It is the end of August as I write this, and all over the Okavango water levels are now receding. A few months back, during the peak of the highest flood levels in many years, I posted a submission entitled “Big water and little cats”. In it I described the situation that the local lion pride in the Jao concession found themselves in. One of the lionesses had four very young male cubs and was faced with the daunting prospect of attempting to raise them in this year of big water.

Having just returned from that same area, I am very happy to report the good news that the lions are still out there. I was fortunate enough to get to see them several times during the course of two visits, and their story is worth telling.

During May and June the two lionesses walked with all four young cubs through perhaps eight kilometres of shallow water, and marshy terrain, to reach a small, dry area close to Kwetsani Camp in the north of the same concession area. They then did the journey back to the dry area around the airfield, and back to the north again. Somehow, one cub went missing during an excursion to a nearby island. The lioness was seen moving to the island with four cubs, and returning a few days later with three. After that the lioness and her cubs vanished. None of the camps saw them for almost two weeks. Happily, she showed up another eight kilometres west of Kwetsani Camp with all three cubs intact. This must have been an arduous time for her, as the area that they crossed through is a network of deep channels, marshy plains and small islands. Somehow the lioness managed to coax her remaining three cubs through all of this to reach a drier area in the west, still in the Jao concession. The local name for this area is Hunda, and this is now where visitors from all the camps in the concession are getting to see the tough little family of “swamp lions”.

Despite the loss of the single cub, the remaining three male cubs are doing fine, and were well fed each time we saw them. In fact, they treated us to some wonderful viewing as they romped and wrestled with one another and with their adult sister, and clambered up termite mounds and fallen trees. Good news for everybody concerned, except perhaps the prey animals.

Elephants and lions are undoubtedly two of Africa’s most iconic wild animals. As human beings we have a fascination with power, and being in charge. It is not surprising then that I am often asked the question of which one of the two animals is the boss.

It is an interesting question and, for me, it definitely has more than one answer. Most often when the two species meet, it is the lions who give way. Lions are most active at night, but will frequently finish up their movements close to a river *or* waterhole, where they are likely to lie and rest during the day. Elephants are active day and night, but will usually move to drink water each day, usually in the late morning. In this way they often encounter the resting lions.

I witnessed just such an occasion whilst at Chitabe Camp in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. A pair of male lions had just come to rest close to a pan filled with water. In the mid-morning a bull elephant approached the same waterhole, and he only caught sight of the lions when he was already close to them. The elephant could easily have gone around the lions, but instead he stood tall, flared his ears and ran a short distance at them. This was enough to drive the lions a few hundred metres away, and the elephant continued on his way with a visible air of satisfaction at the result.

However, meetings between the two species don’t always end that way. Given certain circumstances, lions will prey on young elephants, *or* even older elephants that might be in some sort of weakened state. In Botswana, elephant hunting by lions has been recorded most often in the northern wildlife areas of Savuti, Linyanti and the Chobe National Park. It happens most often when large prides of female lions *or* male lion coalitions attack elephants. This behaviour seems to be more prevalent during long, dry periods, which may indicate that the elephants lose condition and perhaps become weakened.

Images attached to this text are of a pair of male lions being chased by a bull elephant at Chitabe, and a male lion from a coalition known as the Border Boys, feeding on a young elephant killed by this male and his coalition partner. This took place in 2008 along the Linyanti River.

Photo: Ian Michler

As of today, Thursday 19th August, poachers have killed 173 rhino for their horns since the start of 2010 – that is one animal every 32 hours. Taking the average weight of five kilograms per set of horns, that equates to a haul of 865 kilograms. Sources put the current value of horn leaving the country at anywhere between R60 000 and R80 000 per kilogram: at these rates, approximately R60-million has been netted by criminals.

It is in this light that the Lead SA initiative http://www.leadsa.co.za, an activist social movement started by Primedia Broadcasting and the Independent Group of Newspapers, has taken the significant step of hosting a summit on ways to tackle the rhino poaching crisis facing southern Africa.

While not open to the public, the organisers have invited a wide spectrum of stakeholders and the media ‘to plot the way forward’ and come up with a national plan of action. As I am unfortunately not able to attend, my contribution comes via this blog posting.

There are certain individuals and branches within the police services that are totally dedicated to controlling wildlife-related crimes. Despite the significant constraints they face, progress has been made and they need to be congratulated for this. While progress may at times seem slow, we need to understand that this present bout of poaching involves individuals and groups operating at an extremely sophisticated level with large amounts of money and the best technology and aids at their disposal. I believe the police will in time nab various kingpins and crack some of the bigger syndicates, but in the meantime, they need all the assistance and support they can get from us.

Turning to the poaching processes: like all criminal activities based on illicit markets, there are two sides to the scourge. On the demand side: despite the fact that scientific analysis has repeatedly shown otherwise, there are people, mostly living in the Far East, that still believe in the curative and potency factors attributed to rhino horn.

This thinking needs to be debunked in the strongest terms. The best way to do this is through a concerted international education campaign, focused in the regions where use is highest. Working in conjunction with major international conservation agencies and NGOs, it should be compiled and driven by the United Nations and modelled on the global campaigns used to prevent malaria and HIV.

In the past, I have been critical of CITES’ one dimensional approach to species protection, and rhino is a case in point. Rather than involving themselves merely as the official monitor to the trade in horn, this body, along with the IUCN, should play the pivotal role in spreading an effective and sustained campaign.

On the supply side: the poachers are able to meet this demand so successfully for a number of reasons. As already mentioned, the syndicates are in all likelihood well funded with the best equipment at their disposal. They also seem to have access to the rhino and an ability to roam that speaks of inside information and collaboration. Most observers would now have to agree that this has become possible because people in positions of authority, trust and responsibility, people from within the wildlife industry, have become actively involved – either directly as members of syndicates, *or* indirectly by taking a fee for information, services rendered *or* allowing access.

While this is alarming in its own right, the crucial aspect here is to recognise that the state of South Africa’s wildlife and game ranching industries plays a substantial role. More specifically, a culture of ‘use and abuse’ has become widespread as land owners, breeders, traders, hunters and the host of ancillary support staff use wild animals as mere commodities. They go about their work with financial gain as the only criteria: there is scant philosophical integrity *or* respect, and quite probably, little *or* no thought given to the consequences *or* impacts of their actions. What currently takes place in South Africa, often under the banner of conservation, may very well in time be adjudged to have been the most appallingly short-sighted model.

And the industry is aided and abetted by an outdated and inadequate legal and environmental framework, which in turn has a largely ignorant and incompetent bureaucracy playing the role of custodian. Criminals flourish under these conditions. Until we address our approach to wilderness and wildlife and update and energise the regulatory bodies, there will always be scope for abuse and criminal activity.

In the meantime, the authorities should give serious consideration to moving all rhino in unsecured parks and reserves into the larger and better protected ones. And let’s throw good money at protecting these.

Beside the Lead SA initiative, numerous government bodies, conservation agencies and NGOs as well as private companies and individuals have been actively involved in mobilising efforts.

Every effort is a valuable contribution. Amongst these, the WESSA Rhino Initiative (go to Support Us) and the Stop Rhino Poaching website have become focal points for highlighting awareness, fund raising and the posting of feedback from the various authorities and rhino owners.

To the organisers, well done on your initiative and I have no doubt it will be a success.

Leopards are resourceful animals. Whilst on a game drive out of Chitabe Camp, in the Okavango, we spent time following a hungry male leopard. During the course of one morning he tried hunting a variety of other creatures. A herd of impala were too watchful, and caught sight of him approaching. They alarmed, and scattered. Next he tried to catch some dwarf mongooses, again without success. The mongooses were too wary, and they managed to take shelter inside a hollow tree stump. The leopard tried to claw his way in but the fallen tree was too tough. After that he chased some tree squirrels, but they kept moving very quickly around the tree trunk, always staying on the side opposite the leopard. Some red-billed francolins began making alarm calls in the distance, and the male leopard pricked up his ears at the sound.

The alarm calls signaled the presence of another predator, something that was worrying the francolins. We followed, at a good distance, as the leopard very carefully made his way closer. He began to stalk some unseen quarry. The leopard froze, and then pounced. It took us some moments to drive close enough to be able to see what the leopard had captured. We were quite startled to see that he had captured an African wild cat. He suffocated the smaller cat quickly, and quietly, and set about plucking the fur from its body.

We were surprised once again when the leopard walked off, leaving the body of the wild cat lying under a bush. The leopard returned some hours later, and spent the evening feeding contentedly on his unfortunate victim.

Amongst Africa’s big cats, leopards seem to prey on a wider range and variety of creatures than any of their relatives. This was the first time I had seen a leopard take a wild cat as prey. Some other prey items that we have recorded them eating in northern Botswana include jackals, porcupine, lion cubs, guineafowl, vultures and catfish.

These days the Savuti channel plays a major role in the lives of the animals that live alongside it. For the lions of Savuti, the channel provides ample drinking water. On the other hand, the rising waters of the channel create a potentially dangerous obstacle for lions attempting to cross over, particularly for small cubs. Just such a dramatic event was photographed by my friend James Weis, and his story and images were published in Africa Geographic a few months back.
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Whilst on a recent visit to Seba Camp in the Okavango, I spent some time with Kate Evans and Simon Buckingham. Together they run the charity Elephants for Africa, which supports the research project based there. Kate, who is a researcher by profession, has been studying elephants in this particular part of the delta for more than eight years now.

Much of Kates’ research has been focused on male elephants. She has been finding that the transition for a male to adulthood is more complex than it may appear.

Young males leave their natal herds when they are somewhere between 10 and 20 years old. These adolescent males must travel into areas that are unknown to them. They have to be able to find enough food to enable them to double their weight in time. This is also the time when they enter into a social hierarchy of other males. Their rank in this hierarchy may someday determine whether they get to mate and pass on their genes. During this period, Kate has found that the young males spend much of their time socializing and sparring with other males of similar ages. This is to be expected, but what is more surprising is her discovery that they prefer to be close to fully mature bulls whenever possible. With their years of experience, and intimate knowledge of their environment, the old bulls act as guides and role models for younger males. Whether they do this willingly *or* by merely tolerating the presence of younger males following them is not known.

What her data is showing though, is that the old, mature males are perhaps much more important in male elephant society than was generally thought. Her findings have important implications for the management of elephant populations.

Besides Kate’s work on males, her team is also researching vocal communication in elephants and monitoring numbers and vegetative impact in their study area.

Elephants for Africa are doing good work.

To find out more, go to www.elephantsforafrica.org

Photo: Ian Michler

Well done to the South African police – they may very well have made another crucial breakthrough in their fight against the organised crime syndicates targeting the country’s wildlife. On Friday 23rd July, an individual that is extremely well known in the canned hunting and predator-breeding industries of the Free State was arrested.

According to sources within the wildlife industry, he was arrested late in the afternoon after a tip-off. Police found an undisclosed amount of M99, the strictly controlled schedule 6 tranquilliser in his private plane that was stationed at Tempe airfield.

M99 is a vital requirement for anyone involved in handling *or* moving large game species, lion, buffalo, elephant and rhino for example. And if you aren’t using it yourself, the black market value is approximately four times its counter value. In the wrong hands, it can also be extremely dangerous – hence the strict laws pertaining to its prescription and use. Given that veterinarians are the only people allowed to carry and use the drug, the suspect will have some explaining to do when he appears in court sometime in early August on charges for contravening the Medicines and Related Substances Act. Could this arrest lead police to others?

And while on the subject of canned hunting and predator breeders in South Africa, last week’s daily press carried stories speculating on the outcome of all caged lions if the South African Predator Breeders Association (SAPBA) loses its court appeal against government. Included in the article by Tony Carnie of the Cape Times were various wild and unsubstantiated claims made by a spokesman from the SAPBA. This type of misinformation, spread so readily by this organisation and its sympathisers within the wider hunting industry, must not go unchallenged. And Dr Paul Funston, a carnivore specialist at the Tshwane University and the IUCN, did exactly this – his response was spot on.

The same spokesman also came up with some preposterous justifications in attempting to defend the breeding and hunting of predators. He claimed that, “you are in the hunting business because you love wild animals. You are proud of how your animals look. But to kill just for bones, it’s not worthwhile”.

It is almost inconceivable that in this day and age, statements such as these are still being made. But having spent time amidst those involved, the harsh reality is that this reflects the thinking of so many of them.

A few months ago I posted a story with pictures about female lions with manes. The lionesses I wrote of were all seen at Mombo, in the Okavango Delta.

Since then I have visited Mombo again, and was lucky enough to encounter the pride with the unusual lionesses. However, I only had one brief sighting of the lioness, so the images I have included with this text are not great pictures, but they illustrate her size and features.

Unfortunately there are no longer two of these maned lionesses in the pride. One of the females was killed, apparently in the course of hunting buffalo, which is a dangerous pastime for lions whether they are equipped with a mane *or* not.

The remaining lioness has grown bigger, and much heavier than the last time I saw her, which was almost a year back. Her mane has grown too, which makes her look even more like a male. I was most interested to hear from the Mombo camp guides that the pride males for this group of females, a pair of males known as the Western Boys, no longer spend much time with them. We have assumed that the Western Boys fathered the two maned lionesses. The Western Boys are a fine-looking coalition pair of males, and they are now consorting with another female pride, still in the Mombo area. Below is a picture of the two Western Boys.

There is a new male with the Western Boys former pride though. Unfortunately, he was not around whilst I was there. News from the Mombo guides is that this male has taken to attacking the maned lioness, and attempts to chase her away from her female pride mates. He is apparently viewing her as a potential rival for mating rights. I did notice a well-healed scar on her neck during the sighting, which may have come from such a clash.

If this lioness has a normally functioning reproductive system, perhaps powerful chemical cues will override the male’s objection to her as it is now. Time will tell.

Africa Geographic director Simon Espley and his wife Lizz confirm again why they so love travelling in Namibia.

Day one
An early flight from Cape Town found us touching down in Windhoek at 9am local time.  Great airport – no queues, smiling immigration staff – typical Namibia. Easy paperwork with Gecko Car Rental and the Toyota Hilux 4×4 double cab is ours for 9 days. I am a Landy Defender driver at home so this was a first for me …

Our Hilux.

Tons of warthogs grazing on the road side of the B1 – the spine of Namibia – so we keep things at a modest 100 km/hr. No rush. We use the Tracks 4 Africa SD card for my GPS as well as their ‘paper’ map (made of a weird material that is waterproof and doesn’t crease), so finding our way around is a synch – should Africa be this easy? About 2 hours later we pull into our first stop-over, Erindi Private Game Reserve near Omaruru.  Chuffed to see a flock of rosy-faced lovebirds screech past just as we turn into the reserve. Erindi is a 71,000 hectare expanse of ex-beef and hunting farms knitted together into one fenceless reserve. It’s new and worth seeing. I like projects like this – great vision, courage and passion. The lodge is luxurious and our room has all the mod cons you would expect so close to Windhoek.

Day two
We spend the day on game drives and just chilling out at the lodge. The large waterhole in front of the lodge is a hive of activity and apart from the resident hippo and flatdogs (crocs) we see elephants and lions coming in at night. On one game drive we spend some time with Otis, the alpha male lion made famous in the television series ‘Into the Pride’ with Dave Salmoni. We also see a sweet family of bat-eared foxes and of course lots of the stunning crimson-breasted shrikes.

Day three
We hit the road north into seriously dry country. The driving is easy and late afternoon sees us pulling off the tar road west of Etosha National Park and into Hobatere Lodge. We are here to see Ruppel’s parrot – a dry-land specialist parrot that is endemic to this part of Africa. Shortly after arrival I am staring at my first Ruppel’s – sipping water from a pond in the lodge garden. A short game drive in the late afternoon unearths a number of lions and numerous other animals. We also tick off more parrots and many birds like the endemic violet woodhoopoe and bare-cheeked babbler. That night we celebrate with a bottle of red and some great home-cooked food.

Ruppel’s parrot. Photo: Sean Braine.

Day four
A bracing early morning bird walk with lodge manager Sean Braine finds me face-to-face with my first rockrunner, yet another endemic bird. We try to call in the endemic rock-dwelling Hartlaub’s francolin, but no luck this time. Fun morning. Yes, there are lots of endemics in north-western Namibia! Hobatere Lodge is a must for serious birders.

Cool Kunene.

We hit the road late morning for the drive up to the Kunene River on the Angolan birder. This is my first trip to the land of the OvaHimba and I am looking forward to seeing some of these gracious people. I am not disappointed. In our first roadside encounter we are immediately silenced by their grace and dignity. We are careful to establish a trusting relationship before we ask if we can take a photo.

OvaHimba dignity.

Later that afternoon we arrive at Kunene River Lodge. Pete and Hillary Morgan are charming hosts and we settle quickly into this stunning rustic lodge under the huge river-side trees. The area is teeming with most of the birds I have mentioned so far but I am here for one bird – the rare Cinderella waxbill. Yes it is yet another endemic bird to this region and it is particularly difficult to spot.  Pete promises to take me to see the bird the next day. I can’t wait and battle to sleep that night. I am a huge finch fan and this bird is a MEGA-tick for me. Actually this whole trip is about this bird (is that weird?). That evening I bump into good friend Rael Loon, who is also psyched about the planned expedition the next day.

Day five
OK, so we did see our Cinderella waxbills on this day – 3 in fact. But that was after a 2-hour wait. The waxbills regularly drink water during the hot hours at a certain spot in a dry river bed and to see them you have to brave the buzzing flies and hard rocks. No movement *or* talking permitted, we waited and waited, with numb bums.  Despite a breeze (birds don’t like wind) and a persistent shikra (a small raptor that targets birds) we are rewarded by a great 5-minute encounter with the trio of Cinderellas barely 6 metres away. Success! Chuffed.  They are stunning little birds. My trip highlight! That night we again celebrate with too many Gin &amp, Tonics and hefty servings of great Kunene food. Again Kunene River Lodge is a must for serious birders.

Cinderella waxbill. Photo: Pete Morgan.

Day six
We leave early and drive across the top of Etosha, through the new north gate and down the eastern border to Fort Namutoni. On the way we have a huge family herd of elephants milling around our car at a waterhole. We can almost touch them they are so close.

We exit the park through the east gate and head to our lodge for the next 3 nights. Mushara Bush Camp is a short drive from the Etosha Gate – ideal for us because we wanted a bit more luxury and good food than the park offers.

The Mushara experience blew our hair back. I am not sure if we will ever see such friendly and effortlessly professional service again. The lodge is stunning, luxurious and the food is great.

Banded rascals.

Days seven and eight
Each day we drove into the park for that special close-up wildlife experience that makes Etosha so special. Apart from the usual coterie of species that one takes for granted in Etosha we also see cheetah and rhino. Those naughty banded mongoose at Fort Namutoni are great companions during our lunch breaks. Hunters Dry and toasted sandwiches under the trees – bliss. We spend hours sitting at Kalkheuwel waterhole watching shikra, Owambo sparrowhawk (melanistic morph), lanner falcon and gabar goshawk hassling a huge flock of quelea – a bit like sharks on a sardine bait-ball (thanks for that analogy Peter Borchert).

Etosha’s Fort Namutoni.

Day nine
Again an easy 6 hour drive to Windhoek, avoiding warthogs and enjoying the stunning bush landscape as it rolls out ahead of us. I hand the Hilux keys back with reluctance – it’s a great touring car.

The past couple of weeks rolled around with cold, windy weather, with temperatures ranging from a low of 10°C to a high of 17°C. For the northern white rhinos, these temperatures may be slightly reminiscent of their stay in the Czech Republic, but with the cold air came warm company.
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