Sightings at Xigera Camp in December 2011

Xigera Camp in the Okavango Delta

With the water levels continuing to drop, more and more red lechwe and kudu seem to be gathering out on the floodplain in front of our guest tents. People  at Xigera Camp have been enjoying sitting out on their front deck with a pair of binoculars, looking at the variety of bird species that are also attracted to this big open area, which provide the perfect spot to catch fish and other aquatic creatures. We have even had a couple of Great White Pelicans visit for a few days!

The resident bushbuck family is still enjoying our camp. The calf has tiny horn buds popping out and is very relaxed around us and has become habituated to human activity. An old and dark-coloured male giraffe also found his way into camp the one morning and stayed well camouflaged behind the bushes even though he was just a few metres from the boardwalk.

Our familiar vervet monkey troop is still around and cheekier than ever before - the little babies' playful antics continue to be a popular entertainment for all in camp. The smallest of them is now starting to leave his mother's comforting arms to play around on his own but as soon as he spots a human being he raises his eyebrows, looks terrified and screams as if he had just seen a monster - it is very funny! Never leave your plate of food unattended, that's all I can say.

The elephant seem to have decided to give the trees in and around camp a rest and have moved on to other areas, to the relief of our maintenance team as they were getting a bit tired of fixing broken boardwalks.

Out on activities, the month of December was rather exciting here at Xigera! As the roads are no longer under water, the guides have been doing both game drives and water activities with their guests. Big cats are not necessarily the first thing you think of when at Xigera, but in December, the predators decided to come and put on a show for us! A young female leopard was seen several times; she was very relaxed around the vehicles, giving some beautiful photographical opportunities. She has been seen hunting, feeding and resting up a tree.

It all got even more exciting on Christmas Eve, as a big and amazingly imposing male lion and a very shy and large female entered the territory. They were seen feeding on an impala that a young leopard had killed earlier - the poor spotted feline had to climb up a tree and hide for quite a while when the lions arrived. When out on an afternoon game drive, we found the two lions not far at all from camp, they looked rather tired (had they been mating possibly?), but when the sound of a dazzle of zebra running through the water reached the male, he suddenly stood up and started running at a surprising speed towards where the sound came from. Unfortunately for him, that attempt failed and he came back head hanging low. On Christmas Eve, all in camp had the privilege to be serenaded by the booming calls of the pair during the dark of night. The next day, we found their tracks just behind our solar panels.

Reptile sightings were also really good this month and on the subject of Christmas, we had a black mamba visit the bar area on Christmas day, taking cover in the thatched roof. A number of small water monitor lizards were also seen around camp as well as a large number of crocodiles while out on the water activities.

Another highlight for the month was the great sitatunga sightings which we enjoyed. These rare and beautiful aquatic antelopes were seen a number of times whilst on mokoro trips.

Leopard at Xigera Camp

Xigera Camp in the Okavango Delta