The 2025 Botswana Journals, Ch: 26, Completing the Morning of Nov. 9

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        It's still the morning of Nov. 9th, and it has been full!  You saw the lions in Chapter 24 and the elephants in Chapter 25.   Now let's look at the other sights of this very full morning game drive before we return to Tuli Lodge for lunch and a midday break.

        Bashi stops the Toyota Land Cruiser in the middle of trail and turns off the engine.  Before us, a sandy road leads in a straight line toward the scenic red sandstone rocks, balanced in what seems like a defiance of gravity.

        As we watch, several elephants cross in front of us, adding size proportion to the scene.

        Next up are three Southern giraffes.

        Impalas dither about what to do....

 

        ..before they, too, cross, wander about,  or dither some more...

        In all, a peaceful, pastoral scene, and perfect for our cameras.

        A short distance away, more Southern giraffes.

Southern giraffes are lighter in color than their cousins.  

        Zoologists now think there are four species of giraffes, along with some subspecies.   Of these four, the males often reach heights of 18 feet, with their footprint measuring 12 inches across.   Also, the patterns in all four are different from the others.

        I can tell you from personal experience that a head butt from a giraffe--male or female--can knock you senseless.

        Mashatu Game Reserve bills itself as "The Land of Giants."   Here are some examples.   

        We see a  few zebra.

      

          One has a passenger in the form of a red-billed oxpecker.   Both red-billed and yellow-billed oxpeckers, as well as wattled starlings, have symbiotic relationships with the grazing animals.  

        They feed on the ticks and other insects that gather on the animals, and the birds get their moisture from the noses and eyes.  They spend most of their time in these endeavors, leaving only to nest.

        In the broad, treeless savannahs, you can sometimes see Lilac-beasted rollers perched on an animal that are the highest point around from which to watch for ground insects, on which the rollers thrive.

A tree I liked.   No idea what it is.   My guess it was shaped by elephants and giraffes.

An agama,   Beautiful lime green and aqua colors.

Three white-fronted bee-eaters.

Another white-fronted bee-eater.

Monotonous lark.   LIFER

Monotonous lark.   LIFER

Southern white-crowned shrike.   

Meve's aka Long-tailed starling.   LIFER

Look at the colors in the Meve's starling!

Giant plated lizard.   LIFER

Giant plated lizard.   LIFER

 

Banded mongoose looking for a meal.

Success.

        The bushbuck are grazing right outside the camp fence.   We often see dwarf antelopes like bushbucks and dikdiks hanging around the camps as they feel safer from predators there.

See the little fly on the side of the bushbuck's face?   There are remarkably fewer flies here, unlike Kenya.

These little antelopes are 2 to 3 feet high at the shoulder.

And this one beds down by our tent.

Camp squirrel.

Some of the lovely Tuli Lodge grounds.

        Now it's time for lunch and a heat-of-the-day break.   This is the norm for all safaris.  The wildlife usually bed down during the noon to mid-afternoon hours, and the light can be too harsh for photography.  

        We are scheduled for the Lala Limpopo hide today, but have asked for a game drive prior to arriving later at the hide.   

        And what a gem of a game drive that will be!!!