WILDLIFE REPORT

General

The winter has finally set in as the bushveld changes to a golden colour. The vegetation is also thinning quickly and of course for game viewing this is fantastic since the quality of the sightings improve.

During this months report I bring you interesting stories and updates concerning some of the most frequently viewed animals we see on drive.

Leopard

The Mbali leopardess and her cub produced several fantastic sightings During the month I managed to see her several times and capture a great picture of the cub. It is also official now that the little leopardess will be known as Mbali Jnr in the future.

She is doing well and seems a bit lonely at times after her brother disappeared several weeks ago. Mom goes hunting and this means that Mbali Jnr is left on her own for up to 24 hours. Instinctively she already knows to stay close to tall tress which she climbs with ease and will give her the protection from the hyenas and lions.

Whilst we were at this particular sighting, she spotted a scrub hare in the tall grass. Instinctively she started to stalk and with in seconds gave chase at the fleeting hare and just missed.

At only 5 months old she is already showing all the signs of becoming a perfect leopardess. All we can do now is hope that she will have better luck than her brother.

Kings Camps Macunjani is all power this month as he defeated a new male leopard with ease. Macunjani had a stand off with a younger male leopard in the western sector and it took very little from Macunjani to blow the intruder away.

He was seen on a few occasions close to the camp patrolling the western sector. He also stole a large impala carcass from the young Ntombi leopardess. Feeding lasted three days and we were fortunate to witness a stand off with him and two adult hyenas. The hyenas were initially eager to take him on but hesitated once they saw the size of this leopard standing up displaying pure hatred to the enemy. His mere presence makes it clear to them that he means business. They backed off and only fed on the left overs of the carcass.

Elephants

A one-day-old elephants calf was sighted at Kings Camp during an afternoon drive.
We were lucky to be the first to obtain a visual of a day old Elephant calf.
Definitely the youngest I have seen in my career as a guide.

The youngster was protected at all times and we were lucky enough to get a great visual for several minutes. The herd was approximately 40 strong and was accompanied by 2 large bulls. The calf was still wobbly on its feet and did not know just how its trunk was supposed to work.

White Rhino

The most relaxed white rhino bull on this planet lives round Kings Camp. Mtenge-mtenge as we call him is spending time in the southeast part of his territory. We have seen him several times with a crash of semi-relaxed rhino. This association only appears to be temporarily as he was found back on his own turf a few days later.

He spends most of his time on his own. This is due to the common notion that territorial males move great distances in order to patrol their territory. Any females and their young are considered to be excess baggage and will slow him down.

Sometimes I think the solitude gets to him and his has the habitat to move with the large herds of buffalo that frequent our area. These large herds number anything from 300-900 at times but the average tends to be 500 buffalo in a herd.

There is a good chance that most guests get to see the large herds of buffalo during the dry winter months. Most guests are blown away by the enormity of these colossal herds. Especially when they came to drink during the late afternoon at one of the waterholes.

This is all for this month friends.

Be sure to visit the King Camp weblog to find our out the most recent news on your favourite lion prides or leopards.

Till next month.

Report by Patrick O’Brien Head Guide King Camp

Photography: Patrick O’Brien.