Kalahari desert - predators and prey
Category: National Parks and protected areas | Date: Jan 05 2008 | By: admin
After two incredible days in Selinda we drove to the great Kalahari conservation area - the worlds second largest conservation area – second to Selous National Park in Tanzania. This was described to us as the least visited, and wildest corner of Botswana that was made famous by the couple Mark and Delia Owen through their best selling book ‘Cry of the Kalahari‘ - they studied black-maned lions and brown hyenas in an area so remote that the animals had never before seen humans. Cry of the Kalahari, their best-selling book, is their account of their research and adventures. According to people in Botswana, the book revealed the threat that the veterinary fence posed to migrating wildlife and as a result, “apparently” this public revelation led to their eviction from Botswana although they continue to do research and support conservation through their foundation The Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation
We arrived at the gate of the Kalahari after driving down one of these nearly 100 km veterinary fences and were met with a stunning surprise
Gemsbok were everywhere … we were advised to camp at Deception Valley in the desert which is where the Owens did their research. Well, I can see why they chose the location …look at these photos and tell me if you think it’s a desert … or even a valley!
Males were testing females
It had rained recently and the animals were getting ready for breeding - the males especially were very frisky
This is the valley! Some springbok had started calving
Massive flocks of quelea were everywhere
As were these ‘crazy’ birds which spent the entire day making ridiculous raucous calls…I hve no idea what they were
None of the animals were particularly worried about us … this is a HUGE monitor lizard that walked right by us flicking his bright red forked tongue around as he/she went
Some of the smaller animals were just adorable
And everyone was enjoying the flush of green grass - these are striped ground squirrels
And I was thrilled to meet one of my most favourite animals, really close up…. meerkats
I hope I’m not getting repetitive, but these animals are stunning - and very well behaved for an amateur photographer like me!
I also personally adore jackals - there were hundreds of these black backed jackals around … often alone or in pairs
Others saw lions but we missed them, the only evidence was their deafening roars at night (I could swear they were in our camp!) - and this….
We missed witnessing the lion kill the night before, but got one scavenger trying to get something off the remains
In Selinda we witnessed lions killing a wild dog which many think is simply a case of a predator getting rid of it’s competition
Well check out this
These Jackals walked right up to the cheetah but didn’t seem at all bothered with it, and neither did the cheetah
They both lay down within 30 m of each other
and then the jackals started making these amazing cat like calls
Well, as you can see, it was a feast, wildlife photographic candy…
We celebrated our Christmas under the stars in Deception Valley in the Kalahari Desert - wondering about the name.. I think it’s a deception that its a valley or a desert.
They say that the Kalahari Desert is about the most dangerous place to go to in Botswana because it’s HUGE and you rarely see anyone else. … which is a big part of the attraction for me. But, if you break down you’re scr*wed!! Nobody is likely to find you for days! We had to rescue a group of young rather intoxicated people whose battery died on them in the park. They were desperate and we had to use our battery to start their car. Being there for Christmas day only, they had little water or food… (but lots of booze!). We thankfully got them out with help of other visitors after an hour or so… and then we discovered that we had brought no water for bathing… so it was 4 days in the bush without a bath… nice! It certainly kept the bugs at bay!
We did achieve something important, a realisation that a blog about this surprising place is definitely of interest to WildlifeDirect if it can help to raise funds to save this spectacular part of Africa.
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16 Responses to “Kalahari desert - predators and prey”
Pam/Shell Beach, CA, on 05 Jan 2008
Your pictures are amazing! Thanks for sharing. What a way to spend Christmas. And that jackal is very handsome.
THERESA SISKIND, on 05 Jan 2008
All the animals are stunning, great pictures. Those meerkats are really something. Of course, just the mention of cheetah, and my senses are on alert! Perhaps the cheetah and the jackals have an “understanding” amongst them, it certainly appeared that way. I’m happy to hear you saw many jackals also. By the way, in your previous post, you talked about the donkeys being hobbled, I feel really bad about this practice, how can they possibly run from predators?
Lisa, California, on 05 Jan 2008
Beatiful pictures. Thank you for sharing. You sound like my husband. He likes to go to places where no one else is around. Me, I’m kind of chicken that way. I love the pictures of the cheetah and jackel. So interesting. By the way, what is the purpose of the veterinary fences? Lisa
paula, on 05 Jan 2008
Thanks for your comments - Theresa, there law in Botswana allows people to freely run their donkeys and other livestock which is why they are often on the highways. I don’t think there are many predators on or near the roads… Lisa and Pam thanks for your comments also, I’ve spoken to predator people and they can’t explain the cheetah jackal interaction …. it was very cute. The veterinary fence is to create a physical barrier (two fences 10m apart actually) to keep disease free herds - this is mainly for foot and mouth Disease and every time you cross to a disease free zone you have to disinfect all your shoes and drive though a pit of disinfectant. This is to protect the beef industry - one of Botswana’s biggest exports is beef to South Africa.
THERESA SISKIND, on 06 Jan 2008
Paula, first of all thanks for answering our questions and commmenting on our thoughts, etc.! Here is a question I put to you {I’ve saked Dr. Laurie Marker at Cheetah Conservation Fund}. Why did nature design the cheetah to be a solitary animal?! Wouln’t cheetahs be better living in groups, like lions do in prides?
THERESA SISKIND, on 06 Jan 2008
Paula, I just read the latest blogs from Lion Guardians at WLD. I don’t know if you have read and seen the pictures yet…my heart is so heavy, and I feel in such utter despair over the senseless killing of these beautiful lions. In America, we have a reimbursement program for ranchers when a wolf takes a steer, that way the wolf is spared…
paula, on 07 Jan 2008
Theresa, I hear you and feel just as shocked, angry and sad about the lions. I asked Seamus to put up the post as soon as he told me the bad news. I also insisted he show us the photos- not try to shield us from reality. It’s important that we see it all. At the same time I’d like to get into the heads of those women who poisoned them - I bet I’d understand their logic - protecting their livestock, children etc. We have a lot of work to do on education and awareness….people act mostly out of ignorance. I’d like to explore other solutions than jail sentences - which feel like justice now but don’t give us long lasting effect because the conservationists end up being seen as enemies. I feel really strongly about this as there is a growing tendencey towards poisoning predators across Africa - I’ve seen it in Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Congo and Botswana…..why? Because it’s cheap and easy. We have to tackle it in a very strategic manner. But we need a lot of help to succeed in this.
THERESA SISKIND, on 07 Jan 2008
Yes Paula, WLD made the right decision to post those pictures! As a member of PETA I have seen all matter of horrors; videos of dogs and cats beinskinned ALIVE in China for their fur, “downed cattle” being forklifted into the slaughter house, puppy mills where the breeding female is kept in a cage her entire life, not even taken out of the cage to relieve herself! PETA has the right idea about education, they document these atrocities and then get it out to the public. I wish WLD could do something along this line to get the word out to the world. Now, don’t the African governments realize that their precious wildlife is the number one reason for tourism there? Why don’t they set up a reinbursement program for livestock lost to predation? Sure the money spent on such a program would pale in comparison to the money earned by tourism?!
THERESA SISKIND, on 07 Jan 2008
One more thing Paula, I was at the bank this morning wiring funds to JACK and the man handling the transaction asked what it was for. I explained to him it was to help buy an electrified fence to protect the orphaned chimps. He asked me, protect them from what? I then told him about the bushmeat trade, he looked at me and replied, “Uhm, that’s something you don’t think about here in the US”. See what I mean, people here are absolutely clueless! When the 2 orphaned lowland gorillas were rescued from poachers several days ago, I called the CNN tip line and told the caller what had happened and to contact Emmanuel for the story, I was crying the entire time. We need a spokesperson from WLD to launch a vigorous campaign, perhaps the National Geographic Society could help…
F. J. PECHIR, on 07 Jan 2008
Thank you for this post! Very interesting. Regularly jackals are not targeted as main competitors by others predators like lions, leopards, cheethas and spotted hyenas, because they regularly hunt different prey, and is very common to see jackals wandering very near hyenas, lions and cheetahs at their kills,big cats not disturbed by their prescence. The only prey that is occasionally sher by jackals with others big predators is newborn gazelles calfs. This issue changes drastically with leopards, wich sometimes can and do take jackals as prey, and there are some individuals that are more likely to do it than others, and also this behaviour seems to be influenced by location and time of the year in some areas. The agresive interactions beeing principally between lions, leopards, hyenas and cheetahs, but is not uncommon to sometimes see this predators just ignoring each other in determined situations.
F. J. PECHIR, on 07 Jan 2008
And yes, mark and Delia Owen were evicted from Botswana just for doing their work and for make the world know the problems that this country had in wildlife conservation. I saw many years ago a t.v. program about this matter, I don´t remember if it was a NatGeo special or something…
F. J. PECHIR, on 07 Jan 2008
By the way…that crazy bird is a bustard, there are some different species of them in the plains of Africa.
Lisa, California, on 09 Jan 2008
Paula, did you say that women were responsible for poisoning the lions? These lions Birdie and Sangale? I must have missed something, somewhere, what? I need to know more. Lisa
Katherine Herzog, NYC, on 10 Jan 2008
A cheetah has nothing to fear from a jackal - unless it has newborn cubs or food to protect that the jackal is trying to pinch.
A jackal has nothing to fear from an apparently well-fed, relaxed big cat. I’ve seen cheetah youngsters going after jackals but just for sport…just to watch them run away.
In Amboseli last year I witnessed something really amazing…a huge male lion was sleeping at high noon next to a dead, half-eaten wildebeest. Sleeping around the lion and his kill were no less than eleven spotted hyenas…the closest one about 10 meters away! The hyenas were not going to challenged a large male lion and were perfectly content to wait and watch until the big male was finished with his meal. This would avoid getting hurt or killed by the lion and they knew it would leave them a good portion of residual meat and bone. Why fight when you can share!
By the way, can you tell me the name of that striking tortoise?
THERESA SISKIND, on 13 Jan 2008
Paula, your blog should be a place of joy and learning, but again tragedy has struck. I don’t know if you follow the blogs at Gorilla Protection And Gorilla Doctors, but early this morning one of the rescued lowland gorillas, Vumilia, suscumbed to his injuries and infection. We are all grieving over his death…and praying little Mapendo the other orphan survives this new loss in her very short, violence filled life.
Hannah Jang, on 18 Mar 2008
guud picture
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