Sightings update: 18 – 25 February 2013

 

Acara Acraea

 

Golden Orb Spider

 

Spekes Hinged Tortoise

 

It has by all accounts been a very dramatic week with a lot of skirmishes and interesting interactions all round. It seems that the dry season is approaching slowly and territories of our big cats will hopefully start to settle down soon.

 

Lion

Matimba males

These males have once again made a huge impact in the area and their aggression seems to never fade. They have once again taken their anger out on the local females and we had a really tense sighting of exactly that this week.

 

They are still camped out in what used to be Sizanani territory in the western part of the Manyeleti.  The first sighting was of three Matimba's at Zebra pan. This used to be one of the favourite haunts of the Sizanani males and it almost seemed like insult to injury that they spent the day there.

 

A few days later, Mpho called in five lionesses and a male on a waterbuck kill on Piva path. When I approached the sighting, I noticed that there were three Koppies girls and two Nkuhuma females. This confused me slightly as these are not related females and shouldn’t tolerate each other at all. However, one Matimba male had taken the kill and wasn’t sharing it with anyone. He was incredibly aggressive in defending the kill and I can only think that his behaviour was enough to diffuse any aggression between the females.

 

 

 

 

At one point the urge to investigate one of the Nkuhuma females meant that he had to take his eyes off the precious kill. The youngest Koppies girl, still looking very skinny, pounced at the oppertunity to feed. He returned but she stood her ground and several blows were dealt from both lions. Eventually he gave in and allowed her to feed, something she really needed.

 

 

One of the males was once again seen at Nyathi drive/ Rhino Run junction, much further north than where we typically see the Matimba’s.

 

 

Koppies females

These females have been seen mostly in the eastern part of their territory. We had a sighting with all three females together for the first time in months. The youngest female finally managed to find the others after her ordeal. As she is looking very skinny, this is just what she needs. With the other females by her side, she has a better chance to hunt successfully and fatten up a bit.

 

They managed to get a kill, but as I previously mentioned, she had to fight really hard and stand her ground to keep some of it.

 

 

Nkuhuma females

The Nkuhuma females have been laying low a bit this week. There was a sighting of the three females but without the cubs on S9. They moved into a drainage line and unfortunately Mpho couldn’t follow any further.

 

The second sighting was at the big lion bash on Piva path. One of the younger females even moved away from all the fighting and headed towards Main Dam.

 

 

 

Leopard

Rhulani male

 

We have for a while been keeping an eye out for this beautiful young male. He is well known on a neighbouring reserve and we were sure that he would eventually venture onto our turf as well.

 

 

 

The first sighting we had of this male is probably one of the most memorable sightings I have had in my entire career! We found him on Nyathi drive in some thick grass and for the first ten minutes we had to be patient and wait for him to move. He kept us all on our toes as he moved through the thick grass and dense bush. A little while later he came to rest again. My guests decided to stay put and wait for him to give us a good photo opportunity. Eric left the sighting and about 100 meters from the leopard he found a pangolin. This is the holy grail for any safari enthusiast and is one of the rarest sightings in the bush. I informed my guests of what Eric had found and as he mentioned that he would be staying with the pangolin for a while, we waited for the scene to play out.

 

 

It was not long before the leopard heard the sound of the pangolin moving through the grass. He was up in a flash and listened intently. He moved towards the sound and went up a termite mound for a better view. He knew something was there but didn’t know what and where. He then approached Eric’s vehicle and started sniffing around. He found the “HOLY GRAIL”! At first he lay next to the Pangolin, not sure what to do with this strange creature. Curiosity then took over and he started pawing it. Every time the pangolin moved, his intrigue levels rose.

 

 

 

Curiosity got the better of him and he picked the pangolin up. The scales of the pangolin closed and pinched his lip. He sat staring confused at this strange creature for a little while longer and left.

Not a bad pilot episode for the new character on our blog.

 

 

 

Unidentified leopard

I found a young male just south of Skybeds with what looked to be a Francolin kill. He wasn’t too keen on paying the rent and went into the drainage line before I could snap a photo. We did manage to get a look none the less.

 

 

Other views from the bush

 

Have a great week and enjoy the blog!



Darren & the Safari Team
Photo & Video editing by Darren Roberts-York