Perhaps it was coincidence, or perhaps not, but while having coffee on one of the open sodic sites, a large herd of elephants came to drink. After they moved off, Eric went to look at the tracks around the pan and called us to come and have a look… there were tracks for a cheetah that had come to drink, possibly the afternoon before, but with the ground being so hard, it was difficult to be sure. We finished our coffee and were heading around to check the open areas on the other side of the Machaton when I gave an update on the tracks, only to be informed that while I was enjoying coffee, the very same male cheetah had been found where his tracks wandered off to! Arriving, I soon saw that it was not the male cheetah that has been gracing us with his presence through the winter, but rather the last remaining male of the duo that dominated the area for several years. Interestingly, we have always had better luck with this male and his former partner in the summer months, and I wonder if this is a sign that (a) summer has arrived, and (b) we will be seeing more of him in the coming months. The last time we saw him, he was limping and not looking in top shape, but I am happy to report that he seems to have adjusted well to life on his own and is looking great. A bigger surprise was that we found the cheetah while I was still actually on drive – my last drive of the work cycle, in fact. As you know, they have a habit of showing up as I go away on leave!
This time, though, the mantle for frustrating-Chad-by-only-showing-up-when-he-goes-on-leave falls firmly on the Northern pack of wild dogs. After having spent the past three months anchored to the northern Timbavati and beyond (into the adjoining Umbabat), the pack of 20-plus members returned to central Timbavati for the first time since their pups came of age. They moved into our area briefly the day before I went on leave, but the hunting party finished off their impala and went a couple of miles back to the north. The next morning, they came close to our northern boundary once again but naturally only crossed south once I left the reserve, and have continued to spend the next five days running around feasting on impalas. They must have bumped into our single female wild dog, as she completely left the area; we’ll see if she returns. As cooperative as wild dogs are with their own pack members, if they come across neighboring packs, they will attack them, and with 20-against-1, it’s no surprise she ran for her life!
We mentioned last week that two Vuyela males pushed the herd of 300 buffalo to the south. It didn’t take long for the three Mawondane lions to push them back north. The trio was unsuccessful in bringing down a buffalo outside Nkhari one evening, but upon following up in the morning, they were found resting not 150 meters from where the Sark Breakaway Pride had had better luck, with fifteen members of the pride scattered around resting off their fat bellies as the scant remains of the carcass drew in some brave jackals. The next morning, the Mawondane Pride looked very full, so they clearly managed to catch something that night. However, this time, it didn’t draw in the Sark Breakaways, who instead spent a couple of days near our western boundary before heading north. The River Pride was not overly active after the rains; although we saw them at the beginning and end of the week, they spent a few days without being found. Before I left, two of the smaller cubs were missing, but I hope they were just left at a den somewhere. A single Mayambula lioness was seen in close proximity to the cheetah on my last morning game drive.
Also nearby was our “granny” of the reserve, the Nyeleti female leopard. She was resting up in a large marula tree in the east with an impala carcass hung nearby. For the third time in the past few weeks, we’ve found leopards with impala kills that appear to have been scavenged from our poor single wild dog. Two skittish males, and now Nyeleti, were found with kills that all looked the same – mangled bodies, chewed-off faces, and none looking particularly fresh. I could be wrong, and it could merely be that a hyena scavenged some of the carcass before the leopards retrieved it, but I think our wild dog made the kill, fed on what it could, and when vultures descended, the leopards were close by and stole a free meal. The Ntsongwaan male leopard did just that this week, stealing a kill directly from the wild dog! A couple of days later, the Mawondane Pride stole the scraps of that same kill from Ntsongwaan. It’s good to know that he’s still hanging around. We also got to see Rihati this week; we had a good sighting of her and saw her dragging a scrub hare off into a thicket, but it’s still a little disheartening that she hasn’t become much more relaxed with the vehicles.
That about sums it up for this week. I’m off for just a week but will be back the following week for more updates, so be sure to check back then to hear about all the exciting things I missed (like hearing that lions were drinking at our waterhole a couple of days back)!
Until next time!
Cheers,
Chad
