Chobe Game Lodge Newsletter, November 2006

General

November was the advent of our rainy season and with it came the complete metamorphosis of the bush from dry arid landscape to lush green vegetation. In total we have had 113,5mm of rain for November. On the 16th a very big thunderstorm passed over the Kasane region with up to 110mm falling in Kasane itself, with the brunt of the thunderstorm passing by us towards our east. At Chobe Game Lodge we only measured 10mm of rain after the storm. The Sedudu area of the National Park must have had quite a lot of rain falling there as well during the storm of the 16th as the Sedudu Pan was almost completely full after the storm. The rain also brought the mean day temperatures down a lot and most days were quite mild and pleasant.

Vegetation

As mentioned already the rain brought bout a dramatic change in the bush as most plant species indigenous to this area respond very quickly to any rainfall. This fact can be ascribed to the very seasonal nature od most indigenous plants in most parts of southern Africa and certainly in Botswana. The vegetation has adapted to respond very quickly to rain because most species have rather short life cycles to fit into the few raining months of the year.

Away from the river inside what is classified as miombo woodland the Zambezi teak trees and Muondo trees started shooting their new leaves for the season. These trees characteristically have bright pink to red new leaves, making for some spectacular scenes after the first heavy rains. The Zambezi teaks also started to blossom for the season dotting the lush green bush with its purple flowers.

All the grass species growing on the deep Kalahari soils are annuals and the new growth for the season started within a week of the first good rains. By the end of December game viewing should start getting significantly more difficult with the dense undergrowth of grasses sprouting out.

Birdlife

All the Chobe's summer visitors and residents have returned by the end of November. The very characteristic calls of the woodlands kingfishers are ringing out from everywhere in the bush, as are those of Klaas's cuckoo, Diedericks' cuckoo, and the "I'm so sick" call of the black cuckoo. These calls are so abundant during the summer months that one hardly notices them but they are sorely missed in winter time.

Klaas's cuckoo was named after a Khoi-Khoi servant of the French explorer Francois Levaillant. Levaillant came to the Cape in 1781 in the service of the Dutch East India Company. All cuckoo species in southern Africa are brood parasites and normally target species like weavers and starlings. Their eggs typically have a much shorter incubation period than the host species giving the chicks a head start over the chicks of the host which will often be killed by the cuckoo chick.

Steppe buzzards are surprisingly abundant this year. They are Palearctic migrants and as their name implies they travel all the way from the steppes of Europe and Asia in the northern hemisphere to spend their summers in the southern parts of Africa. They typically hunt from perches like dead tree tops and often while hovering as well.

Mammals

November's predator sightings were probably our best ever and not only lion but also leopard sightings were basically a daily occurrence. We now have a female leopard with two young cubs residing in the immediate vicinity of the Lodge and a lioness with two young cubs as well, also making the immediate vicinity of the Lodge her home.

To make things more exciting we had three young male lions frequenting the Lodge grounds on a few nights. It appears that these young males may be trying to take over the territory of our two dominant males of the area. So far we have only seen the young males around the Lodge and towards the east of the Lodge while two big adult males were seen only towards the west in the Kabulabula region.

Male lions get kicked out of their natal prides between the ages of 2 and 3 years. From then onwards they normally lead a nomadic life moving along the fringes of known territories of other prides. They lead this type of life normally for at least a year or two until they have grown strong enough to contend for and defend their own territories. Young males often form coalitions, especially if they are closely related as this will give them strength in numbers not only when hunting but in fighting for and defending territories.

The young trio around Game Lodge may start challenging (if they have not already done so) the older dominant males of our resident pride when they get big and confident enough to do so. Their superiority in numbers will give them a distinct advantage over the older males. If they succeed in driving the older males off, they will normally kill all the cubs in the pride of less than about 3 months in age. This is done to bring the females back into oestrus as soon as possible since the males know they may not be in charge of the pride for very long and want to sire their own cubs as soon as possible.

With the park times changing we were granted the opportunity to see some of the nocturnal mammal species getting active in the evenings. The gate closing times changed to 19:00 giving us more than 30 minutes after sunset to still be outside. At the hippo pools we managed to spot a pair of large grey mongooses (Herpestes ichneumon). They are also often referred to by the species name ichneumon, a Greek word meaning tracker after their habit on sniffing out and eating crocodile eggs. They are particularly abundant in the Sudan, where they have been discovered to be a reservoir host for black fever or parasites, the second largest parasitic killer in the world after malaria. This disease is reputed to have killed in excess of 100 000 people in the Upper Nile region in the Sudan in the late 1980's and early 90's with the village of Duar at the centre of the epidemic reportedly only having 4 survivors left out of a population of more than 1000.

On a more upbeat note: the first baby impala was seen on the 1st of November. The impala rutting season more or less coincide with the first full moon after the rainy season and the have gestation period of about 7 months, meaning the first babies will appear more or less when the first rains come. Many herbivore species give birth or at least have a peak in birth rate in the rainy season since this is when food is most abundant and the mother will be in her peak condition.

In Conclusion

Even though we by now have had our first good rain showers, a lot more rain is needed during the coming months to fill up all the water pans and ensure a good yield of vegetation for next years' dry season. December is probably the most beautiful month in the Chobe area with all the new growth and life around after having had rain. A typical December day is normally hot and clear with loose thundershowers in the late afternoon cooling tings down to more bearable temperatures. These thunderstorms often mean a delay in the activities as it is not sensible to go on Game drive during the height of a storm, but since these storms are normally very short lived they never really have too much of an impact on our activities.

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks are still in process of trying to improve our existing roads and have already cleared a few new roads - a really exciting development over the last two months. These roads meander through the miombo woodland south of the river giving us the opportunity to explore a greater variety of habitats and hopefully a greater variety of wildlife as well.