| On
the southern banks of the Linyanti River (in Botswana),
is the private Linyanti Wildlife Reserve. Here the
marsh subsides into lagoons and steadily flowing
rivers with riverine forests of jackalberry and
sausage trees leading to open grasslands, and dry
inland wooded areas.
ANIMALS
& BIRDS
The Linyanti Reserve is highly
populated with animals particularly in the dry winter
months when elephants concentrate in enormous numbers
at the rivers and waterholes. Thousands of zebra
spend the winter in the Linyanti before heading
south to the Savuti in November in expectation of
summer rains and good grazing. The particularly
beautiful sable and roan antelopes are found here
and red lechwe and the aquatic sitatunga antelope
inhabit the wetlands.
The
main predators are lion, leopard, cheetah, wild
dog and hyena. A smaller carnivore and efficient
predator sometimes seen, is the serval. This feline
catches rodents and birds by silently pouncing on
them and has a creditable 50% success rate. Bat-eared
foxes are the cutest of the small carnivores and
prey on insects, scorpions, mice and small birds.
Birdlife
is abundant here and particularly vocal with a magnificent
dawn chorus. Daytime noises include incessantly
grunting hippos and trumpeting elephants, while
the night brings roaring lions and laughing hyenas.
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