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=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 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=355 We are back in action!!We are welcoming our first guests in today after the flood. Everything is restored in order and we can not wait to get started again! The bush is greener than ever and looking amazing.

We had fresh tracks of 'Ntombi' leoardess and two cubs not too far from camp, this is good news for us as this is the first signs we have of her new babies. Hopefully we can update you quite soon about any sightings of them!



Thanks for all the support throughout! All your well wishes were much appreciated!

Kind regards,

Morné and ALL at Kings Camp.
]]> General http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=355 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:39:50 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=353 As most of you may know, we had mjor floods between 17 & 19 January 2012...In just short of 48 hours we measured 346.5 mm (13.64 inches) of rain. We only average 400 - 450 mm per year! This was caused by Cyclone Dando.



Due to the heavy rain and floods the main access into the reserve eroded out and it caused a few massive 20 - 30 m 'gorges' and no vehicles can reach camp for major deliveries like diesel at this point. Smaller things we carry across from suppliers to the Land Rovers.



We lost our main electricity and our main water pump. At this point in time we run our generator (5 hrs per day as we are having difficulty to get diesel in), a stand-by water pump and skeleton staff to limit usage on available resources. Everything in camp is at this stage still very damp but we are very fortunate not to have excessive structural damage caused.













They are predicting more rain towards next week (Cyclone Funso) which may miss, but we are prepared and buffered the rooms by moving everything out of waters reach. We are currently busy with damage control and are busy fixing the main access into the lodge.



We'll keep you updated on our progress when we have enough power to work with!

Take Care!

Morné Hamlyn and ALL at KINGS CAMP.]]> General http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=353 Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:30:10 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=351

Patrick O'Brien Head Giude of Kings Camp.
My Website: www.mandevowildlifephotography.zenfolio.com

email: leopardess@telkomsa.net]]> Game Drives http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=351 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:27:55 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=349
We also received a down-pour of more than 8 hours of rain on the 24th of December, one day before Christmas and again on the 27th of December.

When the rain had cleared and we were able to go on drive one could feel the energy of the animals in the bush from the Impalas running around and elephants playing in the mud.

The female impalas also gave birth at the end of November and this is seasonally timed to perfection every year. This means a new generation of fleeting impalas are filling their ecological role as food for the top predators from lion to the smaller predators like Cape hunting dogs.
It has been a while since I have seen and photographed the incredible high amount of action sightings as I did this month and I would like to start off with a very rare animal to our area, the African Wilddog. These extraordinary animals were hunting very close to the camp and we witnessed several kills. It is an almost impossible task to photograph this amazing predator in action. Normally one gets to photograph them during a feeding session if you are very lucky. On two occasions the Wilddogs were seen hunting close to the boundary of the camp. Although several impalas were caught and eaten it still makes no impact to the resident herd of impala. One particular sighting stands out for me as I followed the Wilddogs hunting a Steenbuck. Soon after I lost visual contact, with the pack chasing the small antelope, we managed to obtain visual again of the pack feeding on a Steenbuck which they caught and consumed in less than 3 minutes. This is the most productive and successful predator in the African bushveld with a hunting success ratio of no less than 70 %.



Lions
The mystifying Ross Pride made a return to the western sector of Kings Camp. Several great sightings ensured that our guests were treated to watch this large pride which consists of no less than 10 lions. A new large male lion that I have not seen before was with the pride and I would assume he is the dominant male of this pride. Two smaller cubs of approximately 12 months of age were also present. The females of this pride looked a bit tattered and I can only assume this is because the pride core females are ageing.



Nevertheless the pride was still in a position to take on a large Cape buffalo during a rainy night. Strong wind and a heavy rain made it difficult for the old buffalo to detect the direction the lions came from. Nevertheless the condition favored the lions and not the buffalo and the pride took advantage and killed the old bull. Feeding lasted 3 days before a clan of 15 hyenas arrived in the early hours of a crisp morning. Minutes later the pride except of one of the older lionesses moved away and the hyenas moved in to feed. I noticed on earlier sightings that the now remaining lioness found it difficult to compete with the other lions and often ate last. What made the situation worse for her was that her teeth were worn down and this meant that she has to eat slowly and with difficulty.

Realizing that she was weak the Hyena clan wasted no time to deal with the old female lion trying to kill her. Sadly, the old lioness was without the assistance of her pride and now at the mercy of her arch enemy which she did battle with her entire life.

In an all out effort the leading hyena took her masterful clan in to battle. Once the signal was given by the Matriarch hyena by means of a call the attack was launched. The call was so loud that it was almost deafening while saliva dripped from her mouth with hatred drawn on her face.
The scene was set and several attacks were launched simultaneously from all directions.

Like a general the lioness was determined to make a last stand and tried with great difficult to defend herself from being killed in this savage battle. It lasted a mere minute but felt like a lifetime. She was out of breath and looked very drained. As aged as she might have been she still had enough fire in her for one more battle with her enemies and by doing so she made a last statement to the hyenas that lions will always be the King of Africa.




Surprisingly a sudden change of behavior was noticed when another clan of hyenas arrived at the scene. The original clan that attacked the lioness first redirected there attack to the approaching hyenas.

This opportunity gave the injured lioness an advantage and she moved into a thicket bleeding from her now visible wounds whiles the hyenas took their new battle to the approaching new hyena clan. Out of breath the lioness laid her head down on the soft grass and unknowing to us at the time her last warm breath left her body. Once so powerful and majestic now her lifeless body lied motionless under a tree.

In the mean time the two hyenas groups went into battle ready to kill for a pile of bloody bones and territory. Hyenas are super amassing predators and I often say had they been twice there own size they would be without a doubt the dominant predator specie in Africa.

The fight lasted only few minutes and was quickly settled with the original clan resuming power at the kill.I took theses images of the hyenas fighting for dominance. It was one of the most memorable sightings as a guide.










Kings Camp’s two resident leopards Rockfig Jnr. and Ntombi have both given birth to an unknown number of cubs. This is one very important time in both leopards’ careers as this will be both female leopards’ second litters.
Does this mean we are going to have two new generations of leopard cubs in 2012?
Both female leopards are very thriving and have raised their first litter successfully.

These predators are amassing in many ways and it gives me so much pleasure showing and informing our guests about these beautiful spotted cats. Where else in the world can one follow a female leopard totally oblivious of our presence in a hunt or watch a female groom her cubs in front of a vehicle filled with guests. We are indeed privileged to be able to view these amazing animals.


Join us in 2012 for a once in a life experience that can bring you so incredible close to these cats that you can be part of their lives even if it is only for a few minutes and you will see what I mean with how magical these cats are.

I wish you all a happy and great New Year. We hope to see you in 2012.

From Patrick O'Brien Head Guide of Kings Camp and the ranger and tracker team.
Patrick O'Brien Head Giude of Kings Camp.
My Website: www.mandevowildlifephotography.zenfolio.com

email: leopardess@telkomsa.net







]]> Game Drives http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=349 Wed, 4 Jan 2012 22:10:43 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=347 Our first 'green' report for the season !GENERAL

Summer is officially here and that means loads of Little Baby Impalas everywhere! It is Lush, green and absolutely amazing out there. The Rainfall has been good and we hope that what is still coming will be constant and take us through the summer into our winter months with enough water.







LEOPARD

In the first half of the month we could clearly see that 'Ntombi' & 'Rockfig Jr' were both very pregnant.

'Ntombi' has spent a large amount of time to the South and West of the camp towards the end of the month and we seem to think that she may have given birth in the Zebenine river bed at a small rocky outcrop. As soon as we know more you will get updated here on the blog!



Ntombi’s Boy 'Umfana' is now fully independent. As a young male leopard he spends a lot of time in his natal grounds, which of course is familiar to him. He is frequently spotted walking in and around the camp and is quite a successful hunter. It is however just a matter of time before a larger male chases him from this area to find his own territory.



'Rockfig Jr' did deliver offspring in the Machaton riverbed as this was confirmed by one of our guides, Remember. He only saw the one youngster nursing, but we are not sure how many there are at this point. This area will once again be treated with utter most respect for the first 5-8 weeks after which we will assess the area that she moves them to and then slowly start allowing vehicles one at a time to visit whilst “Mommy” is present. We’ll keep you updated on any news or progress...





'Rockfig Jr' eating baby impala:



The Old 'M’bali' female up in the North seems to be very nomadic in movement now. She is 14 years old and finds it more difficult to maintain her territory with stronger, younger females around. Sightings are quite sporadic and in areas she used to claim as her territory and beyond.



Other Leopard sightings recorded were of 'Xinope-nope' (male in the South), 'Tumbela' Female (Rockfig Jr.’s Daughter), 'Kuhanya' female (Mbali’s daughter in the North), 'Argyle' Male (Dominant Male in the North) and 'Hlakise' Female’s boy (+- 17 months old).


LIONS

There have been some tough times in the month, but we managed very nicely with some diverse sightings towards the end of November.

The 'Machaton Pride' was in and out of our traversing over the first two weeks, but sightings improved towards the end as they spent a lot of time on Kings Camp’s Property. The remaining 7 boys were looking a bit hungry but in good health and spirit otherwise. Kills recorded was early on a young giraffe and later on a kudu and buffalo calf.





The 'Ross pride' consisting of 7 lionesses, 4 cubs and 2 males were seen on two occasions on our Western Sector. They usually follow buffalo in from the neighbouring Klaserie Reserve. They are all in very good condition and we hope they will choose to spend more time in our traversing in future.



The 3 'Xakubasa' (White) youngsters were seen three times in the early parts of the month, but then moved back to the far Northern corners of the Klaserie and Umbabat Reserves. They are struggling a bit to hunt without the adult lionesses but are still in fairly good condition.



We also had a sighting of one large, unknown male lion on a buffalo kill. He fed for three days only with some interaction between him and some hyena. We are not sure where he was from of where he has disappeared to again.




ELEPHANT & CAPE BUFFALO

Since the rain started we have had some wonderful sightings of both species. The elephants are loving the fact that there is so much water around and are often seen swimming in the larger bodies of water. Large Buffalo herds were seen very frequently from both the Northern and Southern areas.




RHINO

Rhino sighting have been good. We were even lucky to see a crash of 3 together. Any rhino sighting are to be cherished as the rhino poaching is still a very big problem in South Africa. Reports have said that there have been 405 Rhino poached this year alone. You can read more about this on the SANPARKS website (http://sanparks.org.za/about/news/default.php?id=1779)




BIRDS

This month I have decided to add some of our Bird sightings as they have been quite special this month.

We saw a Juvenile Bataleur Eagle which will only get its full adult colours when it reaches 6-7 years old but even as youngsters they are quite beautiful.



A Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl was very accommodating for photos and sat for a good half an hour or so before we eventually left it to carry on sleeping in its tree. These are the largest of the African Owls. Besides their size they are identifiable by their Oval face with a Black boarder and pink eyelids, they also have feather tufts over their ears.



This Yellow Billed Stork was lovely to sit and watch. Even though they are seen quite often it was great to be able to watch it and get photos whilst it was in the water fishing.



This Blacksmith Lapwing was Not at all happy with the Tawny Eagle on this day and we sat watching the Lapwing mobbing the Eagle until the Eagle decided to move on.



We were privileged to be able to witness two male Red Crested Korhaans fighting! Most of our guests get to see these birds as they scurry over the road into thick grass or when they are doing their “Suicide act” (they fly straight up into the air and fall down again to show the females where they are located).




SPECIAL SIGHTINGS

This month there are two things I want to share with you under special sightings.

Wild dogs Sightings were plentiful this month. One that stands out and deserves mention was when a sick buffalo died nearby camp. The buffalo carcass attracted 6 Hyena and 2 Jackals that were sharing the meat. The dogs heard the Hyena’s excited giggling and went to investigate. When they got there we witnessed some amazing sounds out of all the predators as they engaged in a spectacular standoff.



Another one that deserves mention is when the pack of 13 dogs chased an Impala into the electric fence that is around the camp. Needless to say the Impala was shocked to death and the Dogs had their first “Cooked” meal. They spent the morning around the waterhole which kept the guests well entertained during breakfast.



On a much smaller note we witnessed this bushveld lizard make a kill of its own whilst we were sitting with Rockfig Jr Leopardess eating a Baby Impala. Sometimes the little things attract more attention than the larger ones do.



With that I am going to close this report.

Have a wonderful Christmas Season!

Kindest regards,

Morné and the Kings Camp guiding team.

Report written by, Morné Hamlyn
Photography by , Morné Hamlyn]]> Rangers Reports http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=347 Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:04:27 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=345
Cathan received two Awards from Southern Cross School:

The first is the "Eco Warrior" Award for His Love of and interest in the Enviroment. He has Extensive knowledge of all wildlife and often amazes his teachers with in depth detail relating to nature. He is a worthy recipient of this award.
The Second is the "Rhino Award" for Trying really hard to prepare his speeches to the highest standard and he has wored consistently in learning the names of many birds and trees.


We are also very proud of Sveva who took part in her very first Ballet Recital. She showed that she is a natral born Ballerina and remembered all the dance moves her teacher taught her.


All of the Kings Camp Family would like to say "Well Done Cathan & Sveva!! Keep up the Great work!"]]> Community http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=345 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:21:16 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=343


By Patrick O'Brien

My Website: www.mandevowildlifephotography.zenfolio.com

email: leopardess@telkomsa.net]]> Game Drives http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=343 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:27:15 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=341

The pride succeeded with several large kills including a large female giraffe and a number of buffalo calves. The pride also seems to be occupying the southern part of their territory most of the time and are spending less and less time with the dominant Timbavati males. We are now down to 7 cubs from the original 9 that were born. Considering that the majority of lion cubs don't survive the first year, this pride has done very well and I am confident the remaining seven little boys will make it to the top.

The oldest lioness of the pride is now approaching her 19th year. She has done a sterling job keeping this pride together over the years and teaching her daughters the laws of survival. Although she is now an old lady, she still looks amazingly healthy and full of grace. I have watched her carefully over the last year and noticed that her tolerance for the cubs is getting less. I think she has earned the right to being a little aloof when it comes to little cubs biting your tail and clambering over your back when you are trying to rest. She has completed her duty as a mom and a core lioness of the pride and is without doubt a dynamic leader of her family.

The Kubasa pride was also seen on a few occasions during the month of October. The pride has been divided for the last two months due to both adult females breaking away from their teenage offspring to mate with the Mahlatini males in the North. To avoid a possible attack from the male lions, the two young white lionesses and the young male decided to play it safe and avoid the dominant male lions for now. This is also due to the fact the three young lions are unrelated to the males. In lion social behavior, any adolescent male or female lion unrelated means competition to the dominant males of the region. The end result is simple move away or be killed.




Leopard

Although we had an abundance of leopard sightings this month, Ntombi and Rockfig Jnr leopards played hard to find. Ntombi and her son were seen on the boundary of the camp on a few occasions and much to my surprise I personally found the young male leopard one evening walking between the staff accommodation. He was of no threat to anybody but merely exploring his territory. This is what young leopards do as he moves closer to independence.

The maternal instinct to reproduce and be a mother again is pushing Ntombi to search out a mate. Normally female leopards will mate with the dominant territorial male that controls the area that her territory overlaps in. If for any reason, the dominate male is not around she will leave her core territory to seek out another adult male from a neighboring territory. If Ntombi is successful, this will surely mean new leopard cubs in 2012.



Rock fig Jnr’s daughter, the Tumbela female was seen on a few occasions very near to Kings Camp. Her moving away from her natal area is a natural process as she seeks her own territory as an independent leopard. Unfortunately for her, she was exploring in the territory of Ntombi and this could only end in an inevitable confrontation and a fight between the two. This epic battle was witnessed by two other rangers. I was unfortunately not on drive when this rare sighting happened much to my disappointment. The rangers that did manage to witness this fight informed me that Ntombi as small as she is was too experienced and powerful and managed with relative ease to overpower Tumbela and chase away out of her territory. I suppose this is what they mean when they say, “dynamite comes in small packages”. I feel sad for Tumbela as she is an animal that we have watched grow up and we would love her to stay in our traversing area.



One of my favorite female leopards, Mbali was seen infrequently during the last two months. I am anxious and fearful that she is close to end of her road as a dominant female leopard. She was born in the Nharalumi River bed in December 1997 close to a crossing we know as Kilpgat crossing hidden between huge boulders the size of three adult elephants. Although very well concealed, I was extremely lucky to see her as a cub for the first time in February 1998. It was on an afternoon drive that I will never forget my sighting of her lying next to her mom, the famous Java leopardess. She was the size of a fur ball and almost entirely black with sparkling blue eyes. I have followed her closely for the past 13 years watching her life unfold. The thousands of guests and many rangers that had the privilege of being around this small and relaxed female leopard would understand my feelings towards her, she is magic!



Cape hunting dogs (Wild dog) sightings have increased tremendously over the last three months and we are seeing a pack of thirteen dogs on a regular basis. They comprise of five pups and eight adults. We have had some great sightings trying to follow them as they head out on their hunts. To keep up with them as they race through the bush can be very challenging. However, if you are familiar with the area you can occasionally plan your route around the hunt to be in the right position at the right moment. I was fortunate to witness two kills in front of me. One particular sighting stood out above the rest and that was when a heard of Zebra were plagued by the wild dogs. Normally dogs won’t take on adult zebra but the presence of a foul had them interested. I have learned that you can never under estimate team work in a pack as they can be an explosive hunting unit that is well co-coordinated with excellent communication systems. Their hunting success rate is 70% on average, more than double than that of any large predator on this planet.





Our resident male rhino Mtenge-Mtenge had to prove all his worth this month as his skills were put to the test by a large powerful male in the south. Battle scared he returned to his favorite dam, Machaton dam to relax and soothe his wounds is the water. Look closely at the images and you can see the scaring on his powerful face.




Well, that is it from me this time dear friends. I hope you enjoyed the report. Take care.

Regards
Patrick O'Brien Head Giude of Kings Camp.
My Website: www.mandevowildlifephotography.zenfolio.com

email: leopardess@telkomsa.net

]]> Rangers Reports http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=341 Sat, 5 Nov 2011 22:49:59 +0200 http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=339 Hope you enjoy this report!GENERAL:

Spring is in the air and anticipation in high for the first rain to start! The Knob thorn trees are usually the first to show that spring is here and this year they are flowering in full force.



As per usual we were entertained with some amazing marvels of nature, from Hippo’s to the small red-billed oxpeckers feasting from a wound on a Buffalo (they eat the parasites on various herbivores, keeps the wounds clear of too many maggots and they also eat the blood).



LEOPARD:

We think that ‘Ntombi’ may be in oestrus again. Her boy, ‘Umfana’ is now about 18months old and will soon be completely independent. We had few sightings of her, and we think she may be spending time looking for a male in the Klaserie reserve close to the Nkombe pan area.
‘Umfana’ has been spending most of the month between Elephant dam and the camp! Like his mother he is also now a regular visitor in the camp, often surprising us by lying close to the library and the therapy room. We’ve seen him on smaller kills a few times, but it seems like he still needs to sharpen some of his skills to get some of the larger prey species like Impala.



‘Rockfig Jr.’ is very active again within the core of her territory, and the last time she spent so much time along the Machaton River was during her pregnancy with ‘Tumbela’. Most of the recorded sightings of her were between Entrance dam and our neighbours, Tanda Tula. It has been close to 4 months now since ‘Tumbela’ became independent and hopefully this is a sign that she may be pregnant again.



The beautiful young male, ‘Xinope-nope’ proceeds to explore larger parts around his core area, and this could hopefully mean that is now confident to claim the territory between Marco’s dam, our airstrip / Reflection dam, Impala dam and Tanda Tula camp. He is a large young male and shows ambition to maintain this frequented area as his territory!



The new female with two 10-12month old cubs I reported about a while ago was very active up North around the Nhlaralumi River’s Klipgat- and Illegal crossings. One of the sightings that stand out was of her male cub on a termite mound late one afternoon. I sat with my guests at last light taking some nice photographs when suddenly the youngster crouches looking at something to the South. We knew his sister was somewhere just north of us where the Mongooses were calling from, so we thought the mother was close. To our surprise a large unknown male showed up, with a Spotted Hyena in tow, and chased the young boy into a nearby tree! As the persistent Hyena disappeared the big male wandered off vocalizing his dominance with the little girl now out to investigate the big guy wandering off into the darkness! WOW… what a sighting to witness!



LION:

Our resident ‘Machaton’ pride is now down from 12 to 10. Three lionesses and only 7 cubs remain. The second cub was unfortunately killed by an unknown male while they finished feeding off a Buffalo they killed around Hide dam. The pride has done extremely well with hunts during this last month and we recorded two large female Buffalo, one large female giraffe and a few smaller unknown kills where only blood on their fur was evident. The three older cubs regularly follow the adults into serious hunts, but often give away the prides positioning as they get unnerved with large numbers of prey, especially when the follow large herds of Cape Buffalo!











The Timbavati boys were nowhere to be seen! Informants recon they are mating with lionesses from other prides in their territory further South of our traversing.

We saw the ‘Xakubasa’ pride three times! Twice was only of the 2 white sisters and their tawny male cousin. We suspect that the 2 adult lionesses are in oestrus and possibly mating with the ‘Mahlatini’ males further up North.



The youngsters appear to be in very good condition and we saw them finishing up with a Warthog they dug out of its burrow.

ELEPHANT AND CAPE BUFFALO:

Both species entertained in large numbers around the available water during what hopefully was the last spell of the dry months!

Large bull Elephants followed the big herds throughout our traversing.





An unusually large bachelor group of 17 Cape buffalo was active on the Jaydee / Fielmetter and Peru West portions of traversing. We saw a herd of roughly 400 a few times within the same area from the West and the bigger ‘Super’ herd of 1 000 + from the South-eastern parts, was seen on numerous occasions.



WHITE RHINO:

Because of the major problems we currently have in our country regarding poaching of these HARMLESS, GENTLE beasts I will not discuss dynamics of Rhino’s in our area of operation, but sightings remain amazing and SPECIAL!!



Please look at the following link for a list of trusted organizations that raises funds against Rhino poaching. http://5050.internext.co.za/?p=752

SPECIAL SIGHTINGS:

A pack of 10 Wild dogs moved into the traversing and we saw them quite a few times toward the end of the month. It looks like it could be the pack that moved away not too long ago to den with the pups now old enough to run around and hunt with the pack!









Hope too see you visiting this PRISTINE CORNER OF UNSPOILT AFRICA soon!

Morne' and the Kings Camp guiding team.

Report written by, Morne' Hamlyn
Photography, Morne' Hamlyn
]]> Rangers Reports http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=339 Fri, 7 Oct 2011 12:41:37 +0200