Just when we thought we had escaped another winter without feeling the cold, the last official week of winter decided to remind us that we cannot settle into the summer feeling just yet! After a couple of days that reached 40 degrees Celsius, it definitely felt as though winter was behind us…but alas, over 48 hours of cold wind blowing in from the Cape region made the temperatures drop drastically, and even saw me contemplating putting on some long trousers…sadly, Ryan’s cooking over the years meant that there was no chance I was still fitting into that uniform, and so the shorts and I braved the last week of winter alone!
It was a week that was again dominated by sightings of the River Pride and their four cubs. They stationed themselves around the Machaton Riverbed near Machaton Dam, and could be found there most days. With the windy weather arriving, I had promised my guests we would at least see some predators on a kill after two nights of perfect hunting conditions, and so we set out to find the River Pride on the morning after the strong winds. Sadly, the winds had blown away most of the tracks, but we had signs of the pride going into a big block, and not coming out. With a gut feel, Jack and I drove into the block, dodging rocks and logs as we went, and it wasn’t long before Jack raised his hand to point out the lions ahead, and the red rib bones of their wildebeest kill were immediately visible! The pride feasted there for a day, and a couple of days later were in a similar state as they fed on a zebra that they killed not 500m from Tanda Tula. The Vuyela males seemed to ignore the pride the entire week, so they got to feast without having to share with the pride males. On the downside, the absence of the male lions did lead to the hyenas chasing the pride off of the zebra kill, but they all made their way back to Machaton Dam where they spent the next two days.
The Sark Breakaways were not very active in the area this week, and sightings of them were limited to the tarred road between the Timbavati and the Klaserie, as the pride popped between the reserves. They too avoided the company of the Vuyela males this week. The reason appears to be that the Vuyela males have continued in their take over of the Mayambula Pride. After a couple of days of tracking the Mayambula Pride in circles in the south-east, Tristan managed to find two Vuyela males with one Mayambula lioness. One male stayed with her and spent the latter half of the week mating, although she looked less than interested. Tracks for the other males moved in and out of the south-eastern corner. With new mating opportunities, it appears as though this is where the Vuyelas will be spending their time. Time will tell whether they will accept and mate with the youngest Mayambula lionesses (now 2,5 years old), or if it will just be the five adult females that remain in the area, leaving the remaining members of the pride (around 12 of them) to go off and find a space of their own.
The leopards clearly made good use of the wind too, although they were less obliging in showing off their spoils – only Nyeleti was found with a kill after the wind, and despite the hyenas stealing some of it, she remained in the area for a couple of days. Odd glimpses of Dzindza were also had, but it was a difficult week of leopard viewing – tracks everywhere, but these notoriously elusive cats lived up to their nature.
There were signs of a single cheetah moving around in the southern sections during the windy spell, but sadly he was not found.
The wind seemed to bring the elephant herds back into the area (not that too many had left), but the days following the arrival of the cold front were filled with elephants! In fact, after the wind died down, everything seemed to come out, and we had great sightings of plentiful general game, giraffes, buffalo bulls and good zebra.
With the week ahead looking calm and mild, I am sure that these animals will continue to play along, so be sure to check back next Monday to see what sightings we have been able to share with our guests!
Until next time!
Cheers
Chad
