Greetings and compliments of the New Year to all. May 2025 be filled with magical moments and memories.
It was with some trepidation that we drove to Hwange National Park for Christmas. The drought throughout 2024 was awful and the onset of the 2024/25 rainy season late, scant and patchy. Stalwart support from loyal donors kept the water pumps going non-stop through the dry months last year, but as the season progressed, general conditions surrounding the pumped pans became barren and desolate
We were relieved, therefore, on arrival in Main Camp to find the bushveld showing signs of new growth and recovery with many of the trees in early flush and tentative new grass shoots sprouting. Almost all of the elephants had dispersed and we were thrilled to be greeted on our first drive into the Park by the sighting of a lovey cheetah male in the Main Camp area – a very chilled chap that was content to display his good looks at leisure.
Nyamandhlovu pan is starting to recover from being almost dry in October last year. An added bonus was finding a handsome male lion sauntering across the vlei close by and a herd of Wildebeest with some pale, newborn calves that can stand within minutes of birth and run like the wind within days.
The re-awakening of the earth has brought a palpable sense of relief and relaxation. However, of concern was that although there had been some rain, one or two areas still looked a bit like a lunar landscape with no colour, no grass and no sign of leaves on trees and bushes. This was particularly evident between Makwa and Kennedy 1 Pans and around the Nehimba area.
The Ngamo plains that are usually wonderfully wet and teeming with wildlife by Christmas remained rather dry, with a thin covering of wispy, green grass and very little plains game about. We did come upon a couple of lionesses with several half-grown cubs busily occupied on a wildebeest kill, and further along found two more lionesses, one with four tiny cubs hidden in a bush mewling for milk! A family of Black-backed Jackals with three young pups kept us entertained for ages, gamboling about and tussling with gay abandon.
Travelling northwards, Boss Long One looked a bit like a war zone the trees having been destroyed by elephants desperate for food. On the bright side, the displays of Zambezi Gold (Rhigozum zambesiacum) were spectacular.
Guvalala was devoid of the usual flocks of waterfowl save for a few Red-billed teal dabbling up-ended in the water, a group of Ruffs, their bright orange legs clearly visible in the morning light, and some Blacksmith Lapwings showing noisy displeasure as a Lanner falcon quartered the pan. Further along we paused to enjoy a group of stately giraffe eagerly stripping new shoots off branches, and a couple of warthogs with several hoglets taking off at speed.
At Shapi, a fresh elephant carcass, a late victim of the drought, provided a feast for Vultures and Marabou storks that were doing a marvelous cleanup job, but prevented close inspection of the pan as we backed off hurriedly from the overwhelming, putrid stench.
The bush greened up and thickened substantially towards Shumba, evidence of a few heavy rain showers early in the season to kickstart growth of vegetation. The usual large pod of Hippos snorted and cavorted at Masuma, jostling for their patch of the pond, and we delighted in the presence of a tiny newborn calf bobbing up and down in the water under the watchful eye of its vigilant Mama. A herd of impala with gangly lambs afoot and a group of waterbuck, headed by a magnificent ram, grazed contentedly close by.
The water levels at Mandavu Dam remain critically low, the vegetation very sparse. Nevertheless, herons, spoonbills and waders fossicked about in the shallows, we spied several African skimmers “skimming” across the dam and the cry of a Fish Eagle rang out as it perched in a tree close by, ready to snatch an unsuspecting fish for its dinner. Several shy dassies and a slender mongoose emerged out of the rock crevices to warm themselves in the golden evening sunlight,
Heading back to Masuma one evening, after chasing around fruitlessly to find some elusive lions at Shumba pan, we came upon a pride of two lionesses with nine half grown cubs splayed out in the road on the way back to camp – a treat indeed!
We ended our stay at Little Makololo further south. The sky was bruised with darkening rain clouds, but undaunted we set out for an afternoon game drive. It was not long before the wind whipped up and a spectacular show of lightning accompanied by deafening crashes of thunder heralded a violent rainstorm that bucketed down, drenching all in its path. A herd of sable and a group of zebra bravely faced the storm, water streaming off their slick, glossy hides.
Our intrepid guide headed speedily towards a clear patch, where we turned to witness the miracle of millions of alates emerging from the ground, their gossamer wings glistening in shafts of sunlight that pierced through the clouds.
High in the sky we saw what looked to be a swarm of insects en masse for miles around us. On closer inspection these proved to be thousands of Big Brown Birds – Yellow-billed and Black Kites, Lesser Spotted, Steppe, Wahlberg’s and Tawny Eagles and many Common buzzards all swooping and wheeling in the air to feast on the bounty. Added to these were huge flocks of Amur falcons, joined by many swifts and swallows. It was a truly breathtaking spectacle the scale of which defies belief and is impossible to photograph. (Below left: Black Kite. Below right: Lesser Spotted Eagle)
All in all, the trip was a mix of delights and contrasts. Spectacular sunsets, with magnificent storm clouds, painted the sky with fiery orange and golden-pink hues, and as darkness fell, fantastic, sizzling lightning displays zipped across the night sky. Whilst desiccated humps of dark skin and bone showed evidence of many elephants that did not make it through the dry, the numbers were not nearly as severe as predicted.
The game seen over the Christmas period was in tip-top condition with glossy coats and many young afoot. Whilst migrant birds in northern areas of the Park were sadly lacking, rainstorms and alate emergences in the south made up for that in spades. Other birds including hundreds of storks, doves, spurfowl, drongos, hornbills and more not to mention fish, frogs, lizards, mongooses, squirrels, spiders and all manner of other critters, joined in the feast.
Most importantly, the water levels in the pans, both natural and pumped, are steadily rising.
The changing of the seasons is a reminder of nature’s resilience, but even if the rains pick up, can the vegetation in the Park recover sufficiently and the water reserves replenish enough to see us through the long dry months looming ahead? There is a definite sense of foreboding as we brace ourselves for the worst and scramble to prepare as best we possibly can to preserve and nurture this place, and the wildlife within it, that we hold so dear.
Paula Dell
Image credits David Dell and James Stiger
