Every cloud has a silver ligning

With a fair amount of rain in the last week, life continues its march into summer. The bush is looking fantastic and the Nwasisontso River flowed for the first time this season.

Giant plated Lizard

 

Lion

 

Sizanani Males and Koppies Females

We haven’t seen much of our resident pride lately. After all the chaos caused by the Matimba’s a few weeks ago, the Koppies females have been keeping a very low profile. We saw them with the Sizanani males on Panicum road and this was the first time they’ve been seen together since the Matimba’s were in town. The next morning we found the Koppies girls at Wild dog dam and they moved north towards the airstrip. They went into a thicket and settled down for the day.

 

 

 

The Sizanani boys moved far north, unfortunately into an area of clay soils which means we have not been able to follow up on them for a few days.

 

Sizanani male Movements

 

Koppies female movements

 

Matimba’s

These boys have been fairly busy lately. Two of the Matimba’s seem to have set up shop from S8 dam all the way to Main dam. These are the two culprits that have been giving the Sizanani males uphill. Their week started out with a Buffalo kill on Power lines road and a second buffalo kill was found on Ntzaka loop a few days later.

The Sizanani males then roared close to Mantwaan Mphisi pan and the next night both Matimba males were there, almost in exactly the same spot as the Sizanani males the night before. They did the same thing, marked their territory and roared into the night. The next night I found them at Main dam where they crossed the dam wall and continued to mark their territory and roar.

It looks as though a show down between these lions is on the cards.

 

Matimba movements

 

Leopard

There was not much on the Leopard front this week! We saw the Main dam female’s cubs in a drainage line at Workshop road but it looks as if she has maybe moved them further east towards Ntzaka loop. This is unfortunately in Matimba territory. Lucky for the Leopard the interest generated by the Sizanani males might make the Matimba’s look further west and take pressure off her and her cubs.

Another Leopard was seen by Fritz at Dixie koppies. It was on the other side of a Buffalo herd but by the time Fritz had got into the area, the Leopard it had moved into the koppies and he was unable to follow.

Leopard sightings

Cheetah

 The female that has been around the lodge has once again treated us to some great sightings. It all started with an Impala kill between two of our suites. Two guests were packing to go home and watched the saga unfold from inside their suite!

 

She had a second Impala kill on Red road not far from the main gate. We sat and watched her eat for at least an hour in typical Cheetah fashion, constantly looking up to survey the area for any other predators. After about an hour she left the kill and made her way off. I’ve seen Cheetah do this before. They leave the kill to the scavengers to avoid any competition that could result in injury.

 

Cheetah Sightings

 

Wild dog

We started off by having a good sighting of the pack of two. They were seen at Zebra pan and by the evening drive had moved to Ingwe Manzi. We only had the two sightings of them on one day.

 

Komma, our lone female, did not want to be outdone and killed an Impala between reception and the kitchen! She was seen by the night guard, as he was doing wake up calls for the guests, but was unfortunately scared off and did not return to the Impala.

 

Wild dog Sigtings

 

 

Special sighting!

 

We were treated to an incredible sighting one morning. We were making our way to Ndlovu Manzi for a well-earned cup of coffee. Just before arriving at our chosen spot, we were stopped by two Elephant bulls fighting in the middle of the road. We very quickly realised that we were in fact in the middle of a breeding herd and a few males were around the vehicle. While watching the males pushing and shoving one another we heard a blood curdling Elephant scream. We couldn’t approach. We did not know what was happening but knew that there was something different about this scream. I couldn’t go forward and had to wait for these males to take their squabble off the road before we could investigate.

After a few minutes the males moved off the road and we were able to go closer to where the scream came from. There was a cluster of Elephants in the road and one big male was making a nuisance of himself. While watching the herd we realised why this cluster had formed.

A tiny calf was in the middle of it all. We witnessed the female passing afterbirth and came to the realisation that this had just happened. This calf could not be more than just a couple of minutes old! The male, driven close to insanity by the elevated levels of oestrogen caused by the birthing process, was not taking no for an answer. He kept on trying to mount the female and just went on and on while the tiny calf desperately tried to get to the safety between moms legs.

 

We decided to make our way to the same area that afternoon to see if we could find the little calf and what the outcome was. Almost at the same spot, we found it with the rest of the herd. Alive and well!

 

 

 

Other views from the Bush

  

 

Burchells Zebra

Kudu bull

Stroppy Elephant calf

Hyena taking its daily bath

 

 

 

Darren Roberts-York

All photos and video taken with a Nikon Coolpix P510

 

 

 

 

 

It’s so good to be back, after a nice long break. Things have been going really well in the Manyeleti and the bush version of “Days of our lives” continues as per usual!

 Klipspringer

Taken by Darren Roberts-York with a Nikon Coolpix P510

 

 

 Nile Crocodile

Taken by Darren Roberts-York with a Nikon Coolpix P510

Lions

Sizanani males (Nkuhuma male lions)

 Sizanani Male Lion

Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

These males, having seemingly taken over the Koppies pride, have had a tough few weeks. It all started out with them feeding on a Buffalo kill on Mazambaan corner while the females had a Buffalo all to themselves a few kilometres away on Helens road. Then all hell broke loose! The Matimba’s were roaring to the east towards Main dam, only a few kilometres away from where these males were feeding. Somehow one of the Koppies females got tangled up with them during the night and the guides found her beaten up again, mating with the Matimba’s. Then a few days later, they had one of the Koppies girls with them at Mantwaan Mphisi pan, close to Helens road. All this Matimba activity eventually drove them north and they were found feeding on a Buffalo carcass at Mantombeni pan. It seems though that this was an opportunistic feeding, as the Buffalo looked like it had got stuck in the mud.

 

 Sizanani male feeding on a Buffalo until the Matimba's roar...

Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

 

Sizanani Movements

 

Koppies females movements

 
 

Matimba males

Besides the incursion into Sizanani territory, three males were seen hammering a female down at S10 road in the south. We think this might be one of the Hamiltons females, but she was deep in Matimba and Nkuhuma lion territory.

 Matimba males movements

 

 

Mungana lions

 Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

 

Introductions are in order. These lions consist of two females and a young male and we have been seeing these lions on and off now for a few months. The male was given the name Mungana, meaning friendly in Shangaan, referring to his laid back and easy going nature. They are very easy lions to view! We are not too sure where they came from, but we always find them around Ndulamiti road, south-east of the lodge. Lucky for them the Matimba’s have only been seen in this area once and it’s outside Sizanani territory. We had two sightings in the last two weeks, both on Ndulamiti road.
 

 Mungana trio

All Mungana trio photos taken by Darren Roberts-York with a Nikon Coolpix P510

 

 
 

Skybeds 9 males

Skybeds male being pestered by a horse-fly

Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

 

Two of the nine were seen at Skybeds dam. After careful scrutiny Fritz confirmed that they were indeed the Skybeds males. Their bellies were full and it seemed like they had eaten well. They spent almost two full days at this dam that gave them their name.

 

Skybeds males movements

Leopard

Ngala male

 

Ngala male leopard looking content

Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

 



He also spent almost three days at Skybeds dam, belly full and content with life. He was seen a few days later interacting with an un-identified female just to the south of Skybeds dam. This area seems to be the southern part of his territory.

 

Ngala male leopard movements

 

 

Main dam female

Fritz found two young leopard cubs around Workshop road to the south of Main dam. This is in the heart of the Main Dam female’s territory and with it being around the Nwasisontso dry river, the bush is incredibly thick. This is very exciting for us as it gives us an opportunity to work with her and her cubs. It has to be kept in mind that sensitivity is the key at this point in our relationship with these cats. All in all we had three different sighting of the cubs, all around Workshop road.
 

Main dam female and cub movements

 

 

Other leopard

Other leopard have also been present in the area. Unfortunately only brief sightings were possible.

 

 Other leopard sighted

 

Wild dog

We have identified three different groups in the last two weeks. The group of seven adults and eleven pups was seen around Main dam for a few days. They started out by killing two bushbuck ewes and followed with a Nyala ewe. This time fourteen crocodiles stole the kill from them and the Wild dogs left them to it. They were then seen at Ingwe Manzi, about a kilometre from the lodge. They were last seen at the Manyeleti main gate heading north-east into the Kruger National Park.

The pair (male and female) was once again seen together around the airstrip. We had two sightings of them on the airstrip, once with the remnants of a duiker kill. They were then seen on the junction of Nyathi drive and Bee-eater, this time being chased around by a herd of Zebra!

 

Lone female feeding on an Impala

Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

 

One female on her own has also been seen around the lodge. We have decided to call her Komma. This is because of a comma type shape when lying on her side on her left flank. We think she might have been a Beta female in another group and was possibly kicked out by the Alpha female. She was seen between Ingwe Manzi and the airstrip just after she’d killed a young male impala.

 

Wild Dog movements

 

Cheetah

Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

We had two separate sightings over the last while. Two males were seen close to the Kruger National Park boundary, down in the southern section of the reserve. These males moved east into the Kruger.
 

Cheetah movements

 

A female was also found on Panicum road, very close to the lodge. From there she moved on to Wild dog dam and Fritz got some phenomenal photographs of her, lying on the dam wall.

 

Cheetah photos taken by Fritz Breytenbach

 

 

 

Other views from the Bush

 

Hippo playing in the water

Taken by Darren Roberts-York with a Nikon Coolpix P510

 

 

Terapin basking on the back of a Hippo

Taken by Darren Roberts-York with a Nikon Coolpix P510 

 

 

Elephant playing in the water

Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

 

Darren Roberts-York

All photographs and videos edited by Darren Roberts-York