The big cat action continued this week and as usual, the Lion politics stole the show. The general game species have been spending most of their time on the burnt sections, but most of our Elephant sightings have taken place in the parts of the reserve that have not been burnt this year. The result is a resting period for the grazing, as the animal’s resident on the reserve are enjoying the fresh green shoots and staying off the unburnt sections. The exceptions are the Elephants and large herds of Buffalo, who seem to prefer these areas. This meant that the predators stayed close to the burnt areas in search of prey.
Lion
Matimba Males
The big males have been busy this week and we have had a few descent sightings of them. The week started off where it left off last week, with the two dark maned males moving off with the Koppies females from S6 pan. The females moved and the males followed, with no attempt to hide their presence. They started roaring and the Koppies girls followed suit.
We then had a few sightings of single Matimba’s, one at Main dam wall with one of the Mbiri females and another at Vulture Pan Road.
Towards the end of the week, we found three Matimba’s on a Giraffe kill with the Mbiri pride close to Zebra pan. The two young males were present and these two young males are the oldest of the Matimba cubs. Their relation with their fathers seems to be heading towards the inevitable pushing out stage. The males are starting to show more and more aggression and they are tolerating their cubs less and less. They spent three days on the kill with the Mbiri pride.
Koppies Females
There was only one sighting of these females this week. They were with the two dark maned Matimba’s on Mantaan Mphisi moving west towards Tamboti drive. As is their way, we can go for several days without seeing these females and then they just turn up out of the blue. Hopefully next week proves this theory true!
Mbiri Pride
It’s been almost a year since the tragedy of the cub killing Matimba’s. A quick recap: Last year the Matimba’s were found killing the Mbiri cubs on Bee-eater road. The sad part of it all was, these were Matimba cubs! However the two surviving cubs have thrived ever since and have turned into males that are full of character and always good to watch. The Matimba’s have accepted the young Mbiri’s and they are tolerated by the big guys.
This week was no different and the Mbiri pride managed to take down a fully grown female Giraffe close to Zebra pan. Luckily for the Mbiri’s, Giraffe carcasses are big and they can all feed in relative peace. The big guys did however let the youngsters know who was boss and the young males approached the kill with care whenever they wanted to feed. They were very submissive to the Matimba’s, but that is the way of Lions. Males just don’t tolerate competition in any form!
Cheetah
The good Cheetah viewing has continued this week. The female with the cub was once again seen close to the western boundary, which is an area that provides a lot of our Cheetah sightings. This area has very little Lion activity and this probably why the Cheetah prefer the area. Lately the Cheetah have hugged the western boundary and utilised the open bush in the area.
Other views from the bush
We hope you enjoyed the blog!
Darren the Safari Team
All photographs edited by Darren Roberts-York
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