AMONG ELEPHANTS IN BOTSWANA AND ZIMBABWE, Guest Post by Owen Floody

African elephants, Zimbabwe.

With many thanks to Owen Floody, a frequent contributor to The Intrepid Tourist. In 1971, Owen and my husband Art participated in a field course in animal behavior in Uganda. The descriptions of the animals in Owen's post below bring back many memories of that first trip to Africa.

A few months ago, I traveled in search of one charismatic mammal, the mountain gorilla.  What better complement than a September 2025, trip focusing on a second large, highly intelligent and charismatic, mammal, the African elephant?

The Great Elephant Migration Safari was run by Wilderness Travel and expertly led by Vusa Ncube.  It began in Botswana but quickly shifted to Zimbabwe, where it covered a lot of ground, in part by replacing two long drives with charter flights.  Most of our time was spent in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park.  At first glance, this seemed too dry and overgrazed to support large elephant herds.  

Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.

But appearances can be deceiving, as the elephants certainly were there.  One factor contributing to this abundance must be the large number of human-maintained waterholes that dot this part of Hwange.

Vultures, Chobe National Park, Botswana.

My first few days were spent in Botswana's Chobe NationalPark.  An elephant carcass provided an early focus, as it was scoured, first by lions, later by a flock of fractious vultures.  

Elephants in Chobe River.

But the live elephants were even better, socializing near or frolicking in the Chobe River.

Ringside view of nighttime visit of elephants to waterhole at Nehimba Lodge, Zimbabwe.

Our first stop in Zimbabwe was Nehimba, a lovely small lodge perched on the edge of a waterhole calculated to attract animals in the day and night.  

Napping lions.

Lions again proved very entertaining, as they worked over an old carcass and then recovered from their labors as only cats can.

Rhinos at rest at Camel Thorn Lodge, Zimbabwe.

From Nehimba, we traveled by train (The Elephant Express) to Camel Thorn Lodge, in the shade of a Camelthorn tree. Here, we had to be cautious moving on or near the grounds.  The surrounding community is creating a preserve for endangered white rhinos and the area's first two residents seem to love napping at the lodge.  It's not everywhere that animals as rare and formidable as these can be approached (carefully) on foot!

Elephants at waterhole near Camel Thorn Lodge.

A waterhole near Camel Thorn provided my favorite elephant-viewing opportunity.  This was memorable partly due to the large number of elephants that showed up.  But even more compelling was the obvious glee exhibited by the young elephants as they frolicked in this waterpark of their own creation.

Young elephant and herd at waterhole near lodge at Jozibanini.

Our last and most isolated stop was the tiny lodge at Jozibanini.  This provided a variety of entertainments, most focused on the lodge's waterhole.  By far the most thrilling of these was the opportunity to view elephants from a ground-level blind adjacent to a favorite water source.  This provided a dramatic perspective along with the opportunity to view huge and highly charismatic animals at a range of inches.  Our trip couldn't possibly have concluded in any more dramatic and satisfying fashion!

RAINY SEASON IN SONGO, ZIMBABWE: Spectacular Birds and More, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Elephants at Songo Conservancy site, Zimbabwe

My friend Karen Minkowski, a frequent contributor to The Intrepid Tourist and definitely an intrepid traveler, is currently in Africa, a place that she has visited often. She spent the month of February at the Songo Conservancy site, which is several hundred miles from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. She writes:

I had a great rainy season month in Songo, lots of new birds (among many I'd seen in November). Elephants were present; it's always astonishing to see these great creatures. Poaching levels have dropped in Songo since the International Anti-Poaching Foundation, which manages this conservancy, trained and is now deploying rangers (all young women - strong, motivated and committed) to patrol the huge area. A place worth protecting, for sure.

Here's the Songo landscape. (photo above) The water body is Lake Kariba. Look at those baby elephants!!

Rain falling on the distant floodplains. Songo is especially beautiful when it's green.

African grey hornbill.

Arrow-marked babbler parent feeding its young.

Black-winged kite.

One of my favorite birds, the collared palm thrush - I love the bedroom eyes!

This bull elephant came within 40 meters of the electric fence. Elephants look bigger when you see them on foot rather than from a vehicle.

Green wood-hoopoe, frequently seen poking around in the dead ends of tree limbs.

Jacobin's cuckoo.

Levaillant's cuckoo. Most if not all African cuckoos lay their eggs (very surreptitiously) in the nests of other species, who do the hard work of foraging for food for these cuckoo chicks.

The red and black birds are male southern red bishops. They're gathering with potential mates. Each male will form a harem with several females and build their nests in the reeds and grasses.

Tawny-flanked prinia, a feisty little bird.

This is a male Village Weaver constructing a nest that hopefully his potential mate will find suitable for raising their young. If she rejects it - by not lining the nest's interior -  and other females do the same, he'll build a new nest in hopes of pleasing someone!

The most common, and the noisiest of birds around our camp, the white-browed sparrow weaver. Like the weaver in the previous photo they build nests from grasses, but rather messy ones!

I'm leaving Songo very soon, but hope to return, for the birds and the elephants and for the lovely community of people here.

Click here to read about Karen’s visit to Songo in November 2022:  https://theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com/2023/01/songo-nature-conservancy-victoria-falls.html .

VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE: Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Young male giraffes, Zambezi National Park, Zimbabwe.

My friend Karen Minkowski, a frequent contributor to The Intrepid Tourist and definitely an intrepid traveler, is currently in Africa, a place that she has visited often. She spent the month of December in and around Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. She begins her report: 

Since late November I’ve been living in Victoria Falls, a small tourist city just across the Zambezi River from Zambia. Two national parks, Zambezi NP on the west, Victoria Falls NP to the east, surround most of the city. Fences only partially separate Park lands from commercial/residential areas, so walking on the edge requires alertness. Baboons and warthogs move through the commercial and residential areas, mostly unharassed, though people understandably chase baboons from their vegetable gardens. Baboons will go after women – not men - carrying shopping bags. A large male baboon followed me once, too close. I was trying to figure out where to take refuge until a human male noticed and offered to walk me to my gate. Elephants and buffalo often wander through town at night. Recently, lions were sighted in town, attracted by buffalo. Elephants and lions very occasionally kill humans, usually when someone is chasing an elephant raiding a garden or is trying to protect their livestock from a lion attack. Overall, Victoria Falls is quite wildlife tolerant – tourism is a huge source of foreign exchange and employment.

Giant kingfisher.

A full report of Karen's recent activities, including excursions into nearby Zambezi National Park, filled with a description of her activities and her wonderful photographs, is HEREas a PDF.  There are incredible close-ups of birds--Karen is a devoted bird-watcher with patience to catch the birds at their best--and other wildlife. Karen's text makes you feel as if you are a vicarious visitor too. Enjoy!

A white-backed vulture tries to grab some meat from a marabou stork.

White-backed vultures and a marabou stork.

Chameleon

 

SONGO NATURE CONSERVANCY, ZIMBABWE, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Elephants near Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

My friend Karen Minkowski, a frequent contributor to The Intrepid Tourist and definitely an intrepid traveler, is currently in Africa, a place that she has visited often. She spent the month of November at the Songo Conservancy site, which is several hundred miles from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. She begins her report: 

Woodland Kingfisher (eats lizards and insects, not fish).

I recently spent three weeks in the Songo Conservancy northeast of Victoria Falls, on the shores of Lake Kariba, volunteering for the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF).

IAPF manages lands where both legal and illegal hunting have severely reduced wildlife populations. Some of these lands border national parks and/or could serve as corridors that would allow wildlife to move between protected areas. The organization recruits and trains young women as rangers who conduct anti-poaching operations within their own communities. (Akashinga is a documentary film about the first set of female rangers trained by IAPF (you can watch it at  https://www.iapf.org/the-film).  IAPF also supports schools, clinics, legal fishing camps and conservation education. The organization was founded by a charismatic, ex-military Australian. His mission is to wipe out poaching in Africa by building communities that coexist with wildlife and have zero tolerance for poaching or other environmental crimes, whether initiated from within or from the outside. The rangers are impressive, and their salaries help support their extended families.

Celebrating after the graduation ceremony for 40 some young women who had successfully completed their training as rangers. 

A full report of Karen's activities with the Songo Conservancy organization, filled with a description of her activities and her wonderful photographs, is HERE as a PDF.  It is filled with incredible close-ups of birds--Karen is a devoted bird-watcher with patience to catch the birds at their best. Karen's text makes you feel as if you are a vicarious visitor too. Enjoy!

Hippos spend their days in the water to keep cool. They feed at night, but on cloudy days, they sometimes leave the water to graze.

I have included just a few samples of her photographs. Be sure to go to the PDF to see all of them.

ANIMALS OF HWANGE NATIONAL PARK, ZIMBABWE by Karen Minkowski at The Intrepid Tourist

52 Places to Go: Week 10

Impala at Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

My friend Karen Minkowski spent several months in Africa in 2018-2019 and sent me some of her wonderful photos taken on a trip to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Karen and I were on the same memorable trip to East Africa in 1971 that I wrote about in my post on May 16, 2011. Karen has been back to Africa many times since then, both for work and for pleasure. I thank her for sharing her terrific photos and observations of African wildlife with The Intrepid Tourist.

I've been coming to Zimbabwe almost yearly since 2009, and at the end of 2018 I returned, hoping to spend six months volunteering for a foundation, while also seeing as much wildlife and birds as possible. Not long after arriving, an unexpected opportunity came up to spend four nights at a wonderful lodge in Hwange National Park at a special "rainy season" rate. Here are some of the highlights of this visit.

Young eland

The rainy season is birthing time for many antelope and gazelle  – here are some young eland from a herd of about 200, the largest eland group I've ever seen. Below, a bull, with his velvety coat.

Bull (male) eland

Hwange has one of the largest elephant populations in Africa, between 49 and 60 thousand.  In the dry season elephants concentrate in and around water holes. With the rains they disperse widely, as water is everywhere, and we saw elephants only once. This young teenager mock-charged our vehicle several times before rubbing his rear on a dead tree stump. As we started to drive away, he approached our vehicle, raised his trunk and trumpeted at us, convinced he was chasing us away.

Young elephant

When I go to Hwange I am accustomed to joining a walking safari. I love this way of seeing wildlife, following the tracker as he picks up the spoor of a lion or rhino. There's nothing between me and the wildlife, and ... I get to walk. On this safari we viewed everything from a vehicle, but I did appreciate that we were able to approach wildlife more closely without disturbing them and saw many more animals than when on foot.

Hwange has a great diversity of ungulates (hoofed mammals.)

Resting waterbuck

 

Sable

The sable is one of the most beautiful of all antelopes. We saw them in woodlands and grasslands.

Impala

Impala are one of Africa's most common gazelles, but I never tire of seeing these elegant, graceful animals. One afternoon we watched in amazement as a group of young impala raced round and round in large circles, seemingly for the pure joy of running and kicking their legs high in the air...they continued for quite a while.

Zebras are very affectionate!

In this season of abundant food and water, the animals seemed more relaxed than during the dry months – the need to be vigilant for predators is always present, but there's also time for fun and play and socializing. Meanwhile, the black-backed jackal (below) often hangs around on the grasslands, awaiting perhaps a lion kill? The jackal scavenges and preys opportunisticly.

Jackal

While parked late one afternoon to enjoy drinks and watch the sunset. A lion begin to roar from perhaps 1/2 a mile away; soon he came into view, about 100 meters from us, still roaring. It is the best sound in the universe, soothing and comforting when you know you are in a safe place.

Lion

We continued watching as he roared his way towards one of Africa's spectacular sunsets...

 

For more about Hwange National Park, see Karen's post The Birds of Hwange National Park from March 4, 2019.

 

All text and photos copyright Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist
www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com