The big six revisited

 Michael - Alternate Thursdays

I'm currently travelling up to my favorite bush area in South Africa - Olifants River Game Reserve. I hope to have some interesting things to say about it once I get there, but in the meanwhile here's a relook at one of my favorite animals (and detectives for that matter).

Kubu

The Big Five are elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and  rhino.  Certainly these are great contenders for the top animals list, but I do feel one animal has been very short-changed and it’s an animal very close to our hearts (i.e. Stan’s heart and my heart).  That is the hippo.  I’m sure readers of this blog know that kubu is the Setswana word for hippo, and that our detective has that as his nickname.  I think the hippo has every right to be included in the top rank with those other five.  Not only are the animals very large – the males weigh in over 4,000 lbs, coming in third to elephants and rhinos in terms of size, but they are also fierce and can be quite aggressive in some circumstances – they account for more human deaths in Africa than any other mammal.  And they are fascinating creatures and interesting to watch, edging out the rhino for second place of the three ultra-large herbivores in my opinion.  No river in Africa is complete without their cheerful grunting carrying across the water.

From a physiological point of view, the hippo is amazing.  How about an animal that spends its days in the water, but is too dense to float?  That can hold its breath for up to five minutes.  (Don’t try that one at home!)  That has nostrils designed to close under water, and a reflex that allows it to sleep under the water and rise for breathing without waking up.  That has built in goggles (transparent membranes that close over the eyes under water).  And that has built in sunscreen (the hippo secretes an oily brownish substance which protects its bare skin from the sun).  Pretty impressive design, I’d say.  And no rude comments about it being porcine.  (Kubu would be particularly offended.)  The hippo’s closest relations are the dolphins and whales; it separated off from them about fifty million years ago.

Most of the day they spend fully submerged or comfortably beached on a sandbar warming in the sun (having applied sunscreen, of course.)  In the evenings they come out of the water and spend the nights browsing and grazing along the river banks or quite far inland if the feeding conditions are poor as they tend to be in the winter.  At this time they are busy with the important issue of building up that 4,000 lbs of bulk, and you really don’t want to interfere with them.  In particular, you don’t want to give them the idea that you are trying to cut them off from the haven of the river.  That usually leads to aggressive behavior and possibly one of those human deaths.

I’ve had my own close encounter, mostly my own fault.  It was my first time in a canoe on the Zambesi river in Zimbabwe.  I was with a friend who was a bit more expert as a canoeist than I was, but not much.  He was at the back.  At a certain point the guide who was ahead of us in another canoe signaled us to move out into the center of the river; he’d spotted a pod of hippos near the shore.  What he didn’t know was that the hippos had spotted him, and submerged and politely moved to the center of the river to let us pass.  My friend and I paddled out into the river, proud of our calm expertise.  Moments later a huge jaw opened a short distance in front of us; we had not reciprocated the hippos polite behavior.  We immediately put the canoe into what we thought was reverse.  Unfortunately our expertise did not run to reverse against the current.  What we did do was cause the canoe to rotate as the current took us towards that enormous mouth.  At the crucial moment the hippo sank under the water and we passed over it.  I think I know why it didn’t convert our canoe into splinters and us into mincemeat.  It was laughing too hard.

Hippo behavior is complex.  The males have water territories, but will tolerate other bulls as long as they behave in a submissive way.  I've seen an interesting example at one of the dams at Olifants River Game Reserve.  The dam is large and a family of five hippos, one male and two females with youngsters, had taken up residence.  They were a charming group, and most days we would pop in to see how they were getting on.  On this particular evening, we arrived at the dam to discover that it now contained six hippos.  Apparently another male had decided the dam was a nice spot to spend the day.  The altercation between the males seemed to involve bursts of rivalry where they would rise from the water bellowing and threatening each other by matching their enormous mouths.  Then all would go quiet for a while and one would rest its head on the other’s back.  Maybe that’s submissive behavior?  Unfortunately it became too dark and rainy to see what happened in the end, but I’d guess that all six went off feeding and that the interloper would have found a more peaceful dam or river stretch for his day nap.

So from all points of view, I believe that the hippopotamus fully deserve a place up there with the other big five.  I propose that in future we have the Big Six.

The Okavango Delt

I am reposting a blog I wrote a few years ago, in celebration of the acceptance of my favourite place on the planet - the Okavango Delta in Botswana - as the 1000th World Heritage site.

Steve Boyes of the Wild Bird Trust had this to say when interviewed by National Geographic:

"The abundance of life is mind boggling: more than 530 bird species, thousands of plant species,160 different mammals,155 reptiles, scores of frogs, countless insects. Everywhere you look you find life. We surveyed bats and we found 17 species in three days. We started looking for praying mantises and found 90 different species. This is the ark of the Kalahari and this part of Africa."

For an outstanding article he wrote - with great photos - read: "Africa's Okavango Delta for Future Generations."

Stan - Thursday

___________________________

The Okavango Delta lies in the northwest of Botswana bordering Namibia.  It is formed by the Kavango River, which rises in the heart of Angola to the north and west, then flows over 1200 kilometres south, then east away from the Atlantic Ocean through Namibia into Botswana.  There it fans out into a huge delta approximately 15000 sq. kms in size and appears to disappear abruptly into the Kalahari Desert.  It is indeed a remarkable sight to see the waters of the Delta on one side of a road and the desert on the other.

The 15000 sq. kms of the Delta comprise very low islands, few more than a two or three metres high, channels of water, and areas that are covered with water in the flood season (June to August) and are water-free much of the rest of the time.  Consequently, the Delta is a maze of islands and beautiful, crystal-clear water.  Access to the islands is by boat (powered on the main channels), mokoros on the smaller channels, and small plane.  There are a few roads on the larger islands, but access from outside is usually impossible.

Sausage tree

Mokoro

One of the greatest pleasures I have ever experienced is to wander along the waterways on a mokoro, which is a dug-out canoe, often made from a sausage tree (Kigelia africana).  The passengers, two at most, sit almost at water level, while the boat is poled by a poler standing at the back (like a punt).  The shallow draft allows the mokoro to go almost anywhere in the Delta.  It is magical to slide silently between the papyrus watching and listening to the birds and spotting wildlife, some of which – the lechwe and sitatunga - are found only in this type of  habitat.

Flying lechwe

Of course you have to be careful, because the larger channels are home to many a hippo (‘kubu’ in Setswana), which, when disturbed, can turn in a flash from a sleepy, tranquil lump of lard into Africa’s most dangerous mammal.  It gets one attention when nearly 3 tonnes of hippo surfaces next to you, jaws open.  Of course, having a hippo surface next to the mokoro is infinitely better than under the mokoro.  If that happens the impact can be so great that the boat may break.  Even if it doesn’t, the poor occupants will be flung into the water.  This too is not a good place to be because although vegetarian, hippos are not reluctant to bite.  A glance at the accompanying photo of a hippo mouth shows how dangerous a bite can be.

Open wide!

In addition, the Delta is inhabited by thousands of Nile crocodiles.  I believe a cooperative agreement exists between hippos and crocs with respect to knocking people into the water, but I haven’t figured out what’s in it for the hippo. 

Actually, such incidents are few and far between because the polers are experienced and know what to do.  In general, when on a boat in hippo territory, the strategy is to bang the side of the boat periodically.  The noise piques the hippos’ curiosity, and they pop their heads above water to see what the kerfuffle is all about.  All you have to do then is NOT to get between them and deep water, which is their haven.

The Okavango is, of course, a magnet to wildlife, particularly when the water is high.  Not only are there well over a hundred species of mammals and a big variety of reptiles (over 120,000 elephant are thought to be in Botswana alone), but the birdlife is spectacular, with the Delta boasting around 500 species, from the rare (the huge Pels Fishing Owl, for example) to the abundant –the Red-Billed Quelea can form flocks so large (millions and millions) that they black out the sun and destroy crops like locusts.

Pell's Fishing owl (50 - 60 cms in length)

Red-billed quelea

Quelea flock

Michael and I are avid birders and love being in the Delta.  About fifteen years ago, I flew up to a small town called Shakawe with some friends.  Shakawe is on the Okavango River just as it spreads out to form the Delta.  There, in the only time of our lives, we suffered from bird overload.  There were so many species in such abundance that we were overwhelmed.  A dozen African Fish Eagles in a tree; hundreds of Slaty and other egrets; dozens of different types of kingfishers; lily-trotting Jacanas; cliffs full of Carmine Bee-eaters; and on and on.  We just couldn’t keep up with the recording of what we had seen, let alone the photography.  Astonishing!

African Fish Eagle

Black heron

African Jacana (the lily trotter)

CarmineBee-Eater

Malachite Kingfisher

Our Detective Kubu is not a bird-watcher and hasn’t visited the Okavango, although he was in prime bird habitat at Jackalberry Camp in the Linyanti.  Unfortunately his situation is true of most Batswana.  Although I agree with the government policy of low-impact, high income – that is few visitors at a high price  - it means that many locals can’t afford to visit the Delta and enjoy what it has to offer.  It is probably up to Michael and me to find a pretext for Kubu to make it to the Delta and enjoy what we have always enjoyed.

But it is so difficult to conceive of a murder in the Delta’s tranquility!

But I’m sure Michael will find a way.

Stan - Thursday

Big Five Plus One

Last year Stan took us through the Big Five – elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and  rhino.  I’ve been in the bush for the past few weeks and lucky enough to have wonderful sightings of all of these.  But I do feel one animal has been very short-changed and it’s an animal very close to our hearts (i.e. Stan’s heart and my heart).  That is the hippo.  I’m sure readers of this blog know that kubu is the Setswana word for hippo, and that our detective has that as his nickname.  I think the hippo has every right to be included in the top rank with those other five.  Not only are the animals very large – the males weigh in over 4,000 lbs, coming in third to elephants and rhinos in terms of size, but they are also fierce and can be quite aggressive in some circumstances – they account for more human deaths in Africa than any other mammal.  And they are fascinating creatures and interesting to watch, edging out the rhino for second place of the three ultra-large herbivores in my opinion.  No river in Africa is complete without their cheerful grunting carrying across the water.

From a physiological point of view, the hippo is amazing.  How about an animal that spends its days in the water, but is too dense to float?  That can hold its breath for up to five minutes.  (Don’t try that one at home!)  That has nostrils designed to close under water, and a reflex that allows it to sleep under the water and rise for breathing without waking up.  That has built in goggles (transparent membranes that close over the eyes under water).  And that has built in sunscreen (the hippo secretes an oily brownish substance which protects its bare skin from the sun).  Pretty impressive design, I’d say.  And no rude comments about it being porcine.  (Kubu would be particularly offended.)  The hippo’s closest relations are the dolphins and whales; it separated off from them about fifty million years ago.

Most of the day they spend fully submerged or comfortably beached on a sandbar warming in the sun (having applied sunscreen, of course.)  In the evenings they come out of the water and spend the nights browsing and grazing along the river banks or quite far inland if the feeding conditions are poor as they tend to be in the winter.  At this time they are busy with the important issue of building up that 4,000 lbs of bulk, and you really don’t want to interfere with them.  In particular, you don’t want to give them the idea that you are trying to cut them off from the haven of the river.  That usually leads to aggressive behavior and possibly one of those human deaths.

I’ve had my own close encounter, mostly my own fault.  It was my first time in a canoe on the Zambesi river in Zimbabwe.  I was with a friend who was a bit more expert as a canoeist than I was, but not much.  He was at the back.  At a certain point the guide who was ahead of us in another canoe signaled us to move out into the center of the river; he’d spotted a pod of hippos near the shore.  What he didn’t know was that the hippos had spotted him, and submerged and politely moved to the center of the river to let us pass.  My friend and I paddled out into the river, proud of our calm expertise.  Moments later a huge jaw opened a short distance in front of us; we had not reciprocated the hippos polite behavior.  We immediately put the canoe into what we thought was reverse.  Unfortunately our expertise did not run to reverse against the current.  What we did do was cause the canoe to rotate as the current took us towards that enormous mouth.  At the crucial moment the hippo sank under the water and we passed over it.  I think I know why it didn’t convert our canoe into splinters and us into mincemeat.  It was laughing too much.

Hippo behavior is complex.  The males have water territories, but will tolerate other bulls as long as they behave in a submissive way.  Last week we saw an interesting example at one of the dams at the game reserve where we were staying.  The dam is large and a family of five hippos, one male and two females with youngsters, has taken up residence.  They’re a charming group, and most days we would pop in to see how they were getting on.  As I mentioned last time, on one occasion they had a stand-off with nine lions and eventually the hippos got right of way.  On our last evening, we arrived at the dam to discover that it now contained six hippos.  Apparently another male had decided the dam was a nice spot to spend the day.  The altercation between the males seemed to involve bursts of rivalry where they would rise from the water bellowing and threatening each other by matching their enormous mouths.  Then all would go quiet for a while and one would rest its head on the other’s back.  Maybe that’s submissive behavior?  Unfortunately it became too dark and rainy to see what happened in the end, but I’d guess that all six went off feeding and that the interloper would have found a more peaceful dam or river stretch for his day nap.

So from all points of view, I believe that the hippopotamus fully deserve a place up there with the other big five.  I propose that in future we have the Big Six.

Michael – Thursday.

The Okavango Delta

 Earlier in the year, Leighton wrote about the incredible pantanal area of Brazil and surrounding countries – a vast wetland unlike anything else.  This week I want to tell you about an area of Botswana that is also a jewel.  It is my favorite place in southern Africa.

The Okavango Delta lies in the northwest of Botswana bordering Namibia.  It is formed by the Okavango River, which rises in the heart of Angola to the north and west, then flows over 1200 kilometres south, then east away from the Atlantic Ocean through Namibia into Botswana.  There it fans out into a huge delta approximately 15000 sq. kms in size and appears to disappear abruptly into the Kalahari Desert.  It is indeed a remarkable sight to see the waters of the Delta on one side of a road and the desert on the other.

The 15000 sq. kms of the Delta comprise very low islands, few more than a two or three metres high, channels of water, and areas that are covered with water in the flood season (June to August) and are water-free much of the rest of the time.  Consequently, the Delta is a maze of islands and beautiful, crystal-clear water.  Access to the islands is by boat (powered on the main channels), mokoros on the smaller channels, and small plane.  There are a few roads on the larger islands, but access from outside is usually impossible.

Sausage tree

Mokoro

One of the greatest pleasures I have ever experienced is to wander along the waterways on a mokoro, which is a dug-out canoe, often made from a sausage tree (Kigelia africana).  The passengers, two at most, sit almost at water level, while the boat is poled by a poler standing at the back (like a punt).  The shallow draft allows the mokoro to go almost anywhere in the Delta.  It is magical to slide silently between the papyrus watching and listening to the birds and spotting wildlife, some of which – the lechwe and sitatunga - are found only in this type of  habitat.

Flying lechwe

Of course you have to be careful, because the larger channels are home to many a hippo (‘kubu’ in Setswana), which, when disturbed, can turn in a flash from a sleepy, tranquil lump of lard into Africa’s most dangerous mammal.  It gets one attention when nearly 3 tonnes of hippo surfaces next to you, jaws open.  Of course, having a hippo surface next to the mokoro is infinitely better than under the mokoro.  If that happens the impact can be so great that the boat may break.  Even if it doesn’t, the poor occupants will be flung into the water.  This too is not a good place to be because although vegetarian, hippos are not reluctant to bite.  A glance at the accompanying photo of a hippo mouth shows how dangerous a bite can be.

Open wide!

In addition, the Delta is inhabited by thousands of Nile crocodiles.  I believe a cooperative agreement exists between hippos and crocs with respect to knocking people into the water, but I haven’t figured out what’s in it for the hippo. 

Actually, such incidents are few and far between because the polers are experienced and know what to do.  In general, when on a boat in hippo territory, the strategy is to bang the side of the boat periodically.  The noise piques the hippos’ curiosity, and they pop their heads above water to see what the kerfuffle is all about.  All you have to do then is NOT to get between them and deep water, which is their haven.

African Fish Eagle

The Okavango is, of course, a magnet to wildlife, particularly when the water is high.  Not only are there dozens of different species of mammals and reptiles (over 120,000 elephant are thought to be in Botswana alone), but the birdlife is spectacular, with the Delta boasting around 450 species, from the rare (the huge Pels Fishing Owl, for example) to the abundant –the Red-Billed Quelea can form flocks so large (millions and millions) that they black out the sun and destroy crops like locusts. 

Red-billed quelea

Quelea flock

Pell's Fishing owl

Michael and I are avid birders and love being in the Delta.  About fifteen years ago, I flew up to a small town called Shakawe with some friends.  Shakawe is on the Okavango River just as it spreads out to form the Delta.  There, in the only time of our lives, we suffered from bird overload.  There were so many species in such abundance that we were overwhelmed.  A dozen African Fish Eagles in a tree; hundreds of Slaty and other egrets; dozens of different types of kingfishers; lily-trotting Jacanas; cliffs full of Carmine Bee-eaters; and on and on.  We just couldn’t keep up with the recording of what we had seen, let alone the photography.  Astonishing!


 

Our Detective Kubu is not a bird-watcher and hasn’t visited the Okavango, although he was in prime bird habitat at Jackalberry Camp in the Linyanti.  Unfortunately his situation is true of most Batswana.  Although I agree with the government policy of low-impact, high income – that is few visitors at a high price  - it means that many locals can’t afford to visit the Delta and enjoy what it has to offer.  It is probably up to Michael and me to find a pretext for Kubu to make it to the Delta and enjoy what we have always enjoyed.

CarmineBee-Eater

But it is so difficult to conceive of a murder in the Delta’s tranquility!

Malachite Kingfisher

African Jacana

But I’m sure Michael will find a way.

Stan - Thursday