Share this article:

A Week in the Bush Vol. 65

on Aug 20, 2015

Waking up here in the bush during the past week one could definitely feel the change in the air. Those cold mornings have passed, and it is slowly starting to warm up. The extra layers of clothing will soon begin to collect dust in the cupboards as they slowly start getting packed away. Despite the warmer days during the past week, the wildlife were still out in force and we are hoping this continues as the weeks pass by.

The past week has certainly been a very busy week for everyone here at Sabi Sabi, and so were the Toulon Pack of Wild Dogs who provided us with constant entertainment, especially from their 13 pups. They were seen almost on a daily basis hanging around whilst most of the adults went off to hunt. When the adults came back they would regurgitate meat for the pups which would create a feeding frenzy amongst them.

The two Fourways boys were still found hanging around with Mandleve/Floppy Ear, but nobody managed to photograph them mating. There were times when the interest of mating was shown by the larger of the two males but Mandleve would always move off. After days of being together and even sharing a kill, the two males moved off into the Sabie River, leaving Mandleve calling quite a distance away. Perhaps she was calling to reconnect with the rest of the Southern Pride?

Some of the usual “Spotted Stars” were out during the week, and we even got to see Lisbon’s cub again. The cub is still a bit shy and we are in the process of slowly habituating the little youngster.

Warthog Wallow, White Dam and her two cubs, and Mandleve were also seen during the week, while we only had brief glimpses of Little Bush and Nottins. The only usual suspect that did not show his face during the week was Maxabeni.

Of all the Big 5, the elephants were definitely out in their numbers recently, with massive herds moving onto the property, especially close to Little Bush Camp. Breeding herds were found on every corner and there were times when we would drive past a herd of elephants to get to another herd close by that was larger or maybe out in the open.

The past week we had brief sightings of the big herds of buffalos, where one of the herds were even chased into the Sabie River by the two Fourways males. Another of the big herds were also carrying the very rare Yellow-billed Oxpecker, which was a delight to see.

General game is always good here at Sabi Sabi, and a firm favourite of every guest are zebras and giraffe which have also been plentiful.

So as we come to the end of another amazing week here at Sabi Sabi, we hope you enjoyed this edition of “A Week in the Bush” like these Southern White-crowned Shrikes are enjoying the first rays on sunshine.

21Pravir Patel Shrike01
  • By Pravir Patel (Bush Lodge Ranger)
  • Images By: Pravir Patel, Kyle Strautmann, Terry Ennever, Courtney Dalziel and Mike Laubscher
Share this article: