View allAll Photos Tagged botswana
This photo was taken in a game reserve in Botswana - will not name it so as to not give any help to poachers, and have removed the location information. Rhinos are brought into this reserve from South Africa, where rhino poaching is rampant. The rhinos are well protected here, by the Botswana Defense Force (BDF) no less. It is galling that humanity must go to such lengths to protect such magnificent animals from such senseless and stupid slaughter. Kudos to the government of Botswana for taking conservation so seriously and making such effort to re-introduce and protect rhinos in the country. Kudos also to the members of the BDF on duty here, who take their duty very seriously, are well armed for the task, and give no quarter to poachers.
Here are a calf, Mom, and a bull photogenically lined up grazing in late afternoon light.
Botswana 2015, Moremi Game Reserve
A social but loud and noisy bird, especially when they are together in a group.
Many thanks for the faves and comments, they are all very much appreciated.
Okavango Delta, Botswana at sunset. The Okavango Delta is the largest inland delta in the world and is teeming with wildlife. The trees in the distance mark the edge of the Moremi Game Reserve, where me, my wife and our guide spent three nights camping alone in the bush with no neighbors except for elephants, hippos, zebras, giraffes, lions, leopards, and countless bird species. It was an amazing wilderness experience!
To get to our campsite at Chief Island, our guide used a pole to push us along in a traditional mokoro canoe, which is shown in the foreground. Mokoros are carved locally out of a single piece of wood. If you ever have a chance to take a mokoro trip in the Okavango Delta, especially an overnight trip in the bush, then by all means do it! It's a wonderful experience in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
If you are curious or bored, feel free to check out my website:
At early light we were fortunate enough to have the rare sighting of a male leopard (Blue eyes) who was perfectly relaxed and in close proximity to a female and their 6 month old cub. Although solitary this dominant male leopard had wondered back into the territory of his previous female partner and their cub. During a special hour they stayed together for a moment of rare family life with calling, playing and relaxing before blue eyes wondered off into the distance to once again live an independent life.
(Please see my other photos of Blue eyes on the hunt and more of the cub and her mother (also hunting).
Chiefs Island, Moremi National Park, Okavango Delta, Botswana.
The lilac-breasted roller is an African member of the roller family of birds. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, and is a vagrant to the southern Arabian Peninsula. It prefers open woodland and savanna, and it is for the most part absent from treeless places. Usually found alone or in pairs, it perches conspicuously at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, lizards, scorpions, snails, small birds and rodents moving about on the ground.
Nesting takes place in a natural hole in a tree where a clutch of 2–4 eggs is laid, and incubated by both parents, who are extremely aggressive in defence of their nest, taking on raptors and other birds. During the breeding season the male will rise to a fair height (10 to 12 metres), descending in swoops and dives, while uttering harsh, discordant cries. The sexes are alike in coloration, and juveniles lack the long tail streamers of adults.
This species is unofficially considered the national bird of Kenya. Alternate names for the lilac-breasted roller include the fork-tailed roller, lilac-throated roller (also used for a subspecies of purple roller) and Mosilikatze's roller.
Despite its massive bulk, this amphibious mammal moves underwater with grace, and trots on land with surprising speed. Indeed, the name hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) means ‘river horse’, pertaining to this species’ semi-aquatic lifestyle. An extremely large animal with a round, barrel-shaped body, short legs and a large, broad head.
The broad mouth can be opened extremely wide to expose large, curved canines, used in aggressive displays. The eyes, ears and nostrils protrude on the top of the head, allowing the animal to remain receptive to its surroundings and breathe while otherwise almost totally submerged underwater.
If you want to see how fast and dangerous these animals are, just click on this Utube site: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su7GkqwxG08.
A large male Hippo can weight 2,000 kg or more. Strongly territorial, herds of ten or more animals are presided over by a dominant male that will readily defend his patriarchy to the death.
They are widely credited with killing more people than any other African mammal. They are clearly very dangerous – but I know of no data to support this, and many reliable sources suggest that that crocodile, elephant and lion could all vie for this dubious title.
The saddle-billed stork is a large wading bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. It is a widespread species which is a resident breeder in sub-Saharan Africa from Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya south to South Africa, and in The Gambia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Chad in west Africa.
This is a close relative of the widespread Asian black-necked stork, the only other member of the genus.
This is a huge bird that regularly attains a height of 150 cm, a length of 142 cm and a 2.4–2.7 m wingspan. The male is larger and heavier than the female, with a range of 5.1–7.52 kg, with a mean mass of 6.38 kg. The female is usually between 5 and 6.84 kg, with a mean mass of 5.95 kg. It is probably the tallest of the storks (though not the heaviest), due in no small part to it extremely long legs (tarsus length is up to 36.5 cm). The long bill measures from 27.3 to 36 cm. The sexes can be readily distinguished by the golden yellow irises of the female and the brown irises and dangling yellow wattles of the male.
It is spectacularly plumaged; both the female and male appear identical when perched but the female shows much more white in the primaries in flight. The head, neck, back, wings, and tail are iridescent black, with the rest of the body and the primary flight feathers being white. Juveniles are browner grey in plumage. The massive bill is red with a black band and a yellow frontal shield (the "saddle"). The legs and feet are black with pink hocks. On the chest is a bare red patch of skin, whose colour darkens during breeding season.