wild dogs at African Horseback Safaris

The floods have finally arrived at African Horseback Safaris

The floods have finally arrived at African Horseback Safaris

The Okavango Delta is known for the annual flood, driven by waters from the Angolan Highlands, which transform the dry landscape into a green and lush paradise for wildlife. 

This year we have experienced one of the smallest floods in memory, caused by low rainfall in Angola towards the end of 2018 and very little in Botswana during our rainy season (Oct-Mar).

At Macatoo, we normally expect the flood to arrive in early May, replenishing the waterholes and bringing with it Red Lechwe antelope and a huge variety of water birds.  In the first week of July, the flood finally arrived in our concession, only 2 months later than normal!  The buffalo and elephant herd sizes increased as they came together to travel to the new water source, there were buffalo as far as you could see when we had guests enjoying a helicopter scenic flight.  With the large herd movements, comes an increase in predator activity.  We have had the most memorable lion, leopard and wild dog sightings.

To help the game with the water situation we installed 2 boreholes, powered by solar panels at Ebony Pool, about 15 minutes drive from camp.  We chose this existing pool as the animals already have it on their routes and it is far enough from the camp that they can go there undisturbed to drink, bathe and wallow.  It’s certainly been a big hit with all species, including the crocodile!  An additional benefit is that it has provided our guests with fantastic opportunities to view game enjoying the pool.

Ebony Pool – Before boreholes were installed
Ebony Pool – 2 weeks after boreholes were installed

Contact African Horseback Safaris
Web. www.africanhorseback.com
Email. reservations@africanhorseback.com
Tel. +2676861523