A weekend at Tantebane Ranch in Botswana

Our lovely chalet on the top of a koppie, 

with Boulder Chats around us!

The view!

Boulder Chat

We have just driven through three countries in as many days & now find ourselves in Botswana close to the Zimbabwean border! We are staying in a beautiful chalet on top of a koppie at Tantebane. This is our second visit, the first time we found a Baillon's Crake here! Alas nothing as exotic this trip! 

The koppies are well wooded.

Plenty of Rock Hyraxes about.

Bush Squirrel

Golden tailed Woodpecker

Delana birding.

There was a pair of Boulder Chats around the 

chalets most of the time.

They visited the braai area quite regularly, 

looking for scraps.

Male

Female

They were quite confiding, but difficult to photograph

 because of the dappled light.

It is winter here so lovely crisp sunny days but cold nights, birdlife is sparse this time of year but the Boulder Chats are still around the chalets. 

Our chalet was on top of the hill.

The bridge across the dam, linking our 

accommodation to the restaurant.

The dam was full after the recent rains,

 so few water birds about.

White breasted Cormorant

It is a nice place to bird here, 

with a variety of habitats.

It is a large ranch but has numerous paths

 to cover the woodland areas.

It was a very nice relaxing weekend, with a bit of gentle birding & a lot of sitting around in front of the chalet, admiring the view & Boulder Chats. Not a species we see very often. There was a dearth of birds around though, the woodlands being very quiet, with virtually nothing calling. We did see 50 White backed Vultures circling around an industrial area on the edge of Francistown. Possibly an abattoir?

We now have a very long drive ahead of us to get to our next destination which is Delana's ranch in northern Namibia.