It feels like an age since I sat down on a Monday to recall what had kept me busy during the week, but it has only been two weeks, and after having spent time in a rather chilly Johannesburg, I returned to Tanda Tula and really had to ask, “is it still winter here?” With daytime temperatures hitting the high twenties to low thirties most days, it felt like anything but winter! We really are blessed to call this place home!
And this was brought hope to me even more when a few days before coming back on duty, I was woken by a game viewer engine starting and stopping just outside my house. Walking out in my slippers, I was greeted by the sight of a wild dogs running in and out of camp! I decided to get dressed and go and see what they were up to, and upon arriving at the hide, saw why they were milling about; it wasn’t to do with the elephant that was drinking and spraying water at them, but rather for the half-eaten impala that they had left beneath the bridge but were too nervous to come and eat. In my slippers, I thus had to drag the carcass out from under the bridge and go drop off at the waterhole so that the wild dogs could finish off their breakfast…not a bad way to start the day (although, the impala might disagree!)
I will be honest; I am not too sure what I missed out on during my time on leave but did see some videos of the mandatory cheetah sighting that took place when I was away! The lions remained active in the area, and the River Pride introduced one of two their new litters of cubs – two tiny balls of fur: pale, but sadly not white. With this trend of lightening lions, perhaps we will end up with some white ones in the next 37 generations!
I came back onto drive for the weekend and enjoyed a great few days back behind the wheel. It started with Dzindza female leopard, and her duiker kill about 200m from the northern side of camp. She is now almost completely at ease with the vehicles and gave us a wonderful sighting. After elephants and buffalo, we ended our first drive with a Vuyela male lion roaring next to the vehicle.
The next morning, we got off to a late start, but it didn’t seem to bother the animals on a cloudy morning; we enjoyed some general game and rhinos as we headed towards a sighting of Rihati perched high up a tree on our access road; she remained there most of the day, so it was great for all guests coming into the lodge! The reason she was there also remained in the area all day, and that was the presence of twelve members of the Sark Breakaway Pride were sleeping not 100m away from the leopard!
By the afternoon, the leopard had managed to find a gap and get away, but the lions were still in the area. With fullish bellies – they had eaten in the early morning – I didn’t think they would get up to much, so I headed east to check for the wild dogs. Not having any luck, I stopped for drinks, and was going to go and see the nearby Pezulu male leopard, or another male leopard that had a kill hoisted up a tree close to camp. But upon getting mobile, the lions that I said wouldn’t get too active, had gotten so active that they had brought down a large male buffalo on the airstrip! I didn’t need to think twice and headed over to see the twelve lions tucking into their dinner.
The next morning the Sark Breakaways had been joined by their five cubs, as well as a single Vuyela male. We spent the morning tracking lions, and by the afternoon Eric had managed to locate six members of the River Pride – they needed a meal, but sadly we lost them in a thicket before we could see them hunting. When we caught up with them a couple of days later, their bellies were full! A large breeding herd of buffalo was also hanging around in the east and seemed to have shaken the interest of three young, unidentified lions that had spent much of the past two weeks following the herd without success – when they did eventually catch one, all five Vuyela males showed up to steal the kill from them!
As the temperatures warmed over the weekend, the waterholes become very active, and we enjoyed some lovely scenes of animals (especially elephants) around the last few bodies of water. The camp waterhole continued to draw in daily visits from elephants, as well as buffalo bulls.
I will be back on drive for the foreseeable future, so I will bring you more photos and sightings over the coming six weeks or so.
Until next time!
Cheers
Chad