Kgalagadi Transfontier Park to Okavango Delta, November 2022:

 

The photographs in this gallery have been made in the southern Kalahari and the Okavango Delta. The expedition started in Upington/South Africa, took me across the Kgalagadi Transfontier Park (Twee Rivieren, Mata Mata, Rooiputs, Nossob, Monamodi, Lesholoago, Mabuasehube), carried on to Kang, continued to Kwara in the heart of the Okavango Delta, and ended in Maun/Botswana.

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The Kalahari had seen dry thunderstorms followed by bush fires in 2021, and October 2022 repeated the pattern. Devastating fires destroyed many old stands of trees, and vast grass- and bushlands in the Nossob and Auob valleys, as well as the Mabuasehube area. Early heavy rainfall caused plants to shoot and flower. The unique combination of death, survival, and rebirth is reflected in some of the photographs. I also particularly enjoyed the striped mice feeding on wild melons. 

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Kwara forever holds a special place in my heart. This exquisite private concession bordering the Khwai river in the northern Okavango Delta once again opened a most fascinating window to the age-old relation between predators and prey. I enjoyed thrilling and profoundly touching wildlife encounters. A lone lioness hunting at sunrise, a young female leopard, half-sister to a leopard cub I photographed here in 2017, observing a male interested in romance, cheetahs, more leopards, ostriches and elephants at sunset, numerous wildlife of the plains and forests, seasonal birding, and eventually, spectacular hunts by a pack of African wild dogs. The eternal circle of life was in full swing. The little badger, by the way, successfully fended off the wild dogs.

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I hope you enjoy what you find here!