Our acquittance with Vervet monkeys in Harare started with friends telling us that they were lucky to have the frequent visit of a troop of vervets in their garden that they enjoyed very much. We felt mild envy but there was not much we could do. Their house is about one km from ours and located in a less populated and wooded area.
We forgot about monkeys until one day last year when, to our delight, a monkey was spotted in our garden. The original sighting was done by Stephen, our caretaker, and we were soon searching for the primates up our trees.
Our very first picture of a Vervet monkey in our garden!
A close-up of the intruder.
Of course, we found them eating our passion fruits, behind our backs! They had climbed the first step of the ladder!
We forgave their sins as they were nice to watch! However, as often happens, soon they reached the second step that consisted of opening dozens of seven-year bean pods only to eat a few of them. This produced a change of mood among the humans of the household and instructions were passed around (by my wife, the serious gardener) that the monkeys should be “discouraged” from being in the garden! The method to be used was left often and it fell on Stephen to decide. As he is, I am afraid, is softer than my wife, I imagine that he only shouted and ran after them!
The monkey caught with the camera trap.
Despite the soft methods employed to keep them at bay, a period of relative calm ensued and we were all happy sharing the garden in harmony. Soon, however, with the progress of the dry season, the monkeys accelerated their climb up the ladder going through the avocados, the guavas and even the tomatoes! This was the situation when we left Harare in late January but we believed that the advent of the rains had re-established acceptable human-monkey interactions but, as usual, we were off the mark…
Yesterday (5 February 2016) we learnt that the “status quo” was broken and that the monkeys had reached the very top of the ladder: they had destroyed the weaver nests killing the fledgelings and they were taking bites from Stephen’s butternuts. The weavers had just moved into the garden this year and the butternuts are highly appreciated for our pasta sauce! This was indeed a very serious escalation and, during the phone conversation between my wife and Stephen I could not help overhearing the exchange of unusually strong adjectives as well as one name: catapult!
I trust that a new equilibrium will be found before there is bloodshed…
I am very pleased and proud as well as most grateful to the “Muy Interesante” publication of Spain that printed a spot on my blog in the Issue printed on 20 January 2016!
To María Victoria Gonzalez Rodríguez, Coordinadora de Contenidos y Comunidad Muyinteresante.es, Coordinadora de Contenidos y Comunidad MuyHistoria.es and
Redactora Mundo-geo.es as well as other colleagues of the “Muy Interesante” printed magazine, many thanks!
Translation to English (by Bushsnob).
Julio de Castro, a veterinary parasitologist, former employee of the FAO of the United Nations and traveler, is the author of the blog bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com. He has lived many years in Africa and now from his retirement in Zimbabwe he has a lot of curious things on his blog, illustrated with nature photos that he himself takes during his excursions.
Among the reasons for having undertaken writing the blog, de Castro cites sharing his knowledge, acquired after many years of working and visiting places of Eastern and Southern Africa, and to know their landscapes, wild nature and people. No reader who likes to dig into these issues should miss this miscellany that brings together memories of past activities, business trips or fun and curious facts about various fields. As a sample it is worth mentioning two recent entries: a family trip to the Mozambique’s coast and a post on the custom of hippos’ group defecation.
***
NB. I can hear (some of) my friends and (both my) children saying “how typical of him” when referring to the end of the spot! Please do not pay any attention and keep reading the blog…
While at Main Camp in Hwange National Park last January, we repeatedly drove through the accommodation exit gate and in front of the door without detecting it until a walk around the camp brought us behind a hedge that was hiding it from “public” view.
An important and well known benefit of termites is that they break down tough vegetable matter, burying dead and decaying trees into new soil. While doing this, they dig tunnels and in so doing they not only bring down wood material but also aerate the soil, increasing soil fertility.
Aware that the door’s days were clearly counted and that it will never open again, I decided that it was worth taking a picture of before the termites finish their job.
You may agree with me that the metal handle is the only sign that behind the really thorough termite work, a door used to be there!
The location of the door made picture-taking difficult so perhaps I am not able to show its real condition.
A letter about unusual lion behaviour in the Serengeti National Park[1], brought back memories of our own observations in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya, in the 1980’s.
A picture of the letter to Getaway.
As it can be seen above, the letter describes that, a couple of tourists on a photographic safari, witnessed a lioness kill a wildebeest cow and her calf. Afterwards the lioness suckled the cow, then consumed the calf and returned again to suckle and lick the milk from the now dead female.
While in the Maasai Mara one evening we witnessed a lioness kill a topi[2]. While the lioness was busy strangling the animal, two cubs appeared on the scene and, without hesitation, went directly to the Topi’s udder and suckled the animal for a few minutes.
A Topi in their typical “watching” stance.
Eventually the animal died and the cubs stopped suckling and joined the mother at eating it. We did not see he lioness suckling.
The cubs we saw suckling were larger than this one.
The explanatory reply from Brian Jones, a very knowledgeable person on raising lions at the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (South Africa) among other activities, confirmed that lions do lick carcasses, a fact that I can also corroborate through personal observations. As he made no mention of the suckling of prey by lions, I decided to write to Brian to let him know of our own observations and somehow reinforce the tourists’ observations. The following is a record of our exchange:
16/11/2015
From: Julio de Castro <juliojdecastro@gmail.com>
To: Moholoholo <moholorehab@wol.co.za>
Dear Mr. Jones,
Reviewing old magazines I saw your comment of a couple of years ago (Getaway, May 2013, p.13) to a sighting of a lioness suckling and licking a wildebeest female in the Serengeti National Park.
In the 1980’s, while working in Kenya, one evening in the Maasai Mara we witnessed a lioness kill a Topi. While the lioness was busy strangling the animal, two cubs appeared on the scene and, without much hesitation, went directly to the Topi’s udder and suckled the animal for a few minutes. Eventually the animal died and the cubs stopped suckling and joined the mother at eating it. I do not recall if the death of the female Topi coincided with the cubs stopping to suckle. The cubs were about 6 months old or older (not suckling babies).
I have also witnessed lions licking wildebeest and zebra prey (mainly in the abdominal area) but I believe that there are two different phenomena, one is the deliberate suckling of a female prey and another is the licking of a dying/dead animal, including males.
I hope you find this interesting and look forward to your comments.
So interesting to hear of your experience witnessing the cubs trying to suckle from the Topi – really amazing!!!
Probably the smell of milk and I’d say the Topi must have had a youngster!!
Yes the licking of a dead animal is normal. I have often seen even cheetah licking their pray before eating!! I have a few tame Cheetah and they lick my friends on their arm, I tease them by saying “they always lick their prey before they eat them” (ha, ha).
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, it always a story I can tell to other folk.
All the Best
Brian
I thank Brian for his time to reply and his valuable contribution. Please visit http://www.moholoholo.co.za/ to see the valuable work that the Centre performs.
[1] Koetze, R. Unusual sighting. Getaway (Letters), May 2013, p.12.
[2] The Topi (Damaliscus lunatus jimela) and the Tsessebe (D. lunatus lunatus) are sub-species of D. lunatus.
After our spell at Matopos National Park in Zimbabwe in November 2015 we continued our journey towards the Caprivi area of Namibia, our final destination. To do this you need to cross the border into Botswana at Kazungula, drive into Botswana through the Chobe National Park and then enter Namibia at Ngoma. Luckily the border crossings were straightforward and we managed to arrive in Katima Mulilo in time for a necessary “safari shopping”.
We remembered Katima Mulilo from our visit in 1992 and did not have much difficulty finding the same hotel we stayed then, on the banks of the Zambezi river. The latter is one of the four main rivers in the Caprivi together with the Kavango, Chobe and Kwando. Often we had difficulties knowing which one we were crossing or looking at!
After an uneventful night at Katima Mulilo, we drove along the Caprivi for a few hundred kilometres to get to Ngepi Camp, on the banks of the Kavango river. From there we planned to explore the Mahango Game Park as well as the Popa falls area. Soon after taking the entrance road to the camp it became obvious that this was a camp with a sense of humour as the sign posts we found showed.
On arrival the camp did not look very impressive as the area outside its fence is severely overgrazed and cattle and goats abound! However, once you got to the camp things changed as, its proximity to the river, makes it a real green oasis with a nice view of the Kavango river and magnificent trees. Things were looking up! This lasted until we saw our acommodation! This time I had made the bookings and, looking for economy and without a lot of time to investigate, I had booked what was called a “Bush hut” as I thought it would be appropriate…
Unfortunately it did not pass my wife’s quality control procedure. The place had all the facilities expected from such accommodation but it was surrounded by thick bush in its four corners! Not only we could not see the river but there was no air moving and it felt like an oven! It was a bad start and we agreed to stay one night while we attempted to find an alternative. Eventually, the staff were very kind in swapping our hut for a house, known as a Tree house. This was a wooden contraption built overhanging the river and it was fresh and had a lovely view of the Kavango and its hippos. I even attempted to fish for tiger fish from our balcony (obviously without success, as usual…).
The large tree trunk came handy to hide from river traffic while showering!
The bedroom.
The bushsnob enjoying the view.
The sense of humour that we saw through signposts at the entrance became more “practical” at the camp itself! It clearly specializes in having special toilets and washing facilities that are, to put it mildly, rather surprising! My favourite was the “rocket”, a tower that looked like a water tank that has a toilet seat on top, offering an intersting view of the surrounding area!
The flower and shower interior.
Rocket toilet user’s instructions.
Inside the shower and flower.
The rocket…
A “tree” toilet.
Flower & shower toilet
Original toilet door!
Bar’s advice…
Our accommodation sorted out, we dedicated a couple of days to explore the Mahango Game Park and to visit Popa Falls. The northern section of Mahango was about 10 km from our camp, on the way to Botswana. It offered two tracks, one to the East, following the river and another one to the West, towards a waterhole.
While the former offered a variety of water birds, the road was a bit too far from the Kavango river and viewing was not ideal. Along the road to the waterhole, however, we found lots of elephants, wearier than the Zimbabwean colleagues. This took us by surprise at first as they stood their ground and even mock-charged us on a few occasions before retreating tail up.
The area have had some rains as numerous ponds and mud holes indicated. The elephants were enjoying them fully and, as usual, being the only occupants. We thought that they would be occupying all of them but we were wrong. A rather large one had a very different user: a land tortoise enjoying a swim! It was inside the water when we found it and, as we we approached, it actually swam away, something we have never seen before but not unexpected, of course.
Buffalo was the name of the remaining area of the reserve located across the Kavango. Entering it we drove through military ruins, a left over of the wars that ravaged this area not that long ago. After clearing this rather large area, we joined the Kavango river and drove over black cotton soil, luckily dry as we are well aware of its stickiness from our Kenya days. As if we needed a reminder, we found a young buffalo and an elephant that, mired in the black mud, had starved to death!
The saying “being in the right place at the right time” came to mind when we postponed our U-turn until the next river bend where we were taken aback by the sudden arrival of an elephant herd that decided to come for a drink and a swim in the river at that particular time! Luckily for us they changed our otherwise dull game-viewing into probably the best entertainment of the trip!
After Ngepi and Mahango we visited Popa Falls and were disenchanted to see that is now been taken over by the Namibia Wildlife Resorts organization and it is much more impersonal than when we visited twenty four years back!
I am afraid that our disenchantment continued with the final part of our trip that took us to the Kwando river area to explore the Mudumu Game Park Not only the Camp Kwando was devoid of character and badly managed but the long drive through the park failed to produce animals, despite the praise from both safari operators and park authorities met. We had clearly run out of luck and it was time to go home!
On our final day, after watching lions and birds, we planned a “sundowner” drink at Nyamandlovu pan to end our safari in style. Before it was time for drinks, we got busy watching the many migratory birds present at the pan. These were a large flock of Abdim Storks and Amur falcons that provided us with much entertainment while they fed on beetles and other insects found in the grass.
Abdim stork drying its wings.
White stork.
Crowned crane.
Wooly-necked stork.
A family of five jackals, probably residents of the pan, were also around. While four of them were gnawing at an old elephant carcass, a fifth came close to the viewing platform for a look. As I was on the ground at the time I saw it coming and prepared for pictures. Despite the warnings shouted from above by fellow game watchers for me to be careful, I remained motionless and was rewarded with the closest encounter I have had with a black-backed jackal!
While watching the jackal I heard loud splashing noises coming from the pan and I saw a large crocodile (one of the three present) coming out of the water holding a very large chunk of carcass. I left the jackal to its business and rushed up the platform for a better look. The beast, at the left end of the pan, was violently shaking the carcass and scattering pieces in the water while it swam off with the remains to the opposite end.
The crocodile feeding on the submerged carcass.
The slow approach of a hippo to the area where the carcass had been shaken apart came as no surprise to my family and I, all well aware by now of our earlier observations on meat-eating hippos at Masuma dam![1] We watched while the hippo approached and searched the area with its head submerged. Suddenly it lifted its head and chewed on what appeared to be a piece of the carcass that it had found! This was a very interesting observation, as we had not seen any of the three resident hippos engage in this activity before, despite having spent many hours there!
The hippo starts approaching…
Eating a chunk of the carcass that the crocodile left.
After munching on its find, the hippo left the area jumping in the water in a rather funny display that probably expressed approval at what it had just eaten! Fortunately I managed to take a picture of the crocodile (regrettably only after the carcass shaking took place…) and of the hippo finishing its snack and merrily moving off!
[1] See https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/hippos-from-hell/ and https://bushsnobinafrica.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/hippos-from-hell-the-videos/ Muy Interesante also covered this issue: http://www.muyinteresante.es/naturaleza/articulo/los-hipopotamos-pueden-comer-carne-921450193942
Bush lions are normally tolerant of vehicles, even the open tourist ones. The only aggression we have seen was related to times when mating was taking place and the male normally leaves no doubt about how close you should be! The situation can be different on foot when the utmost care is needed where these cats are concerned to avoid accidents.
While checking in at Main Camp in Hwange National Park, we were warned of the existence of a new lion: Mopani[1]. The lion, explained a sign placed at the booking desk by the “Lion Project”, came from an area devoid of tourists and it was aggressive, charging vehicles! Siduli, another male, and two females accompanied it. We were also shown a video taken from a tourist vehicle being chased by Mopani and learnt that one of the females was in heat and mating with one of the males. We thought that Mopani’s progeny was assured and planned to keep our distance from him!
The lions had taken residence around the Main Camp area so we were delighted at our luck, as we were sure not to miss them! “Cecil may have gone but in comes Mopani!” was our thought!
Although recently arrived from a longish trip, the possibility of spotting one of our all time favourite animals made us drop our luggage at the lodge and drive off in search of lions. We found the two females at Dom pan. They were clearly different: a paler one and a darker one. The latter appeared to be the older of the two.
After watching them for a while, a male came out of the bushes and greeted the darker one while the other moved away a short distance. Were we about to witness some mating? Not so as Mopani, who we assumed was the dominant male, only rubbed heads with the female and then moved off in the direction it came from, leaving the female pair alone until the day ended and it was time to get back to our lodge before the mandatory return time of 18:30hs.
We did not need to plan our next day activities as finding the lions again and spending time watching them was the only option! As a friend of mine says, “we slept in a hurry” and we were up before 06.00hs. No need for alarm clocks! We drove straight to Dom pan, as we believed that they would not have gone very far from there. On our way we realized that several migratory bird species were present at Hwange at the time. These were Crowned Cranes, Abdim and Woolly-Necked Storks, African Kites and Amur Falcons to name but a few!
Wooly-necked stork.
Abdim stork with unfortunate dung beetle!
White stork.
Abdim stork drying its wings.
Crowned crane.
We had little time for bird watching as the lions had killed a young elephant at Dom pan during the night and the two lionesses were feeding on it! After this find, most of our activities during the visit centred round Dom pan where we spent a lot of our time. We watched the lionesses feeding and interacting for several hours and I present you with a number of pictures and a video, as these are better than words. We only left them to return to the lodge for lunch and a rest.
When we came back during mid-afternoon, only the paler lioness was by the carcass. A search of the surrounding area revealed two lions laying together a few hundred metres from Dom. They were the mating pair: the darker female and a male that, to our surprise carried a radio collar. As we doubted that Mopani had one, it could only be Siduli. Clearly the lion that acts most ferociously towards cars is not necessarily the dominant when it comes to affairs of the heart! It was then clear that the male we had seen the day before was Siduli and that Mopani was hidden from view somewhere! But where?
Luckily my wife was with us as, if there was someone that could spot it, it would be her. And spot it she did, to our amazement, again! The wild-looking Mopani had been lying low under some bushes, unseen by anyone (except my wife) until then. It remained unobserved by our fellow game-spotters with the exception of another lady that clearly shared my wife’s eyesight. We thought it better that it remained unseen and got used to cars if it is to remain in a tourist area so we did not reveal its whereabouts.
All we saw of Mopani!
Another view of Mopani.
Mopani’s close-up
As Mopani was still not willing to socialize and remained sulking under a bush, we focussed on the others. Mating in lions is a long-lasting affair as the pair remains together and mating takes place often for a few days, while the female is still receptive to the male[2]. This was clearly the case, as they remained “occupied” for the rest of the time we were at Hwange. That left the other lioness guarding the elephant carcass and Mopani hidden from view! After a while it was time to move off.
Some of the birds we found on the way to Nyamandlovu.
We drove to the Nyamandlovu pan as our daughter is very partial to elephants. Despite the abundance of drinking water all over the area, we were extremely lucky to witness the visit of a herd of about fifty animals that, as usual, appeared suddenly as if the product of a magic tree-to-elephant metamorphosis. The result was about one hour of one of the greatest shows on earth: elephants enjoying life at a water hole! There were about five family groups, each led by a matriarch and composed of its progeny, including some really young and tiny babies that were the centre of our attention.
The elephants not only drank but also entered the water where many were seen frolicking about and playing as only elephants are able to do among wild animals! It seemed to us that the latter were at risk of drowning while entering the water with their huge siblings and that they were under even more danger while swimming among them! Somehow they managed to keep their tiny trunks above the water and their mothers were extremely protective and they were always in close contact and ready to assist them!
The three resident hippos felt very uncomfortable at this sudden disturbance and two moved to the very centre of the pan while the third moved to the shore where it put up brave stance against the elephants, only to return to join the others as it was not at all respected by the excited pachyderms! Again, a picture gallery and videos are better than my limited power of description to let you know what took place.
The elephants’ joyfulness in the water delayed our return so we only drove past Dom pan, catching a glimpse of the lions who unwittingly startled a herd of 30 odd elephants intent on drinking from the pan, who retreated in a cloud of dust as soon as they caught sight of the lionesses. We arrived late at the gate where we were told off by a rather grumpy lady game ranger! The justification for our tardiness did not go far with her, clearly used to all sorts of excuses from people arriving late to camp!
The following morning, as expected, the lion pair continued their courtship, the pale female was still guarding the carcass and about fifty vultures (white-backed, white-headed, hooded and lapped-faced) were waiting on the side-lines for her to leave it. While in waiting, the Lappet-faced vulture was seen having a snack by pulling and cutting the dry tendons and sinews from an older dry elephant carcass that other vultures also shared once it opened up the hard bits!
Mopani, the antisocial, still preferred to remain out of sight! We can only hope that he starts turning into a more car-tolerant lion by accepting their presence as part of his daily life. Who knows, maybe one day he could become Cecil’s successor.
[1] To name wild animals or not to name! This is the question… for which I have no clear answer!
[2] Both leopards and lions have the same mating procedure. They can mate as often as every fifteen minutes for up to five days. This is the consequence of weak sperm and mating-induced ovulation.
Our final visit to the Zimbabwean bush before leaving for South America took place from 8-10 January, and it was shared with our daughter who is also leaving for Italy later this week.
As usual, we enjoyed our safari in one of the jewels Zimbabwe has to offer. Learning from previous experience, we stayed at Main Camp as time was short and camping during the rainy season is not really a comfortable option! We were correct as it did rain and the sky -thankfully for the hitherto dry Hwange- was waterlogged so we expect and hope that the rains will continue.
Although there were a number of interesting observations during the trip, I will start with the one I feel “inspired” to write about, while I think about how to present the others to you.
Several memories of my past experience with African Rock Pythons (Python sebae) came to my mind when, on reaching the top of the Nyamandlovu viewing platform we were warned that there was a python in one of its corners!
My experience with rock pythons on safari is very poor. In fact, until this find I had never seen one in a national park or game reserve! My only encounters with these magnificent creatures were in Kenya, either first hand or through pictures and/or stories. I recall seeing a picture of a really humongous python (most often and most regrettably killed) that had swallowed a goat at Intona Ranch in the Transmara. It was probably about five metres long and about six people held it up for the picture. That was interesting but a real pity.
On a more optimistic note, we once met a Swiss fellow “safarier” at Meru National Park, also in Kenya in the 80’s, who told us the story of a python swiming towards his little daughter who happened to be near the water. The moment it approached her, the snake stopped swimming towards her! He also mentioned that when he kneeled next to it, the snake resumed its approach, only to stop again when he stood up, suggesting that there is some size-assessment from the python when stalking its prey.
Apart from stories and pictures, I also remember two first hand encounters. On one occasion, while staying at Elsamere[1] in lake Naivasha on a bass-fishing trip in lake Naivasha, other guests spent their time looking for pythons at the lakeshore! I was really sceptical about python-collecting so I was really surprised when two -albeit small ones- were found! I should also add that luckily they were small as my friend Paul jokingly hung them around my neck with the obvious result that I carried the scars of 2 python bites on my upper torso for a few days! I can testify that pythons bite at least as hard as laboratory rats!
The second encounter was when, perhaps inspired by the above incident, Jim, my wife and I decided to go on a python-safari! Jim was a good friend with whom I shared a liking for snakes. My wife does not like snakes so she came for the walk, hoping for a fruitless search! Our trip took us to Hell’s Gate[2], long before it was declared a National Park.
We did enjoy a magnificent walk along the gorge and dry riverbed. It was there, at a narrow, shady and wet passage between narrow cliffs that we found a young rock python that had recently moulted and was shiny and healthy. As until then, finding the python was just our pretext for the walk, we were as amazed to find it as I am sure the snake was to see the three large primates walking towards it!
Enough reminiscing and back to the present safari! The Nyamandlovu pan viewing platform offers a magnificent view of the water and the action that is always present there. This time the action was clearly inside it! The empty half of the platform was clear proof of the snake’s presence, fear of snakes prevailing even among animal lovers who preferred to pack themselves at the other end!
The young rock python wedged in a crevice of the platform, head down.
We were really thrilled by the news and moved closer to have a good look. The snake was a juvenile. It was comfortably wedged head-down in a gap of the railing, apparently enjoying an afternoon nap[3]. We took a few difficult pictures and sat in the empty corner next to it leaving it alone, happy to watch it every now and then while focusing on the events at the pan.
Regret the leg but it is only for comparison!
Amazingly not one of the several occupants of the platform came to have a look at the snake although all of them were aware of its presence. They preferred a packed platform end while we remained undisturbed at the “snake end”!
Needless to say that the snake did not move while we were there! It was still in exactly the same position when we left at the end of the day, still enjoying life. We were a bit concerned about it being rather vulnerable but hope that it will find its way and we will see it again.
[1] Elsamere Conservation Centre was the home of George and Joy Adamson for a time and it has accommodation facilities.
[2] It was named by Gustav Fischer and Joseph Thomson in 1833 after its narrow cliffs.
[3] Although snakes do not have eyelids, they still sleep by being able to close their pupils and sleep.
In mid December our garden had a few moth visitors that we had not seen in previous years. The first was discovered, as it is normal around here, by Stephen, our caretaker. Later on, Adam, his son brought another one and we also found another couple of them in the garden. Subsequently they entered the house, attracted by the light where they stayed for a few days.
I identified them as Bunaea alcinoe but the colours were, somehow, not completely right so, once more, I appealed to the internet for an answer and contacted www.africanmoths.com seeking clarification. I place our exchange below:
Just a short note to let you know that these moths turned up in our garden last night and I thought u may be interested. I believe them to be B. altinoe (sic) but, as usual, their colour pattern does not exactly match the pics I am seeing. Although this may not be great news for you, I find them incredible! Attached a picture of one of the moths with a ruler for reference. Kind regards. Julio de Castro
Roy was correct, of course, and I agreed for the picture to be used in their page.
As usual the moths died after a few days, after laying a large number of eggs. I collected as many as I could and attached them to the right trees where they have already hatched and the caterpillars disappeared!
Hoping that they will not rid our garden from trees, I expect more moths to visit us next year!
A Bushsnob out of Africa 