Anton and Renate's Wildlife Adventures: October 2015

There is a Namibian proverb that says "Learning expands great souls", and that is exactly what happen when you take your kids on safari!

We were visiting Limpopo-Lipadi Private Game and Wilderness Reserve, in the Tuli Block of Botswana in September 2015, a family affair with a 5-year old, a 3-year old, and two 6-month old babies (all girls!!).

The trip started amazingly well, with a close-up leopard sighting after entering the gate. The next excitement came in the form of a flat tyre close to the lodge entrance - luckily the girls saw it all as one big adventure!

Game drives were an absolute pleasure with the two toddlers, as they soaked up all the smells, sounds and sights of the African bush. They touched elephant dung, picked up kudu horns and even showed interest in learning the difference between hyena and leopard tracks! Dad even bought them binoculars...

Sightings weren't to bad either, as they had 3 leopard sightings, numerous elephants, African Wild Cat, Brown and Spotted Hyena to name just a few. A baby giraffe was on the little one's wish list - and Limpopo-Lipadi delivered as usual. After each game drive we would reflect on the game drive and the two girls would name their favourite sighting, and then ticked of all their sightings in the field guide. To get a complete trip report regarding our sightings, look at my previous blog post or follow the link:
http://renatonwildlife.blogspot.co.za/2015/10/limpopo-lipadi-trip-report-september.html

One of the highlights of the week was spending time at Hippo Pools close to camp, where there is a huge sand bank in the Limpopo River at the moment because of the low water level. Because of the vast open space and the sandy riverbed, the kids enjoyed freedom in one of the most beautiful spots on the reserve, and we took the opportunity to take some family photos as well.

This visit was special to say the least. To watch the kids soak up every piece of information is so special, and I am sure this experience will expand their souls, and make them better persons in the long run.

Oh, and if you thought that there is nothing to do for the kids between game drives, you are making a big mistake! After finishing the muesli box, we transformed it into a bird feeder (although no bird made use of it, the anticipation of a bird feeding in our own home made feeder was exciting enough).
Another activity was playing in the mud, and spending hours at the swimming pool!

If you would like to find out more about Limpopo-Lipadi, feel free to visit their website www.limpopo-lipadi.org
It is certainly one of my favourite places in the world!

Blessings
Anton and Renate

We visited Limpopo-Lipadi Private Game Reserve the week of 18 - 26 September 2015. This must be my favourite place in the world, and it did not disappoint.

The mighty Limpopo River close to River Camp

Limpopo-Lipadi is not your typical game lodge. There are no schedules, the area is huge (>20 000ha), and most amazing of all, there are never more than 4 gamedrive vehicles on drive! You must work hard for your sightings (you don't chase sighting after sighting through 2-way radio's) - the thrill is in the chase, and there is so much to see. Total freedom....

This is a short account of our sightings for the week.

Young male lion at Cabbage Dam

This week we were treated with numerous elephant sightings, especially close to River Camp and up the Mogorosi river in the west of the reserve, where we encountered lone bulls, as well as a breeding herd. Because of the dry season, the big bulls are pushing over a lot of trees for some much needed nutrition in the roots and the leaves higher up. It made for some interesting driving when an upturned tree block the road...

Limpopo-Lipadi must be the best place in the world to see the elusive and extremely secretive Brown Hyena. We spent some time with 3 youngsters at their den, and had 3 other sightings of adults as well.

We also had 2 spotted hyena sightings. One sighting on Black Rock early one morning, and one sighting at Mogorosi waterhole at night.

3 young Brown Hyena at their den

Spotted Hyena at Mogorosi waterhole

General game were abundant, and the highlight for me was encountering a huge herd of eland, probably >60 strong close to the Northern Plains.

Giraffe at Mogorosi waterhole

Huge kudu bull at Southern Plains

In February this year 3 lions, 2 males and 1 female made Limpopo-Lipadi their home. They are totally wild and arrived from the east, breaking through the fence after a storm. You can imagine that it is quite a challenge to find 3 lions, in 20 000+ha, with only 4 vehicles tracking...but we made it our mission to find them.

The one morning we left camp before sunrise, with the plan to stop at every waterhole looking for tracks, heading north towards Mac's waterhole. Their tracks were seen a few days ago in that vicinity.

One of the waterholes we visited was Cabbage dam, a beautiful spot. I stopped at the dam, scanned around, and took a walk around the water's edge, looking for lion tracks... None was found...

Then 30 minutes later, one of the other guides (Actor) radioed me that he is at Cabbage Dam, and the lions are on the dam wall!!! They must have been sleeping behind the dam wall while I was taking my walk around the dam! I rushed back to Cabbage dam and spent the next hour with them, until they decided to move on, heading south in the drainage line.

Young male lion at Cabbage dam

My average amount of leopard sighting per night spent at Limpopo-Lipadi since 2009 is 1 leopard sighting for every 2 nights spent at the reserve. We stayed 8 nights on this visit, and had 4 leopard sightings, keeping with our average.

Our first sighting came only 5 minutes after entering the reserve, when we found a big male leopard sleeping alongside the main road! Unfortunately all my cameras were still packed away...

Our other sightings were a male between Southern plains and River Camp, another close to Zanzibar Dam and our last sighting at at the waterhole at the office!

Leopard between Southern Plains and River Camp

Leopard track at Cabbage dam

We also encountered 2 male cheetahs at Mac's waterhole.

It was a real treat to see all 3 big cats in one week.

A very relaxed African Wild Cat was also seen close to Zanzibar Dam on our last evening, and posed nicely for some photos.

Cheetah at Mac's waterhole

African Wild Cat close to Zanzibar dam

The birding highlight was definitely a family of Southern Ground Hornbill seen resting in Hollow Baobab early one morning! They are listed as vulnerable in Southern Africa, and it was a privilege to spend some time with this family of 4.

Southern Ground Hornbill at Hollow Baobab

Familiar Chat at River Camp

Otherwise the sightings included a Little Sparrowhawk trying to catch a Southern White-crowned Shrike, a nesting pair of African Hawk-Eagle on Swartsloot, Gabar Goshawk posing for the camera, 2x Black Stork, numerous White-backed Vultures, Burnt-necked Eremomela's all over, Ashy Flycather in camp etc etc... Looking forward to our November visit, when the birding will be awesome!