10 Days at Gomoti Plains and Kiri Camp
Veteran wildlife photographer and good friend of Machaba Safaris, Mike Myers recounts his recent trip to Gomoti Plains and Kiri Camp and shares some of his photography.
There is a good reason why people who come on safari to look at birds have the most predator sightings! They encourage their guides to slow things down, to look carefully and listen intently to identify the birds they see and hear. It’s during these quiet moments that guides hear the tell-tale sounds of alarm calls and spot tracks from the night before that help them find Africa’s big cats. We are constantly watching what is happening and the way in which the other animals are behaving give us valuable signs that help us find them.
For many years I have disliked the term “Big Five” as the marketing drawcard for what is deemed a successful safari. Firstly, I dislike it because it is an old hunting term describing the animals people came to Africa to shoot, and secondly, if all the guides do is drive from one sighting to the next so guests can tick off the Big Five list, they really will not appreciate how much have they missed in their haste that is so interesting and makes the whole safari experience so much more rewarding.
Mike Myers, a veteran wildlife photographer, specialised guide, and seasoned safari industry consultant, has enjoyed a longstanding friendship with Machaba Safaris. Over the past four decades, he has explored some of the most remote parts of Botswana and even helped build our very first camps.
I am fresh from 10 days in the Okavango Delta in Botswana with Machaba Safaris having stayed at their Gomoti Plains and Kiri Camps. This proving to be a dry year with the whole region only receiving 20% of is annual December – March rainfall; although the annual flood water from Angola is slowly flowing and creeping through the floodplains and rivers. I saw this at Gomoti where guide Mott and I drove through water that had not been there a week previously.
Every day I went out just around sunrise, my favourite time of day because everything is fresh and promising. Piecing together what has happened the night before is like a building a tapestry. We drive slowly and look at everything that catches our attention and the first thing on one of the mornings was a group of dwarf mongooses sunning themselves on the side of a termite mound – so active and fun to watch. Soon after a magnificent Bateleur eagle flew overhead close enough to photograph, it takes the adults seven years to get their full adult black and white plumage.
"There is a good reason why people who come on safari to look at birds have the most predator sightings!" - Mike Myers
Late April is Autumn for us and the time of the year when mornings get colder. We start to hear the guttural sound of male impala rutting. This is when the female impala comes into season and the male testosterone is high, the peak of the rut is between the full moons in May. The males are so intent on the battle that they drop their guard and often fall victim to our great predators. I once found a female leopard who had killed three males in one area during this rutting period. Watching the males doing battle is one of the great sights at this time of the year.
The lilac breasted rollers were also active fighting for territory and giving their characteristic display of circling for height and then doing a few tail slides before rolling from side to side to land on a tree. Not only do they bomb other rollers but any other birds that happen to come into their area. They are spectacular, so fast in the air and hard to photograph. Even after all these years I can’t resist taking pictures of them and good ones of them in flight are few and far between.
The wetlands at Gomoti are a completely different scene of tall fan palm trees and mixed woodland in contrast to the currently more drier floodplains at Kiri that are eagerly anticipating their annual inundation. Both landscapes offer up a feast of zebra, wildebeest, kudu, giraffe, tssessebe, impala, buffalo and elephant. All the time I spend in the Delta feels to me like I am present in a natural art gallery.
As a photographer I like to look at how I can use this wonderful landscape to frame the animals I find. I want my pictures to be about the animals in their unique habitat and that is what inspires me, there are so many creative opportunities that bring me down into the detail of the remarkable habitat that is the Okavango Delta. It is during these times that the Delta yields gems and breath-taking moments that I am able to capture in special photographs, for me it is adrenalizing.
At Gomoti Plains there was a fight between two buffalo bulls which happened so fast right in front of us it took both Mott and I by surprise. The adrenaline was just settling, when we later found two lionesses and six cubs. So often the best pictures are in the first few moments as one makes the sighting. The picture here was in the first 15 seconds of the sighting and Mott was not even able to stop the vehicle and get his camera out before I had already taken the shot.
On our last morning at Gomoti we decided to have a look in the drier area to the south of camp and were rewarded with a group of Pelicans fishing in a pan that was drying up. It was spectacular and the pan was alive with not only the Pelicans but also other waterfowl moving from side to side after the fish. Later the whole scene got even better when a herd of Buffalo came down to drink. That’s all we did in a whole morning game drive, could not have been better.
The pans at Kiri are the only water sources in the area until the Okavango flood water reaches there. When I worked in Zimbabwe, building Verneys Camp, I saw the daily ritual of both the Burchells and Double Banded Sandgrouse. The Burchells drink in the morning from about 8.15 am until 9.00 am. Light is good at this time of the day and it’s possible to get great shots of them in flight. You have to be quick when they drink because they only spend the briefest of time at the water before flying off. The opposite is true for the Double Banded who only drink after sunset. This makes getting a decent picture difficult but not impossible. The sights and sounds of the birds flying in and leaving is truly special and little known.
There is a saying that goes: you only see a leopard if the leopard wants you to see it. I believe this is the true cat behaviour. At Kiri we had three leopard sightings in two drives. The first evening drive, we saw one shy female initially, and then, while sitting at a waterhole after sunset we caught sight of a big male that came down to the water to drink. The next day we were bumbling along when we spotted a young female, initially unidentifiable, moving like a shadow in the tall grass.
We stayed with her until she settled down amongst the iconic sage bushes, so relaxed that she lay down next to us and went to sleep. Just as the sun was setting she got up to go hunting and disappeared into the depths of the setting sun and tall grass, leaving us with a memory of a moment she wanted to share with us.
On my last morning at Kiri with guide Boikobo we decided to have a look at the water hole on the Boro. It was early and from some distance we saw the silhouette of a male cheetah. I have to mention the light we have in April and May is so clear and crisp and all the colours are intense. So from the top of the termite mound the cheetah had a good look around for any danger and when he was satisfied that he was safe, he made his way to the water to drink. Lapping the water in the clear morning light with his face reflected is the still water made for a wonderful picture that I was beyond excited to capture.
My advice is to slow things down, look and listen carefully and let the spectacular landscape unfold before your eyes for you to capture in pixels or in your heart.
