Tintswalo Ranger's Blog: Sightings Report: 3

There really has been a lot of movement by the predators on the reserve this week and the game viewing has been exceptional. The Matimba males have given us many talking points and the two male Cheetahs have made a re-appearance. On top of all this, several herds of Buffalo have been on the reserve. One large herd of 400-500 Buffalo have been hanging around the area to the south and east of the lodge itself. The Lion have still not made their move on these herds, however it’s just a matter of time before they start adding Buffalo to their diet. Elephant sightings have also been very good and the bulls have been quenching their thirst in the small pan in front of the lodge, with many breeding herds moving through the reserve as well.

Lion

Matimba males

The big guys have been very busy this week. It seems they have been checking in with all the females in their territory. We found the dark maned males on a Zebra kill on Buffalo plains, thanks to the Koppies girls. The males made their way in on the kill and forced the girls off their kill. They then decided to do what every male in history has done, attempt to kiss and make up. The girls were having none of it. The males were met with growls and two very cold shoulders. But they persevered and it eventually paid off, and by that afternoon, one of the pairs was mating. They stayed with the koppies girls for the week, from Tamboti to Khoka Moya dam.

One of the blonde males, who has been in the northern parts of Matimba territory joined up with the Mbiri pride and was also attempting to mate with one of the females, to the absolute confusion of the young males. On a few occasions he met the two youngsters and the remaining female with real aggression and even went as far as putting himself in between her and the others. He too was met with growls from the female, but his persistence was never ending. One interaction that was very funny to watch, was the two youngsters when the male tested the female’s vulva. The two youngsters were all over the male and got a serious scolding, when curiosity almost killed the cats.

Koppies females

The girls started the week off with a nice, big Zebra kill on Buffalo plains. But as I mentioned before, two Matimba males pushed them off the kill. Luckily the koppies girls had a day and a half on the kill and had a good feed. But the Males tracked them down on Tamboti and followed the girls for the rest of the week.

Mbiri Pride

The Mbiri pride was seen close to the air strip at the beginning of the week and moved up to Malcolm’s bridge at the inflow to Main dam. The real story for them began when one of the blonde Matimba’s joined up with them on Bee-eater drive towards the end of the week.

These are the members of the Orpen Super pride that have managed to add to their numbers with the addition of the two young males. Around this time last year the Matimba’s killed four of their cubs, siblings of the two youngsters and unfortunately the female cubs were killed. This was sadly a case of mistaken identity on the part of the Matimba’s and it’s about time that they mated with these females again to ensure the growth of the pride.

Nkuhuma pride

The week started off with the Nkuhuma’s still feeding on the Wildebeest they had killed. They spent a few days still feeding on the kill, and we enjoyed the antics of the cubs. From there they stayed around the Sarabanga area and eventually moved east into the Kruger National Park.

Cheetah

We had the pair of brothers this week, on several different sightings. They were found first at the back of Wild dog Dam, and the males were moving south towards the open plains south of the lodge. While we followed them they spotted a lone bull Wildebeest and started stalking it. This would probably be a little bit of wishful thinking, as Cheetah, unlike Lion and Leopard, are not designed to tackle large prey species, however large coalitions of males have been known to take down large Kudu before.

The next morning we found the two brothers after tracking the big herd of Buffalo. They were just to the south of the airstrip and only about 100 meters from the Buffalo. They continued south and east, moving from termite mound to termite mound as they were looking for any opportunity for a kill.