The road to Khwai took a few interesting turns, and there was more water than expected in general.  I'd been silently wondering where all these herds of Elephant were that Botswana was legendary for, seeing that they follow a regime that doesn't include culling.  Thus the population grows until the environment can no longer support it, declines, crashes and regrows.  The sort of management policy you can only consider when you have the vast tracts of land that allow some degree of migration ...... veterinary fences not withstanding.


When at last we got close to our first elephant (Loxodonta africana).  These magnificent creatures can reach up to 4.5meters tall in their 70 year life span, and this fellow was probably about 30 years old.  This was with the short end of the 100-400 mm lens so you can see he was quite close enough thank you.



Much later we came across our best chance of seeing a predator, possibly a lion, when we found these Impala frozen solid at the roadside.  They paid absolutely no attention to us and kept their eyes riveted on something in the deep bush that we could not discern.  We heard at camp later that night that there had been a 'kill' by some lion in this area late in the afternoon.



In the campsite the arrival party of Vervets (Cercopithecus aethiops), baboons and ground squirrels awaited, and we awaited the arrival of the 3rd family in our party, who, due to last minute business obligations, were only able to join us for the last part of the safari.



While waiting we enjoyed another marvellous sunset, but not before posing for our only family group portrait.  FLTR - Casey, Terry, myself, Ross, Julie, Jenni, Claire and Roger.  Then we settled down with the requisite sundown beverages (getting very low in supply by now) and waited for the sun to sink.



The cormorants made their timely arrival to settle down just as the last rays warmed their feathers.



Tomorrow we leave Moremi behind and cross the ominous Sand Ridge, headed for Savuti and more herds of Elephant.



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Permalink | Posted by: Ian at Tuesday, September 14th, 2004 21:45:00 | Location: Khwai, Botswana | Category:  Botswana Safari 

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