| On safari-- wildlife and nature photos |
Kwando Reserve   |  Fish eagle. Click to enlarge |
Immediately to Selinda's north, the magnet for wildlife is Kwando Reserve's 80 kilometres of river frontage, lined by lagoons and beautiful patches of open woodland. The river is the Kwando (Cuando in Angola), which feeds into the Linyanti swamps, then becomes the Linyanti River and finally the Chobe before joining the mighty Zambezi
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Kwando is noted for its big buffalo and elephant herds, but there's no shortage of other wildlife such as the water-loving red lechwe and the tsessebe. Birdlife is magnificent
Two of the larger antelopes are the magnificent sable (shown here with red-billed oxpeckers in attendance) and the much less handsome tsessebe, which is reputed to be Africa's fleetest antelope
One of the slowest antelopes is the medium-sized and mostly nocturnal reedbuck. Then there's the little steenbok, which likes dry open areas as long as thickets are close by for security
And the predators? Lion, of course. Kwando has a resident pride of about a dozen, but the male photographed above was one of a small group of nomads
There are also leopard and cheetah. The Linyanti's famed cheetah brothers were regular visitors
Smaller predators include the African wildcat, and the dwarf mongoose-- Africa's smallest carnivore-- which preys mainly on invertebrates but can also take rodents, reptiles and birds
Chacma baboons often provide lighter moments...
Yellow-billed oxpeckers can also be entertaining as they search buffalo for parasites
A few of Kwando's other smaller birds: a rufous-naped lark, which commonly perches on low bushes and termite mounds; white-fronted bee-eaters at their nesting holes in the river bank; a crested barbet; and a lilac-breasted roller warming up in the morning sun
If you came directly here and missed the main Linyanti region pages, click Introducing the Linyanti or use the links below for more African safari pages
Equipment used at Kwando:
Canon EOS1n, with Canon 300/2.8 lens and extenders, & 580 EX flash; Fuji Sensia 100. Yvonne used a Canon EOS 1D Mark II with 100-400 IS lens The Maplink on the left will show you where the Kwando River is
