Welcome to July…already! This year continues to zoom past us, and it is a sobering reminder that we are now already moving into the last bit of our winter! We had a slightly cooler week, but with only two days of wind it would be a stretch to say that it was a “cold” week. The bush continues to turn a more golden shade, but is still looking in great condition – there is plenty of grass for the grazers, and all the animals are looking in top shape. The game once again gave us a few great sightings this week, as seems to be the norm during the winter months!
The lions enjoyed a good week of life at the top of the food chain, and we saw them with a few kills this week. The River Pride made a reappearance, but it was not a long-lived one. The pride were found feeding on an impala towards the end of the week, at the same time that one of the Vuyela males spent two days feeding on a large zebra carcass. Fourteen members of the Sark Breakaway Pride (including two cubs) were found feasting on a zebra in the eastern part of their territory (and the central part of our concession) which left the pride pleasingly accessible to us for most of the week. The pride then spenta couple of days trying their luck with a large herd of buffalo around the two most central waterholes, but they didn’t even seem to get close to coming right. Later in the week the cubs were found on Nkhari, and we enjoyed a couple of magical drives of not just the three cubs we showed off last month, but also their three newest members! With these additional cubs, the pride now sits at 18 members strong, plus the five pride males – the real makings of another super pride. The Mayambula pride were not present this week, although we did find a single young male walking around close to the buffalo herd one morning – I suspect he was more concerned about getting away from the Vuyela males than he was about hunting buffalo. The Vuyela males showed themselves a few more times, and we even got to hear the odd, distant roar coming from these impressive boys, but with their interests drawn to the Mayambula Pride once again this week, we sadly didn’t spend as much time in their company as we would have liked. A small portion of the Giraffe Pride were seen once during the week, otherwise their presence continued to be erratic, to say the least.
We enjoyed a couple of leopard sightings this week; Nyeleti was found in her new territory to the south, and she spent three days feasting on an impala kill that she hoisted up a tamboti tree. Late one morning we were in the mood for a leopard when we spotted Dzindza resting up a gorgeous marula tree some distance away, and spent some quality time with her. Xiwumbana male was found with a warthog kill in the west, and Nkaya Dam female was also reported with a kill this week making for a good week of feasting felines.
The wild dogs continued to pop in sporadically this week, but it was once again a case of seeing their tracks more than seeing the dogs themselves. We did catch up with them on a couple of afternoons, but in both cases, they were towards the end of the hunt and making their way back east to the den site.
Before the windy weather arrived, the elephants were out in out in force, but as if by magic, once the wind blew in, these giants all but disappeared! I did three drives without seeing one elephant (although that was my bad luck, as there were some around), but fortunately they started to reappear as the week drew to a close.
It was another pleasant week of buffalo viewing with the herd of 200-plus members spending their entire week in the central regions around Tanda Tula Safari Camp. Even with the lions following them, the herd remained active in the area. Given enough time, I am sure the lions will eventually get once!
The zebras and giraffes seemed to follow the lead of the lions, but fortunately as the week was drawing to a close, the sightings of these plains game species improved. Even in the early part of the week we encountered a few herds of over 50 zebras moving around the eastern sections.
We also got to spend more time with our hyena den in the central region! After many months of inactivity, the hyenas have returned to it. At the moment, we have only seen two cubs of around 2-3 months, but another mother is spending a great deal of time at the den, so I suspect she has a very small litter of cubs in the den too – hopefully they show themselves soon!
For now though, that is the week that was – enjoy, and be sure to check back next Monday for some more pics straight from the Timbavati.
Until next time!
Cheers
Chad
