News / Camp News

Kwetsani Camp - May 2009

11 Jun 2009

Weather
The mornings are pure bliss as we wake up to the amber light of the rising sun out on the horizon.  Breakfast is a pleasant meeting place for guests, guides and the hosts as we absorb the first light of the day in awe of the brilliant colours forming on the clouds and the skies.

In the beginning of the month the weather  was very unpredictable as we had days which would start off as windy and cloudy and clear up as the sun started  to warm the day up. We even had a recent storm which is very unusual for this time of year. The after effects of the rain and short-lived storm was the most beautiful sight as there were bold and bright rainbows spread out against the backdrop of the expansive Kwetsani floodplains.

The most bizarre weather we experienced though was a heavy hail storm that came after a quick shower of rain in the mid afternoon. As the guests were busy watching leopard Beauty that was hidden behind some thick bushes, enjoying her afternoon meal of an impala, some hail came down on them a few minutes after their sighting.

Wildlife
Our resident Kwetsani lions never cease to amaze and entertain us, as this month we have had many visits from them on the island and on the floodplains in Kwetsani Camp. The two females have been very active which means that they need to eat a lot more to sustain their energy levels. There have been a number of spontaneous kills that we have witnessed right on the perimeters of our camp. The male lion has been spotted walking and wondering about the wide floodplains, roaring in vain in search of the females which seem to leave him behind at any opportunity they get.

The higher flood waters do not seem to bother the lions as they have been forced to adapt to wading through the deep waters to cover their territory and in search of food. Food sources are plentiful as their preferred prey, red lechwe, are thriving at this time of the year. For the lions to get across to different areas they walk and swim through kilometres of water channels (sometimes quite deep) and floodplains.

Our resident male leopard has been less elusive this month as we have spotted him a number of times in and around Kwetsani Camp. His behaviour is quite unpredictable - he sometimes is relaxed giving wonderful picture-taking opportunities. At other times he does not seem to like the attention and he will dash off. The one evening he was spotted by the staff in the sausage tree in between Rooms 1 and 2 while he was resting. It was the first time that we had ever seen him so close to people and also so relaxed about it. It was amazing to watch him as he lay there with his paws hanging on either side of the tree branch. One day we spotted him walking across the floodplain in front of the camp heading north. We tried to follow his movements as we all watched him through our binoculars and the deck telescope. We all lost sight of him at one point and gave up on looking for him. Later that day one of our guests staying in Room 5 saw him and this time he was walking with a female leopard, a possible mate.

On the afternoon of the 18th of May as we were preparing a surprise dining experience for our guests an interesting guest was spotted nearby - a large male lion! The plans continued as we all thought he would, as usual, go in search of his female lions who had been lying in the exact spot we were setting up the night before. We finished setting up and left to get the food ready and fetch the guests. We all drove out of camp in a convoy to the bush dinner spot and on our arrival there was the same male lion. He had returned and was now approaching the set up area. He started to stalk the curious looking torches, the fire and obscure looking objects (the tables and chairs) that he had never seen there before.  He walked around the dinner table sniffing, eventually walking away. All the guests and staff were silent, stunned and staying put on the vehicles. That night we made a unanimous decision to dine back in camp!

-Tumi, Pono and the Kwetsani Team-

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