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Davison’s Camp – June 2013

June 4, 2013 Southern Africa Bush Tails

Weather and Landscape
April was a cool and dry month as we move closer to the winter months. The landscape is clearly drying out as all of the grasses have turned a brown colour after sending their nutrients to their root stocks in preparation for winter. Most of the trees have managed to hold on to their leaves, but the ordeal trees have all turned yellow and will lose their leaves shortly.

Ngamo Plains is currently supporting large numbers of wildlife, owing to the palatable sources of food.

The excessive browsing and grazing is starting to show, as some animals have now resorted to digging up rhizomes and roots. As we edge further into the dry season, the wildlife will disperse in search of food and concentrate at the winter waterholes.

Wildlife
Large numbers of elephants have moved into the concession and this will continue to happen as the environment continues to dry up. Ostrich Pan is famous for attracting gargantuan numbers of elephant, and the pan is living up to its reputation. 

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Buffalo herds have also been arriving at Ostrich Pan, and we have noted lots of lion activity in the area. The abundance of prey species will attract lots of opportunistic predator activity, so we are sure the action will go up a notch at this pan soon.
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The plains behind camp have also been very productive, especially with grazing species. Large herds of wildebeest have settled along the plains and are often mixed amongst good numbers of zebra.

Other highlights for the month were a number of cheetah sightings.

Birds and Birding
It is safe to say that most, if not all of the summer migrants have left, flying north towards warmer climes. The occasional Jacobin cuckoo call could be heard but he seems to be the last of the summer migrants here.

With the increase in food as weak animals die, coupled with the onset of the breeding season, we have enjoyed some incredible vulture sightings.
The birding around the dwindling water sources has been quite action -packed as numerous water bird species feasted on the trapped fish.

Camp News
This month we were privileged again to host a Children in the Wilderness (CITW) camp. Staff children also joined in on the fun and everyone was treated to five star service. Camp staff did an incredible job of teaching the children the value of conserving the natural environment. However, it was not all about learning, a major focus was for the children to have fun. All in all the CITW camp was a huge success and enjoyed by all.

Guest Comments
“Amazing experience, you should be immensely proud of your staff.”
“We loved the open plains and really enjoyed the lion and cheetah sightings! Overall a wonderful experience with a very professional and knowledgeable guide. The camp staff were incredible.”