WILDLIFE REPORT

General

Welcome back to all our readers! Spring time was here and it is also gone

again. We’ve been experiencing some intense summer heat and it almost

feels wrong being out there and not seeing any green vegetation yet. The

rains have not arrived yet, but hopefully it will not take too long to reach us.

Lion:

The Machaton pride spent a lot of time around Kings Camp during this

month. They killed well and were seen feeding on Buffalo twice. The two

cubs are also holding up nicely and experienced a tough week when they

were left alone close to the camp for nearly 7 days! Their mother left them

behind to join the pride and the “Timbavati boys” for a long distance hunt.

Reports came in of sightings of the adults over 10 km away from the

youngsters. Quite amazing to witness the ability of the youngsters to survive

without food and milk for such a long time! She has collected them in the

meanwhile and they were rewarded with a good drink!

 

The Schobele’s spent most of the month separated from each other. We had

frequent sightings of 3 of the 4 sub-adults around the Makulu dam area.

This grouping, consisting of two brothers and one female cousin, keeps

themselves alive by hunting mostly impalas and bushbuck and for the three

of them it is quite rewarding as there are not many mouths to feed. The

adult female and the third brother were seen a few times up in the extreme

Northern parts of our traversing and it seems like the female is in estrus

and being courted by one of the Mahlatini males. We’’l keep you updated on

the happenings…

Leopard:

Leopard sightings were phenomenal with M’bali, Ntombi and Rockfig Jr.

being the stars of the month…

The paths between M’bali and her daughter Kuhanya have now finally

parted and each are now concentrating on their own needs to survive in the

Timbavati wild. M’bali is looking fit and sharp as ever and she was seen on a

few kills during the month. Because of her smaller size she doesn’t pull her

kills up into trees very often.  Therefore she looses it quite often to Hyenas

on the second or third day of feeding. This does not stop her and one would

often find her on another kill the very next day!

 

Ntombi has been spending more days around the Eastern side of her

territory in the past month which has produced plenty sightings of her. She

still loves to hunt the smaller things like steenbuck and grey duiker and was

seen on kills often throughout the month.

Rockfig Jr. is spending a lot of time in the area she grew up in… much

further North than her normal territory. Two months ago we thought she

had cubs hidden away somewhere but it was false alarm! This month we

saw her much more frequently than normal because of her presence in the

North and following her closely led us to believe she is pregnant. Maybe she

is looking for a suitable den close to where she was born.

We will keep you updated in the coming month or two on the happenings…

Elephant and Cape buffalo:

Sightings of both species were plentiful! Especially the Cape Buffaloes…

 

The only route traveled throughout the month was between three dams on

our traversing. Machaton dam in the South-east, Makulu dam (Central) and

Mbali dam in the North. This large herd (about 900) gets a lot of attention

usually from the Timbavati boys / Machaton pride in the South and the

Mahlatini males from the North.

White Rhino:

Great sightings in our Southern traversing!

Crashes of up to 7 seen from time to time. The most frequent sightings were

from Mtenge-tenge, the Nhlangula male and a group of 4 that frequent the

South Eastern parts.

Two specials this moth!

1.      Hippo out of the water in good daylight.

 

2.    The Spotted Hyena den was moved to a new location by the adult

members of the clan. We are not sure what the reason was (maybe fleas!),

but they seem well settled and welcoming at their new home!

Take care & see YOU soon!!

Morné and the Kings Camp ranger team.

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