WILDLIFE REPORT

General:

In general we had a busy month…

 The bush is still lush and green, which makes game viewing a little more difficult, but with very good and gifted trackers we had some amazing sightings!

General game sightings were good with herds of up to 30 Zebra’s, lots of Giraffe, Kudu, Wildebeest and Waterbuck. We also had very large flocks of Red-billed queleas nesting to the east of our traversing. This was the first time in eight years that I witnessed thousands and thousands of birds nesting in the same area!

Leopard:

Once again a very busy month! Mangajan, our dominant male, was seen on kills quite frequently this month. His prey included Impala, young Waterbuck, Steenbuck and Warthogs…

At one stage in late February he spent 2 days close to a termite mound that was occupied by a female hog and her larger piglets. Patience finally paid off! As the family rushed out to evacuate their “trap” he simply charged one of the piglets down. The mother hog tried in vain to fight and chase him off but he kept his cool and grip to successfully kill the large piglet.  Click on the following link to view photographs taken by guest John Walker.                        

(http://www.kingscamp.com/blog/index.php?itemid=185 )

 

The little gem, Ntombi, spent some time around Kings Camp again and even came in for a surprise visit again!

She was seen on 2 kills around the camp, the most amazing surely must have been when she strolled right through the camp at 19h10 the one evening. I was still on drive so witnessed it all in the camp from the waterhole side. She passed the viewing deck between the swimming pool and the bar towards room 5. There she sat on the porch, sniffed, jumped the fence and climbed straight up into a Boer bean tree next to us to feed on a young Bushbuck carcass!

Kuhanya and Nkateko entertained us in special ways this month. Both these youngsters are almost independent at 18 and 16 months and they show lots of interest in a variety of potential prey. They stalk and chase anything that moves! Incl. Elephants and Buffaloes!

 

On one morning drive Kuhanya showed keen interest in a large African rock python in the long grass! She looked, hissed, snarled, stalked, growled and pounced at it but being very large and quite aggressive the snake overpowered her learning mind and moved away unharmed.

Nkateko on the other hand was very keen on stalking and chasing her mother, Squirrels, Mongooses, Steenbuck and Hornbills. Following her on one drive she paused at a Marula tree to look at some noisy Hornbills. She was up in the tree in a flash and chased them from one branch to the next while her mother patiently waited under the tree in the shade. No kill was made and they both moved off.

We’ll keep you informed on their progress.                           

Lion:

Good news! The young Machaton Lioness gave birth at the end of the month! At this stage we are not sure of how many cubs there are but we will keep you updated as soon as we know more ourselves.

The Machaton pride and Timbavati boys spent some quality time on traversing and we saw them on Wildebeest kills twice in the month.

The Schobele pride went through a spell of hardship again due to the fact that new males are moving in from the North. They are associating with the females but don’t allow the three young boys to hang around in their presence. As soon as the big males move in the youngsters, including the 2 girls, flee for their lives and run into all directions. This sometimes makes it difficult to find them as they literally run all over the show… Good news though is that for the last few weeks the seven Lions were seen together with no sign of the new males.

Elephant and Cape buffalo:

The Ellies are back after a “dry” spell! Various herds move through the traversing on a daily basis and even drink water while YOU have lunch!!!

 

 There was no scarcity of Buffaloes. Three large herds were seen frequently through the month.

White Rhino:

There are now three different males in our traversing! The two further to the west meet up with each other a lot and cause for some interesting interactions.
 Mtenge-tenge however gets seen on a more regular basis and he was seen very often in the month visiting his wallows for some beauty treatment!

Take care & see YOU soon!!

Kind regards, Morné and the Kings Camp ranger team.

Written by: Morné Hamlyn.

Photography by: Morné Hamlyn. (mbhandzu@gmail.com )