A Week in the Bush Vol. 281

Welcome to the next edition of “A Week in the Bush”. It has been a wonderful week of sightings, topped with some welcome rain!

The Kigelia female leopard has been seen a lot again this week. She was making her way through the reserve when she came across a female White rhino and her calf having a snooze. She stopped and stared for a while before climbing up a termite mound to groom herself.

The following day she was finishing off the remains of a kill that the White Dam male had made the day before. With a full belly, the male was lying in the grass keeping his eye on a hyena feasting on the bones the female leopard had dropped. Once she was finished, she made her way down the tree and disappeared into a dry riverbed while the male leopard took up this beautifully camouflaged position to contemplate the morning. Our last sighting of her for the week was of her on a duiker kill, resting with a very full belly.

Maxabeni has been hard at work this week, marking his territory after some light rains.

The White Dam male was seen with his eyes fixed on a herd of impala; but with his stomach already very full, he moved off following the scent of a female leopard in the area.

On his way to pick up guests from Skukuza Airport, Ronald came across a big pride of lions in a thicket. Only this young male from the Sand River Pride was by the roadside before joining the rest of his pride.

Driving along on morning safari we came across some lazy lions who looked to have full bellies and didn’t seem to be going anywhere soon.

A male cheetah had managed to secure himself an impala kill and had been eating for a short period of time, he then decided to take a rest while digesting. Sadly, a sneaky hyena came in full force behind him and stole the impala kill, the cheetah them moved off for some water after he tried to get his meal back but quickly gave up as he didn’t want to take the risk.

We get some special sightings here at Sabi Sabi, but to spend time with the World’s most trafficked animal – the Pangolin – is beyond an honour!!!

A large pack of wild dogs had been relaxing most of the day and as the day started to cool, the adults set off to hunt while the pups stayed behind with one adult to watch over them. The adults managed to catch a small warthog but unfortunately a hyena took half of it, so they brought back the head for the pups to play with.

Later in the week, while enjoying morning coffee at Selati Camp, one of our guests shouted, “wild dog!!” We all turned our attention to the direction he was pointing, but only saw a flash as one dog ran past the waterhole in front of the camp. We then rushed out on drive with excitement and found the pack feeding on a bushbuck they had managed to bring down – but soon saw they had made 2 bushbuck kills. Not too long after, a number of hyena arrived but they only managed to get a little piece of one of the kills. It was an amazing sighting!!