BOTSWANA FROM DESERT TO DELTA April 11–22, 2017 SOUTH AFRICA: WESTERN CAPE EXTENSION April 21–27, 2017 Pel’s Fishing-Owl © Geoff Lockwood LEADER: GEOFF LOCKWOOD LIST COMPILED BY: GEOFF LOCKWOOD VICTOR EMANUEL NATURE TOURS, INC. 2525 WALLINGWOOD DRIVE, SUITE 1003 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78746 WWW.VENTBIRD.COM ITINERARY Botswana: From Desert to Delta April 12 Flight from Johannesburg to Maun, small plane charter to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. April 13 Early morning game drive; birding around camp; afternoon game drive – Kalahari Plains camp. April 14 Early morning game drive; birding around camp; afternoon game drive – Kalahari Plains camp. April 15 Early morning game drive; flight to Maun and onwards to Vumbura; game drive and boat trip to Little Vumbura camp, Okavango Delta. April 16 Early morning game drive; birding around camp; afternoon game drive – Little Vumbura camp. April 17 Early morning game drive; birding around camp; afternoon game drive – Little Vumbura camp. April 18 Early breakfast, long game drive to the airstrip; flight to Jao airstrip and drive/ boat trip to Jacana Camp, Okavango Delta. April 19 Early morning boat trip/game drive on the Jao concession; birding around camp; afternoon mekoro (dug-out canoe) trip on the Jacana Camp lagoon. April 20 Early morning boat trip; birding around camp; afternoon boat trip – Jacana Camp. April 21 Early birding around camp; breakfast; boat trip/ game drive to the airstrip; charter flight to Maun and then onward to Cape Town for the Western Cape post-tour extension. Western Cape post-tour extension April 21 Evening arrival in Cape Town, drive to the Alphen Hotel in Constantia. April 22 Cape Peninsular – Constantia Neck, Hout Bay, Chapman’s Peak Drive, Cape Point and Boulders Penguin Colony. April 23 Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (am) and False Bay Wetland Park/ Strandfontein (pm). April 24 West Coast National Park and Langebaan Lagoon. April 25 False Bay – Rooi Els, Stoney Point Penguin Reserve, Harold Porter Botanical Gardens, Reveirsonderend (Overberg), return to Cape Town via Sir Lowry’s Pass April 26 Morning at the hotel, transfer to Cape Town International for flight to Johannesburg and flights home. BOTSWANA: FROM DESERT TO DELTA April 11 –22, 2017 By Geoff Lockwood The three camps used on this itinerary were specifically chosen to provide an insight into the spectacular variety of habitats and wildlife that Botswana offers. Each offered a different facet of this amazing country — from the semi-desert of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to the mixed woodland, floodplains, and seasonal channels in the Vumbura Concession. We wrapped up the tour in the Jao Concession, located in the northwest of the permanently flowing section of the Okavango Delta system. Our stay in the Kalahari Plains camp in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve produced wonderful sightings of a variety of larks, pipits, and cisticolas, along with great sightings of a variety of raptors —Secretary-birds, Pale Chanting Goshawks, Tawny Eagles, Lanner Falcon, Greater Kestrel, and both White-backed and Lappet-faced vultures. Birding color came in the form of the striking Crimson-breasted Shrike (or Gonolek), plus a succession of brightly-colored small finches, waxbills, and whydahs. Our first night in camp brought incredible views of a pair of Barn Owls almost touching us as they flew around outside the dining area. However, the mammals, and particularly the carnivores, made for the most memorable viewing during our stay! Who will forget sitting quietly next to a coalition of three young male Cheetahs lolling in the grass? . or the incredible, vehicle-vibrating power of a pride of 11 Lions roaring right next to our vehicle? Sightings of smaller, less common predators were also a highlight, with an African Wild Cat facing down three Black-backed Jackals, followed only minutes later by a stunning Caracal (or lynx) standing up out of the grass next to our vehicle before bounding gracefully away, making for special sightings of two small felids in a few minutes! A family of delightful Bat-eared Foxes industriously digging for beetles in the track in front of our vehicle provided yet another indelible memory of our stay. On our last night, we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm, with lightning and crashes of thunder continuing long after we had retired to bed. Unfortunately, the strong winds had forced opened the canvas screen above the desk where I had been charging the phone I use for bird calls, thoroughly soaking the instrument —and leaving us without this useful aid for the rest of the main tour! Our flight to our next camp was via Maun and, with a fairly long wait until our onward flight to Vumbura, we were taken across the road to the Wilderness Safaris offices where we enjoyed the equivalent of “First Class Lounge” treatment. Relaxing in air-conditioned comfort and enjoying an ice-cold beer until it was time for our flight to Vumbura certainly was an unexpected pleasure! Our transfer from the air field to camp took the form of a slow game drive over flooded tracks through patches of woodland surrounded by grassy clearings, thickets, and open floodplains. It brought a variety of brightly- colored kingfishers and bee-eaters, as well as our first stunningly beautiful Lilac-breasted Roller! A short boat trip brought us to Little Vumbura camp —our home for the next 3 nights. Over the next two days we explored the mosaic of wetland and dry-land habitats in the concession, recording both new bird and mammal species. Highlights were amazing sightings of two different Leopards on game drives; the first was a mature, well-fed female that we found draped along a branch of a large Jackalberry tree. The remains of her kill —a Red Lechwe —were hidden in a bush below, but something in the grass nearby caught her attention…and she “flowed down out of the tree, moving like poured honey” and walked past only yards from our vehicle. She appeared to be stalking something, so our guide moved the vehicle to opposite where she had disappeared into the long grass. After stopping, we suddenly spotted her target, a young Common Reedbuck, lying hidden in the grass… right next to our vehicle! Tensions grew as we tracked the Leopard through the grass but, fortunately for the Reedbuck, our vehicle was parked upwind from the Leopard and was masking the scent of her intended prey. Confused, the Leopard sat up out of the grass —looking in the wrong direction —and the antelope bolted! On the game drive that evening we encountered her daughter sitting in the fork of a small tree and scanning the surrounding area for threats, or prey. As we watched, she came down and walked past less than 10 yards from the vehicle. We turned and followed, watching as she scent-sprayed bushes and clumps of grass on her route! Sightings of these gorgeous cats are always special, but we had been treated to a unique insight into their behavior on this tour! The Vumbura concession is one of the best places in the Delta to find the majestic Sable Antelope, and our sighting of a small herd of these striking rust-black and white bovids with their long, curving scimitar-shaped horns provided yet another mammal highlight of the tour. Birding was also great, with sightings of Wattled Cranes and Woolly-necked, Saddle-billed, and Marabou storks, as well as a variety of bush and water birds. A sighting of juvenile Lesser Moorhens and a juvenile Dwarf Bittern feeding together in a small rain-filled depression was an unexpected bonus, while a party of three Southern Ground Hornbills encountered on our way to the airstrip added to the growing list of birds seen. Perhaps the birding highlight —in terms of noise, behaviour, and colour —was provided by a group of three Lilac-breasted Rollers interacting and performing their amazing stall-climbs and rocking display flights while we were having morning tea. Our short flight to the Jao concession Jacana Camp gave us an aerial view of the permanent delta and the habitats we would be exploring during our stay. Most of our travel around Jacana Camp was either by boat, or in mekoro —the dug-out canoes traditionally used by locals to move about in the swamps. This proved to be a quintessential “Delta experience”—gliding quietly through the water with just the rustling-murmur of the bow wave…and getting close-up views of jewel-like Angolan and Long Reed frogs. Our mekoro trip also provided great, close views of a tiny and beautifully marked Lesser Jacana, and distant views of a Pel’s Fishing-Owl —flushed by a herd of elephants feeding around her nest tree! Other birding highlights included awesome extended scope-viewing of a pair of majestic Martial Eagles mating, and then working on their nest; numerous sightings of Dickenson’s Kestrels; several close-up views of Slaty Egrets; and some breathtaking, full-frame scope views of yet another Pel’s Fishing-Owl that allowed repeat views for the whole group —one of the best sightings ever of this Okavango icon! WESTERN CAPE EXTENSION April 21 –27, 2017 Our extension to the Western Cape seemed to have been blessed, as the places we visited either experienced gale-force winds the day before, or the day after our visit, this while we experienced near-perfect birding conditions. On our first full day in the Cape we drove around the Peninsular, starting in Hout Bay and then heading around via the scenic Chapman’s Peak drive to Cape Point. Birding was great, with amazing views of Cape Siskin, Jackal Buzzard, and Cape Sugarbird just the start of a series of endemics.