Rating :
Price guide : US$ 1940 pppn Euro GB£
9
/10Price guide : US$ 1940 pppn Euro GB£
Abu Camp is located in the Okavango delta in northern Botswana.
Situated in a prime concession to the southwest of the delta, this extremely famous camp offers without doubt the best elephant back safari on the continent.
Abu Camp is home to around twenty habituated elephants, most having been rescued and relocated, some having been born here. Guests are able to go out on safari with these animals, walking alongside or riding up top, gameviewing along the way and joining them for a swim or a mudbath.
The lodge itself is extremely stylish and comfortable, with just five rooms.
Abu Camp is an absolutely fabulous and life-punctuating experience, but one which is unfortunately way beyond most budgets.
Check the guidebook updates section for monthly reports from the camp guides.
Situated in a prime concession to the southwest of the delta, this extremely famous camp offers without doubt the best elephant back safari on the continent.
Abu Camp is home to around twenty habituated elephants, most having been rescued and relocated, some having been born here. Guests are able to go out on safari with these animals, walking alongside or riding up top, gameviewing along the way and joining them for a swim or a mudbath.
The lodge itself is extremely stylish and comfortable, with just five rooms.
Abu Camp is an absolutely fabulous and life-punctuating experience, but one which is unfortunately way beyond most budgets.
Check the guidebook updates section for monthly reports from the camp guides.
08 Jan 2011 : January report : by the camp staff
2010 saw the completion of our new main area at Abu. We were closed for the first six months of the year in order to complete the work before we opened our doors again in June for the high season. Guests have really enjoyed the new amenities which has maintained its original style, however has been opened up and enlarged to receive more light and additional seating. A library has also been built, holding an extensive collection of elephant-related literature ... a good place for guests to relax and read. Abu closed again on 15 October 2010 to allow for the final phase of construction - the tents ... and will reopen at the beginning of April this year.
Abu's new accommodation will comprise six beautiful, decked Bedouin-style structures. They are larger than the original Abu tents and will include an entrance area leading into the bedroom and a seating area. The bathrooms will feature both internal and external facilities, hand-finished to the highest standards. A front deck looks out over the lagoon, perfect for that early-morning coffee or evening cocktail as the African sun dips below the horizon.
For those looking for an even more thrilling experience, we have constructed a "star bed" overlooking the elephant boma. Raised high above the ground, the open platform offers a unique opportunity to sleep under the stars and above the roaming elephant below. What could be more romantic?
The Abu elephant herd is doing well. The rains over northern Botswana have ensured a drop in temperature which is far more comfortable for these great beasts. Cathy remains the head of the herd. Little Paseka, the youngest member of our herd, is growing daily, albeit rather cheeky and confident. Her loyalty to her mother Shireni is wavering as she seems to be attaching herself to Kitty instead.
We are very much looking forward to welcoming 12 schoolchildren from the Gumare area into camp in early February. This has been made possible by the Children in the Wilderness and Elephants for Africa organisations. It is hoped that by educating these children about our elephants, they will become the future of conservation in Botswana. As we all know, education is priceless, and we support any endeavour to enhance people's knowledge through interaction with our truly exceptional herd.
This year we are looking forward to welcoming some new faces to the Abu team, and we are excited to receive our guests again in April.
15 May 2010 : Leopard triplets corner genet in tree : by Dana Allen
It's not every day that one gets to spend an hour with leopard triplets. In fact it is not often that one gets to see leopard triplets at all. More usually a female leopard gives birth to one or two cubs (usually two) and on the rare occasion that three cubs are born to the same female it is common that one or even two of the cubs die at an early age. It was for this reason that we were so relishing our sighting of three leopard cubs during a recent trip to Abu Camp.
The cubs - already quite old and approaching the age of independence - had clearly been left in a secure spot by their mother who we had encountered the evening before in the same area. Large trees - both living and dead - and a dense palm shrub understory provided plenty of cover for them and in this secure environment they relaxed in our presence and posed and played to their hearts' content.
After about an hour of this treat we decided to move on and moved away from the position, pure luck making us turn around and look back towards the copse of trees from a couple of hundred metres away. In that glance we picked up a large spotted genet perched high in a dead tree.
This in itself was highly unusual in the daylight hours and we knew something was up. Racing back to the spot we just caught one of the leopard cubs clambering up the same tree in pursuit of the genet. At first the ascent was quite comical and the genet looked secure, but the cub kept doggedly to its task and as it seemed to conquer the climb, the genet lost its nerve and leapt straight to the ground and disappeared into the undergrowth, no doubt more than a little shaken.
This item is featured in our news highlights section.
23 April 2010 : Thrilling addition to the Abu elephant herd : by Stacy and Graham Bowles, Joseph Molekwa and Justin Nel
It is 12:30 in the afternoon when the radio call comes in. There is a baby elephant just outside Seba Camp towards the airstrip which is being attacked by two hyaenas. In normal circumstances a baby elephant is so well protected by the adults of the herd, any predator would never get close. In the case of this elephant for some reason, there was no protective herd or even any elephant in sight, only the safari vehicle witnessing a potentially tragic event.
For a two-month-old, she puts up a valiant fight against these formidable predators, ears spread out and trumpeting loudly she is sending them flying. But as much as she tries to put some distance between herself and the hyaena, they soon catch up, nipping and biting her rear end and legs, pulling her down. Then everything changes: upon seeing the car and possibly even attracted by the low rumble of the engine, the elephant seeks refuge in its shade leaving the hyaena to circle at a distance.
As we normally leave nature to take its course, the vehicle moves away but the baby elephant followed. The hyaenas follow too and she tries chasing them away again. In the confusion and the thick bush she loses the car close to the outskirts of Seba Camp. But the next thing we hear in camp is a radio call: an elephant has found its way into the generator room of Seba Camp ?.
Now we have to intervene. The cuts to her legs and rear are deep, the baby is obviously traumatised. She is shaking but can walk which leads us to believe that she can't have been separated from her own herd for more than a couple of days and is not too weak. By keeping the gathering crowd calm and quiet the baby begins to relax and explore her surroundings. We bring in water to begin cooling her but being too young to know how to use her trunk, she is unable to drink. When a mahout arrives in another safari vehicle she runs over to it; seemingly to have associated the car with safety and security, she begins to follow it.
Using the vehicle as the surrogate mother we lead her to the far side of camp where the floodwaters have created a shallow pan. As soon as she is there she is face first into the water and drinking deep, gurgling mouthfuls. Ten minutes later, once she has had her fill, she is looking a lot calmer but still unsure about this new 'herd' that she has joined. More mahouts arrive to assess her age and wounds, administering antiseptic spray where they can. A report is given to Maun office and the vet, Rob Jackson is called in.
The baby is young, somewhere between 6-12 weeks old. If she doesn't get some milk soon, together with the trauma she has suffered, she is unlikely to survive. The Abu herd is close by and have two lactating mothers in their midst. We decide to try and introduce her to the herd in the hope that one of them may be able to feed her.
Using the safari vehicle 'matriarch', we lead her down to the Abu herd. It's a tense time now as the baby's survival rests on her acceptance into the Abu herd. The first mother, Kitumetse, is brought out. 'Kiti' herself could relate to this as she was found in very similar circumstances, alone, injured from a crocodile attack she had been separated from her herd. With permission from the DWNP (Department of Wildlife and National Parks) we adopted her and she has been doing very well, giving birth to her first calf, Lorato, last year.
However, the prospect of taking on another calf so soon after her first seems to be too much for her and she backs away, trumpeting loudly. The baby elephant is now frantic to join this herd, the herd at least being recognisable. We corral the baby to protect it from running into the middle of the Abu herd. An unwelcome introduction could turn tragic.
The second lactating female, Sherini, is brought out. Sherini is a more experienced mother with her latest addition to the herd, Abu, being nearly three years old. On seeing the baby she exhibits huge excitement, ears out, trumpeting and rumbling loudly with temporal secretions flowing profusely. She seems to be more tolerant of the baby that is now harassing her for milk but she still seems somewhat reluctant.
After a few minutes of coaxing them together one of the mahouts suggests bringing Cathy, the herd's matriarch, across. Cathy, who had been looking on excitedly, is brought over. There is another tense moment as the exchange of trumpets and rumbles between Sherini and Cathy becomes intense, the baby between them constantly begging for milk. Then, as if she has received the go-ahead from the herd leader, Sherini lets the baby feed. She feeds for a full 20 minutes before we lead them back into the shade of the trees for the remainder of the hot Easter Sunday afternoon. And thus she is named: Paseka (pronounced pah-SEH-ka) which means 'Easter' in Setswana.
It's the following morning. Rob, the veterinarian, and Randall Moore arrived the previous evening when the herd had returned to the boma. Paseka had followed Sherini all the way home through the deep river channel under the careful watch of the mahouts and guides. On inspecting the wounds, Rob cleaned them and with a shot of antibiotics and painkillers, allowing them to heal naturally.
Mother and adopted baby spent the night in the nursing pen to keep Paseka from running into any more trouble, but now she is looking a lot happier. The swelling around her rear has gone down and the wounds are looking a lot better. Sherini is doing an excellent job as mother even though Abu was still a little unsure about being ousted from being centre of attention by this unexpected arrival.
04 April 2010 : March report : by Dave Luck
The whole emphasis of Abu Camp on the "elephant experience". I don't mean clambering onto the back of a huge pachyderm for a ride, but to be completely immersed into the world that these amazing animals live in. Mike Lorentz, our host, proved that just spending quality time with elephants (sometimes entire days!) was what I think a complete, all-encompassing experience should be. It was quite different from the way we conduct our usual "safari" activities and the pachyderms had a huge role to play in that. However the mindset at Abu Camp is so unique in that they truly want you as a guest to be completely 'touched' by this experience.
My most memorable experience was after an early breakfast (06h30) we did a short mokoro ride and met up with the elephants. We then walked for approximately 10km (three hours) alongside the herd. If one wanted to one could ride on top of an elephant or one could walk next to one. I chose the latter simply because I wanted to observe how they walked, ate, pooped and interacted with each other and with the people. The darling of the herd is one-year-old Lorato which means 'love' in Setswana and she often came up to us and wanted to play. However having a 400kg calf, wanting to play tag needed our undivided attention!
We then walked to a shady spot and tea was spread out for us. We had delicious, huge homemade chocolate-chip cookies and tea and were then treated to an open-air lecture by the head mahout Collet. He is extremely knowledgeable and concentrated on the physiological adaptations of an elephant and used Cathy - a gorgeous 49-year-old cow - as a model. We individually could feel her skin, touch her hard footpads and get up close to her. This kind of interaction really lets one into the rare situation of crossing boundaries and this is the perfectly safe way to do just that.
After tea we said goodbye to the elephants and mahouts (so they could rest up) and drove in the vehicle to a pre-arranged picnic lunch spot overlooking the water. We arrived and were immediately greeted by roaring lions - at midday! We clambered onto mekoro and a boat and there coming towards the picnic spot was a male lion being chased by another! We got back onto the vehicle and followed them for a while before returning to lunch. Ponchos were laid out under the shade of a sycamore fig and on each was a book about the start of the Abu trademark. Some of us fished, slept and relaxed before we headed back towards the elephants again.
We then climbed into mekoro (some who wanted to ride the elephants could) and together we slowly poled next to them as they made their way back to the bomas. It was magical having an elephant two metres from you, towering up next to you as your poler glided the craft over the water.
The second day's activities included an activity in the morning, brunch and then, after 'high tea', we went out for the afternoon activity. This was great because if one wanted to rest the opportunity to do so was there. The day before was full and one could catch up with one's journal and rest. We combined mokoro, riding and walking which worked well with folk alternating at will. This gave us the unique chance to experience different perspectives of the elephants.
The afternoon walk took us to a place where the elephants hopefully would mud bath. They chose instead to pose with guests and drink and this provided some unique photographic opportunities.
25 May 2008 : May report : by Peter Cooke
The floods have arrived!
The seasons and the weather change and the Delta takes on its new persona. Last year's flood was very high. We wait with baited breath to see what this year will bring. So far the flood has been moving slowly and steadily. Every year is different, bringing new adventures.
The rainy season was a big one this year, with over 580mm of rain falling. This has meant that we have had permanent water in the area and it has been hard work getting around as many of the roads and crossings were still wet. The annual floods arrived in camp on the 8th April, making it even harder to get around! Of course this does not affect the elephants - water isn't going to stop them, but it does affect their movements. The vast floodplains are now covered in water meaning that valuable food resources have all but vanished. They are now restricted to the dryer areas and the size of the area that they utilise is smaller.
The floodwaters bring back many of the water birds; the Wattled Cranes have returned and it is always a pleasure to see the Hamerkops hard at work rebuilding their mammoth nests high up in the trees. Water Thick-knees have taken up residency at the bridge and the Malachite Kingfishers are also back in force using the posts along the bridge as their hunting perches. As these species have arrived, so we have said goodbye others, including Black Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Kites and Woodland Kingfisher.
Kitimetse is now a mother
On the 12th February, there were celebrations in Abu Camp with the safe arrival of a new elephant. Kitimetsi gave birth to her first calf, a female, in the afternoon. She has been named Lorato, which means 'Love' in Setswana. Kitimetsi has taken to motherhood like a duck to water, and is very loving and affectionate to Lorato. Gika, Sherini and Cathy, the other adult female elephants, are very excited about the new arrival. But perhaps the most excited is young Naya: she is overjoyed to have a younger female cousin and will not leave her side.
Kitimetsi (which means 'I am lost') is a 12-year-old wild Botswana elephant who joined the herd at Abu when she was a youngster and had been abandoned by or lost her herd. We shall never know what happened, but we are grateful that she is now part of the Abu herd. She is a lovely elephant and always keen to please, she is also exceptionally intelligent and is one of the first to learn new things. It will be interesting to see which traits Lorato has inherited.
At the moment Lorato is busy learning about life as a young elephant, in particular about the long appendage on the end of her face: her trunk. It will be a little while yet until she has full control of it.
Mafunyane meets his match
The end of the rains has seen Mafunyane, one of our original released elephants, return from his long sojourn out west. As he has a satellite collar on, we are aware of his location on a daily basis and it has been interesting to see that he has spent most of the last three or four months (the rainy season) in the drier grassland areas about 15km west of Abu and Seba Camp. His visit out there is probably a result of the rich new flush of grass that the rains bring.
It always strikes me as impressive that Mafunyane and the other elephants manage to find this fresh grass so quickly. However, the ability of elephants to detect storms from many miles away due to acute infrasound hearing as well as a wealth of learned knowledge gained over the years through hanging out with knowledgeable, senior bulls certainly seems to pay off!
His return from the west to the mopane- and terminalia-dominated bush area near our camp makes my life a lot easier. It means I do not have to periodically brave the deep water crossings that result from the heavy rains to go and observe him. I honestly think that if he had of stayed out west much longer I would have had to replace my truck with a boat!
Mafunyane looks fit and well fed and as usual, although he appears to be on his own, he is never too far away from a big adult bull. And it was in the presence of another regular seasonal visitor to our camp area, Napoleon, that I observed some very interesting behaviour last week. Male elephants, upon leaving their natal herd, spend much of their time alone or in transient bachelor groups. Social behaviour within bachelor herds helps them to establish their place within the pecking order (knowing one's place in the elephant pecking order is highly important to avoid injury when competing for females!), as well as learn vital knowledge as to the whereabouts of food and water at different times of the year.
This behaviour in Mafunyane has centred around Napoleon, a handsome bull of around 30 years in age. Despite being nearly 20 years old himself Mafunyane is still a youngster and is dwarfed by Napoleon, who at 30 has nearly reached his full height - although certainly not his full weight! I was watching Napoleon, taking notes of his behaviour when out of the bush came Mafunyane, bold as brass and approached Napoleon from behind. Napoleon, not too happy at being disturbed during his early morning breakfast, turned round sharply and pushed Mafunyane hard in the flanks with his tusks. Mafunyane appeared rather surprised at this and turned and walked off quickly before again approaching Napoleon, this time from the front. This was obviously a more respectful approach as Napoleon allowed Mafunyane (who stands almost a metre shorter) to entwine trunks, a classic form of greeting. They stood there; trunks entwined for almost two minutes until Mafunyane, emboldened by his success then started pushing Napoleon. Napoleon was definitely not in the mood to take this behaviour from such a young upstart, and a good five minutes of sparring ensued. This involved much pushing and shoving and crashing of trees around them. Eventually, Mafunyane, realising that he was coming off worst turned his back on Napoleon, who with a final push in the flanks chased him off.
It was quite a good-natured play-fight and there was little risk of injury. But the whole incident served to convince Mafunyane that he had some time yet before he was big and strong enough to challenge Napoleon, and indeed the other significantly bigger bulls in the Delta for his right to a female.
As usual, pondering on the event afterwards I could not help but to draw some parallels between elephant society and our own!
06 March 2008 : Birth of Lorato : by the camp guides
Joyous celebrations among the elephants and staff at Abu Camp at the birth to Kitimetse of a healthy and lively baby named Lorato ... meaning "love" in Setswana.
Little Lorato is the fourth baby elephant to be born at Abu Camp where Randall Moore pioneered Africa's first elephant back safari operation 18 years ago. She was born at 13:30 on February 11th, weighed 70 kg and measured 90 centimetres at the shoulder. She was quickly feeding and sleeping and within a few days was joining the herd in their walks to their favourite mud bath.
Kitimetse, her proud mother, joined the Abu herd as a baby, having been rescued from a mud bank in the Okavango after she had been attacked by a crocodile and apparently abandoned by her wild herd. Kitimetse, meaning "I am lost" in Setswana, is thought to be about 12 years old and Lorato is her first-born.
The mahouts are convinced that the father of the new baby is Mafunyane who was the first of the elephants from the Abu herd to be released back into the wild in 2002 as part of Moore's lifelong quest to return elephants from captivity to their natural surroundings. Mafunyane was one of the original "brat pack" of young elephants rescued by Moore from culling operations in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
Moore was delighted by the arrival of baby Lorato. "The birth of a baby elephant in the camp is one of those memorable moments," he said. "Apart from the privilege of being able to witness the arrival of one of these magnificent animals, it is another indication that the elephants at Abu are happy, healthy and without stress of any kind."
The mahouts and staff have been monitoring every moment of little Lorato's first few days on earth. The following is an extract from their log:
Day One : She was very strong. She started feeding quickly and at 17:10 we saw her feed on the left side of her mother for two minutes. Again at 18.40 she fed unaided for 2.5 minutes on the right breast.
Day Two : There was a lot of excitement in the boma and the other elephants were very interested. When baby Abu (a young bull also born at Abu) was being trained nearby, both he and new baby Lorato started rumbling excitedly. Later in the morning we took her out with the herd and she walked through the water by her mother's side. We brought Naya (a five-year-old female) close to the baby where she stayed for the whole afternoon. On their way back to the boma with the entire herd, baby Lorato and little Abu started playing. Abu checked her out by touching her trunk with his but then Abu seemed to take fright of the baby and he turned and ran away.
Day Three : After her mother had a big drink of water, Lorato started suckling. Her mother was happy as the feeding was very good with fresh grass and vegetation. Kitimetse is very good at taking care of the baby.
Day Four : When the whole herd went out, Kitimetse started to rumble and when the herd went out she did not want to join them. At 11:30 baby Lorato was washed with buckets of water. She didn't mind this and even started to eat grass at the same time.
Day Six : After waking she drinks water time and again, flapping her ears and standing under the shade. The baby was behaving well, trying to pick up some sticks using her trunk. At the mud bath she was actually trying her best to have a bath with her mother and Naya.
Day Nine : The wild elephants came around her, Naya and Kitimetse. Baby Lorato hid under her mother. She had a mud bath with Naya and mum and they were playing together and she drank a lot of water.
Day Ten : The mahouts took the herd for a morning ride and the baby was swimming. Afterwards she was very tired and she slept for approximately 30 minutes.
12 July 2007 : July report : by the camp guides
What a wonderful season we are having with camps full of guests from all corners of the world. We have had some very fascinating guests over the last few months, from leading financiers to kimono manufacturers from Japan with all their worldly stories (but none to top their experience they have encountered at Abu Camp.)
The flood is now dropping fast and although we reportedly had the largest flood since 1984 which we thought was going to give us difficulties, this was not the case. In fact, it has really enhanced the guest experience. The game over the last few weeks has been absolutely incredible and has brought our guests the most wonderful sightings.
This season we have had two prides of lions which have been moving around our concession with sightings of these large cats feeding on buffalo and giraffe kills and even a sighting of a single lioness chasing down zebra. One of the prides also has cubs of varying ages and we have been able to sit with these prides and watch the young ones go through their training for hunting with their mothers. This has provided us with much amusement as the cubs are not very disciplined at the moment and you can almost see the mothers saying "not now; not like that; like this", and the fathers just lazing in the sun with one eye on the process saying, "here she goes again: Nag, nag, nag."
We are also very excited because our illustrious guides have been able to find a very large new pride that has arrived in the concession just the other day, so hopefully we will be able to report more on their arrival next month.
The leopard and cheetah have, as always, been very elusive but we have found numerous spoor or tracks around the camp and elsewhere seeing a tail or two but no really good sightings this month. We were able to spot a kill of a young bushbuck hoisted in a tree near camp and kept a vigilant eye during the night, but the leopard was too clever for us as soon as we retired late at night she very quickly removed the kill without a sound.
Our general game viewing has been wonderful as always, the complete spectrum has been sighted and with the plethora of bird life around we have had truly contented guests with wonderful experiences.
Then of course there have been our wonderful elephants. They always steal the show and together with our team of mahouts bring much joy and humour to the guests. We are very privileged to have such an illustrious group who are so dedicated to our elephants. Baby Abu, without a shadow of doubt, is the most photographed elephant in the world He is now fifteen months old and he knows he is the star of our herd and plays on it. He is like a naughty little boy and loves to play and he really brings much joy to all.
In closing I thought I had to mention an amusing little story that happened a few weeks ago. Periodically our guides and polers go out in mokoros to carry out a reconnaissance of certain areas. Off they go, the two guides and the polers in the very shallow water around camp and the story goes that one of the guides was not concentrating on where he was going and the mokoro turned over in 30 centimetres of water where the poler and other guide stepped out gracefully while our other guide was completely submerged, rifle and all, which took him about fifteen minutes to find. He arrived back at camp dripping wet, which caused much amusement and he was the centre of serious lambasting from the other staff. But again I think this just shows what a great team we have at Abu Camp.
We are all looking forward to seeing many more guests over the coming weeks so they can enjoy the beauty of the Okavango Delta with us.
2010 saw the completion of our new main area at Abu. We were closed for the first six months of the year in order to complete the work before we opened our doors again in June for the high season. Guests have really enjoyed the new amenities which has maintained its original style, however has been opened up and enlarged to receive more light and additional seating. A library has also been built, holding an extensive collection of elephant-related literature ... a good place for guests to relax and read. Abu closed again on 15 October 2010 to allow for the final phase of construction - the tents ... and will reopen at the beginning of April this year.
Abu's new accommodation will comprise six beautiful, decked Bedouin-style structures. They are larger than the original Abu tents and will include an entrance area leading into the bedroom and a seating area. The bathrooms will feature both internal and external facilities, hand-finished to the highest standards. A front deck looks out over the lagoon, perfect for that early-morning coffee or evening cocktail as the African sun dips below the horizon.
For those looking for an even more thrilling experience, we have constructed a "star bed" overlooking the elephant boma. Raised high above the ground, the open platform offers a unique opportunity to sleep under the stars and above the roaming elephant below. What could be more romantic?
The Abu elephant herd is doing well. The rains over northern Botswana have ensured a drop in temperature which is far more comfortable for these great beasts. Cathy remains the head of the herd. Little Paseka, the youngest member of our herd, is growing daily, albeit rather cheeky and confident. Her loyalty to her mother Shireni is wavering as she seems to be attaching herself to Kitty instead.
We are very much looking forward to welcoming 12 schoolchildren from the Gumare area into camp in early February. This has been made possible by the Children in the Wilderness and Elephants for Africa organisations. It is hoped that by educating these children about our elephants, they will become the future of conservation in Botswana. As we all know, education is priceless, and we support any endeavour to enhance people's knowledge through interaction with our truly exceptional herd.
This year we are looking forward to welcoming some new faces to the Abu team, and we are excited to receive our guests again in April.
15 May 2010 : Leopard triplets corner genet in tree : by Dana Allen
It's not every day that one gets to spend an hour with leopard triplets. In fact it is not often that one gets to see leopard triplets at all. More usually a female leopard gives birth to one or two cubs (usually two) and on the rare occasion that three cubs are born to the same female it is common that one or even two of the cubs die at an early age. It was for this reason that we were so relishing our sighting of three leopard cubs during a recent trip to Abu Camp.
The cubs - already quite old and approaching the age of independence - had clearly been left in a secure spot by their mother who we had encountered the evening before in the same area. Large trees - both living and dead - and a dense palm shrub understory provided plenty of cover for them and in this secure environment they relaxed in our presence and posed and played to their hearts' content.
After about an hour of this treat we decided to move on and moved away from the position, pure luck making us turn around and look back towards the copse of trees from a couple of hundred metres away. In that glance we picked up a large spotted genet perched high in a dead tree.
This in itself was highly unusual in the daylight hours and we knew something was up. Racing back to the spot we just caught one of the leopard cubs clambering up the same tree in pursuit of the genet. At first the ascent was quite comical and the genet looked secure, but the cub kept doggedly to its task and as it seemed to conquer the climb, the genet lost its nerve and leapt straight to the ground and disappeared into the undergrowth, no doubt more than a little shaken.
This item is featured in our news highlights section.
23 April 2010 : Thrilling addition to the Abu elephant herd : by Stacy and Graham Bowles, Joseph Molekwa and Justin Nel
It is 12:30 in the afternoon when the radio call comes in. There is a baby elephant just outside Seba Camp towards the airstrip which is being attacked by two hyaenas. In normal circumstances a baby elephant is so well protected by the adults of the herd, any predator would never get close. In the case of this elephant for some reason, there was no protective herd or even any elephant in sight, only the safari vehicle witnessing a potentially tragic event.
For a two-month-old, she puts up a valiant fight against these formidable predators, ears spread out and trumpeting loudly she is sending them flying. But as much as she tries to put some distance between herself and the hyaena, they soon catch up, nipping and biting her rear end and legs, pulling her down. Then everything changes: upon seeing the car and possibly even attracted by the low rumble of the engine, the elephant seeks refuge in its shade leaving the hyaena to circle at a distance.
As we normally leave nature to take its course, the vehicle moves away but the baby elephant followed. The hyaenas follow too and she tries chasing them away again. In the confusion and the thick bush she loses the car close to the outskirts of Seba Camp. But the next thing we hear in camp is a radio call: an elephant has found its way into the generator room of Seba Camp ?.
Now we have to intervene. The cuts to her legs and rear are deep, the baby is obviously traumatised. She is shaking but can walk which leads us to believe that she can't have been separated from her own herd for more than a couple of days and is not too weak. By keeping the gathering crowd calm and quiet the baby begins to relax and explore her surroundings. We bring in water to begin cooling her but being too young to know how to use her trunk, she is unable to drink. When a mahout arrives in another safari vehicle she runs over to it; seemingly to have associated the car with safety and security, she begins to follow it.
Using the vehicle as the surrogate mother we lead her to the far side of camp where the floodwaters have created a shallow pan. As soon as she is there she is face first into the water and drinking deep, gurgling mouthfuls. Ten minutes later, once she has had her fill, she is looking a lot calmer but still unsure about this new 'herd' that she has joined. More mahouts arrive to assess her age and wounds, administering antiseptic spray where they can. A report is given to Maun office and the vet, Rob Jackson is called in.
The baby is young, somewhere between 6-12 weeks old. If she doesn't get some milk soon, together with the trauma she has suffered, she is unlikely to survive. The Abu herd is close by and have two lactating mothers in their midst. We decide to try and introduce her to the herd in the hope that one of them may be able to feed her.
Using the safari vehicle 'matriarch', we lead her down to the Abu herd. It's a tense time now as the baby's survival rests on her acceptance into the Abu herd. The first mother, Kitumetse, is brought out. 'Kiti' herself could relate to this as she was found in very similar circumstances, alone, injured from a crocodile attack she had been separated from her herd. With permission from the DWNP (Department of Wildlife and National Parks) we adopted her and she has been doing very well, giving birth to her first calf, Lorato, last year.
However, the prospect of taking on another calf so soon after her first seems to be too much for her and she backs away, trumpeting loudly. The baby elephant is now frantic to join this herd, the herd at least being recognisable. We corral the baby to protect it from running into the middle of the Abu herd. An unwelcome introduction could turn tragic.
The second lactating female, Sherini, is brought out. Sherini is a more experienced mother with her latest addition to the herd, Abu, being nearly three years old. On seeing the baby she exhibits huge excitement, ears out, trumpeting and rumbling loudly with temporal secretions flowing profusely. She seems to be more tolerant of the baby that is now harassing her for milk but she still seems somewhat reluctant.
After a few minutes of coaxing them together one of the mahouts suggests bringing Cathy, the herd's matriarch, across. Cathy, who had been looking on excitedly, is brought over. There is another tense moment as the exchange of trumpets and rumbles between Sherini and Cathy becomes intense, the baby between them constantly begging for milk. Then, as if she has received the go-ahead from the herd leader, Sherini lets the baby feed. She feeds for a full 20 minutes before we lead them back into the shade of the trees for the remainder of the hot Easter Sunday afternoon. And thus she is named: Paseka (pronounced pah-SEH-ka) which means 'Easter' in Setswana.
It's the following morning. Rob, the veterinarian, and Randall Moore arrived the previous evening when the herd had returned to the boma. Paseka had followed Sherini all the way home through the deep river channel under the careful watch of the mahouts and guides. On inspecting the wounds, Rob cleaned them and with a shot of antibiotics and painkillers, allowing them to heal naturally.
Mother and adopted baby spent the night in the nursing pen to keep Paseka from running into any more trouble, but now she is looking a lot happier. The swelling around her rear has gone down and the wounds are looking a lot better. Sherini is doing an excellent job as mother even though Abu was still a little unsure about being ousted from being centre of attention by this unexpected arrival.
04 April 2010 : March report : by Dave Luck
The whole emphasis of Abu Camp on the "elephant experience". I don't mean clambering onto the back of a huge pachyderm for a ride, but to be completely immersed into the world that these amazing animals live in. Mike Lorentz, our host, proved that just spending quality time with elephants (sometimes entire days!) was what I think a complete, all-encompassing experience should be. It was quite different from the way we conduct our usual "safari" activities and the pachyderms had a huge role to play in that. However the mindset at Abu Camp is so unique in that they truly want you as a guest to be completely 'touched' by this experience.
My most memorable experience was after an early breakfast (06h30) we did a short mokoro ride and met up with the elephants. We then walked for approximately 10km (three hours) alongside the herd. If one wanted to one could ride on top of an elephant or one could walk next to one. I chose the latter simply because I wanted to observe how they walked, ate, pooped and interacted with each other and with the people. The darling of the herd is one-year-old Lorato which means 'love' in Setswana and she often came up to us and wanted to play. However having a 400kg calf, wanting to play tag needed our undivided attention!
We then walked to a shady spot and tea was spread out for us. We had delicious, huge homemade chocolate-chip cookies and tea and were then treated to an open-air lecture by the head mahout Collet. He is extremely knowledgeable and concentrated on the physiological adaptations of an elephant and used Cathy - a gorgeous 49-year-old cow - as a model. We individually could feel her skin, touch her hard footpads and get up close to her. This kind of interaction really lets one into the rare situation of crossing boundaries and this is the perfectly safe way to do just that.
After tea we said goodbye to the elephants and mahouts (so they could rest up) and drove in the vehicle to a pre-arranged picnic lunch spot overlooking the water. We arrived and were immediately greeted by roaring lions - at midday! We clambered onto mekoro and a boat and there coming towards the picnic spot was a male lion being chased by another! We got back onto the vehicle and followed them for a while before returning to lunch. Ponchos were laid out under the shade of a sycamore fig and on each was a book about the start of the Abu trademark. Some of us fished, slept and relaxed before we headed back towards the elephants again.
We then climbed into mekoro (some who wanted to ride the elephants could) and together we slowly poled next to them as they made their way back to the bomas. It was magical having an elephant two metres from you, towering up next to you as your poler glided the craft over the water.
The second day's activities included an activity in the morning, brunch and then, after 'high tea', we went out for the afternoon activity. This was great because if one wanted to rest the opportunity to do so was there. The day before was full and one could catch up with one's journal and rest. We combined mokoro, riding and walking which worked well with folk alternating at will. This gave us the unique chance to experience different perspectives of the elephants.
The afternoon walk took us to a place where the elephants hopefully would mud bath. They chose instead to pose with guests and drink and this provided some unique photographic opportunities.
25 May 2008 : May report : by Peter Cooke
The floods have arrived!
The seasons and the weather change and the Delta takes on its new persona. Last year's flood was very high. We wait with baited breath to see what this year will bring. So far the flood has been moving slowly and steadily. Every year is different, bringing new adventures.
The rainy season was a big one this year, with over 580mm of rain falling. This has meant that we have had permanent water in the area and it has been hard work getting around as many of the roads and crossings were still wet. The annual floods arrived in camp on the 8th April, making it even harder to get around! Of course this does not affect the elephants - water isn't going to stop them, but it does affect their movements. The vast floodplains are now covered in water meaning that valuable food resources have all but vanished. They are now restricted to the dryer areas and the size of the area that they utilise is smaller.
The floodwaters bring back many of the water birds; the Wattled Cranes have returned and it is always a pleasure to see the Hamerkops hard at work rebuilding their mammoth nests high up in the trees. Water Thick-knees have taken up residency at the bridge and the Malachite Kingfishers are also back in force using the posts along the bridge as their hunting perches. As these species have arrived, so we have said goodbye others, including Black Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Kites and Woodland Kingfisher.
Kitimetse is now a mother
On the 12th February, there were celebrations in Abu Camp with the safe arrival of a new elephant. Kitimetsi gave birth to her first calf, a female, in the afternoon. She has been named Lorato, which means 'Love' in Setswana. Kitimetsi has taken to motherhood like a duck to water, and is very loving and affectionate to Lorato. Gika, Sherini and Cathy, the other adult female elephants, are very excited about the new arrival. But perhaps the most excited is young Naya: she is overjoyed to have a younger female cousin and will not leave her side.
Kitimetsi (which means 'I am lost') is a 12-year-old wild Botswana elephant who joined the herd at Abu when she was a youngster and had been abandoned by or lost her herd. We shall never know what happened, but we are grateful that she is now part of the Abu herd. She is a lovely elephant and always keen to please, she is also exceptionally intelligent and is one of the first to learn new things. It will be interesting to see which traits Lorato has inherited.
At the moment Lorato is busy learning about life as a young elephant, in particular about the long appendage on the end of her face: her trunk. It will be a little while yet until she has full control of it.
Mafunyane meets his match
The end of the rains has seen Mafunyane, one of our original released elephants, return from his long sojourn out west. As he has a satellite collar on, we are aware of his location on a daily basis and it has been interesting to see that he has spent most of the last three or four months (the rainy season) in the drier grassland areas about 15km west of Abu and Seba Camp. His visit out there is probably a result of the rich new flush of grass that the rains bring.
It always strikes me as impressive that Mafunyane and the other elephants manage to find this fresh grass so quickly. However, the ability of elephants to detect storms from many miles away due to acute infrasound hearing as well as a wealth of learned knowledge gained over the years through hanging out with knowledgeable, senior bulls certainly seems to pay off!
His return from the west to the mopane- and terminalia-dominated bush area near our camp makes my life a lot easier. It means I do not have to periodically brave the deep water crossings that result from the heavy rains to go and observe him. I honestly think that if he had of stayed out west much longer I would have had to replace my truck with a boat!
Mafunyane looks fit and well fed and as usual, although he appears to be on his own, he is never too far away from a big adult bull. And it was in the presence of another regular seasonal visitor to our camp area, Napoleon, that I observed some very interesting behaviour last week. Male elephants, upon leaving their natal herd, spend much of their time alone or in transient bachelor groups. Social behaviour within bachelor herds helps them to establish their place within the pecking order (knowing one's place in the elephant pecking order is highly important to avoid injury when competing for females!), as well as learn vital knowledge as to the whereabouts of food and water at different times of the year.
This behaviour in Mafunyane has centred around Napoleon, a handsome bull of around 30 years in age. Despite being nearly 20 years old himself Mafunyane is still a youngster and is dwarfed by Napoleon, who at 30 has nearly reached his full height - although certainly not his full weight! I was watching Napoleon, taking notes of his behaviour when out of the bush came Mafunyane, bold as brass and approached Napoleon from behind. Napoleon, not too happy at being disturbed during his early morning breakfast, turned round sharply and pushed Mafunyane hard in the flanks with his tusks. Mafunyane appeared rather surprised at this and turned and walked off quickly before again approaching Napoleon, this time from the front. This was obviously a more respectful approach as Napoleon allowed Mafunyane (who stands almost a metre shorter) to entwine trunks, a classic form of greeting. They stood there; trunks entwined for almost two minutes until Mafunyane, emboldened by his success then started pushing Napoleon. Napoleon was definitely not in the mood to take this behaviour from such a young upstart, and a good five minutes of sparring ensued. This involved much pushing and shoving and crashing of trees around them. Eventually, Mafunyane, realising that he was coming off worst turned his back on Napoleon, who with a final push in the flanks chased him off.
It was quite a good-natured play-fight and there was little risk of injury. But the whole incident served to convince Mafunyane that he had some time yet before he was big and strong enough to challenge Napoleon, and indeed the other significantly bigger bulls in the Delta for his right to a female.
As usual, pondering on the event afterwards I could not help but to draw some parallels between elephant society and our own!
06 March 2008 : Birth of Lorato : by the camp guides
Joyous celebrations among the elephants and staff at Abu Camp at the birth to Kitimetse of a healthy and lively baby named Lorato ... meaning "love" in Setswana.
Little Lorato is the fourth baby elephant to be born at Abu Camp where Randall Moore pioneered Africa's first elephant back safari operation 18 years ago. She was born at 13:30 on February 11th, weighed 70 kg and measured 90 centimetres at the shoulder. She was quickly feeding and sleeping and within a few days was joining the herd in their walks to their favourite mud bath.
Kitimetse, her proud mother, joined the Abu herd as a baby, having been rescued from a mud bank in the Okavango after she had been attacked by a crocodile and apparently abandoned by her wild herd. Kitimetse, meaning "I am lost" in Setswana, is thought to be about 12 years old and Lorato is her first-born.
The mahouts are convinced that the father of the new baby is Mafunyane who was the first of the elephants from the Abu herd to be released back into the wild in 2002 as part of Moore's lifelong quest to return elephants from captivity to their natural surroundings. Mafunyane was one of the original "brat pack" of young elephants rescued by Moore from culling operations in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
Moore was delighted by the arrival of baby Lorato. "The birth of a baby elephant in the camp is one of those memorable moments," he said. "Apart from the privilege of being able to witness the arrival of one of these magnificent animals, it is another indication that the elephants at Abu are happy, healthy and without stress of any kind."
The mahouts and staff have been monitoring every moment of little Lorato's first few days on earth. The following is an extract from their log:
Day One : She was very strong. She started feeding quickly and at 17:10 we saw her feed on the left side of her mother for two minutes. Again at 18.40 she fed unaided for 2.5 minutes on the right breast.
Day Two : There was a lot of excitement in the boma and the other elephants were very interested. When baby Abu (a young bull also born at Abu) was being trained nearby, both he and new baby Lorato started rumbling excitedly. Later in the morning we took her out with the herd and she walked through the water by her mother's side. We brought Naya (a five-year-old female) close to the baby where she stayed for the whole afternoon. On their way back to the boma with the entire herd, baby Lorato and little Abu started playing. Abu checked her out by touching her trunk with his but then Abu seemed to take fright of the baby and he turned and ran away.
Day Three : After her mother had a big drink of water, Lorato started suckling. Her mother was happy as the feeding was very good with fresh grass and vegetation. Kitimetse is very good at taking care of the baby.
Day Four : When the whole herd went out, Kitimetse started to rumble and when the herd went out she did not want to join them. At 11:30 baby Lorato was washed with buckets of water. She didn't mind this and even started to eat grass at the same time.
Day Six : After waking she drinks water time and again, flapping her ears and standing under the shade. The baby was behaving well, trying to pick up some sticks using her trunk. At the mud bath she was actually trying her best to have a bath with her mother and Naya.
Day Nine : The wild elephants came around her, Naya and Kitimetse. Baby Lorato hid under her mother. She had a mud bath with Naya and mum and they were playing together and she drank a lot of water.
Day Ten : The mahouts took the herd for a morning ride and the baby was swimming. Afterwards she was very tired and she slept for approximately 30 minutes.
12 July 2007 : July report : by the camp guides
What a wonderful season we are having with camps full of guests from all corners of the world. We have had some very fascinating guests over the last few months, from leading financiers to kimono manufacturers from Japan with all their worldly stories (but none to top their experience they have encountered at Abu Camp.)
The flood is now dropping fast and although we reportedly had the largest flood since 1984 which we thought was going to give us difficulties, this was not the case. In fact, it has really enhanced the guest experience. The game over the last few weeks has been absolutely incredible and has brought our guests the most wonderful sightings.
This season we have had two prides of lions which have been moving around our concession with sightings of these large cats feeding on buffalo and giraffe kills and even a sighting of a single lioness chasing down zebra. One of the prides also has cubs of varying ages and we have been able to sit with these prides and watch the young ones go through their training for hunting with their mothers. This has provided us with much amusement as the cubs are not very disciplined at the moment and you can almost see the mothers saying "not now; not like that; like this", and the fathers just lazing in the sun with one eye on the process saying, "here she goes again: Nag, nag, nag."
We are also very excited because our illustrious guides have been able to find a very large new pride that has arrived in the concession just the other day, so hopefully we will be able to report more on their arrival next month.
The leopard and cheetah have, as always, been very elusive but we have found numerous spoor or tracks around the camp and elsewhere seeing a tail or two but no really good sightings this month. We were able to spot a kill of a young bushbuck hoisted in a tree near camp and kept a vigilant eye during the night, but the leopard was too clever for us as soon as we retired late at night she very quickly removed the kill without a sound.
Our general game viewing has been wonderful as always, the complete spectrum has been sighted and with the plethora of bird life around we have had truly contented guests with wonderful experiences.
Then of course there have been our wonderful elephants. They always steal the show and together with our team of mahouts bring much joy and humour to the guests. We are very privileged to have such an illustrious group who are so dedicated to our elephants. Baby Abu, without a shadow of doubt, is the most photographed elephant in the world He is now fifteen months old and he knows he is the star of our herd and plays on it. He is like a naughty little boy and loves to play and he really brings much joy to all.
In closing I thought I had to mention an amusing little story that happened a few weeks ago. Periodically our guides and polers go out in mokoros to carry out a reconnaissance of certain areas. Off they go, the two guides and the polers in the very shallow water around camp and the story goes that one of the guides was not concentrating on where he was going and the mokoro turned over in 30 centimetres of water where the poler and other guide stepped out gracefully while our other guide was completely submerged, rifle and all, which took him about fifteen minutes to find. He arrived back at camp dripping wet, which caused much amusement and he was the centre of serious lambasting from the other staff. But again I think this just shows what a great team we have at Abu Camp.
We are all looking forward to seeing many more guests over the coming weeks so they can enjoy the beauty of the Okavango Delta with us.
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