Welcome back to your weekly update from the heart of the Timbavati! This week winter made sure that we knew it was here! Fresh mornings saw me digging out the gloves for the first time this year, but the daytime temperatures were just perfect! We had one windy spell as the first cold front of the season blew through, but all in all, it was a near-perfect-weather week!
With us having had such great lion viewing over the past few months, it has been no surprise that the leopards have been quieter than usual, but with the onset of winter, we are hoping for a change in fortunes – if this is the case, we hope that this week is a sign of things to come over the coming months. We had good sightings of these spotted beauties across the central areas, with reports of other leopards further west also coming through.
The week started off with a busy morning near Tanda Tula. Starting drive a little late to miss the coldest part of the day, we got mobile to hear that Scotch was tracking lions that had come to drink at the camp waterhole; I moved into the are to assist, but got distracted by some hyenas just as Scotch found the lions a couple of hundred metres from where I was. Watching the hyenas, and knowing where the lions were, we were intrigued by their excitement in an area in the opposite direction of the lions – Eric then spotted the remains of an impala up a tree, and on following up we found Nyeleti skulking around. The hyenas soon picked up on her and sent her running up the tree where she began feeding. The kill did not appear to be hers, but rather that of the wild dogs, that I suspect lost out to the hyenas. The hyenas then appear to have been chased off by the lions and at some point in all of this, Nyeleti ran in and stole the remains. At least that is my story, and I am sticking to it! After a good viewing of her, we went off to catch up with the wild dogs that were still in the area, but the thieving for the morning was not yet done, and a while later Rihati female (Nyeleti’s now relaxed daughter) arrived and chased mom off the spoils of the kill. Whilst sitting with Rihati on our way back to camp, she stared off in the distance, growled and then descended the tree and wandered off, never to return.
That evening Nyeleti was back, and finished off the skant remains. Later in the week Rihati had a taste of her own medicine when a new young male leopard arrived at her impala kill and scaled the tree to steal it from her! This was a much needed meal for the young male, as we had seen him two days earlier after hyenas had stolen his own impala kill – and with an empty belly, we were glad he managed to at least get some food from Rihati. At the same time, there was another young male leopard with a kill off of our access road. To round off the week, we also had a lovely sighting of N’weti and Pezulu male as they wandered around the area of Machaton Dam; it appeared as they she might have been leading him to a kill, but sadly they moved out of the area before the kill was located. Our guests also got to see a leopard stroll across the Nhlaralumi riverbed whilst enjoying the afternoon coffee before drive a couple of afternoons ago!
After the wonderful lion cub viewing last week, I missed out on the cubs this week. They were found one morning, but I was already with members of the River Pride, so decided to leave it for the afternoon – bad choice, as by the time the afternoon drive came, the mother had left the cubs unattended and we missed out on our chance to see them. The Sark Breakaways were around for a few days this week, and we kick started the week with a great sighting as 14 members of the pride came walking down the road straight past the vehicle, giving my guests a sighting they wont forget in a hurry. Later in the week the pride was found finishing off a zebra kill in the west.
The River pride were around for several days this week, but they didn’t make it easy for us. The reason became evident later in the week when two lionesses were followed down into one of the river beds, and the guide that was following them got a glimpse of a brand new lion cub – the youngest lioness had given birth! As the cub was still tiny, he left the mother in peace, and we shall continue to give her space around the den for the next several weeks until she starts bringing the cubs out on her own accord. From the audio, it apparently sounded like there were at least a couple more cubs hidden away. We ended the week finding the pride with fat bellies and the remains of a zebra kill just a few hundred metres from camp – their presence was not being enjoyed by the elephants that were constantly trumpeting at them!
The Vuyela males were around here and there, but not as much as we have come to expect; and even when they were around, their reliably roaring shows didn’t bear fruit this week. There were tracks for the Birmingham Breakaways and a Mayambula lioness in the south east a couple of times this week, but we had no joy in finding them since they were seen at a small pan last weekend.
The last of the large cat species taunted us and I spent a couple of drives chasing shadows as tracks for a young male cheetah came in from Klaserie to the eastern open woodlands, but he promptly turned back to the west. Eventually, he was found this morning, but with my guests checking out early, only Tristan and Ginger were able to catch up with him. Fortunately we did have better luck with the wild dogs, and we caught up with the pack on three occasions this week as they continue to come hunting in the area. It appears as though the lions again stole one of their kills, and on another occasion (the same morning the leopard got their kill), a River lioness came storming out the bushes and chased off the pack that had been resting peacefully on a clearing.
Although the cats played along great, it was a week that undoubtedly belonged to the elephants, and we had more elephants in the central regions around Tanda Tula that I can recall seeing in some time. During the warmth of the midday, herd after herd would come and visit the water hole, and some days in excess of a hundred elephants would come streaming through! Seeing the guests reactions to having elephants around camp every day is something that never gets old!
Although the large buffalo herd spent time in the west, we also had a smaller group of 150-odd individuals moving in the central regions this week, but most of the buffalo sightings for the week came from the buffalo bulls scattered around the remaining waterholes.
They were not the only ones enjoying the waterholes this week as we got spoilt by several stunning scenes of multiple species coming to drink at the waterholes in the late morning – included in this would be the midday scenes from our pool deck – impala, wildebeest, elephants, warthogs, zebras, baboons, nyala and bushbuck could be seen daily; this is one of the true beauties of winter in the bush!
And that, I believe, is that! I am off for the next week, but be sure to check back in a couple of week’s time for some more updates, and no doubt news on some great game viewing that is sure to be enjoyed in my absence!
Until next time!
Cheers
Chad
