May 28, 2012: The Lost World of Niassa & Farewell to Africa

Greetings All,
The last chapter in our Southern African odyssey was a quick trip to Mozambique. We flew from Johannesburg to Pemba in northern Mozambique. We spent one night on the Indian Ocean (photo 1)

before heading inland. A one and a half hour charter flight the next morning took us to Niassa Reserve close to the border with Tanzania. The Reserve is a large (42,000 square kilometer) expanse of wilderness containing rivers cutting through Miambo woodland. Palm, Acacia and Baobab trees grow in the floodplains along the rivers. The most unusual features in the landscape are rock formations called inselbergs. They loom above the plain in a variety of shapes (photo 2).

Some are virtually bare containing resurrection grass while others have trees growing on their slopes. Some contain caves with ancient rock art 4000 years old (photo 3).

Wildlife viewing this time of year is difficult with plenty of tall grass for the animals to hide in. We did get some nice sightings of Waterbuck (photo 4), Elephants (photo 5) and 3 Klipspringers climbing up an inselberg covered in Resurrection grass (photo 6).

On our second night we were treated to dinner on top of an inselberg overlooking the Lugenda River (photo 7).

It was a magical spot, right out of Jurassic Park. On our last night in the Reserve we went to a Hippo Pool on the Lugenda River to watch the sunset. We're still smiling after nearly 3 and a half months in Africa (photo 8).

Tomorrow we head home. We're looking forward to seeing everyone!
Marc and Peggy

      Southern Africa Mammal List: February 23 - May 30, 2012

No.	Species	Scientific Name	Notes
1	African Bush Elephant	Loxodonta africana	Okavango, Tuli, Kruger, Niassa,  Pilanesberg
2	Cape Buffalo	Syncerus caffer caffer	Moremi
3	Southern White Rhino	Ceratotherium simum simum	Hluhluwe, Greater Kudulands,  Pilanesberg
4	Southern African Lion	Panthera leo melanochaita	Okavango, Kalahari, Kruger
5	Angolan Giraffe	Giraffa giraffa angolensis	Maun
6	Eland	Tragelaphus oryx	Tuli
7	Black-backed Jackal	Canis mesomelas	Kalahari, Tuli
8	Spotted Hyena	Crocuta crocuta	Kruger
9	Small Spotted Genet	Genetta genetta	Maun
10	Hippopotamus	Hippopotamus amphibius	Okavango, Pilanesberg
11	Spotted-necked Otter	Hydrictis maculicollis	Okavango
12	Southern Greater Kudu	Tragelaphus  strepsiceros strepsiceros	Makgadikgadi, Tuli, Pilanesberg
13	Side-striped Jackal	Canis adustus	Niassa Reserve
14	Plains Zebra	Equus quagga	Maun, Makgadikgadi
15	Red Lechwe	Kobus leche leche	Okavango
16	South African Ground  Squirrel	Xerus inauris	Kalahari
17	Chacma Baboon	Papio ursinus	Greater Kudulands, Kruger
18	Springbok	Antidorcas marsupialis	Maun, Kalahari
19	Common Impala	Aepyceros  melampus melampus	Moremi, Pilanesberg
20	Klipspringer	Oreotragus oreotragus	Niassa Reserve
21	Gemsbok	Oryx gazella	Kalahari
22	African Wild Dog	Lycaon pictus	Moremi, Tuli, Hluhluwe, Kruger
23	Rock Hyrax	Procavia capensis	Greater Kudulands
24	Nyala	Tragelaphus angasii	Greater Kudulands
25	Blue Wildebeest	Connochaetes  taurinus taurinus	Okavango, Moremi, Pilanesberg
26	Red Hartebeest	Alcelaphus  buselaphus caama	Pilanesberg
27	Honey Badger	Mellivora capensis	Kalahari
28	Bushbuck	Tragelaphus scriptus	Okavango
29	South African Giraffe	Giraffa camelopardalis  giraffa	Makgadikgadi, Greater  Kudulands
30	Bat-eared Fox	Otocyon megalotis	Kalahari
31	African Leopard	Panthera pardus pardus	Tuli, Kruger
32	Sloggett’s Vlei Rat	Otomys sloggetti	Drakensberg
33	Sable Antelope	Hippotragus niger	Greater Kudulands
34	Serval	Leptailurus serval	Kruger
35	Nyasaland Wildebeest	Connochaetes tauranus  johnstoni	Niassa Reserve
36	African Civet	Civettictis civetta	Niassa Reserve
37	Common Waterbuck	Kobus ellipsiprymnus  ellipsiprymnus	Niassa Reserve
38	Blue Monkey	Cercopithecus mitis	Niassa Reserve