WILDLIFE BLOG

Whether you love them, or hate their garish colours, guides across Southern Africa are indebted to the ubiquitous Lilac Breasted Roller. Surely more than any other bird, they have introduced countless guests to the rewarding variety and remarkable beauty of Africa's birds.

Each evening this week, the storm clouds build, the humidity rockets.....and then it all comes to nothing. Although I must admit that I was quite glad of the false start today as I was caught out in it with nothing to protect me and all my kit. When will I learn that it's time to start taking my jacket with me...? These impala looked very much at peace in the evening light as the pink-grey clouds [...]

The view from the bridge makes it clear that hippos are one species that are not in short supply in the Luangwa. These huge lawnmowers will soon enjoy the spoils of fresh grass when the rains finally come.

The rains are coming! We had about 2cms last night (not all that much considering it rained all night!) but it's a promise that more is on the way. Rains are a double-edged sword for photographers...the dramatic skies, leaden clouds and lightning strikes are great, as is the clear air that follows a big storm. But the dull grey clouds which stretch from horizon to horizon, and remain in place for days on end are less [...]

Further north of here, there is a pride of lion which have featured in more documentaries than almost any others. Hardly suprisingly, someone named them the Hollywoods. So, what better to name the new coalition of 3 brothers who are at the top of the pride, than Metro, Goldwyn and Mayer? Here's Metro resting in the shade after a long hot day, his dark mane beginning to show that he will soon be a really impressive [...]

Oxpeckers never get that much attention, but they are fascinating to watch. I spent a couple of hours on the river bank recently, watching them interact with their host hippos and with each other. They move from host to host, cleaning the exposed skin and wounds and feeding on ticks and other parasites. When a hippo turns over in the water, they move quickly to the newly-exposed skin to enjoy the parasites that had previously been [...]

The valley's lagoons are all dry, the seasonal sand rivers stopped carrying water long ago, and the Luangwa's huge hippo population has all taken up residence in the shallow trickle of the main river. It's hot, there's not a lot of space and disagreements between males are almost inevitable. When two males find themselves jammed together, one would normally defer to the other with a lowered head and by turning away. So long as only one [...]

Yesterday, I went again to watch the hippos in the river. I reached the bottom of the steps into the hide, and heard a deep throaty hissing sound coming from my right. I've heard that sound before, and it's not something you want to hear in an enclosed space. I raised my hand to cover my eyes, and turned slowly, expecting to come face to face with a Cobra. Relieved that I wasn't sharing the hide [...]

Sitting in a vehicle overlooking the river as the sun goes down is a truly Africa experience. Especially when a small family of elephants comes to complete the scene.

Today, I spent a few hours watching hippos from a hide on the river bank. While the hippos were wallowing, and not doing all that much, I focussed on the White-fronted bee-eaters who were nesting in the river bank. They were flying regular sorties out over the river to catch insects which they returned to the nest to feed their chick. But occasionally, they would fly down low over the water and dive in headfirst to [...]

As I drove out of camp yesterday, I caught sight of the very distinctive tear-drop breast plumage of a juvenile African Goshawk in a thick bush at the side of the road. It was behaving strangely by remaining in the bush even when I was nearby, and I couldn't work out what was the problem. As I reversed, it did fly off but only to another branch and without breaking cover. I went back to camp [...]