A Week in the Bush Vol. 459
on May 10, 2023On our guest’s final morning safari, we set out before sunrise with them wanting to see wild dog. Excitement filled the vehicle when fresh evidence that a small group of African Wild Dogs was in the area. We quickly located the group bounding along the road in search of an unsuspecting meal.
These animals run with the most incredible endurance and soon approached some wildebeest, which quickly huddled together and chased the dogs away from the herd to look elsewhere.
With no cloud in sight, the sun shone vibrantly and made for incredible opportunities to photograph one of the rarest large predators on the planet. This individual was on the hunt, and impala was the primary target.
Getting close to a herd in a large clearing proved quite tricky, and soon the alarm was called, which sent the impala scattering. Lying down in the shade seemed to be the next best option.
Having a new young leopard male on the reserve is always exciting. After reports of an impala carcass in a Marula tree not far from our private airstrip, we made our way into the area, and to our surprise, we found not only one but three leopards there. The one female was Jasiri but we only had a glimpse of the other unidentified female as she disappeared into the thickets. The young male, Makumu, was hiding from the warm sun in a patch of shade. He was panting heavily from the meal he just had and trying to get into a comfortable position to sleep.
We must ensure we give these magnificent cats their space, especially when they are still young, to avoid putting any pressure on them; empathy towards these animals is what we believe in.
During morning coffee, we heard multiple animals calling nearby, including Blue wildebeest, zebra and a herd of elephants. We informed our guests about what this possibly meant, so our mission for the morning was clear... We set off and found the beautiful Golonyi female leopard. Walking along the road, she was very interested in the wildebeest and zebra. Our guests asked if she would attempt to hunt them, but because of their size, they would be too big for her to take down.
With a nearby termite mound, she saw the opportunity to use it as a vantage point. We were spoiled with incredible light from the early morning, and she was relaxed with us around. After a few minutes, she abandons the mound and ventures in a completely different direction.
A young female leopard has recently made her way into the vacant territory around Earth Lodge and established this as her own. The past few days, this female – Jasiri - has reaffirmed her status by constantly marking territory and with a typical rasping call alerting all in this area that this is her territory.
Young female leopards usually set up a territory adjacent to their mother, however with the high density of leopards in the area, this female has had to travel a long distance from her place of birth deep within the Kruger National Park and establish herself in the territory where the Ngumi female was once dominant.
We spent a fair amount of time tracking the N'weti male. We found him as the light began to fade, but he was on the move and moved into some thick bush, where we decided to leave him. As we left the area, a few metres away, we found the Tengile female leopard. She was scent marking, but on closer inspection, we noticed her mammary glands were swollen and pinkish, which signifies she might be lactating.
When a leopard has cubs that she needs to take care of, especially during the first six months, she may overlap other leopard's territory in search of prey to produce enough milk or food for the cubs. Often they can go for more extended periods away from the cubs depending on the age of the cubs and return mostly when they are successful in securing food.
We found the Kigelia female leopard resting just next to the road. It almost feels unreal as you tell yourself it's too good to be true. Normally leopards are found in more dense thickets, and Kigelia is especially known to prefer the riverine thicket. We watched her for a few minutes as she was very much on the edge of her massive territory. She walked to a nearby pile of buffalo dung, rolling around as leopards often do to disguise their scent, enhancing their success at hunting without being smelt. She soon left the road to enter the Msuthlu riverbed, where we were not successful in finding her again.
A few days later, we found her again. She manoeuvred through the thick grass until she leaped onto a large rock next to a small dry pan. After a while she moved to a nearby tree where she exposed the reason for our confusion. She had an impala kill hidden under the lower branches of a bush growing around the tree.
She did not want other predators to see her moving towards the kill as animals such as hyenas are known to follow behind leopards as they know they will surely make a skill sooner or later. So, with a quick inspection and seeing the cost was clear she moved in and continued to eat on an already half eaten carcass. After a while she headed back to the rock as she could relax and keep guarding her well-deserved kill.
The N’weti male was on a mission, scent marking, moving quickly along the western boundary of his territory.
Both male and female leopards mark their territories. They will scrape the ground using their hind feet, releasing scent from interdigital toe glands, and spraying urine on prominent bushes. A male leopard's territory will be much larger than that of a female's territory and the male's territory will have several females within his territory. Leopards select territories with the greatest abundance of prey, cover, water, and potential mates.
With a faint call of a male lion in the distance, we searched for any other signs that could indicate the direction he might be moving in. We found fresh lion tracks not long after the call, which led us straight to the younger Gijima male. As he rested in the morning sun, another faint contact call got everyone’s attention, including his. Not wasting any time, he got up and moved in the direction where the call was coming from. He stopped occasionally to listen out for the contact call and started to call out softly.
Following the young male, he eventually met up with the older Gijima male and one of the Styx Pride females. She led the way through the bush, with the two males following close behind her. As the morning sun got hotter, she made herself comfortable under a shady bush, with the two males resting not too far away.
We started seeing the two Gijima males just over a year ago. It is incredible to see how they have grown, not only in size but also in confidence. In this year of following their journey, they have successfully claimed a territory, mated with the Southern Pride, have three cubs with the oldest female of the Southern Pride, and started mating with a female from the Styx Pride. We are excited to see what the future holds for these two males.
On our morning safari, we watched two zebras coming in for a drink at the waterhole nearby Little Bush Camp. Being at the right place at the right time, we were spoiled with an absolutely gorgeous sunrise. The zebra’s reflection and the sun casting amazing light onto the water made this sighting extremely special.
With the floods we had earlier in the year, a lot of marshes and temporary pans formed. This could possibly be the reason why we were seeing more Knob-billed Ducks as they favour these conditions. They will feed on grass-seeds, water-lily fruits, leaves, and aquatic insects.
Until next time…
Blog by Wendy Claase
Images by Andries Ndlovu, Daniel Greyvenstein, Dieter Lategan, Jason Street, JP van Rooyen, Macs Toich, Ronald Mutero and Ruan Mey
Video by JP van Rooyen and Macs Toich
