Kwetsani Camp - December 2009
11 Jan 2010
Weather and Landscape
We had a cloudy start to December with overcast weather that cooled the summer days down very nicely. The middle of the month brought two lovely rainy days which delivered 40mm of rain, but as the latter half of the month progressed temperatures soared to 38°C (100°F) before Christmas. High winds blew and thunderclouds gathered, creating the most spectacular rainbow patterns over Kwetsani. We could see rain falling in the distance but we had to be content to watch the showers drift by, delivering very little rain to us. Only 50mm of rain fell this month, versus 114mm in December 2008.
The early rains in the Angolan highlands have apparently already delivered a significant amount of water. We have received word that the waters in the panhandle of the Delta are already beginning to swell. Should the predictions of a big inflow materialise, we can expect another very big flood year and probably an early one too. With the 2010 season's floods in mind, lots of work is on the go to secure the airstrip. Large earth walls are being constructed to keep the waters back long enough for pumps to keep the seepage off the airstrip. Houses in our staff village have also been raised off the ground after an exceptionally wet 2009. We are doing whatever we can to ensure that our guests will be able to experience the spectacle of the 2010 flood season in comfort.
Wildlife
December seemed to arrive so quickly this year. It is a wonderful time of the year and we love sharing it with those guests lucky enough to be here over the festive season. It is not only the festive cheer that we enjoy but also the continued arrival of so many newborn animals: tiny warthog race behind their mothers, frisky impala lambs can already keep up with theirs, and the precocious migratory wildebeest and tsessebe foals are also quick to follow in the footsteps of their herds.
It is also at this time of the year that the lechwe females retreat into the safety of the tall dense reeds which grow along the deep water courses to drop their young. Our water-tolerant felines follow in an attempt to foil the lechwe, which do not make hunting easy in the wetter, thicker areas of the Delta.
Kgosi, our handsome lion pride male, has again serenaded us continually this month, roaring loudly throughout the night on numerous occasions. His two females have largely kept to themselves, seemingly not wanting to share their spoils with him.
After almost eight days of teasing, where the pride roared very close to the island every night but refused to show itself, Serge and Oliver went out in pursuit of the roars on their final night here. Not only was their search successful but also very exciting as the females made a kill literally seconds ahead of them. They heard the anguished cry of the unfortunate lechwe and arrived seconds later, to find both females ripping into the carcass. It is a truly wonderful experience to watch these nocturnal cats in action.
As they say, some people have all the luck. This was definitely the case with Serge and Oliver as earlier that day they were extremely lucky to spot Beauty, our resident leopard, with her three cubs. This was the first sighting since she gave birth a few weeks ago. It seems that Cedric, their guide, has some bond with Beauty as prior to this sighting Cedric had the only other sighting of the cubs when Beauty gave birth; since then they have been kept well hidden.
Cedric had noticed a steenbok darting from the long grass and went to investigate. He found Beauty lying in the grass, having obviously tried her luck hunting the steenbok. Beauty was initially her usual relaxed self but as a third, visibly weaker, cub appeared she became anxious and started to 'sneer' at the vehicle. Cedric immediately backed off and left the family in peace. At this stage we are making a conscious effort to keep away from the cubs to ensure their safety and also to ensure that they do not become too habituated to the vehicle. What is quite amazing is that this ageing leopard has produced a litter of three.
In the last few days of the month we had an extremely lucky (and lovely) family stay with us: on the second day of their stay they were woken in the early hours of the morning with lion roaring in camp; on strolling down for breakfast they were greeted by seven buffalo grazing in front of the lodge; after breakfast they tracked down the lion by vehicle, and later also had wonderful sightings of leopard and elephant. Needless to say, they arrived back for brunch filled with excitement. It seems their day was not yet over - they had a wonderful afternoon safari with another leopard sighting and some really extraordinary sightings of python and porcupine. This was certainly no ordinary day on the floodplains!
As the sweet shoots of the floodplain grasses appear, the plains game continue to arrive to feast in the few months before the annual floods arrive. The wildebeest are now accompanied by their young, small groups of buffalo are also showing themselves from time to time and, at last, the first few zebra have made themselves visible, accompanied by our flagship species - lechwe - which fill the magnificent floodplains.
Camp Staff
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very prosperous New Year and hope that you have a great 2010 filled with many happy safaris. We wait in anticipation of meeting new guests and look forward to seeing repeat guests in the New Year.
Camp managers: Mike & Anne
Guides: Jonah & OB
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