It’s been yet another incredible week of game viewing here at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, full of twists and turns. I must say that its times like these that get one really excited to get out there and find out what all the new developments are in terms of animal dynamics and behaviours. Predators as usual have all but stolen the show and the saga with the lions is at the forefront, so without further ado, let’s recap on the week’s highlights.

The stars this week have been sensational due to there being no moon present in the evening sky and so we were able to take full advantage of the fact one night after giving some guests a brief star lecture.

We have continued to enjoy the company of a very large herd of Cape Buffalo in the southern reaches of the reserve, which is somewhat unusual for us at this time of year. However, due to the very dry season we have just experienced and the fires endured last year in September, the area that they have been occupying is perfectly suitable for an extended stay and we all hope that this will be the case.

The Fourways male lions have been quite busy this week, having been found on a buffalo kill first and then meeting up with the Southern Pride females after they too had managed to take down a blue wildebeest. The females finished their kill in its entirety, but the males seem to have departed from theirs prematurely due to the intense heat that we’ve been experiencing here in the Lowveld. I can tell you, the smell around that sighting was less than appealing. The males then went back to doing what we are used to seeing from them by now and that is mating with the females and attempting to keep them from moving off too far. We still have a female that has been AWOL for a few weeks and are wondering whether or not she has conceived and is searching for a suitable place to birth her cubs. If not, then we simply have no explanation.

Solo and the Kruger male have also been found repeatedly this week having come in from north of our traverse with very full bellies, well Solo in any case. The Kruger male left his companion and headed back north before we could set eyes on him, but they won’t be apart for very long. Undoubtedly this is one of the strangest turnarounds though in Sabi Sabi lion history. Once enemies, they now share a strong bond that cannot be broken and the fact that they have now also come into so-called Fourways territory with no aggression from either party has left a lot of us gob smacked! Nature once again turning what we think we know on its head. I do hope there will be some clarity soon and it would be amazing to see the two young boys linking up with the more experienced Solo and Kruger male duo, but it is doubtful. At this point, it is anybody’s guess as to what will happen next.

Hyena activity has been great lately as well and we have had some interesting sightings of these phenomenal animals. On one instance during the course of the week we observed a lone hyena heading towards the waterhole, seemingly for a drink, but when it arrived at the dam it decided to have a quick lie-down in the water to cool off instead. This was all taking place before 9am in the morning so you can imagine just how hot it must be here. Still, a very nice behaviour to watch.

In terms of leopards, there has been a fair amount of interesting events as well. In the beginning of the week a previously unknown female to us was seen for the 4^th time within our range and has possibly been hanging around for much longer unseen. We have discovered that she is known as the Toulon female, born to the Jakkalsdraai female, in the traverse to our east. It’s strange that she would venture so far away from her natal home range as usually females this age would share territory with their mothers or at least share a boundary with them. Perhaps there is just too much pressure from that area and no space, so she is trying to find a niche for herself. One thing is for sure and that she needs to tread lightly or else she could find herself in trouble with the resident females already in the area.

Maxabeni has been somewhat scarce lately or just otherwise occupied, which is most likely the case. There is another new female that has been seen several times in our northernmost traverse and in the heart of his core territory so it is plausible that maybe he is investigating bringing in a new female. We found him this week with a warthog kill that he stashed high up in a tree, keeping him around for a few days, but after he finished it, he was gone. To where, no-one knows.

We have also been fortunate enough to see the White Dam female’s cubs several times this week as well with the majority of the encounters being with her young male cub. She has succeeded in keeping the youngsters very well hidden for most of their young lives and so they were always quite skittish around the vehicles, but now that they are maturing a little they have become a lot more relaxed. They look in great condition and the territory is secure so all looks great for the future of these two beautiful leopards.

Little Bush has also been seen this week after having been out of sight for a little while now. We speculate that the reason is that she has just given birth to cubs, but this is yet to be confirmed. It would explain her recent behavior as well as her absence. She was observed with suckle marks around her teats and in full lactation so at this stage it is a pretty good guess. She has also made two kills that were very near each other and her movements have been limited to a very small area so this too may be a clue, but as always we will have to be patient and hope to be introduced soon.

The Lisbon female is also looking great and as always very hard at work to provide for her young cub. She was seen stashing the cub away some days ago while she went off to hunt. We spent time with her as she did so and were lucky enough to witness a full hunting attempt on a common duiker, but unfortunately she was unsuccessful in her endeavor, so she climbed the nearest the to escape the harsh heat of the day. Hopefully she has some success within the next day or two.

As you can tell, it has been an action-packed week out here in the bush and I’m sure that if it continues in this fashion there will be some great content for all of you next week when we bring you another edition of A Week in the Bush... Until next time.