Tintswalo Ranger's Blog: Sightings Update: 4

The bush is really starting to dry up and within the next month it will once again begin thinning out. We have noticed that some of the migratory birds are starting to flock and will be heading north very soon.

The resident animals are preparing for another brutal dry season and it’s going to be a time of plenty for the predators. Buffalo herds will start aggregating close to permanent water sources, making them easy targets for the prides of Lion roaming the Manyeleti.

Lion

Matimba males

These males have been in the central Manyeleti most of the time. They are still split, with the blonde males in the south, the dark males in the central Manyeleti and the singular Induna male in the east.

Most of our sightings have been of the dark males and their interactions with the Nkuhuma and Koppies females. The middle Koppies female brought down an adult buffalo bull on Helens road and was joined by one of the dark Matimba’s. They have most of the central reserve covered but are continuously pushing further north and west. They were also seen at Khoka moya dam in the north, an area the Sizanani males favoured whenever the Matimba’s pushed them. I’m sure that it’s safe to say that the take-over is complete and the Matimba’s are claiming it all!

One of the dark males was also seen on a Buffalo calf kill at the shooting range in the far east of the reserve.

Nkuhuma females

These females are still separated and the bulk of their pride still resides in the south with all the cubs fine and looking good. Fritz had a great sighting of the three females and nine cubs on a Zebra kill on Pod mahogany open area.

There was some bad news for the Nkuhuma’s though. The oldest Nkuhuma female was killed by other lions at Main dam. We suspect that the guilty lions were the Koppies girls. She was found early morning with clear signs of a lion attack. They were at the Ntzaka sewerage area the previous evening, while the Koppies girls were less than a kilometre away at Main dam. I suppose that all the interactions were bound to boil over at some point and lion politics, in all shapes and forms, is extremely violent. When Fritz returned to the area in the afternoon, he found evidence of drag marks where Crocodiles have dragged her into Main dam. This female had it tough during her lifetime. Her pride was terrorised first by the Mapogo’s, then the Majingalanes and finally the Matimba’s. During her time, the Nkuhuma’s have been split by all these large coalitions of male lions. They have however seem to have found some peace in the reign of the Matimba’s. RIP big girl, your legacy continues!

We also had a sighting on S6 open area and ended off the week with these females and a Matimba on a Buffalo kill at the shooting range. We think that this was probably a Nkuhuma kill taken by a Matimba.

Koppies females

The Koppies fermales were seen with the Matimba males on three occasions. They shared a Buffalo kill on Helens road and were together on separate occasions at Malcoms bridge and close to Ingwe manzi. As mentioned before, we suspect that they killed the old Nkuhuma female, but these things need to happen as it establishes territory and dominance.

It will be interesting to watch what happens to these females in the next few months. How will they continue to interact with the Matimba’s? Also, how will they continue to interact with the Nkuhuma’s? Are they possibly related? We have so many questions and only time and timing will answer these.

Sungula pride

Our youngest pride has returned! They seem to move mostly in the northern areas of the reserve. Sightings of this pride are still sparse and they are still fairly skittish. Because we’re seeing them more often, we have decided to name them. Previously referred to as “The New Pride” we have now named them the “Sungula pride”, meaning beginning in Zulu. We know that they are related to the Koppies pride as the females have branding from veterinary checks in the Kruger National Park. They are a break-away group from the original Orpen super pride.

Their first sighting in a few months was on Red road where they took down a Zebra. We still have to work very carefully with these cats in order to establish trust. Soon enough we’ll have them paying the rent and getting some nice photo’s to show and tell.

Leopard

Unidentified Leopard

We had three unidentified sightings of leopard! Fritz found a nice relaxed male on Pod mahogany, but as he had no camera with him, we couldn’t verify any identity. We also found a very skittish young male close to Ingwe manzi. As the main dam female keeps her two cubs around the lodge area we think it might be her youngest cub.

An unidentified female was also seen at Main dam and Eric managed to get a few shots of her. These photos of unidentified animals are priceless in our quest to understand the Leopard dynamics in the Manyeleti. Our process of identifying hotspots for Leopard and some individual Leopards is definitely baring some fruit, and we can start stepping up our efforts to understand and relax the Leopard in the area.

Cheetah

Fritz had a bumper week with Cheetah sightings. He had two sightings of a relaxed young male around Foot road to the south-east of the lodge. He also found a relaxed female at Nyathi drive junction with Veve link to the north of Main dam.

Other views from the bush