The lions, especially the Charleston males, have stolen the show this week – literally from start to finish! It has been an action-packed week!

The Charleston males have been spending some time away from the Southern Pride whilst doing their territorial patrols but Mazino joined the pride at the start of the week after they took down a large buffalo. The following morning, his brother had joined up with them too and they showed lots of affection towards one another, possibly reaffirming their brotherly bonds after their time apart. This, however, was short-lived.

The trouble between the males started when the female with the two oldest cubs came close to the two boys who then turned on each other, with Mazino dominating his brother. With all this commotion, the cubs were sent scurrying and the mother’s snarling at the Charleston males.

It was then a couple of days later that they were at it again with the larger male showing lots of affection to the female with the older cubs... As soon as Mazino came near her, the larger male exploded into action getting Mazino to submit. This differed from the previous altercation as there were several times they fought with Mazino submitting every time. The very next day the tables were turned when once again, Mazino dominated his brother proving that this back and forth match-up was difficult to separate these two titans.

The theory is that maybe the female with the older cubs, may well be coming back into oestrus and the males, who have been smelling her urine and processing her scent, have decided to step up their pursuit of this lady's affection. Time will tell who will win her over, but until then we can watch in awe as these two battle it out.

We have had regular sightings of the Kashane male who is nursing some fresh wounds which seemed to be bothering him a bit. Nonetheless, he was successful in taking down a young kudu and gorged himself into an immobile state!

White Dam’s young male cub has been actively tracking a female leopard whose tracks and scent he had picked up on. The following day, him and his mom walked past a journey of giraffe, almost ignoring the giraffe entirely!

Little Bush and her cub were also seen regularly this week, on a kill, and also showing off their strong bond with some playful antics. Little Bush’s adult daughter, the Kigelia female, was also seen on numerous occasions this week.

We were really fortunate to have spent some good time with a male cheetah who successfully killed a steenbok right in front of us. We found him again the following morning resting off a full belly amidst the strong wind that was blowing.

We have had some quite large herds of elephant on the property allowing for some great sightings of the interactions between members. Kyle and his guests were lucky enough to witness a herd of elephants taking a break under a huge Jackalberry tree.

Another rare sighting was of this “blonde” nyala bull, whereby the male sports the same look as a female, just with horns.

There have been a few large herds of buffalo returning to the area of late and it is a magnificent sight to behold a few hundred wandering over the plains.

We came across a rather wet baby kudu who seemed to have just fed as we saw a lone female kudu making its way from the area.

A zebra stallion was keeping a wary eye out for the members of his harem. He must have many stories to tell of the sights he had seen as he looked quite battle scarred.

We have enjoyed some lovely bird sightings. One of the beautiful summer time visitors is the European Roller which graces us with its presence from October/November through to March/April.

This Wahlberg’s Eagle was perched on a dead tree scanning the surrounding area for a morsel to swoop down on.

We hope you enjoyed this week’s highlights! Until next time...