The dry months are officially upon us and the bush is at its most beautiful. It may be just the opinion of one, but there is just something so extraordinary about observing wildlife being contrasted against the withering vegetation of this magnificent landscape. The grazing value of the grasses is dropping rapidly and the river systems are already showing signs of receding, making fresh grazing and water prized commodities around the reserve. I don’t believe any other place on Earth can match the sheer rawness of nature such as that experienced in Southern Africa.

As is the norm in the dry season, we have had large herds of buffalo moving through the reserve in search of better grazing. Buffalo often segregate into smaller groups during the summer when food is in abundance, only to join up again when resources are isolated in the dry season. This has made for some amazing sightings, not to mention also attracting the interest of predators in the area.

General game sightings have been fantastic as usual, with an influx of zebra and wildebeest into the region in particular, following some controlled annual burns to a few key areas. Zebra and wildebeest are naturally migratory species, always moving in search of better quality grazing, and having either seen the smoke or smelt the sweet scent of burnt grass as it is carried by the winds, moved toward the area with the knowledge that a fresh flush of sweet green grass shoots will soon follow. The fact that the large buffalo herds are moving through the reserve will also bode well for these short grass specialists, as the activity of the herds feeding and moving through the open grasslands will promote new growth. Many bird species are also attracted to these newly burnt areas in search of any ‘casualties’ from the inferno. Birds such as starlings, rollers, drongos and hornbills are particularly prevalent at these times.

The Honey Badger is an animal not often seen and rarely sticks around once they have been, but we were lucky enough to come across a very relaxed male who was rather indifferent to our presence. He was digging for larvae in a large dung midden with relative success, before finally moving off to forage elsewhere.

The Sand River males have been in the company of a few Southern Pride lionesses now for the last couple of weeks and it seems that they may just be the new dominant force in the territory. With the lack of real competition in the area, the females will have little choice, but to bow down to their new kings. We caught up with the males while they were engaging in some intense mating rituals with the pride matriarch, Floppy Ear.

Whilst Floppy Ear and a couple of other Southern Pride lionesses have been keeping the Sand River males busy, the rest of the pride has been absent in the Kruger National Park until very recently. They have made their return, if only for a brief moment, while they wait for some degree of stability to prevail over the region. What is rather interesting though is that there is still at least one sub-adult male with the pride, something that will have to change should the Sand River males be successful in their take-over. The Kruger male is nowhere to be seen.

Solo has been making his presence known in the area, as he has done many times before while he still had a coalition partner to help him, but one can only speculate as to what he may be trying to accomplish at present. He has been very vocal over the last week, even despite the fact of being in very close proximity to the mating Sand River males. He is looking as good as ever though, having healed completely from the Selati males’ encounter, and returning to his former condition.

Maxabeni has been a man on a mission lately and seems to be healing up quite nicely after his run-in with the Selati male. We’ve been able to spend a lot of time with him in the last week while on territorial marches and during hunting missions, in which he managed to pull down a large impala ram close to Bush Lodge. The kill would keep him occupied for a couple of days until he ultimately pushed northeast and toward the persistent advances of the White Dam female.

The White Dam female has been attempting to lure Maxabeni into her clutches for quite some time now and has finally been successful in this endeavor. The two leopards were found together the morning after he had finished off his impala kill, a kill that would serve him well for the days of intense mating that were to follow. He currently has two litters that we know of already with the Little Bush and Nottins females that we hope will all reach maturity. We should know in a few months whether White Dam has been successful in conceiving or not. The Maxabeni male is such a dominant force in the region that I am almost certain they will all do well.

Nottins has been featuring frequently once again and possibly even more so now that she has little ones to feed. She is making kills very regularly, and with the impala rutting season in full swing, she is seriously denting the impala male populous. We have found her with two kills this week, both impala rams, and unfortunately both were subsequently stolen by hyenas. She did however, have time to eat a substantial amount before being chased off. You may be thinking to yourself, well why doesn’t she just put it in a tree? I think the reason is that she is quite an old girl now and it may be too difficult or just too much effort to hoist a large animal like that in a tree nowadays. I have seen her still hoisting much smaller antelope, such as steenbok, but an impala ram of about 50kg may just be a bit too much for her at this stage in her life. Regardless, she is a magnificent huntress and I’m sure her offspring will do well.

Yet another outstanding week in the bush has gone by and there are no signs of the wildlife of the area slowing down. In fact, I think the sightings and frequency thereof are going to continue to get better and better as the winter progresses. I hope you all have enjoyed this week’s update and I look forward to bringing you more news from the wilds of Sabi Sabi very soon. Until next time...