Rangers Report April 2015

by | May 14, 2015 | Rangers Reports | 2 comments

The month of April was action packed with intense moments and full of surprises. Finally the time has arrived for the males of the different antelope species to battle it out for supremacy and hierarchy. The impala males were the first ones to announce that love is in the air, as they were snorting and grunting, followed by the familiar clash of horns. The kudu and waterbuck males showed us that size does matter and you do not always have to fight for the ladies. We also had two nyala males that did a lateral display, complete with raised hair on their backs and fluffed up tails. I must say that we had some very exciting sightings with all these males, battling it out for mating rights. We had some really great sightings of both the Half-tail and Investec wild dog packs. We also had a great time around the hyena den, with the pups getting bigger and bigger by the day. The hyenas are making life difficult for the leopards and lions around our area, because they are stealing kills wherever they go. We changed over to our winter game drive times during the last week of April. With the sun rising a bit later and setting a bit earlier, we changed our times with 30 minutes in order to keep a good balance with the first and last bits of daylight. The blankets made their way back onto the game drive vehicles and within the next few weeks we will also add the hot water bottles for extra comfort. The average maximum temperature for this month was 27°C and we had 23 millimetres of rain.

Hippo by Jonathan Vogel

Hippo by Jonathan Vogel

Leopard

This month delivered some impressive leopard sightings. It is confirmed that Salayexe is definitely pregnant. We noticed that her milk glands are swollen and her belly is starting to hang. She is far pregnant and by the looks of things Tingana is the father, as she mated with him during the middle of January. Leopard females are pregnant for a period of between 15-16 weeks. If our calculations are accurate, she should give birth during the first week of May. We are all very excited and can’t wait any longer! We are keeping our fingers crossed that she will have more success in raising these cubs to independence. Nsele, Salayexe’s daughter, and her two cubs are looking great. The cubs are eventually at that stage where they no longer run away when they see the vehicles. They are beautiful cubs and it is great to see that Nsele have managed to raise them this far. Kurula was seen once this month and what a pleasant surprise it was to see that she has got suckle marks. It will be interesting to know where her new den site is. At the previous den site she lost her cub, so I guess she will not use the same one again. We will have to wait and see. Shadow and her cub are also looking great and the cub is now finally relaxed with the vehicles. The two of them gave us some great sightings, while running up and down trees or playing hide and seek. We started viewing the little cub at night with the spotlight, but only one spotlight is allowed to be on. He is very relaxed with the spotlight. In fact, he’s always trying to catch the moths that fly towards the light. Moya was also moving around in the area, following the scent of an unknown female leopard. Female leopards will sometimes leave their territory to look for a male leopard, if there are no males available in her area. After mating is finished, she will return to her area. Kwatile and her cub are also doing great and at this stage the cub is spending more and more time away from mom, as she explores around. Kwatile and Mvula were also seen mating this month. Bahuti, the young male, is still moving around in Mvula’s territory and he is growing into a spectacular, very healthy male. Quarantine, the young male, is also looking good and he is getting nice and big – even bigger than his twin brother, Nkunyuma. Mvula is still in the prime of his life and still in good shape. He is very active in his area and he hasn’t had any challengers yet. Anderson is moving far into Tingana’s territory and these two heavyweights have met up again this month. Once again there was no fighting between them, just a lot of growling and running next to each other. It looks like it doesn’t matter what Tingana has to say about Anderson moving into his territory, as Anderson definitely has his sights set on Tingana’s territory.

Lions

Hyena pup by Louis Liversage

Hyena pup by Louis Liversage

The most exciting part of all the lion sightings this month, was the new beginning for the two young Styx females. The one young Styx female had her very first litter of cubs. This was headlines in the bush and we are overwhelmed with joy and happiness for this first time mother. So far, she is doing very well in raising the cubs, without the help of her mother or aunt. She has moved the cubs three or four times since their birth. It seems that she does not want any unwanted attention, which is great. The two Matimba males were often seen with the two Styx females, very close to the den site. If the Matimba males stay with the Styx females, on and off, for the first year and a half, things can work out for the Styx ladies. It will be interesting to see when the other Styx female will give birth, as she is also far pregnant. Every time we see the Tsalala pride they are looking healthy and very well fed. These females are very good hunters and the little cubs are growing fast. We saw the Tsalala pride a few times more this month than last month. After the run-in with the Breakaway pride last month, we have not seen the Tsalala pride close to our lodge again. When they move through the area, they move around the southern part of our traversing area. We also had some great sightings of the Nkuhuma pride that moved into our area and had a kudu kill to feast on. The Breakaway pride had a real up and down rollercoaster time this month. The one evening they followed a big herd of buffaloes on one of the airstrips. What a sighting! One of the Breakaway females is definitely coming into oestrus, as she was scent marking and calling for the Majingi males. That evening the males responded, but it was not the Majingi males but the Matimba males. The next morning we had small groups of lions scattered over our area. All the members were accounted for except for one, the adult lioness who was calling for the males the night before. We found five youngsters close to our lodge, all shaken up after being chased by the big unfamiliar male lions. Just when we thought it can’t get any worse, the five youngsters had a run-in with the resident hyena clan. The clan soon saw that they had the upper hand and launched their attack. The young lions all ran up a marula tree to get away from the sharp teeth of the hyenas. That afternoon we found the missing female, she was mating with the Matimba male. The big male followed her and tried to keep up, but soon realized it is no use as she moved back into Majingi male territory. We also had the Majingi males feasting on a buffalo for three days and in the early hours of day four we heard them calling to say goodbye.

Buffaloes

Anderson the male leopard by Louis Liversage

Anderson the male leopard by Louis Liversage

We were once again very fortunate to have one of the big breeding herds of buffaloes moving through the area. With the lack of rain, food is getting scarcer for these bulk grazers, moving together in a big herd. We had a great sighting of them the one late afternoon. The Breakaway pride was resting, when suddenly the one adult lioness lifted her head and looked south. She heard the buffaloes moving towards them and she rounded up the troops and moved towards them. The big herd could smell the lions, but they did not know where they were. The buffaloes quickly regrouped and made their way to the big open airstrip, for safety as light already faded. It was great to see them regroup after a few of the members smelled the lions. True teamwork!

Elephants

Male wild dog by Dawie Jacobs

Male wild dog by Dawie Jacobs

This month we did not have loads of herds moving through our area, but the herds that moved through made it worthwhile. We also didn’t see a lot of tiny babies this month but we did see a few in the terrible two stage. We also saw an old female with really impressive tusks that moved through the area. It is always nice to see an elephant with a pair of impressive tusks and to see a female with big tusks is a big bonus. The majority of the herds have moved towards the areas where it rained a lot this year. The big bulls were really scarce as we saw just two big males moving around. The one bull had an impressive body but no big tusks. He also had about five young males that moved around with him. It does not bother the old male when the youngsters tag along with him, the only time he minds is when the youngsters invade his tree where he is feeding.

Special sighting

We had an amazing sighting with lions and hyenas which truly took first prize! The five young Breakaway pride members were minding their own business when the hyenas came running in. The poor sub-adults immediately new that they were outnumbered and the hyenas knew they had the upper hand. After the lions went up the tree, the unimaginable happened. The one young male fell out of the tree and landed right in the middle of the twelve hyenas. Before warning the hyenas attacked and the young male did not hold back. He took on the angry hyenas, grabbing one by the head and then another in quick succession. After a good ten minutes or so, the hyenas suddenly turned and ran south. This gave the young male enough time to get up the tree again. A few of the hyenas walked away with a few cuts and bruises, but the young fighter just had a bloody nose and a few scars on his tail.

Did you know?

A marabou stork is the only stork that eats rotten meat. These birds can often be seen around carcasses with vultures.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s report. See you out on game drive soon!

Morné Fouché

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