Archive for April, 2010
Botswana 2010 : Matseleng Pan to Kaa Gate
April 14th, 2010 | 
Author: Jane
| 
Posted in Botswana 2010 | 
Show on Map (Geotagged at lat -24.0564957, lng 21.2063599)
We left Matseleng Pan after two nights and were hopeful that the work put into clearing grass seeds from the radiators had sorted out our overheating problems. The short drive back to Ngwatle was uneventful, as was the 27 km drive to the turnoff to the Kaa Gate road, which showed that we had 78 kms to cover. The road was very sandy and had some grass growing down the centre of the two tracks, which once again proved problematical.
Within minutes of turning onto the track the cars started overheating and we had a repeat of our stopping and grass scraping sessions that we’d experienced on the way to Matseleng Pan. However, by now many seeds had broken off and were completely clogging the radiators. The situation looked hopeless and we wondered if we would have to abort the trip because of radiator problems.
The 79 km drive took us over six hours again and we were all extremely hot and weary by the time we stopped about five kilometers from the Kaa Gate in the late afternoon. The road was proving difficult to drive along and with the vehicles running at less than optimum performance levels Jon was finding it exceedingly tricky to tow the Oryx van through the soft sand. Just two kilometers from the Kaa Gate he was unable to negotiate a sandy hill and it looked like an alternative route had to be taken if we wanted to get to Kaa Gate. Jon looked at the bushy area alongside the road, which was also sandy but hard in parts and decided to unhitch the van and test drive his car over the new route. It seemed fine, so he towed the van into the bush.
This proved to be a disastrous decision, as halfway along the new route the van got bogged down completely in the sand and he almost jackknifed the vehicles when trying to reverse out of the situation. With Rob’s help he tried in vain to dig and winch the van out of the sand, but his small winch just wasn’t up to the job.
Rob and I decided to drive to Kaa Gate to see if the Parks Board staff had a tractor to tow him out with. On arrival we met a very helpful gentleman called Mmoniemang Lere who fortunately was able to come to Jon’s rescue. Within minutes he had the van chained to the tractor and towed it into Kaa. (Jon and Hillary had an “oh sh*t!” moment when they opened their van after the tractor tow…)
Unfortunately for us, Rob had pulled off the road to watch the tractor rescue and in turn got completely stuck when he tried to drive off again. Mr Lere had to come back a second time and rescue our vehicle.  With great difficulty, our Toyota was towed out backwards (very undignified), but at least we were able to get on our way again and make it safely into Kaa Gate. In hindsight, the situation was quite laughable because the last two kilometers to Kaa had taken us about one and a half hours!
At Kaa Gate three fortunate things happened. Firstly we were told we could camp at their emergency campsite at the gate, which had a shower and a long drop toilet. After our long hot day of travel to be able to have a cold shower was a gift! Secondly they had a powerful high pressure hose which was perfect for removing the grass seeds from the radiators – that was the best news of all. And lastly, on checking the underneath of our vehicle for grass, Rob noticed that the petrol tank cover had cracked badly and he was able to have this mended by Mr Monametsi Chinyepi, the Parks Board mechanic. We have nothing but high praise for the wonderful, friendly staff at Kaa Gate. They are an asset to the Park.
By the time we left Kaa Gate for our booked campsite at Sizatswe, our vehicles were in tip top condition and we were assured that the road to Polentswa (the next leg of our journey) was well-used and would not present problems with grass seeds. This proved absolutely right and our holiday immediately started looking brighter than it had started out.
Sizatswe campsite is quite remote, beautifully kept and situated above a lovely pan. Unfortunately there wasn’t much game to be seen in the area and we disappointingly only logged two gemsbok and a lone springbok whilst there. The night sky was magnificent though and we went to bed at night serenaded by a pair of owls.
Bird of the week – Week 15 : Southern yellow-billed hornbill
The hornbills are a very distinctive and curious group of birds, with their enormous bills, often decorated by a casque. On the ground, they look as though they should have great difficulty in holding up their heads and when flying the large nose is quite witch-like. But, of course, the bill is a lot lighter than it looks.
The Southern yellow-billed hornbill is a common resident of the bushveld, arid thornveld and savanna of Southern Africa. It is classified as a near-endemic in the region, with its range extending northwards into Angola.
As hornbills go, the yellow-billed hornbill variety is medium in size, its length being about 45 cm. The massive, deep yellow bill gives the bird its rather expressive Afrikaans name of “Geelbekneushoringvoël” which can be translated at “Yellow-mouthed, horn-nosed bird”. Its eyes are yellow, surrounded by a patch of bare pink skin, and it has a white belly, grey neck, and black back decorated with numerous white spots and stripes, The sexes are alike in plumage, although the male is slightly bigger than the female and has a bigger bill.
The Southern yellow-billed hornbill is often a solitary bird, or may be found in pairs or small groups. It forages mostly on the ground for rodents, insects, centipedes and so forth, and also for seeds and fruit. It has a habit, delightful to watch, of picking up a piece of food in the tip of its large bill and then tossing it backwards towards its throat so that it can be swallowed.
The call of the Southern yellow-billed hornbill is a loud wuk, wuk, wuk, often while prominently perched at the top of a tree and it will sometimes call in chorus with another bird.
The breeding habits of the hornbill are well known, the nest being a natural hole in tree, lined with dry grass and leaves, into which the female is sealed by the male, often using his own faeces, Â at breeding time. Three to five eggs are laid and they hatch after 24-26 days, but the female will remain sealed into the nest for a further three weeks or so before breaking out.
The scientific name for the Southern yellow-billed hornbill is Tockus leucomelas; “tockus” being onomatopoeic for the birds call and “leucomelas” from the two Greek words “leykos” meaning white or bright and “melas” meaning black. Thus a black and white bird that goes “tock”. Close enough!
Botswana 2010 : Kang to Matseleng Pan
April 9th, 2010 |
Author: Jane
|
Posted in Botswana 2010 | Show on Map (Geotagged at lat -23.4884396, lng 20.3082275)
I guess you could say that our holiday’s fate was sealed in the planning stages of our 2010 Botswana trip when I courageously gave Hillary the brief to take us to the most remote campsites she could find. (Hillary has a flair for working out exciting itineraries!) This bravado was born on our trip to the Central Kalahari in 2009 where we had stayed in marvelous campsites unfettered by fences and open to all the wildlife that the area had to offer, lions and all. Anyone who has ever camped in the wild like this knows that it has no equal in the African bush. There is something so special about sitting around a campfire, under a canopy of stars and knowing that there are no other campers anywhere close and it’s just you and the bushveld.
With consummate skill Hillary found routes that, unbeknown to her, would give us adventures we hadn’t counted on and would leave us with memory banks so full of credit we would remember the holiday fondly for years to come. After spending our first night at the Kalahari Rest Game Farm just outside Kang, we departed on the first leg of our journey to Matseleng Pan via the little village of Hukuntsi. We didn’t realize it at the time, but this road was the first of many that would challenge the skills of the drivers and the mettle of our trusty Toyotas. The tarred road was so bad that we averaged about 40 kph and looked like slalom skiers as we zig zagged our way around the giant potholes.
Hukuntsi was our last opportunity to refuel the vehicles and once done, we followed a friendly local who showed us the road to Matseleng Pan. There were three ways we could have gone to the Pan – one via Monong, the other via Zutshwa, both of which were regularly used gravel roads. The third option was a direct route between the two that consisted of a very sandy track.
We voted for the middle one, the road less traveled, wanting to take the shortest and most challenging route. At the outset the road looked sandy but pretty innocuous.
However, this soon changed as the sand gave way to grass tracks and then the road was hardly discernable through the tall grass.
Rob and Jon had placed seed nets over the front fenders to protect the radiators, but with grass seeds flying over the bonnets of our cars we soon felt like we were driving combine harvesters. It didn’t take long for our air conditioner to stop working and both engines to heat up. An inspection revealed that the radiator grills were totally clogged up with seeds.
After using sticks and brushes to clear them and waiting for a few minutes for the cars to cool down, we resumed our journey, keeping anxious eyes on our gauges for overheating. We progressed slowly but fought a losing battle against the seeds. There wasn’t much shade along the way, and with the sun burning down on us the heat was relentless. The journey proved very slow as we literally stopped every couple of kilometers to clear out seeds and let the cars cool down.
The 80 kilometer drive to Ngwatle, took us six and a half hours. I don’t think we took in much of the scenery, because of the overheating problem, but the road itself would have been quite drivable if it hadn’t been for the grass seeds. At Ngwatle we saw a number of Abdim Storks, which we had particularly wanted to photograph on this trip, so that turned out to be a moment of excitement for me and Rob. Camp fees had to be paid to the local community and after settling with the lady in charge and fending off hordes of children asking for sweets, we proceeded on the last leg of our journey to Matseleng Pan. In her book on Botswana, Veronica Roodt describes this area as “the most spectacular Acacia savannah veld that Botswana has to offer” and she was not wrong about that.
Unfortunately the only campsite was taken so we had to look around for somewhere suitable to park ourselves off. We ended up making camp on a lovely area overlooking the pan.
With views of hartebeest, herds of springbok, ostriches and birds aplenty, it felt like the Kalahari Ritz! On an early evening game drive we found a single tree next to the Pan, which was quickly dubbed “Lone Tree Pub” and was the forerunner of many evening sundowners at similar pubs on our trip!
The birdlife was quite prolific in the area and when we filled a frying pan with water we were visited by the most amazing collection of red-headed finches and shaft-tailed whydahs.
Altogether a magnificent spot to spend a couple of nights, enjoy the solitude and spend time alone with the local fauna.
Tags: Abdim Storks, Acacia savannah, Botswana, grass seeds, Hukuntsi, Kang, Matseleng Pan, Ngwatle | 
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Bird of the week – Week 14 : Scaly-feathered finch
Don’t you find “Scaly-feathered finch” an odd and rather unflattering name? I prefer “Baardmannetjie”, this small bird’s Afrikaans name that can be translated as “little man with a beard”. Take a look at the distinctive malar stripes; isn’t “Baardmannetjie” appropriate?  Actually “Scaly-feathered” is also appropriate because the forehead is black and is scaled with white, but somehow it sounds uncomplimentary.
The Scaly-feathered finch belongs to the Ploceidae family, which includes Weavers, Queleas, and Widowbirds. It about the same size as a common waxbill, its length being about 11 cm, with its fore-crown black, scaled with white, the rest of its upper parts are light grey; its wings and tail black, edged with white; below it is whitish with those bold black malar stripes mentioned above. The sexes are alike. The pink bill is a useful aid to identification, although the bird is fairly distinctive and not likely to be confused with any other species.
It is a common little bird, classified as a Southern African near-endemic as its range extends into northwards into Southern Angola. It inhabits the drier parts of Southern Africa, preferring areas with Acacia savanna, dry watercourses, and farmlands. Gregarious by nature, it is found in flocks of up to twenty birds. It is a seedeater, and forages on the ground for grass seeds, hopping quickly and is constantly on the move. It will also hawk invertebrates such as butterflies, wasps, bees, and ants.
The Scaly-feathered finch calls frequently, its voice a shrill kreep krop, kreep krop, but it also has a repertoire of other chattering sounds and songs.
The Scaly-feathered finch is monogamous and its nest is a ball of pale, dry grass stems and inflorescences, lined with grass flowers and with the entrance tube on one side. The clutch is usually three to five eggs that are pale green spotted with brown, that hatch after an incubation period of 10 to 12 days.
The scientific binomial of this little finch is Sporopipes squamifrons;  the derivation of sporopipes is probably from the Greek “spora” meaning seeds and “opipteu” meaning to look for, and squamifrons form the Latin “squama” meaning a scale and  “frons” meaning the forehead. Hence a seed-seeker with a scaly forehead, which seems quite appropriate really.
