WILDLIFE REPORT

General

Summer is here and we had a fabulous start with some welcome rain!! The rivers were flowing for 24hrs and the vegetation turned lush in just 10 days! Our sightings were brilliant and I am happy to share the experiences we had in the last month with you right now!

 

The young Hyenas are rapidly growing and with their never ending hunger the adult females cover vast distances to get food for them. The matriarch stole an impala carcass from the Rockfig Leopardess one morning and made off to the den with it. I travelled the blocks around to the den only to discover that she was already there! She dragged it over about 4 kilometers! They have such amazing stamina and unreal power…

Leopard

I bring some updates on the growing cubs!

We are extremely excited about the M’bali females’ cub, M’bali Jr. She reached 14 months now and it is the longest that any of her cubs have survived to!! The youngster is very confident and alert and this might help her through the next 4-6 months before the mother chases her off. The two of them did well this month and we saw them on kills very often!

 

 

The Rockfig female and her cub are doing equally well!

They have spent a lot of their time in the Kings Camp area and we had very frequent sightings of them. The mother made lots of Impala kills through the month and we got lots of interaction between them and the local Hyena clan!

The cub is now about 9 months old and keeps surprising us on her ability to maneuver carcasses up in the trees. She still drops them out a lot and there is a lot to learn, but she is already very strong and this is a good sign for the future!

All the other residents were seen frequently and they always mesmerize guests with their beauty. Watch this space, the Rockfig Jr. female might have a surprise hidden somewhere in the thickets but we are not too sure yet. We’ll keep you updated!

Lion

The Schobele pride managed to make quite a few sustainable kills this month including Waterbuck and Kudu and the sub-adults are growing up fast. The Schobele male hasn’t been seen in the last part of the month and I am not sure what to expect here. We will keep you posted on the blog as to his whereabouts if someone finds him soon.

Males from the Voëldam pride moved into Schobele grounds and they violently chased the pride around! One of the sub-adult males got separated and hasn’t been able to re-join the pride yet… We’ll keep you posted.

The Timbavati boys are spending most of their time with the Machaton pride and we saw them on various Buffalo kills over the month. One kill was right outside camp gates! The youngest of the three Lionesses is in estrus again and the more dominant male is busy with some important courtship behavior.

 

A foreign pride made their way in on Jaydee and killed a Buffalo close to the airstrip. We counted 13 Lions but we think there are more of them! They are a bit nervous with the initial approach of vehicles but settle quickly. Let’s hope they come in for more visits and for them to relax with our presence.

Elephant and Cape buffalo

All of the larger animals seem to be very happy with the arrival of the wet season! The Elephants visit the dams in full force, trying to move the smaller creatures away and then the Cape Buffaloes and our resident White Rhino bull carry on as good neighbors should!

 

White Rhino

Sightings picked up and we saw Rhino’s more frequent than ever before. Our dominant bull has his work cut out for him! There is a young intruder and this keeps Mtenge-tenge occupied most of the time. Other Rhino’s seen include a 3rd male in the Klaserie reserve and two separate females each with a calf.

 

Special sightings

A pack of 18 Wild Dogs visited us over a 7 day period. Hopefully this is not the last! The pack has 10 young puppies and we hope they will come and say hi again…

One sighting stands out. We found the dogs running down the road and I recall seeing 3 male Impalas little earlier…

We turned to follow the dogs and with luck on our side they picked up on the Impalas running away from their presence. I personally thought that at about 100 meters the Impalas had way better advantage of running away but I was wrong! The dogs had a sudden burst of speed and ran one of the rams down in the riverbed below us! It was unforgettable to see the determination of the dogs. The speed and stamina they work with was mind blowing. The adults immediately made way for the puppies to settle for a feed.

Until next time!

Kind regards, Morné and the Kings Camp ranger team.

Written by: Morné Hamlyn.
Photography by: Morné Hamlyn.