Another month has passed us by, and the winter chill is evident for the first hour or so of the morning drive. The cold does not affect the quality of sightings in any way - here is a round up of what has been seen recently:
LIONS:
The Ximhungwe pride returned to our traversing area after an extended stay in the east. The pride is still doing a great job of avoiding the Selati male coalition and the four youngsters are doing well. The pride has been making regular small kills, such as impala, this is a good tactic to keep them on the move and under the radar of the new males.
Ximhungwe pride youngster (Photo: JF Poudron)
One female remained separated from the group and she was viewed with a small zebra kill, she was also being pursued by the Selati males for a couple of days but there was no sighting of her mating with them.
Lone Ximhungwe Lioness (Photo: Rob)
The Selati male coalition completed their takeover of the Othawa pride of lionesses quite early on in the month, it seems they ran into the pride soon after leaving the buffalo kill mentioned in the last rangers report. All three lionesses had evidently come into oestrus, confirming the loss of the cubs. One of the males found himself the centre of attention as two of the lionesses chose him to mate with!
Selati Male with two lovers (Photo: Rob)
There were obviously some disagreements between the males over the females and some new cuts and scratches were soon evident. After a few days the males left their newly acquired pride to pursue the calls of the lone Ximhungwe lioness, this proved a fruitless mission and they went off on their usual patrols across their new territory.
Selati Males bonding (Photo: Rob)
It was not long before they took down another huge buffalo bull, their third in 5 weeks, again along the banks of the Sand river.
Selati male on the buffalo kill (Photo: Rob)
After a couple of days the Othawa females joined their new pride males at the kill and soon there was a new round of mating.
Mating pair in the riverbed (Photo: Rob)
Again the males had some disagreements about the ladies and quite a few scratches and holes began to appear on their previously pretty faces.
The mating again continued for a few days and we had a nice surprise as two of the mating pairs came through the lodge grounds one evening.
Battle scarred but still mating (Photo: Rob)
As long as the males seem satisfied with the Othawa pride, they may not pay too much attention to the Ximhungwe pride giving the youngsters there a chance to grow up.
LEOPARDS:
Maxabeni 3:3 young male (Photo: JF Poudron)
This month saw a new addition to the local leopard population in the form of the Maxabeni 3:3 young male leopard, who wandered into the southern portion of our traversing area. This male leopard is slightly younger than the Dewane male and is currently nomadic, searching for a territory to take over. With both the Kashane and Dewane males moving in the southern portion of our area it is unlikely that this new male will set up there, but the northern side of the river is a slightly different story, with a bit of luck he may end up in that area and set up a permanent base. Having grown up in the central Sabi sand he is a relaxed leopard and should provide us with great viewing if he does manage to find a territory here.
Kashane male (Photo: JF Poudron)
Kashane Male with impala kill (Photo: Rob)
The Kashane male has been viewed regularly, he has been eating well – at least four impala kills for the month. The most recent kill was close to the Idube bush camp. At one of his earlier kills, the Hlab’nkunzi female arrived in oestrus and his feeding was interrupted by the mating…
Kashane and Hlab’nkunzi (Photo: JF Poudron)
The Dewane male was also seen regularly, patrolling his territory and mating - also with the Hlab’nkunzi female just a day before she joined Kashane. Dewane was also briefly seen in the company of the Metsi female but there was no mating, Metsi in fact is showing signs of being pregnant.
Dewane male marking territory (Photo: Rob)
Another mating pair of leopards was reported as being the Xindlevhana male and Xikavi female, I have recently been sceptical of reports of large shy males being Xindlevhana but a couple of days after that report of the mating pair it was possible to positively identify the big male leopard occupying the territory that used to belong to the Xinzele male. it was indeed Xindlevhana, looking extremely healthy and as huge as ever. Although he is shy in the daytime, he is usually relaxed at night and it is good to know that he is still around.
Xindlevhana male (Photo: Rob)
The Shangwa 3:3 young male leopard is now totally independent of his mother and has been seen often in the north. At two years old he is already a big leopard and he may have a lot of success up in the northern area of our traverse. His mother is not seen as regularly now and it seems she has moved back towards her core territory in Othawa.
The Hlab’nkunzi female, as already mentioned has been mating again, she has been spending time around the lodge as well, perhaps when she does conceive the area around idube will be where she chooses to den again.
Metsi does seem to be pregnant and she is spending more and more time in the area she started to raise her last litter, this means that the Tlangisa female is being pushed further north. In fact Tlangisa was recently seen on the northern boundary!
The Tassleberry female was seen frequently in the south, she and the Maxabeni young male did have a brief interaction too.
Tassleberry female (Photo: Rob)
The Xikavi female has moved back to her regular haunts along the banks of the Sand river, as usual she is most often seen in some thick bush, but as she was mating with Xindlevhana there were some good sightings of her.
OTHER PREDATORS:
The pack of African wild dogs/Painted hunting dogs has only been into the west briefly, but they still seem to be doing well, hopefully they will soon be heading to check out den sites here in the area.
Hyena are starting to become a more common sighting again, they were encountered often on the roads at night and also feeding on the remains of the buffalo kill in the river.
Genet, civet and a variety of mongoose species have been seen regularly but no sightings of serval or caracal.
LARGE HERBIVORES:
The big herd of buffalo has been in and out of the area, mostly towards the southern sections. There were reports of the two remaining Mapogo male lions following the herd in the east but they never made it this far west. Buffalo bulls are still a common sighting along the river, despite being a target for the Selati male lions. There are numerous lone bulls scattered across the reserve as well.
Elephant herds were frequently encountered, often close to the lodge. One of the smaller herds was seen moving past the lodge on the way to drink at Schotia dam, they proceeded to disturb the two pairs of mating lions that were resting there, scattering them in all different directions.
Giraffe and hippo were also seen regularly. One morning whilst tracking leopard we encountered two male hippo having a territorial fight along the banks of the river.
GENERAL GAME:
Many other species were seen on an almost daily basis – Kudu, nyala, bushbuck, duiker, steenbok, waterbuck, wildebeest, zebra, impala and even the occasional reedbuck.
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