and forth between Botswana and Zimbabwe. During our recent trip to Mashatu in mid-August, we were fortunate enough to see the lion on a number of occasions and the resident male lion in particular.

” The dust, the wafting fragrance of wild sage, the warm winter sun, the tingle of anticipation and that pungent smell of death are intoxicating as you approach the lion kill. The anticipation turns into awe when you finally see the huge black-maned lion at his dinner table.”

~Mike Haworth

This large male lion was lying in a grove of wild sage. It has a unique ‘herb” fragrance and you either like or you don’t. Dereck Joubert said in one of his wildlife films that when he and Beverly were flying high over the Botswana bush in their light aircraft that he could smell the wild sage and he knew he was going home. I feel the same sense of familiarity when I the smell the wild sage.

“Africa changes you forever, like nowhere on earth. Once you have been there, you will never be the same. But how do you begin to describe its magic to someone who has never felt it? How can you explain the fascination of this vast, dusty continent, whose oldest roads are elephant paths?”

~Brian Jackman

This male lion was lying among the wild sage. Presumably the females had killed the eland which had been substantially eaten by the time we arrived. .

 

Despite being full, the male lion lay next to the eland carcass. It was not especially warm so was not too smelly

While lying in the sage bushes he could not see anything but judging from the way he turned his head and refocused he was sensing all the movement around him.

 

This is a big strong dominant male who has ruled this area for the last few years.  He is a lone male, so has no coalition partners to rely on if there was an invasion from a new coalition seeking  new territory.

“Life isn’t measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”

~Maya Angelou

You are always told to sit quietly in the vehicle when near a predator and not to stand up or break the outline of the vehicle in any way.  The lion can definitely sense you are in the vehicle but somehow does not associate you as being separate to the vehicle. As a wildlife photographer somehow I am not so sure that the lions do necessarily see you as part of the vehicle. This male lion was directly focused on the “big eye” looking at him. The big eye being my 600mm lens. His small pupils showed that it was bright sunlight.

After watching the “big eye” for a while he lost interest and started to look around again, but every now and then he would stare deeply into my lens. A look that sent chills down my spine.

“We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.”

~Unknown

One of the reasons this male was looking around is that he had heard a family group of elephants approaching through the sage brush. They are not exactly quiet or fast. Interestingly the elephant did not pick up on the lion until they were quite close and then must have smelt them. The elephants did not have any youngsters in the herd so did not take too much notice of the lions.

The male lion decided to move around the other side of his meal to keep an eye on the approaching elephant.

“If your mind is expansive and unfettered, you will find yourself in a more accommodating world, a place that’s endlessly interesting and alive. That quality isn’t inherent in the place but in your state of mind.” 
~ Pema Chödrön,

The two lionesses were out of the line of approach of the elephants so took no heed of them. The outstretched paw said it all.

At one point one of the lionesses looked up but only because we started our vehicle.

“Fill your life with adventures, not things. Have stories to tell not stuff to show.”

~Unknown

Later that day, probably half a kilometre to the north of the eland kill, we found the dominant male lion and his lioness down at the water in the Majale river.

He seemed very relaxed just keeping an eye on us. When a large male lion looks at you like this, it does make you wonder what he is thinking.

He seemed to be the watchman while his lioness was having her drink. The pair seemed to be on their own so they could have been a mating couple.

“I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was unexplored.”

~ David Attenborough

In the last light, I liked the various shades of bond in his mane.

The next day we found four young male lions on their own. I am not sure whether they had already been kicked out of the pride or whether the pride had just splintered for the time being.  Either way they were still in the dominant male’s turf which would be a problem in time. 

When you see a large male lion or large lioness in the wild it puts life into perspective. These are huge and immensely strong predators where a human would not be the slightest match. All of a sudden it dawns on you that you are not top of the food chain.

“And if travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.”

~Pico Lyer

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike