It’s heating up in the bush as the big cat politics gets more interesting by the day! Just to add a little spice to the casserole we had a new group of lion move onto the Manyeleti.

 

 

 

Lion

Sizanani males

After a rough month of Matimba incursions, these lions have once again settled down. They have been spending most of their time around Tamboti road, AK road and up to Catwalk area. There hasn’t been any major upheaval’s and it’s just been “business as usual”.

 

 

They were with the Koppies females again on Catwalk east and ended up on a Buffalo kill on Gumede road, less than a kilometre away from the lodge, a few days later.

 

 

 

Koppies females

Once again reunited with the Sizanani boys, they have found a confidence that we have not seen before. Ever since the Sizanani take-over, they seemed to have relaxed around the vehicles. Patrick first found them not far from Metsikitsoro plains. From there they moved west and killed a small Buffalo at Ingwe Manzi. This was quite a sighting for the guides on drive as a group of 20 plus Hyena were attracted to the kill. Through the day the Hyena moved closer and closer. That evening we could hear the eruption of Hyena’s whooping and lions growling all the way from our staff village. Eric was the first to return and told me that when one of the females got up to drink a Hyena pounced at the opportunity. The tenacious Koppies girls did however hold them off and kept their kill.

 

Skybeds males

We only had the one sighting of these two males, that seem to have lost the rest of their pride, at Koppies. Unfortunately this is quite close to where Nduna, the biggest Matimba male, was last seen. He was last reported close to Talamati Bush Camp in the Kruger National Park, which is only a few kilometres from Koppies. Let’s hope they stay out of the big guys’ way!

 

The new pride

These guys pitched up from out of the blue. We first found them on a Wildebeest kill on Buffalo plains. They were quite wary of the vehicles and we thought they may be a group from the Kruger area. They were found the next day on a Kudu kill at Bee-eater drive which meant they moved several kilometre’s during the night and made another kill. They were then found by Mpho north east of Red road a few days later.

 

This group comprises of two adult females and two sub-adult males. One of the females is quite light in colour, but definitely not white. The two young males are probably around two years old.

Leopard

We found this male for the first time at the Ntzaka sewerage wetlands. He was exceptionally relaxed and had no problem with the vehicle. He initially walked next to the vehicle and then started hunting Impala on the open area. Unfortunately we lost him as we had to put the light off as to not affect any outcome. A few days later Patrick found him on an Impala kill on S6 drive. We were treated to classic leopard feeding behaviour.

 

 

We saw distinctive markings just below and to the side of his eye, on the left hand side of his face. The spot marking is one large dot, surrounded by seven or eight other spots in an almost perfect circle. He is in his prime and we estimate his age at about six or seven years old.

If anyone knows this leopard, please let us know. We would love to know his life story!

 

Cheetah

We had two fantastic Cheetah sightings and surprisingly both at the same place. Both sightings were at Xigamba pan. First we had our usual female stalking an Impala. After about 45 minutes we left her to it.

The next day, a male was at exactly the same place. Coincidence? I wonder…

Wild dog

We had two wonderful sightings at Manor house pan where both sightings were of the two dogs that we have been following. The guests at Manor house were lucky enough to have breakfast and watch the Wild dogs right on their doorstep.

Other views from the bush

 

 Hippopotamus

 

 

 Tree Agama

 

 

 African Elephant

 

 

Cape Buffalo female with a funky hairdo

Darren Roberts-York



All photos & videos taken with a Nikon Coolpix P510