May 2023 Zimbabwe via Dubai

Created 15-Jun-23

In May, I visited Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, “A Place of Elephants”. This was a private safari, just my friend Stephen Galli, local guide Anthony “Ant” Kaschula, and myself.

We saw many birds, animals, and plants. You can guess. Many many elephants – actually, too many for the ecosystem to support. They have started destroying ancient Baobab trees. Elephants have coexisted with these trees for thousands of years; a single Baobab can live a thousand years or more. (Rangers are doing what they can to erect barriers and discourage this destruction.)

We saw no lions. An upside of this lack of lions was a decent population of African Wild Dogs, Painted Dogs – we saw several groups.

Here are some collections of different expeditions we took, the three of us. (I plan to add more, as time permits.) They are in rough order of interest. Unless something draws your interest, you might just start at the first one.

Benji Weir is an isolated body of water, behind a dam. Elephants congregate here each evening, groups appearing from all directions. They greet each other when they notice a friend. The only people there, we slept in a blind overlooking the weir, and walked on foot to experience the ecosystem up close.

In the early morning drive on May 22, we saw wild dogs, baboons, jackals, a hyena, wildebeest, and a brave, injured waterbuck. Birds: sacred ibis, a stork herding fish with open wings, lapwings, and a colorful Bateleur eagle, at rest and in flight. Some zebras have a strange mottled pattern on their rumps, in place of the usual parallel stripes. Is this a new subspecies?

African Wild Dogs rest In the shade, in the middle of the road. We finally drive off-road around them. An eagle scans the veldt for prey.

Colorful sandstone cliffs: Chilojo. Great views. Circling birds, butterflies closer.

More elephants, including cute kids. Birds, including different types of kingfisher, fishing. More.