Kasane: Wildlife Paradise of Northeast Botswana

The next two posts are going to be about our recent trip through Botswana. Most of the better photos and memories are of this country are of the very first town we came to – Kasane. The town itself was remarkably unremarkable. The biggest interest of Kasane was not the buildings or streets but the animals that made the streets their home. When we first came to town we were told not to go out at night.

“Why? Muggers?”
“No, the elephants come down from the hills and come to town.”

Below: African Fish Eagle, Terathopius ecaudatus. We saw this magnificent bird towards the end of our stay in Kasane, but I thought it would be a good photo to start with. I was so glad I was looking in the right direction to get this shot.

We were slowly working our way through first Namibia and then Botswana. I still plan to write about those earlier trips. This is the border entrance to both Botswana and Chobe National Park. The Baobab tree is host to a Weaver “village” and also some Green Woodhoopoes (next photo).

Green Woodhoopoe, Phoeniculus purpureus. Almost every time I saw these birds they were a threesome. Noisy and very active.

The first unusual wildlife we saw was this rare Southern Ground Hornbill, Bucorvus leadbeateri, walking down the road.

And the, a minute or two later, I got my first good look – and shot – at an African Elephant. As it turns out this was the only good look we had at one. Later on we had more encounters, but not this close. More on that below.

Above and Below: Chacma Baboons

These Chacmas were on the shopping center roof. Food (garbage) is plentiful. When the litter did not suffice they do what I saw an enterprising male do. He came down to the open air food court, crouching on the rim of the trash can, picked out what he wanted, throwing over his shoulder what he didn’t.

Kasane. The town is not much to look at.

General store near our guest house. We opted to walk the extra distance to the Pic-n-Pay in the center.

Another noisy trio, the well-named Arrow-marked Babbler, Turdoides jardineii.

Southern Cordonbleu, Uraeginthus angolensis

Pearl-spotted Owlet, Glaucidium perlatum

The Hamerkop, Scopus umbretta, flying can easily be mistaken for a bird of prey.

Beautiful Carmine Bee-eaters, Merops nubicoides, snarfing up dragonflies and other insects in the parking lot of the grocery store. Very tame too.

I love these majestic baobabs. Kasane, Botswana. Several times we came across these knobby giants,

Every morning we went for a nature walk, striking out in different directions. We didn’t know it but on some of those days we were within the Chobe National Park. Elephant scat on our path – a path they probably made themselves! Also we spooked a crocodile from the bank before I could get a good picture of him sunning.

One of our favorite places is this riverside area just a mile or so out of town. Chobe River. Namibia is just across the river. We saw the Fish Eagle from this deck. And we also saw – first heard! – the Hippopotamus (below).

We finally saw a hippo in the wild! I heard him first with his high-pressure air blast as he came up from the river. Photo was taken from the relative safety of the wooden walkway in the previous photo.

The wooden walkway, dilapidated in places, kept us at a safe distance from any hippos and crocs. But as we followed the boardwalk I looked ahead at this group, several dozen Macaques (also called Baboons but that would ruin my alliteration). I was more concerned about the morose movement of those guys watching us from the roof of an abandoned (closed supposedly for renovation) Wildlife Exhibit. We decided to backtrack.

There are several churches like this in the forest.

Trucking down the Chobe River.

Going to school.

Marabou Storks, Leptoptilos crumenifer, and Impalas (We counted about 90 of them near an old quarry). We saw these as we took a dirt path back to the highway. We saw no one on the path. Perhaps it was unwise for us to go on this rarely used path. The animals certainly seemed surprised to see us.

The path not taken. Why not? We heard loud elephant trumeting. We took the other path (where we saw the Impalas).

Waiting for the bus. This is the main highway through town.

Warthogs are all through the town, emerging from muddy culverts, tearing up gardens. But they are pretty docile to humans, sort of like squirrels in America. Grunting, tail-swishing, free-roaming squirrels.

The Waterbuck stops here. Good thing too, giving me time for a quick shot.

Banded Mongoose. More dumpster divers.