Simon Thomsett

Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: Apr 15 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

Most of the drive to Nxai Pan and Makgadikgadi Pans National Park was along a big main road and we were continually surprised at seeing elephants foraging by the roadside. Another surprise was driving up to a large Cobra sun-bathing in the middle of the road. It quickly disappeared into the undergrowth by the roadside. Numerous Bateleurs flew overhead and quite a few Martial Eagles were spotted too.

Elephants on the road

Cobra on the road

We got to Nxai Pan just after midday and drove for quite a while before coming out into the open pan that gives the park its name. On the way, we saw our first Gemsbok, the cousin of the more northern Oryx. We drove straight towards the main waterhole where two lions lazed in the shade of a bush. Nearby, we spotted our first Springbok, a southern African species of gazelle. We left the waterhole to explore the pan more thoroughly. We saw lots of Pale Chanting Goshawks and couldn’t help but compare them with their northern counterpart, the Eastern Chanting Goshawk. They seem quite a bit larger, and, as the name suggests, paler. We spotted a couple of cheetahs lying in the shade of some far off trees and watched three bull elephants splashing white-muddy water over themselves, turning themselves white in the process.

Young Pale Chanting Goshawk

Elephants covering themselves in white mud

The next day we drove to the southern part of the park, the Makgadikgadi Pans. We drove first to the river, which isn’t flowing at the moment but consists of a few shallow pools. We noticed more than 40 vultures perched in trees staring down at one spot. We followed their gaze and found a lioness who had obviously stashed a kill in the bush she was lying under. Our campsite that night was a remote one on some hills in the middle of the park and we set off at first light, this time towards the famous pans. After watching some Mongooses trying to get warm in the first rays of the sun, we spotted a vulture sitting in a palm tree. We found this to be unusual and photographed it thinking it was a rarity. We were soon to find out that in this park, it was the norm. We came upon an area with quite a few palms and a huge portion of them had vultures sitting in them. As we watched them, the day got warmer and they took off to a spot a few hundred metres away where they landed on the ground. Our binoculars showed us that two male lions had made a kill over there but no road could get us close enough to get any more information.

White-backed Vulture in a palm tree

A small tortoise and a decent sized python entertained us on the way to the pans. We noticed that quite a few zebras seemed all walking in the same direction, away from the pans, towards the river about 70km away. We assumed this to be part of the zebra migration that takes place in this park around this time of year, when the pans dry up and the zebras go in search of permanent water sources. We later bumped into some people that confirmed the fact: the zebra migration had started that day! The pans were quite a sight … large expanses of white-grey soda-ash interspersed with grassy areas. A few animals remained but the bulk of them were on the move. Most fun were the ground squirrels that live in communities and stood all in a row watching us drive by. We saw very few raptors over the drier pans, just a few Greater Kestrels and one Black-shouldered Kite. Rather than the animals this time, it was the starkness and beauty of this landscape that drew our attention.

Migrating Zebras

Ground Squirrels

Makgadikgadi Pans

Tags: makgadikgadi pans national park, vultures in palm trees, white elephants