Dumatau Camp – January 2014
Once again is has been another very productive month at DumaTau in almost every aspect possible. Despite the temperatures rising and the bush reaching its driest point of the season, the game is nothing less than phenomenal.
The wild dog pack that was denning earlier this year around DumaTau Camp is still doing very well and has managed to successfully raise all nine pups to sub-adulthood thus far. The teens are becoming more and more involved with the daily hunts and expeditions. Much to everyone’s amusement, we have watched many a light-hearted hunt by these youngsters as they chase geese, hamerkop or other relatively large clumsy birds, which makes for great excitement but never really a catch. The more serious hunts however, are still led by the adults and these most certainly usually have the opposite result.
We also had a very rare sighting of the resident bushpig feeding on an elephant carcass. The cause of death was unknown; nevertheless it attracted a variety of species. Bushpig are renowned for feeding omnivorously, but to actually capture images of this incident is almost unheard of. Other species also seen feeding on the carcass included various vulture species and spotted hyaena. At one stage the bushpig was not willing to share his space and managed to chase off several vultures. He tried to chase off the hyaena but when they ganged up and turned on him he made for the closest thicket.
We are seeing more and more migratory birds which have begun returning to the area for summer. The carmine bee-eaters are definitely a favourite and a species that is most photographed by our guests. Some of the other migratory birds back in the Linyanti include the broad-billed roller, yellow-billed kite, African cuckoo to name but a few.
Camp News
Botswana celebrated 47 years of Independence on the 30th of September. The staff dressed in their beautiful black, white and blue colours of the Botswana flag, as well as other traditional items to celebrate this wonderful occasion. A special thanks to Map Ives for doing a presentation about the History and Culture of Botswana for us at camp.
Botswana celebrated 47 years of Independence on the 30th of September. The staff dressed in their beautiful black, white and blue colours of the Botswana flag, as well as other traditional items to celebrate this wonderful occasion. A special thanks to Map Ives for doing a presentation about the History and Culture of Botswana for us at camp.
An action-packed day was ended off with a stunning Boma dinner under the strangler fig tree in camp. We most certainly celebrated late into the night like only Motswanas can!
