Deer Park

Agricultural, so not in lockdown

There are 6 species of hornbill here.

African grey hornbills like my truck mirrors. Here’s one at my house

Here’s one at a camp in town

And one in a friend’s driveway

I’ve seen 3 hornbill species so far. I’m hoping a camera I’m ordering will arrive without hassles and I’ll do more bird photography from the deck here.

So here’s an unusual snake. Tiny. It’s the first one I’ve seen and it was running around looking for an exit, very very hyper, on my kitchen floor.

This fellow is about 3 or 4″, short of the 7″ or so maximum. I really couldn’t figure it out at first. Here it is

More info here

Peters’ Thread Snake

The event, terrible video

I got it easily onto a piece of paper and out the door and into the green after this.

Africa today

(from January 23, in a series)

Off we go, nets and jar.

The further you get out of Maun, the more carts like this you see

Cows asleep on the main track. Judging by the alternate track, this may be a regular occurrence, or this is this is a muddy section in the rain

It’s about a 45 minute very slow sandy drive to the Morutshe gate I use most often

Sign in

To “Sally’s Bridge”. I named it that because Sally, the sister of a friend of mine, did a strange pose here when I was taking a water level reference shot one time. The water here is mostly covered in reeds, with an open patch where trucks (who don’t trust the bridge I guess) cross

It’s here

The first thing I catch is this leech I see wiggling across the surface

There are 3 species of leech in the Delta. 2 of them prey exclusively on mollusks.

Then, after a lot of chasing, I catch this

Once again, I’m able to positively identify it by eliminating the other micropanchax in my book. They’re all fairly different. A beautiful little fish, maybe 1″ long

Then home, happy

The next fish story is an epic adventure a long way away.

Another beautiful day, as nearly always. The forecast below. It’s beginning to dip as we head towards our winter months, June and July, when the daily highs will be in the mid-20’s

A sunny place, my town

Cows out front of my place today. Very relaxing to contemplate

Another fish story tomorrow

(This drive happened on January 21. I’ll work through similar events to catch us up on this topic)

So, I have some books on the flora and fauna of the Delta. Some more specific, that I grabbed or downloaded in passing, like on scorpions, birds, or snakes, one giant technical book on the flora.

I have a good friend who’s a Prof at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein and who has a particular interest in the aquatic life of the Delta and we’ve chatted about her specialty, parasites.

Plus I have a truck, as I keep proudly saying.

So I ordered some small fishing nets and stuff online.

Off we go, looking for water. The drive to the buffalo fence (which separates the Delta from the town) is about 15 – 20 miles from my house.It’s always a beautiful drive. There’s no deep sand on this route

Pass villagers on donkeys

Happy, fat cows

And one giant termite mound per field

Same one

Another

The village of Daonara, close to the fence

This is one of two entries to the Delta I use. It’s more casual and today there’s no one in attendance to sign me in

He’s probably in his tent

After a few miles into the Delta, water along the car tracks

But it’s muddy, and if you cant see the fish you can’t catch them

So I thought we’d go back and explore around Daonara, at one point crossing this bridge, the longest I’ve seen yet. The bridges are narrow and creaky, so I go slow

And finally find this perfect spot. That’s my net, the one with the longest telescoping handle

Here, just maybe 15 miles from Maun

And after a while I net a fish

It’s a beauty, about 1 1/4″ long. I put it, with some water, into a jam jar, take a few pics, and put him back into the small lagoon

I find it in my fish book at home. It’s clearly this species, despite the lack of blue in the body, by eliminating the other 3 species of Micropanchax in the Delta

(fish post later today)

You know I posted video of the rain outside my place a couple of days ago, like this?

Well today it’s like this

And this is pretty cheerful