We left Mubala on 16th November for the relatively short drive to Muchenge Campsite. However, we had to cross a border! We had all our paperwork in order including our recent PCR tests & the border crossing was quite straight forward. But there is always a certain amount of uncertainty in these covid times.
The view from camp, overlooking the
Chobe River floodplain.
We had not visited this campsite before, but on the map it looked interesting, as it is situated on the edge of the Chobe River floodplain. We arrived to a very clean & well run establishment with helpful staff who showed us to our very nice spot overlooking the floodplain. We then set about making camp, our temporary home for the next three nights.
Our camp.
Very clean & tidy. Everything one needs.
This area is outside of the Chobe National Park,
so people & their livestock are everywhere.
The edge of the floodplain,
fringed by mature woodland.
Wildlife & livestock mix here.
Plains Zebra
Birding from the camp.
African Wattled Lapwing
Displaying.
Red-winged (Collared) Pratincoles were common
on the floodplain.
Birding that afternoon from the comfort of our chairs produced an excellent selection of water birds:
4 Black Heron; Rufous bellied Heron; 230 Red-winged Pratincole. As dusk approached we saw 4 Amur Falcons & a Eurasian Hobby catching insects over the flood plain.
Great White Pelicans
I think this is the biggest flock i have ever seen!
Great White & Pink backed Pelicans together.
When seen side by side, the size difference
is amazing!
It was fantastic to watch these birds
at close quarters.
Large numbers of African Openbills
were also on the floodplain.
125 Spur-winged Geese were seen.
Some came nice & close!
On the 17th November we were awakened by the loud swishing of wings! We rushed outside to see an amazing sight of 463 Great White & 12 Pink-backed Pelicans flying over the floodplain & landing next to a small body of water. They spent some time there preening & loafing around before eventually flying off west.
We really enjoyed our short stay here & it would make a good base for the exploration of Chobe National Park in the future. We left on 18th December for our short drive to Kasane.
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