Over this last week, temperatures during the day have been increasingly leading into exceptionally warm afternoons with not much rain received. With that being said, sightings have been fantastic with a few old faces showing up and adding to the guests’ excitement as well as most of the rangers.

The Totowa female leopard, being one of those old faces that hasn’t been seen in a while. She was seen potentially stalking a Common Duiker but was unsuccessful in her attempt. Another leopard, White Dam’s cub was in the East, sleeping on a termite mound when found and seemingly looking in excellent condition. A lucky sighting it was as he hasn’t been seen in a long time.

And the sightings didn’t stop there, the Kashane male, who has recently moved more south out of Maxabeni’s territory, was seen hunting a Common Reedbuck before his cover was blown and going hungry and having to settle down during the heat of the day on top of a termite mound. There he was waiting for a better chance at potentially making a kill as the day progressed into the evening. However, with Kashane’s bad luck, the Kigelia female leopard was seemingly much better off in the north of the reserve as she was seen to have killed a Common Duiker, consuming it in a nice thicket on a cooler morning than usual.

Little Bush female, a regular, was seen along with her cub, escaping the heat by moving along the Msuthlu Riverbed in search of her next meal. A few days later, her cub was seen just outside Suite 1 at Selati Camp making sure she had nice comfortable spot on a small ledge. Close by to Selati, Maxabeni was also spending his time during the day resting in some nice shade before making his way to a nearby waterhole where he gave guests an exceptional sighting as he spent a while drinking.

The Southern Pride is still living up to their once old reputation. While one male and one female were sighted quite far up north together with the potential of mating, the rest of the pride and all the cubs were spending the midday heat sleeping in a thicket near a waterhole they commonly visit. One day after morning drive, the Southern Pride brought down a large Cape Buffalo bull right near the edge of the water at that waterhole and spent about two days feeding on it. During that time, the separated female and male made their way down from the north to join up with the rest of the pride.

Having the pride all together again was short-lived as the Charleston males went off on their territorial marking and patrolling duties and weren’t seen for about a day before they made an appearance all together on a nice open area. All the cubs, regardless of the heat, were very active and entertained our guests by climbing all over broken trees. The next morning the Charleston males had moved off once again, this time to be found on an impala kill and had left the rest of the pride in the same spot with all the cubs.

Throughout the reserve, such high temperatures were experienced, especially during the midday heat along with the humidity. Animals therefore required to find their various ways of cooling down. Two Spotted Hyenas were seen wallowing in a pan during the mid-morning heat to prepare for the rising temperatures that day ahead. A solitary Cape Buffalo had the same idea, spending most of the midday heat in the middle of a waterhole before deciding to exit the water after dusk.

Even though it seems the week was dominated by the high profile game species, the small animals that are at sometimes forgotten, also stand out in many ways, such species being a large variety of birds, smaller mammals and even reptiles.