The 2025 Botswana Journals, Ch. 38: Hiding Again, sans Elephants

     I'm getting better at photographing the frogs in the "Elephant Hide."   Again, there are no elephants here to entertain us.   

    However, the days have been getting warmer as the perpetual overcast of the sky thins, so there's a good chance something will show up besides doves.

    While we wait, there are bugs to photograph, too.

These small white butterflies are called Pioneer White.

    Regarding the heat:  I was already quite warm when we arrived at the hide, but after I climbed through the top hatch and down the steep steps, sweat started running off my face.    

    Looking at the exterior of the hide, it appears to be a re-purposed shipping container--we call them connexes--so you might say I was in a steel oven and that's exactly what it felt like.

    The large panel on top is the hatch door.  On the left side near the ground are rectangular openings for the photographers.   Some have already been closed up with wood flaps to keep the large critters out.   The frogs were on the narrow strip of dirt between the hide and the water.

    Just when I was about roasted to medium-well done, a herd of impala approached, and I forgot all about the temperature.

    One brave doe made the first approach.   After that, it was free-for-all.   I had a hard time trying to decide where to aim my lens, so I began looking for opportunities to photograph individuals or a few individuals.

A nice stag in the center.

    Here's a stag with a broken horn.   Their horns are permanent and will not regrow, unlike deer, whose antlers are shed and regrown every year.

A cell phone video:

Love the water droplets.

Note how the impala has spread its front legs.   They re very vulnerable to predators at this point.   

    And then they were finished.   They disappeared into the brush.

    But wait!  Isn't there more?

    Why, yes, indeed.   What's a hide without a dove?

Then, a treat.   A red-billed oxpecker or two.   These birds are usually seen on mammals, checking them for parasites, etc., in a symbiotic relationship.

Then, we top it off with the beautiful Lilac-breasted rollers.

    As we leave the hide for the last time on this safari, I spot a male ostrich in the shade of the tree.   The bird is hot and has its mouth open in an effort to cool off.   Those luxurious black feathers don't help much in this kind of heat.