Tintswalo Ranger's Blog: Sightings Update: 25 February

The biggest news from the Bush this week has most definitely been the lion dynamics that is still on its head. The interaction between the Koppies and Nkuhuma females continues and proves the saying, “the only thing you can expect in the bush in the unexpected”.

Some large Buffalo herds have been on the reserve and when the dry season kicks in, the most brutal scene will replay itself again. The Buffalo, slightly weakened by the lack of moisture and nutrients, will become easier targets for the Lions, who literally follow the herds and almost kill at will.

Lion

Matimba males & Koppies females

These males have been spending most of their time around the Main dam area. Their attentions have moved from chasing the Sizanani males to cashing in on their prize, the Koppies females! One of the males has been mating with the oldest Koppies female for about four days during this week. We are hoping that it results in the birth of some cubs to grow the Koppies pride, which at three members strong, is in serious need of growth.

Since the big incursion into the Sizanani territory, they have mated with two of the Koppies females, but are yet to mate with the youngest Koppies girl. At the moment she is still looking fairly thin and is in no condition to mate. The one big positive that has come from her ordeal, is that she is more experienced and is showing more confidence by standing up for herself in the face of Matimba aggression. The truth of the matter is that she is the future of the Koppies pride and needs to ensure their future as a bloodline. With Matimba strength and a certain amount of security, her position is stronger, if she can pull herself out of her current state.

The three blonde males seem to have moved south again and we haven’t seen them this week. We believe that Induna (the Matimba with the stumpy tail) is still spending most of his time in the Kruger National Park.

Koppies Females

Matimba Males

Nkuhuma females

The females with the cubs are spending a lot of their time in the deep south and south of our border in the Sabi Sands. We believe that these cubs have been sired by the blonde Matimba’s and a total of twelve cubs are moving around with six Nkuhuma females. The four remaining Nkuhuma’s are the females we’ve been seeing interacting with the Koppies females in the central Manyeleti. It has largely been peaceful interactions with a few moments of aggression, especially aimed at the two young males.

At one of the sightings, the middle Koppies female launched into one of the young males sending the Nkuhuma’s running. A Koppies girl chased after them and a very excited Matimba male was in tow, charging after all the chaos. It is going to be interesting to see what happens. If they do merge, it could be proof of a historical lineage of lions in the area.

Leopard

Beacon male

We had one sighting of the dominant male of the central Manyeleti. I found him on Ngwenya loop on the western side of Main dam. He moved in a north westerly direction towards Metsikitsoro plains. Prey abound on the plains and a lot of our predator activity occurs on these plains. We did however have one huge concern. One of the Matimba males was on the plains just before we found the Beacon male. As we followed him, we tried to keep a look out for the Matimba male. We left the Beacon male in the riverine bush to the east of the the plains. There was a herd of about 50 Impala on the plains which I’m sure was exactly what he was looking for. Luckily the Matimba male had moved south towards Helens road by the time the Beacon male got to the plains.

Other views from the bush

We had one very special sighting of four Sable bulls just north of Pod Mahogany. This is the second time I’ve seen this regal and rare antelope in the Manyeleti.