The leopard sightings have been fantastic during the past two weeks. The Tasselberry female killed a male reedbuck close to the camp.
She unfortunately lost the carcass to three spotted hyenas; she lay on the rocks while the hyena’s finished the carcass. We found her at Georges Dam later in the day.
Hlangisa has been seen on a regular basis. We had a great sighting of her on a termite mound.
The Day One male has been quite scarce later. We found him in the Mabrak river system.
Shangwa and her male cub were seen on the northern side of the Sand river. She had an impala kill. We don’t see much of these two as their territory is generally to the east of us.
The Kashane male has been very active lately. We had a great sighting of him close to the railway line. He showed an interest in a herd of male buffalo.
Hlabankunzi killed a large male impala; here she is lying up in a tree.
Metsi was seen close to the firebreak with a steenbok kill. She was lying up on a termite mound close to the pack of wild dogs. The two species narrowly missed each other.
Xikavi has been located on both sides of the sand river; here she was eyeing some Nyala.
One of Metsi’s young male leopards was found at night with a kill in the tree.
Numerous herds of elephants are in the area. We had a special sighting on the Sand River of approximately 80 elephants.
At Dam Five an elephant cow showed her displeasure towards a bull. Three rhinos kept their distance until the elephants moved off.
A young bull elephant was browsing on the island at Dam Three.
The female with the broken and her 4 month old calf on tries to get the cow to start moving.
The Ximungwe pride has been covering a lot of ground lately. The cubs are all doing well. We had a great sighting on Green Pan road with the cubs being really active.
The old female with the two male cubs killed a young buffalo. She was joined by the three Mapago males who finished the carcass quickly.
The males were left lying up on the dam wall at Windmill Pan.
While on a coffee break on the northern side of the river we heard impala alarm calling. We quickly went to investigate and found a dead impala, close by a shy leopard was lying in the tall grass. The sounds travel far in the African bush. The old lioness from the Ximungwe pride came storming through the river and stole the carcass from the leopard.
On an occasion two hooded vultures followed the Mapogo’s, obliviously looking for a free meal.
The small herd of male buffalo are seen on a daily basis close to the camp. The herd lies huddle together at sunrise.
The males need to drink on a daily basis, they use Georges dam for this. The males, often lie in the water to sooth their skin from the heat and parasites.
The pack of wild dogs are back to their nomadic lifestyle, with four of the eight puppies still alive. The mortality rate is high, with the most successful of the predators. The dogs enjoy playing with each other. This hones their hunting skills.
A breeding pair of secretary birds, have been seen regularly during the past two weeks. This particular sighting was on the southern end of the airstrip.
We had a great sighting of a hippo bull at Schotia Dam. The male often launches itself out of the water using huge yawns to keep all species away.
A mother and calf at Cutline Dam, enjoying the late afternoon sun.
The Hyena sightings are on the increase, with regular sightings close to the camp.
The general game sightings are always good.
