Over the years I've watched birds in some pretty unusual places, but I can honestly say I've never seen bee-eaters while sitting on the toilet before. I'm in the "loo with a view" at Vumbura Plains safari lodge, in Botswana's Okavango Delta – and the little bee-eaters aren't the only birds you can watch without even making the effort to go on a game drive.
The vast, grassy swamp in front of the camp may seem lifeless at first, but once I adjust my eyes I realise that this is simply due to the scale of my view. Two elephants look like tiny grey dots; while impala, lechwe and waterbuck stroll around in the distance, keeping a close eye out for the lions that roam this watery landscape. Nearer the camp, a goliath heron – the largest heron in the world – stalks for fish, before flying off on its broad, dark wings, its deep, grunting call echoing across the water.
As we eat our breakfast on the verandah, a colourful, woodpecker-like bird with a comical headdress pops up on top of a termite mound, uttering a harsh, scolding call. A few minutes later it flies across to a decorative display of hollow palm poles, and to our surprise disappears inside one of them. We hear the sound of high-pitched cheeping, and a moment or two later the bird flies out, and back to the termite mound. I shine a torch inside the palm pole, and discover a brood of crested barbet chicks.
Another morning, another breakfast, and another surprising bird. Frank, the camp manager, asks me if I've seen the owl. Fearing that he's winding me up, I lift my binoculars cautiously; and discover a bird with a plumage the colour and texture of tree bark perched on a low branch just a few feet away. It's an African scops owl, spending the daylight hours roosting out of sight of any small, curious birds which would mob it if they discovered its resting-place.
Some camp visitors are less welcome, at least to nervous visitors like me. The other night a couple of lions wandered up and down the boardwalk between the rooms, while yesterday evening a spotted hyena did the same. Early one morning, as I took a pre-dawn shower, I suddenly remembered that the tree above my head used to be a favourite perch for the local leopard – leading to a rather nervous moment as I towelled myself dry. A timely reminder that we are only temporary occupants of this extraordinary landscape, and that even though we are here for a few days, the barbet, owl and bee-eaters – and the big predators and their prey – will all carry on with their lives long after we have gone home.
• Stephen Moss will blogging regularly while filming with the BBC in Botswana's Okavango Delta
