Tintswalo Ranger's Blog: Sightings Report: 27 May

Puff Adder

It’s been an interesting week and we've had our first bit of possible drama for the dry season. During the dry season, game is forced closer to the remaining water sources and behind them the predators come into contact with one another more regularly. This is a time when territories are fought for and expanded or lost. It’s a time of plenty, but at a possible cost as the war for land and resources comes into full swing and tests the strength of the hardiest killers.

Lions

Matimba males

These males are still split but one of the blonde males from the south has come over to visit his dark maned coalition mates. The dark maned males have spent most of the time in the northern parts of their territory, looking for the Koppies females, who frequent the same area. Their interaction with these females has been interesting and it seems that the females are once again tempting the males. The positive side of this, is that the Matimba males spend more time in the area which therefore reinforces their dominance and protects the females from the possibility of marauding nomadic males. The biggest threat to them in this area is the three Timbavati males from the north. These males killed the last Koppies cubs who were sired by the Sizanani males before they were de-throned by the Matimba’s. Hopefully all the scent marking and roaring will keep these males out of the territory.

Koppies females

These females have been spending the week in the area around the airstrip. This area holds very good numbers of Zebra, Wildebeest and Impala. This seems to be the staple diet of the big Koppies girls and most of their recent kills have been these three species. We didn’t find them on a kill this week, but they had nice, big bellies. This tells us that their kill must have been on the smaller side and probably suggests Impala.

These females haven’t shown any further signs of pregnancy but as the Matimba males are showing interest again, we might have some more mating in the near future. While cementing their position in the area with the girls, they will grow their dominant pride in the central Manyeleti.

Nkuhuma pride

This pride has provided some fantastic viewing in the southern areas of the reserve. All eight cubs were seen with the females and are looking fat and healthy. They were first seen at Sarabanga by Jan, who after sitting with them for a while, noticed a large Buffalo bull coming directly towards them and the cubs. This scenario had potential chaos written all over it and chaos and cubs are not the words you want to hear. The females identified a potential meal and sprung into action. The cubs however looked on with the instinctive fear that these bulls deserve. The Buffalo caught onto the females and they aborted the hunt as the Buffalo snorted and ran.

The second sighting was one that lasted a few days. The females managed to bring down an adult Wildebeest and there was enough meat for all. Once again the cubs entertained our guests with their antics. There is nothing cuter than watching the clumsy attempts of a fat bellied cub trying to hunt a sibling.

Leopard

Newly seen male

As mentioned before, the drama has begun. We found a huge male Leopard in the centre of the Beacon male’s territory. He was following a female in the area of Metsikitsoro plains, which is one of Beacon’s favourite haunts. Whether these two giants have met, is still to be seen, but we've noticed a lot of movement all over the central Manyeleti from both males. Their tracks are slightly different and Beacon's looks to be slightly larger. From what we can piece together, this male came from the north. He is very relaxed with the vehicles and got to within a few meters of the vehicle. This would suggest that he is probably from the Timbavati area and if anyone has any information on him, we would appreciate a comment.

Unidentified Leopard

We had three sightings of Leopards that we couldn’t identify or photograph this week. The female that the new male was following was the on Metsikitsoro plains. She was however moving quickly and Patrick wasn’t able to get a shot of her. We think it may have been the Main dam female, but there is no confirmation of this. She was fairly relaxed with the vehicle, but moving away from the male. This is very different behaviour from the other female that is moving around the eastern side of the dam, who bolts at the first sight of a vehicle. Another Leopardess was seen at Mantwaan Mphisi pan, also in the territory of the Main dam female. She moved into the drainage line to the south of the pan and Jan wasn’t able to follow. Lastly, the third sighting of a female was in the south. She was fairly skittish of the vehicle, suggesting that she may be a Kruger Leopard. All this information helps us to understand our Leopard population better and aids us in trying to work with them successfully.