Botswana Archives - Travel To Eat

January 13, 2019 by Kurt Buzard

Big Termite Mounds in Botswana with Facts and Photos

Active Macrotermes Termite Mound in Botswana

Across the forests and prairies of Asia, and vast savannahs of Africa, live secret societies of tiny termite architects. They are masters of construction, their sophisticated green-energy designs perfectly adapted to their often hot and arid surroundings. Most homeowners are aware of the destructive power of an army of termites but the fungus termites of Southern Africa are the focus of life and regeneration on the African savannah. With the aid of fungus farms, tended deep within the nest, the termites of southern Africa transform wood and dead leaves into organic nutrients which sustain vegetation and provide shelter and food for the surrounding wildlife. The 33 pounds (15 kilograms) or so of termites in a typical mound will, in an average year, move a fourth of a metric ton (about 550 pounds) of soil and several tons of water. They are not only remarkable architects of their own living spaces but are an essential part of the ecosystem and survival of virtually all the life around them. Termites transform the ecosystem in a variety of complex ways. Termites import coarse particles into the otherwise fine soil in the vicinity of their mounds which promotes water infiltration of the soil. The mounds also show elevated levels of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. All this beneficial soil alteration appears to directly and indirectly mold the ecosystem far beyond the immediate vicinity of the mound.
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November 9, 2018 by Kurt Buzard

Majestic Baobab Trees with Facts and Photos

Baobab Tree (Adansonia digitata) in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

The baobab is an iconic and prehistoric species which predates both mankind and the splitting of the continents over 200 million years ago. Native to the African savannah where the climate is extremely dry and arid, it is a symbol of life and positivity in a landscape where little else can thrive. Over time, the Baobab has adapted to its environment. It is a succulent, which means that during the rainy season it absorbs and stores water in its vast trunk, enabling it to produce a nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season when all around is dry and arid. This is how it became known as “The Tree of Life”. Adansonia digitata is named after the French botanist Michel Adanson, who undertook an 18th-century exploration of Senegal. Baobabs are widely distributed in belts across Africa. Of the nine species accepted as of April 2018, six are native to Madagascar, two are native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and one is native to Australia. One of the mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that island. It was introduced in ancient times to south Asia and during the colonial era to the Caribbean. The African and Australian baobabs are almost identical despite having separated more than 100 million years ago, probably the Australian trees got there by oceanic dispersal.

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April 14, 2018 by Kurt Buzard

Baboons and Monkeys in Botswana

Mother and Child Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus) in the Okavango Delta

Observing Monkeys with their young is a fascinating experience. We get to see how similar many of their ways with the young are compared to those of humans. They bond with their young and keep them very close. They nurture them and care for them. Monkeys are primates with many emotions too. They are able to show grief, anger, happiness, and more. That could all be part of the evolution process that all primates have gone through. Humans and monkeys are both primates. But humans are not descended from monkeys or any other primate living today. We do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees. It lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. But humans and chimpanzees evolved differently from that same ancestor. All apes and monkeys share a more distant relative, which lived about 25 million years ago.
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April 10, 2018 by Kurt Buzard

Beautiful Antelope in Botswana with Awsome Facts and Photos

Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)

Since I had a fair amount of time on my hands when I was in Africa, I came to sort of an informal classification of the antelope based on their appearance and behavior, with no scientific basis whatsoever, and since this is my post, I thought I would share. The Impala are the beautiful children of the savanna, they leap, they congregate and they run. The tiny Steenbuck with their giant eyes are, of course, the infants. The elegant Kudu are the parents, bigger, slower but also responsible and watchful. The Lechwe and Tsessebe are the rumpled uncles and aunts, not seen as often but also watchful. In particular the Tsessebe are like the clueless uncle everyone seems to have had. The Wildebeests are the rumpled grandparents, they always look like they are having a bad day. All of these are “ungulates”, plant eating animals with hooves. Ungulates are members of a diverse group of large mammals that includes odd-toed ungulates such as horses and rhinoceroses, and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, camels, deer, and antelope. Most ungulates walk on the tips of their toes, actually their toenails or hooves.
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March 12, 2018 by Kurt Buzard

Mongooses and Squirrels

Smith’s Bush Squirrel (Paraxerus cepapi)

I thought I would write a little about the smaller animals in Botswana who are often overlooked with regards to the more popular lions, elephants and giraffes. As gardeners, we tend to think of squirrels as pests. They dig up freshly planted seeds, dig holes in lawns, drop the scales of pine cones everywhere, and they often get to green tomatoes and fruit before it is picked. Yet squirrels are important to the well being of forests. The caching behaviour of seeds by squirrels is very important for the renewal of many tree species, particularly plants that produce heavy seeds that have few chances to sprout when they fall near the parent plant. Conservationists have long regarded mongooses as an enemy to native wildlife and ecosystems when introduced to islands without natural predators. In its natural habitat, southern Eurasia and mainland Africa, they are a natural part of the food chain, eaten by jackals, wild dogs and hawks. The mongoose is carnivorous, consuming mostly insects, but also other small mammals, lizards, snakes and eggs of all kinds. Also, like squirrels, they will supplement occasionally with berries and seeds.

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February 23, 2018 by Max Distro LLC

Black Backed Jackal

Black-Backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas)

The slender Black-Backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas) is only found in Africa. This species has a discontinuous distribution range, and is found in two separate populations, one in East Africa and the Horn (East African jackal or Canis mesomelas schmidtiand), and the other in Southern Africa (Cape jackal or Canis mesomelas mesomelas). The black-backed jackal has occupied eastern and southern Africa for at least 2–3 million years, as shown by fossil deposits in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Specimens from fossil sites in Transvaal are almost identical to their modern counterparts, but have slightly different nasal bones. Wolves, dogs, and dingoes are subspecies of Canis lupus. Canis species too small to attract the word “wolf” are called coyotes in the Americas and jackals elsewhere, and specifically in Africa. The jackal’s ecological specialisation is similar to that of the coyote found in North America. Though it scavenges, it is also a proficient and well-respected hunter of smaller game.

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February 6, 2018 by Max Distro LLC

Larger Birds of Botswana

African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) left, Yellow-billed stork (Mycteria ibis) right

In a previous post, I presented examples of the smaller birds I saw on my recent trip to Botswana, in this post I thought I would show the larger birds. I saw the two beautiful birds seen above in Chobe National Park in Botswana, about an hours drive from Victoria Falls. Chobe is well renowned as a superb bird sanctuary featuring many different waterfowl, raptors, woodland species and migrants. In addition the Okavango Delta supports large concentrations of animals on both a permanent and seasonal basis. It has become perhaps one of the best places to see animals and birds in Africa. In between, there are many large and small birds adapted to the semi-arid bush during the winter. I have arbitrarily put Hornbills, Heron and Storks in separate posts to make the post more manageable. There a total 593 species of birds in Botswana, of which 4 have been introduced by humans, and 100 are rare or accidental. Of course, I did not see all of them but these posts cover the ones I did see.

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January 30, 2018 by Max Distro LLC

Heron and Egrets in Botswana

Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) with Herons

On my recent trip to Botswana, I had the chance to visit Chobe National Park in northern Botswana, about an hour from Victoria Falls. The Chobe river forms Botswana’s northern border with Namibia and the boundary of southern Africa. Its water helps maintain a lush floodplain and rich variety of habitats vital to the multitude of animals that inhabit Chobe National Park. Chobe is well renowned as a superb bird sanctuary featuring many different waterfowl, raptors, woodland species and migrants. This area from Ngoma to Kazungula, incorporating northern Chobe National Park and Kasane, must rank as one of the top birding spots in southern Africa. The total bird list now exceeds some 450 species, which is Botswana’s longest area list. There were an astonishing number of Heron and Egrets and I thought I would present them together. These waterfowl tend to congregate around the Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer), Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) and Elephants since they churn up the water, delivering food to the birds.

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January 4, 2018 by Max Distro LLC

Smaller Birds in Botswana

A Group of Smaller Birds on a Treetop at Dusk in Botswana

Last fall I had the good fortune to go on a safari in Botswana (it was spring there below the equator) where I saw some beautiful birds. While Botswana does not have any endemic species of birds, it is nonetheless one of Africa’s top birding areas because of its protection of a number of threatened and endangered species. The best season in Botswana for number of species is during the summer months, when the migrants have arrived, but this is not to say that the winter months are a bad birding time. On the contrary, it is easier to find birds during the dry winter months when their movements are restricted to permanent water sources and pools drying to mud with trapped fish and crustaceans. I have arbitrarily separated the smaller and larger birds into separate posts. As a disclaimer, since the stated purpose of the safari was large mammals, it was challenging to get adequate closeup photos of the smaller birds, I have presented what I have.
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December 23, 2017 by Max Distro LLC

Hornsbill in Botswana

Southern Red-Billed Hornbill (Tockus rufirostris)

If you visit Botswana, you will undoubtedly encounter the red-billed hornbill seen above. Unlike most of the other birds, this one seems curious about humans and poses for pictures endlessly. The Hornsbill (Bucerotidae) include about 55 living species, though a number of cryptic species may yet be split, as has been suggested for the red-billed hornbill (seen above). Their distribution includes Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Subcontinent to the Philippines and the Solomon Islands, but no genus is found in both Africa and Asia. The most distinctive feature of the hornbills is the heavy bill, supported by powerful neck muscles as well as by the fused vertebrae. The large bill assists in fighting, preening, constructing the nest, and catching prey. There are two subfamilies: the Bucorvinae contain the two ground hornbills in a single genus, and the Bucerotinae contain all other taxa. Traditionally they are included in the order Coraciiformes (which includes also kingfishers, rollers, hoopoes and bee-eaters). In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, however, hornbills are separated from the Coraciiformes into an order of their own, Bucerotiformes, with the subfamilies elevated to family level.

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Big Termite Mounds in Botswana with Facts and Photos

Majestic Baobab Trees with Facts and Photos

Baboons and Monkeys in Botswana

Beautiful Antelope in Botswana with Awsome Facts and Photos

Mongooses and Squirrels

Black Backed Jackal

Larger Birds of Botswana

Heron and Egrets in Botswana

Smaller Birds in Botswana

Hornsbill in Botswana

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