A Week in the Bush Vol. 445
on Feb 01, 2023Word of male lions in the south of our reserve was on the lips of guests and guides alike. With knowledge of them taking down a kudu we headed off to find them. Excitement erupted when, although no lions on the kill, a male leopard was found in the mix of it all. One male lion was at a nearby waterhole, clearly showing signs of contentment. His belly was full, and we could hear him panting from across the water!
The other eventually returned to the kudu kill with the Mawelawela male leopard hot on his tail, creeping in to see if he could get an opportunity to feed. Eventually the males joined up and came to a rest not too far from the kill! As for Mawelawela, he wasted no time moving out of the area, rather quickly!
A beautiful afternoon, set on fire by the lowering sun, gave us this memorable sighting of watching one of the Talamati males enjoying the last light at the water’s edge!
After spending some time birding at a nearby waterhole, we continued with our tracking exercise to find the Styx Pride. As the morning heated up, we almost gave up hope, until a black tip of a tail flicked in the grass. This quick sight led us straight to the pride who were lying “flat cat” in the long grass! Every now and then this young female raised her head to the sound of the buffalo in the distance.
It was a cool start to the morning with overcast and rainy conditions, so we weren’t sure if we were going to find much. Luck was on our side as tracker Mfundo, spotted some lions resting on an open area. A small group of 3 young males and a young lioness enjoying a bit of sunshine breaking through the clouds. Great sightings always come when you least expect them!
With no real intention of staying, we see these youngsters from time to time. There is a lot of pressure around with larger more dominant males in the area and we have figured that these individuals just need an open space to “breathe”. With the Gijima males out of sight, they have somewhat taken advantage of the quiet central north part of our reserve, attempting to have a go at any opportunity that could potentially provide a meal.
In the meantime, time spent grooming and escaping the heat is how we find them most often, this drive was no different. Spending time close to one another, reaffirming bonds allows them to muster up the courage for wherever their journey will take them next.
As the morning safari came to an end, we were lucky to find Kigelia up in a Marula tree. She was panting with a big belly, indicating she recently had a meal. These are magical sightings as you can just spend hours in the presence of these magnificent cats, you can't help but marvel at how she got up there! Leopards make use of trees as protection against other predators; a vantage point to spot their next meal as well as a high up spot to keep cool in the canopy of the tree.
With our hearts set on looking for a male cheetah who had been seen earlier, we set off on safari. On our way to the northern section of our reserve, we crossed through a small drainage line, a brief reprieve from the heat; we stopped momentarily and upon gazing up at the marvellous trees that offered shade, we were pleasantly surprised to see the Tsutsuma female leopard draped beautifully in the supportive arm of a Jackalberry tree.
We spent some time with her before she gracefully descended from the tall tree and disappeared into the long grass. We thought that if we hadn’t stopped for that moment, or had we been just a minutes later, we would have missed this moment altogether.
A mother’s love for her young doesn't waver. Ntsumi once again managed to secure a meal for her cub. Without feeding herself despite being hungry, she made a beeline for her cub. The greeting was brief, and with seemingly no communication the cub knew to follow, mom had found breakfast!
There was some time for play and a drink of water on their way back to the impala stashed high in a tree. A good meal for both.
Alarm calls from vervet monkeys rang out around Selati Camp, a clear indication a predator was in the area. With tracks for male cheetah, a pride of lion and a pack of wild dog, we followed up not sure what to expect. The monkeys were looking down into the drainage line where we located a female leopard on the move. Golonyi moved quickly in search of a meal using Marula and Jackalberry trees along the way as vantage points to locate potential prey.
Road after road we take. One drainage line to another. Where could this leopard be? No tracks, no signs, only the helpful words of another ranger who had seen her in the morning before breakfast.
Never giving up we did multiple loops around the area in the hope to at least just find the spoor. We realised that there was one road we did not take, and would you believe it, there she was! With just a glimpse through the vegetation she looks in our direction, with the most beautiful eyes, as if she's asking us “Where have you been the whole time?”
Later in the evening, she was marking her territory and making her presence known. Watching her grow into a confident and skilled leopardess has been a privilege!
Calls from a pair of Black-backed jackals interrupted our buffalo sighting on the open plains. On further investigation we found not one but two female leopards salivating profusely indicating there was a territorial dispute going on. They went their separate ways, and we followed the Mashaba female as she made her way north stopping for a drink of water before continuing her mission north.
With high densities of leopards around Sabi Sabi it is inevitable they will have run-ins from time to time. Being solitary, any injury could prove to be fatal for leopards and therefore they will avoid a physical fight at all costs.
Hot on the tracks of a pack of wild dogs, we were distracted by fresh tracks of a male cheetah. Ranger and tracker jumped off the vehicle to get a sense of the general direction of the cheetah. We followed for about 100 meters when a soft bark came from a thicket close by, followed by the excited whines of a pack of wild dogs. We made our way back to the vehicle and watched as the pack got active and ready for the afternoon hunt
After what seemed to be a “busy morning” for this young waterbuck, bounding around the open area after its mother, the heat started to take its toll and both mother and calf soon ventured into a large Tamboti thicket for some shade.
On a hot afternoon we came across this small group of elephants moving determinately through an open area heading straight for a waterhole to quench their thirst. Once satisfied, the matriarch checked the wind and led her family off into the bush.
While following up on leopard all morning, one of our guests called out for us to stop and what a find it was – a beautiful African barred owlet. These little owls feed mostly on small mammals and bird, frogs, reptiles, insects and other arthropods such as scorpions.
This arboreal frog species, known as the Grey/Southern foam-nest tree frogs are known for simultaneous polyandry, where female frogs have multiple mates. These mates will be responsible for the guarding the nest. This behaviour is owed to their external fertilisation mechanism. During the mating process, the female frog produces a foam nest, typically on branches that hang above bodies of water, to keep her eggs moist as they develop. The females produce a thick mucus-like fluid from their cloaca and use their hind legs to whip it up into an elastic froth that will serve as a protection barrier for her developing eggs. The males then incorporate their sperm into the foam to fertilise the eggs.
Early bird catches the… fish. On an early morning drive, while on the lookout for lion, we checked a waterhole to see if the pride had potentially moved through for water. No lions were found, but we did spend a fair amount of time with a variety of storks, fishing as the sun rose. Among the Yellow-billed Storks we had Woolie-necked Storks and African Spoonbills!
For a lot of guides and bird enthusiasts, the Woodland Kingfisher call is closely associated with summertime in South Africa. With the iconic "keep-kirrrrr" echoing through the bush you can't help but to search for this beautiful blue bird.
Until next time
Blog by Wendy Claase
Images by Ally Ross, Daniel Greyvenstein, Dieter Lategan, Jamiel Malherbe, Jason Street and Ronald Mutero
