http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/ The Kings Camp Weblog contains ranger reports, stories, photos & videos describing the experience at our Romantic 5 Star Luxury Lodge in the Timbavati Private Reserve bordering the Kruger Park. en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.kingscamp.com/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/ http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=375 April also signals the start of the mating (rutting) season for impala antelope and Vervet monkeys.

The rutting season started earlier than usual. This could be due to the lengthy rainy season we had with unexpected volumes of rain water still around. This sparked mating behavior a bit earlier as conditions are conducive for impala. Normally the rutting season starts towards the end of May. The entire affair lasts approximately 6 weeks. When giving birth, a female impala will isolate herself from the herd whiles the young are usually born after 6 and a half months gestation period. The impala mother will keep the fawn in a hidden spot for a few days or weeks before returning to the herd. The fawn will then join a nursery group and will go to its mother only to nurse. The young impala will suckle for four to six months.
You might have heard that female impala have the ability to delay giving birth for an additional month if conditions are harsh. This is however not true as no animal can increase their gestation period so that it could coincide with the rainy season.
The male impala that are immature or too old or simply not up to standard to compete will join bachelor herds during the rutting season.


For the last 10 years I watched the behavior of our resident troop of Vervet monkeys at Kings Camp. Most recently the socially interacting of a new adult male and a sub-adult male got my interest. I have seen this kind of behavior on several occasions but never photographed it until now. The older and mature male approached the younger male with his tail raised high over his back signaling to the younger male his dominance. In a respectful and submissive manner the younger male made soft and funny noises indicating that he means no harm or aggression to the older one. With immediate effect the younger male started grooming the older monkey. It was great to watch the younger male cleaning and grooming the older male for more than 10 minutes. The expression on the dominant males face clearly indicating his contentment. I nearly could feel him smiling. The younger suddenly stopped and turned his back to the older male which I assume that he wanted the same treatment for himself. In typically primate language the older male turned his back and walked away leaving the younger male unsatisfied.
The Vervet Monkey is not usually able to reproduce until they are about five years old, although their age of sexual maturity is known to vary slightly and may be dependent on how much food they have access to. In our case one of the young males occasionally make a habit of visiting guests at their room for a snack that has been left outside making your safari an even more special experience.


Leopards.
Mfana the offspring from Ntombi leopardess is frequenting the eastern side of our property. At the moment he is benefiting from the absence of a male being far into the east. This gives him free roaming at his leisure to hunt and live in this sector. However I have to admit that it is only a matter of time for an adult male leopard to find him and aggressively informing him of his territory. Aggressive interactions are often turning violent as dominant male leopards vigorously defend their territories. Mfana was seen hunting on a few occasions during morning drive. This young male leopard is very enthusiastic when he hunts and often will approach his prey right in the open without making any effort of concealing himself. In fact watching him hunt is sometimes very funny as so entertaining as he still tries to catch his prey even though his cover is blown.





Lions.
Our resident Machattan pride was seen only a handful of times during April. It still concerns me. Why is the pride not making its way closer to our area of traversing? There are a few factors that might have an impact on the pride not spending time in the north which I will mention in more detail in my next report. But in the mean time I have a great image to share with you. The image of the oldest lioness of the pride was captured during an afternoon drive. To date she is over 19 years old! I have the privilege of knowing this lioness since 1998 and when I saw her for the first time she was already an adult. As old as she is she is still a stunning female. Large shoulders and muscular neck indicates that she is still strong. However I have watched her carefully for the last 3 months and I have noticed her intolerance towards the cubs getting more serious. I am hoping that she is going to be with us for at least till the end of the year but I am not sure if this will be the case.


Rhino
The newly born rhino calf that is making Kings Camp her home still excites me every time I find her during drive. Albert and I have it waxed now as we know the route and the whereabouts we she lives. The mother is super relaxed and so is her new calf. Females reach sexual maturity at 6–7 years of age while males reach sexual maturity between 10–12 years of age.
Gestation occurs around 16 months. A single calf is born and usually weighs between 40 and 65 kg. Calves are unsteady for their first 3 days of life and when threatened the calf will run in front of the mother, who is very protective of her calf and will fight for it vigorously. Weaning starts sometimes as early as 2 months, but most calves continue suckling for over 12 months. The birth interval for the white rhino is between 2 and 3 years. Before giving birth the mother will chase off her current calf. So I am hoping and I am almost certain that this little wonder will remain one of the most spectacular animals to see in the next 2 years.



Anyway that is all for this month’s report. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did compiling the report.
Game report by: Patrick O'Brien Head Guide of Kings Camp.
My Website: www.mandevowildlifephotography.zenfolio.com


]]> Rangers Reports http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=375 Sun, 6 May 2012 21:05:50 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=373 My guests and I watched a lone hippo bull one afternoon at Elephant dam for about 35 minutes... and I am so glad we did!!

This grey heron walked along the waters edge and suddenly decided that the hippo's back looked like a very inviting "heli pad". He flipped across, perched on the hippo (which was surprized and disgusted) and flew back across as the hippo bit at him!



The WAITING game truly paid off this time around!

Kind regards,

Morné Hamlyn]]> Game Drives http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=373 Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:00:24 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=371 WON! Well done to Anton Mzimba, Imagine Ndlovu (both field rangers), Lazaro Sibiya (Timbavati Foundation), Kulani Nyakane and Jacques Brits! For more on this story click HERE

On another Sport topic the South African Tennis team is now being officially sponsored by SEASONS IN AFRICA! Photo by Deaan Vivier
]]> General http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=371 Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:27:48 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=369 Finally the internet allowed me to post the report! Enjoy... GENERAL:

The last month of summer approached and rewarded us with amazing game viewing after the last rain we had!
The overall condition of the bush is amazing and we shared many unforgettable sightings with our guests through this month.







Something that stood out was the fact that there are single hippo’s occupying small bodies of water throughout the traversing after the major dams broke during January’s flood. They will probably regroup once some of these dams get rebuilt!

LEOPARD:

Rockfig jr. was the star of the show together with her 5month old cub. The little boy was introduced to us nicely for the first time towards the end of the month.







We lost out on some habituating time with this little guy during the flood and repair period of Jan. and Feb. but it looks like he is starting to settle down a little bit more towards the vehicles.

Umfana (Ntombi’s independent boy) is now just over 2 yrs old and he spends lots of time in Rockfig jr.’s territory to the east of us.
He was seen on numerous occasions and quite a few times on kills! Some good interaction was noted at one of his kills where Rockfig jr. tried to steal some of his kill from him. Even though she has much more experience than him, he still managed to keep her away from his food after a quick scrap.



Sightings of other leopards were also good with Ntombi filling a lot of the spaces when we did not see the above mentioned two.

LION:

The Machaton pride was very uncooperative during the month and only two sightings of them were recorded. We think the presence of the last Timbavati boy down South may be the reason for them spending so much time outside of our traversing looking for males.
We have been informed that there was a fight between them and the Myambula pride down South and this may cause them to move back ‘home’ towards April!

Four of the Mafikizolo lions were seen frequently throughout the whole traversing and appear to be much more settled with the vehicles around. The rest of the pride when they show up are very skittish however and this causes the whole pride to be more unnerved.



The White lionesses also visited a few times however they are separated from each at this point.
The one walks with a younger female cousin from the Timbavati pride and the other was seen a few times around the Jaydee property by herself.



Both are in good condition and we will update you once we have news on all of them if and when they manage to reunite!

ELEPHANT AND CAPE BUFFALO:

Both species was very prolific and we had amazing sightings around the smaller waterholes of them in large numbers to quench their thirst!









Buffalo herds averaging 300-500 individuals and elephant herds varied from 20-80 individuals at times!

WHITE RHINO:

I will not go into much detail at this point, but sightings were fair!

SPECIAL SIGHTINGS:

Rare animals visited us again during the month.

The large pack of African Wild dogs were still in our area and numerous guests got to see the second most endangered predator in Africa!





A female cheetah and her sub-adult youngster spent about four days on Kings Camp and for the first time in months we spent some quality time with the speedsters.



Well, that is it for this month!

Keep watching the blog for more news…

Kind regards,

Morné and the guiding team.

Report written by Morné Hamlyn.
Photography by Morné Hamlyn.]]> Rangers Reports http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=369 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:06:24 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=367
Thank you for understanding.

Morné Hamlyn]]> General http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=367 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:47:14 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=365 However with all this set aside the rest of the month turned out to be good regarding game viewing. Good leopard and rhino sightings guaranteed that guests left happy even with the limitations.

There is no doubt that the award of most special sightings of the month hast to go to Ntombi. Ntombi is one of our resident female leopards and she is again a proud mother of a new cub. This is her second cub she has produced in 3 years.

No one has seen the cub until this month even though we as guides knew that the cub was born in January 2012. Due to the unanticipated cyclone we experienced in January, which caused the camp to close for several days, meant, that we lost any idea of the area she operated in or gave birth to the cub. Locating her as quickly as possible with the cub will ensure that the cub is relaxed with the game drive vehicles and not growing up scared of the landrovers.
Only until the end of February that is when my tracker Albert found her after tracking her for an hour in a riverbed. It was a very hot afternoon and Ntombi laid under a huge tree that casted a shadow over the entire riverbed. I knew that she had the cub close because Albert pointed out that he can see the cub’s tracks in the soft sand. We waited for 30 minutes and when Ntombi got up and started to call softly I knew that the cub was somewhere around us. She walked to a huge boulder and within seconds a small leopard cub stuck its head out underneath a large rock.
Unfortunately it was skittish and moved away from us quickly. It was seen again a week later but still appears to be nervous. Now we have to start the hard work in finding the cub and mom frequently so that the cub can get habituated to the vehicles like the other female leopards. This is the only set of images that shows the cub in detail.



Rhino calf was born.
Another exciting sighting for me this month was the discovery of a very small rhino calf that was born in our area of operation during January. I have been a wildlife guide in Timbavati since 1998 and I have never seen a rhino calf being born in the reserve. Much to my surprise it was to hear one of the resident females gave birth to a calf in January. I did not know she was pregnant. An adult rhino is a huge mammal and due to the digestive system which gives one the impression that they are full from eating and this makes it impossible to see if they are pregnant.
I knew the calf was seen after the rangers told me but did not see it myself until one afternoon during drive. Much to my surprise the older female rhino had a calf with her. The adult female is extremely relaxed but the calf remained nervous for a few weeks. Last week the same group was found and the calf was a lot more relaxed. I manage to capture this image of this little female rhino calf during game drive.


It is very important to us, as an eco-tourism operation, to see a new calf in our area. During the last 3 years rhino population had to withstand poaching on a large scale. More than 500 rhinos were killed last year alone and more that 100 already this year. Luckily the rhinos in our area are protected to a certain degree simply by the presense of all the safari vehicles that operate here.
I hope that this little female will survive and we, for the first time in Timbavati, will learn more about the developing rate of this beautiful animal.

Lions
The lion sightings for February were not as good as they normally are. I am trying to get my head around this strange and sudden position we find ourselves in. At times we don’t see any lions for a week or longer and this is not usual for Timbavati, at least not for our area. Since the Shobele pride was killed 3 years ago and the Makilizolo male coalition moved in to take over the area a vacuum was created separating the north from the south. We had a few nomadic lions move in and out of this vacuum but still no pride is taking this prime land and settling in. What will be interesting to watch is to see how the absence of a resident pride of lion will affect the general game numbers. Or even the secondary predator’s numbers in the future. In this brief time I have already seen the leopard numbers increasing and large hyena’s clans operating in and around the game drive areas.
The Kubasa pride was seen on two occasions much to the delight of us rangers. Both adult females are beautiful and seems to grow daily in size. They were seen moving with the Timbavati pride, also known as the original Jacaranda pride, which controls the northern part of Timbavati. They are looking healthy and seem to do just fine.


The African Barred Owlet.

This is a species of owl in the Strigidae family. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. With a length of 21 cm and a weight of 83 to 140 grams it is a small owl. It has no ear tufts. There is some sexual dimorphism in size, with the females being larger, but no differences in plumage.
The species is most frequently found in woodland and forests, and on forest edges. It may also occur in more open savannah and along rivers. It is partly diurnal, and feeds mostly on insects, although small rodents and birds may also be eaten.
That is all for this month dear friends. Take care and keep well from the the rangers and trackers of Kings Camp.
Ranger by: Patrick O'Brien Head Guide of Kings Camp.
My Website: www.mandevowildlifephotography.zenfolio.com

email: leopardess@telkomsa.net
]]> Rangers Reports http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=365 Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:57:55 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=363 Here are a few images I took during the recent week at Kings Camp...Scenery:



Animals:















Rare bird:



Have a great week-end!

Chat soon!

Morné Hamlyn (Photographer)]]> Game Drives http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=363 Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:58:03 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=361 In between ALL the negativity regarding rhino poaching we have some amazing news!! A new baby rhino was born in the last 2-3 weeks and the mother shows it off regulary to us out on drive!



Let's hope this little fellow is part of a safer generation!!

Kind regards,

Morné Hamlyn]]> Game Drives http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=361 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:34:40 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=359
As if that wasn't enough - I must also mention that our guide, Colbert and tracker, Sonny Boy are outstanding. I have seen four of the five big-five animals with only the elusive lion to find. We have two drives remaining and I think they are as determined as we are to find the lion. I can tell you unequivocally that if we don't find the Pride of Lion ... it isn't going to be for lack of effort. This morning they left the jeep, appropriately armed, to follow some tracks deeper into the bush. When they returned - they said the paw prints were that of a large male leopard instead of a female lioness. Not to fear, Colbert says, we will keep looking. He has positioned us so close to the animals that I have been able to take unbelievable photos.

The combination of outstanding safaris, accommodations and high quality staff makes my Waterbuck at Kings Camp experience one that I will never forget. Thank you Warren and Alisha – from the bottom of my heart!
]]> Guest Experiences http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=359 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:54:50 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=357 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

January lived up to ALL of summer's expectations...GENERAL:

There were lots of baby animals, amazing general game, various reptiles, insects and birds. Then we also had some flooding from the 17th -20th of January. As you can imagine by now, the bush is in Very Good Condition and the animals are doing very well. Due to the floods we had camp closed from 17th -28th of January, so only Two Thirds of the month was experiences with guests.





On a smaller note... we were well entertained by the presence of many dung beetles rolling their gathered nesting balls of dung off to chosen nest sites.



Three Main groups of dung beetles are found namely Rollers, Tunnelers, and Dwellers.

TUNNELERS: These handle the dung by tunnelling underneath it. They then bury the dung underground which prolongs sustainability as food. This also aids in protection of larvae from parasite and predators.

DWELLERS: Most of these species are usually quite small. Their eggs are deposited directly into the dung where it was dropped.

ROLLERS: These are the most commonly seen by guests; they handle the dung and then roll it away to bury it some distance away from the gathering point. The dung is rolled into round balls, called brood balls, and this is the food source and brooding chamber. The male usually rolls the dung ball with the female clinging onto the side. One egg is deposited in each ball and a female can construct up to 6 Brood Balls in her life time.



We will focus on the Rollers as they are most commonly encountered in the summer. Many dung beetles feed on a variety of vegetation including Mushrooms, Decaying Leaves and even Fruit, but most feed on dung excreted by herbivores and omnivores. Dung beetles have a very strong sense of smell and can locate on dung from some distance away.
(Acc.- www.dungbeetlesforafrica.org)

Bird sightings were Amazing!! This due to the fact that masses of Red billed Queleas decided to nest in our area again they used around 1,55 Square Miles of nesting space. See video update below!

They estimate 37 million Red Billed Queleas in the Kruger Region, occurring in nesting colonies of up to 1 million birds. Their presence attracted the attention of many raptors preying on the nesting birds.

Raptor sighings included Tawny Eagles, Whalberg’s Eagles, Lesser Spotted Eagles, Booted Eagles, Gabar Goshawks, and African Harrier Hawks just to name a few.



I also had an amazing sighting of a Southern Yellow Billed Hornbill crushing and eating an adult chameleon!



More birds:



LEOPARD:

Good news on the spotted front is the pregnancy of the M’bali female and the confirmed births of cubs from Rockfig Jr (2 cubs) and Ntombi (Tracks for 2 cubs)

Starting in the North we had regular sightings of Hlakisa Female with her 16 month old Boys. The female and one boy, named Makeppies, are very approachable. Him and his brother entertained us for two days around an impala carcass they kept loosing and winning back from hyena. Some unbelievable interactions and tree climbing skills were observed



The old girl up north M’bali, is pregnant again and spends a lot of time on the Java property. She has not been successful since Kuhanya was raised 4 years ago. We’ll monitor her closely and post updates as soon as we learn more.



Kuhanya was seen a few times and still spends a lot of time in the far north around Motswari. She is now just over 4 years old and should be sexually mature during this year. Can’t wait for her to have her first cubs!!

Moving further south we saw mainly Rockfig Jr., Umfana, and Xinope-nope. Ntombi has given birth in some difficult terrain and we haven’t seen much of her. After the floods we have been noticing a lot of her tracks with the cubs not too far from the camp. It’s just a matter of time before we bring you updates on her.

Rockfig Jr. Was seen hunting frequently to the east of camp and twice after making kills the vehicles followed her to where she hid the two cubs. She is still nursing them and has not started taking them to kills yet. Due to their small size and dense locations we haven’t interfered too much in the areas and will be waiting for her to start taking the cubs to kills in the next month.



Umfana has now moved further east and explores a lot around Eagle Owl and Cheetah plains. These are perfect terrains, close to the Machaton River, for a young leopard to hunt in. The two plains run along the river and attract lots of Impala whilst the river provides good cover for him. Let’s hope that he finds available territory within our traversing for more entertaining sightings.



LION:

The Mahlatini males (two of the three) killed a young buffalo further to the north and one of the adult females of the Xakubasa Pride joined them on the kill. We noticed that she was lactating and that she has cubs hidden just outside our traversing on Ingwelala. This female is the sister of the lioness that has the two white lionesses during 2009/2010. We were pleasantly surprised the next day when she actually brought her 3 tiny cubs to the kill. They are not that used to vehicles and moved into cover as soon as we arrived.





The Machaton pride was joined by one Timbavati Boy on some occasions during the month. One lioness seemed to be in oestrus judging by the big male grimacing to test her urine samples. This maybe a false alarm as he oldest cubs are only about 17 months old. They still thrive in the South-East following large herds of Buffalo.



ELEPHANT, CAPE BUFFALO & WHITE RHINO:

Great Elephant herds spent time in our traversing around some of the larger dams, entertaining us with amazing scenes of them playing and swimming in the water.





Cape buffalo and White Rhinos had the same ideas and we had some unbelievable sightings of them competing around mud wallows on the hot days.







SPECIAL SIGHTINGS:

Again a pack of 13 Wild Dogs steal the show with regular sightings of them hunting Impala.



They even visited the camp a few times!



AFRICAN WILD CATS:

Just a little update on our two cats Masai and Sirroccoe.





They have been fully converted to being day active and entertain guests throughout the day hunting in the long grass for insects and small snakes and the squirrels in the trees. Before nightfall they are collected and sleep indoors at night. Masai belongs to Melissa and I and Sirrocoe stays with Tristan.

FLOOD:

Tropical depression Dando caused some large scale floods in the region and this caused us to have camp closed down for almost the last third of the month.

Please check these links for more on this:

http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=353
Photography accredited in blog above.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10150556768649474

http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=355

VIDEO UPDATE:


Short video clip of queleas constructing nests.

Well, that is it for the month!

Take care,
Morné Hamlyn

Report written by Morné Hamlyn
Photography and video by Morné Hamlyn unless otherwise mentioned.]]> General http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=357 Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:31:35 +0200