Beauty in the 'bleak mid-winter' of the African Bush

The ‘bleak mid-winter’ here in the Botswana African bush is not the British mid-winter of ice and snow, but it is the season when the bush dries out and many trees lose their leaves. There is actually a unique kind of beauty to it. But it is also the season in which when visiting a game reserve, you have a good chance of seeing many animals of God’s creation. They are not hidden behind dense foliage and they are having to visit waterholes more often as their main remaining source of water.

So, it was a good time to take a few days away last month, to stay at a chalet in the small local Mokolodi Game Reserve. Our view overlooked one of the waterholes. So not only did we enjoy some great sightings on our game driving, but we had many visits from animals at the waterhole too.

In this time of travel restrictions around the world….enjoy a visit with us to Mokolodi!

Around the waterhole - 'social distancing' sometimes felt like it had made its way even to the bush!

Impala

Gemsbok

Male Kudu (L) and Wildebeest

Zebra 

Warthog

Red Hartebeest

And in the trees....

Can you spot the baboon up in the tree on the left?

We had hoped to maybe spot a leopard up a tree, but not this time.

But yes, it is normally birds that are in the trees.....

...we saw many and managed to photograph a few

Can you see the well concealed kingfisher 

up in the top right corner with his orange beak?

The silhouette of the Drongo on the other hand is easy to spot

The Yellow Billed Hornbill, on the other hand seemed to be everywhere but in the trees 

- here he is on the top of our chalet...

and then trying desperately to get to his reflection in our car window 

- he seemed to persist for hours every day!

And in the bush.....

It's amazing how hard it can be to see a Zebra clearly in the bush!

This giraffe was huge and at first could be mistaken for just a few more tree trunks!

Then there was a Mother and Baby giraffe

And a Waterbuck resting in the shade

And a lone ostrich

One morning a large herd of Kudu came grazing around our chalet 

and this one was just a couple of meters from our front door!

Then we can't forget two other large creatures who were in the dam at another part of the Reserve - neither of which we wanted to get too close to!

That larger 'lump' you can see lazing in the sun,

 has dangerous jaws and can move quickly if it wants, 

and we certainly did not want to be a crocodile lunch!

This hippo also has large dangerous jaws, 

but we didn't even get to see them open as she rested

 (we think that extra little sliver of a bump in front of her nose may have been a calf?)

What we had hoped to see but did not, was some Rhino....we knew they were there as their poo was all over the place, but all we saw was a Hornbill, busy partaking of what he thought were delicious delights hidden within that Rhino poo!

Well, maybe next time we will get to see the actual producer of the poo!

But that's part of the fun of discovering the African bush!

Hopefully it won't be too long before the world 'opens up' again and you might be able to visit and see it for yourself!