WILDLIFE REPORT

General

The winter is finally drawing to an end as most of the bushveld trees have shed their tawny tri-coloured leaves. This means that the bush is not as dense as it is during the summer months. Game viewing is therefore still excellent especially if one is a keen photographer. The number of leopard, lion, elephant and buffalo sightings were high during the month.

Our resident leopards produced brilliant sightings and again the Mbali leopardess and her cub had to be the stars of the month. We got to see her a total of 12 times during August with several kills. The cub is super relaxed with the vehicles, which in turn creates great sightings.

Kings camp resident leopardess, the Rockfig leopardess and her cub were seen several times. The ever-present Macunjani is still patrolling and controlling both the north and southern sectors.

The infamous Shobele pride was found on numerous occasions moving closer to the lodge during hunts. The pride seems to have extended their range during the last few months. This is of course great, as we have found the lions many times very close to the lodge during the evening and morning game drives.

On a different note, my tracker and I found two dead elephants during a game drive.

The cause of death appears to be age related. We reported the carcass to the head warden of Timbavati and body of the elephant was left to take its natural path.

It took two days for the first vultures to arrive and another two days before the first hyeana made an appearance. I was a bit disappointed at the slow response of the apex predators. In fact a pride of lions passed the carcass, investigated but left without eating from it. Strange though, as most lions would feed at least once from the carcass even though it might be two days old. Nevertheless a few hundred vultures descended on the elephant carcases and fed for several days. We had great sighting of vultures fighting over the carcass.

Speaking of lions...

Our shobele pride was seen on a handful times very close to the camp. I find the idea of lions close to the camp exhilarating as it is merely a reminder that we are truly living in a wilderness area and not a glorified zoo or park. The pride is getting stronger day by day; as the 3 young male lions in the pride are showing great aptitude in their hunting skills. This is an important time in their life as they learn and develop skill, patience and how they fit into the dynamics of their own pride in the future.

Towards the end of August, the pride went for a good five days without making a kill until the odds changed and the pride found the second elephant carcass in the Machattan River. But this time they were forced to feed off the dead animal. Starvation is a stern motivator. I think this time they had no choice in the matter and feeding lasted several days before they left the carcass. This gave the vultures the opportunity to claim their share. The advantage from feeding on such a large animal for a long period is great for the pride. No energy is wasted and it gives them time to reload on the high-energy source.

New male lion coalition!

The new 3 young males known as the Timbavati males are making a firm stand as the new dominate males of the Kings area. If they manage to force the Shobele male out of his territory, they would still have to face the powerful southern boundary males. For now, the Timbavati males have carefully selected an area that has become neutral during the last two years. It is a medium sized area if one compares it to the other dominant males territories. For about a year now they have been seen associating with the Machaton pride. This is a good stepping plate for them as they could potentially expand their range.

Leopards

This month Mbali and her cub produced several splendid sightings. This stunning and relaxed mother occupies the northern section of our traversing. The dense Mopane woodland provides adequate protection for the cub and this is also the home where Mbali was raised as a cub. The cub is now 10 months old and is getting stronger and bigger everyday. This is Mbali’s first cub that she has successfully raised as a dominant resident female leopard. We all hope that the cub will survive pass its first year. It is therefore a tense moment for me, as I know she has a very unfortunate history in raising cubs and we would all love her to be successful this time. I captured this stunning image of mom and daughter during sunset on one of my drives.

This is all for this month folks. For daily updates please ensure you became a member of the Kings Weblog for updates click here.

Till next month.

Report by Patrick O’Brien Head Guide King Camp

Photography: Patrick O’Brien.