http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/ The Leopard Hills Weblog contains ranger reports, stories, photos & videos describing the experience at our 5 Star Luxury Lodge in the Sabi Sands Private Reserve, bordering the Kruger National Park. en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 � Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.leopardhills.com/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/ http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=329
Well done Shane, really very proud of you, but to us you are "Chef of the Month" every month.

http://www.hospitalityjobsafrica.co.za/chef_of_the_month__shane_johnson_of_leopard_hill_lodge.html]]> General http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=329 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:44:45 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=328 The waterhole in front of the lodge has been teaming with wildlife, with daily sightings of Waterbuck, Kudu, Baboon and of course the ever present Impala. We had the Ximungwe pride of Lions We have periodic sightings around the lodge of Hlaba Inkunzi, the female leopard every 2 days or so. around the waterhole for 2 days or so, with Elephant and Rhino every now and then.


Weather

The weather over the past month as been unpredictable with perfectly blue skies at lunch time and rain 1 hour later. The mercury has been hovering around the 40 degrees mark, with at least 3 days entering the 50’s and an incredibly hot day of 52 degrees Celsius real feel. This crazy heat along with sporadic rainfall has made it very humid and thick to breathe the air, but at least the wildlife and flora around us gets a break from the heat of the day!


Game drive Sightings

Lion

Ximungwe Pride

We have, in the last few months talked about the young female cub that has been dubbed “Super Cub”, and have expressed our worry of her survival within the pride as young as she is. All seems to be going very well and she is bouncy and very healthy. The good news for her is that she may be joined by some younger friends within the next 2 months or so, as one of the other Ximungwe females has given birth in a drainage-line (river system) to the east of the lodge. At this point only one cub has been confirmed and this is due to the fact that we are giving the new borns a bit of space until they are a little older. Over the last few weeks the adults have been seen with a number of kills, the last of which was a Wildebeest to the east of the lodge.




Ottawa Pride

Not much has been seen of this pride lately as they have been hanging around to the far north of the lodge, but 4 sightings during the month have allowed us to view the 4 cubs in really good condition and very playful with plenty of energy and some comical sightings.

Leopard

Hlaba Inkunzi has been in and around the lodge every 2 days or so. She gave us a bit of excitement the other day when she gave a handful of the guests an incredible opportunity of watching her stalking and catching a young female Impala while eating their lunch on the deck. This had the guests forgetting about their midday snack and all peering through binoculars at the spectacle not more than 100m away! No new news regarding her cubs, but it seems like they are still in the vicinity of the lodge and will keep all of you posted regarding their whereabouts.



You can go to this link ( http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?blogid=1&page=2 ) to see images of Hlaba Inkunzi in camp.

The Metsi Female has been seen mating with the dominant Teguaan Male to the north of the camp, providing our guests with rare sightings with much snarling and flying fur. These mating bouts usually last for 5-6 days, while these two were still seen mating 7 days later. Hopefully, with a bit of luck and much anticipation we will be greeting another generation of Leopard cubs within the next 3 months to the western sector of the Sabi Sands.

Mambiri and her year old cub have been seen on a regular bases, with the cub up to her usual antics, being more adventurous and being left on her own for longer periods as mom goes out hunting, has been giving the guests great photographic opportunities as she starts to explore and learn how to be a Leopard has left us with some very comical sightings.

The Teguaan male as mentioned above has been seen mating with the Metsi Female in the 2 weeks. Otherwise he has been up to his usual Houdini disappearing act as he traverses an incredibly large territory.




Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo

A large herd of Elephant (70 +) has been seen periodically to the north around the Sand River, although the usual smaller breeding herds of 6-20 animals are more commonly seen as the bush is still lush and there is plenty of water around, so large numbers of small herds are seen on a daily bases. The Larger bulls have been seen regularly, either in small bachelor groups of 2-4 young bulls, with a large bull as their mentor or large loner bulls that tend to have a little bit of a headache from time to time.




Rhino have been a regular sightings on the game drives, mainly to the south of leopardhills Lodge with groups of anything between 2-6 animals.

There has been regular movement in the south of a large herd of buffalo, numbering in the upper 300’s during the last 3 months. Every now and then we have been lucky enough to have witnessed the birthing of some of the calfs in the herd, which inevitably spring the larger carnivores in to action, with lion and Hyena sightings being quite a regular occurrence. Otherwise there have been great sightings of small groups of Dagga-boys(older bulls) in and around the Sand River to the north and the open flats to the south

Cheetah

Only lately have there been 2 consecutive sightings of the old male Cheetah with the drooping bottom lip around Savannah Camp to the south. He has been keeping away from the open plains and has situated himself in thicker, scrub type bush, making it harder for all the guides to locate him.




Wilddogs

The Wilddogs have been giving us some brilliant sightings, with Raymond being lucky enough to witness the pack of 6 hunting and catching a young female Impala 2 days ago. They have been extremely mobile, moving up to 30 km in a 12 hour period, and making it very interesting trying to find them again. Even so, we have been seeing them at least 3-4 days out of every 7.




Unusual Sightings

In the beginning of the month my guests and I were fortunate enough to have found the Ximungwe Pride, with the “Super” cub and one of the Mapogo Males on a freshly killed Wildebeest. The young “Super” cub had settled down to suckle with mom, while the large male was content on chewing on some Wildebeest prime rib. We had hardly been there 5 minutes, when we had suddenly heard a high pitched squealing coming from our direct north and only 100m away. My first thought was that a Leopard had taken something, either a Steenbok or a Duiker. My second thought, and to my surprise was that the lions didn’t react to the commotion barely out of their line of sight, not even a glance in that direction ( lions will and do scavenge off of other predators and are usually drawn towards an animal’s distress calls ). Before my guests could ask what was going on, I had high-tailed my land Rover toward the still high-pitched squeal. It had taken us a minute or so to find what it was that was still in obvious distress, due to its constant calling. Eventually hidden under a bush Ronald my tracker had picked up some movement. When we investigated, we found a young Duiker in the clutches of a 2m African Rock Python. The Python was struggling to get to grips with the Duiker and had only enough body length to rap itself around the lower half of the animal (as a constrictor, Pythons do not crush their prey as is often believed, but rather asphyxiate there prey). The python being to small, eventually let go of the still bleating Duiker and moved a short distance. The Duiker had trouble getting up, I think due to the fact that its circulation had been cut off for a while, its legs didn’t quite get going immediately., but after about 2 minutes of struggling the little one ran off with no apparent harm done.




Raymond, a guide that has been with leopardhills since the very beginning, had a sighting at Nkombi Dam to the north( Nkombi is the Zulu and Shangaan name for White rhino) of a single Hyena chasing a small herd of Impala into the water. Hyena are quite at home in the water and will often use this as a tactic when hunting. Impala on the other hand are not the greatest of breast-strokers in the wild, and tend to get taken by Crocodile or Hippo every now and then. For the Hyena this tactic worked out perfectly and he was able to have a wholesome impala fillet for breakfast.


Total sightings/No. Of animals

Lion 27 / 92
Leopard 32 / 33
Elephant 18 / 400+/-
Buffalo 9 / 800+/-
White Rhino 13 / 33
Cheetah 2 / 2
Wilddogs 7 / 46


Until next time, keep safe and hope to see or hear from all of you in the not to distant future.

]]> General http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=328 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:44:13 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=327
An old elephant matriarch stop in the middle of the road and with out any warning picked up a trunk full of corse African soil and blow it over her weathered skin.



The Saddle-Billed stork, critically endangered in the Greater Kruger National Park, with only an estimated number of 250 breeding pairs left.



A female lioness stares with intend at her prey, a herd of wildebeest, before starting to stalk.



In the late afternoon sun a Rock Monitor warms its cold blooded skin against the rough bark of a Marula Tree.



"White Gold" the tusk of an old elephant bull glow against the African sun.



A Hooded Vulture coming in for the kill.



A female leopard descends down a tree moving into the night in search of prey.











]]> General http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=327 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:15:33 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=326 Duncan, I was looking forward to meeting you while I visited, but alas you were on leave. If there is one thing that really stands out for me looking back on my visit, it’s the warm, friendly and efficient service from the entire Leopard Hills team. I can only assume that this is not a coincidence by means of selective employment alone, but also from a sense of pride and service excellence passed down from management, which has been embraced by the whole Leopard Hills team.
Please excuse me if I ramble on, but I simply cannot say enough about Leopard Hills. The words needed to sincerely express how honoured and privileged I feel to have been at Leopard Hills, simply elude me.
My trip started with a sighting of a Lioness with accompanying male, lying under a tree retreating from the sun. To get so close to these animals was very special indeed, and the way in which they lazed around, almost motionless through means of complete contentment, set the scene for the duration of my stay.



I have followed the blog for quite some time. When Makwela ruled the koppie (rocky outcrop) of Leopard Hills, I dearly wished to see her one day. Sadly that era has passed, but nonetheless, within a few minutes of seeing the Lions, Gary bumped into Hlaba Nkunzi. We followed her a few meters off the road, where she jumped into a tree in true Leopard fashion, then casually collapsed over a branch to peruse her territory. When she climbed down, Gary drove us ahead of her, in order to place the sun behind us and take pictures while she walked towards us. What happened next will stay with me forever. She walked casually towards us from around 50 meters away, and never slowed down until she was a mere few meters from us, where she glanced up briefly, before lowering her head and calmly proceeded to walk directly under the vehicle!! It was after that magical, and close encounter with her that I turned to Gary and said, “Heaven on Earth is not a statement, it is a place in Sabi Sands called Leopard Hills.”.... and that is what I will always know Leopard Hills as. It is truly Heaven on Earth. These pictures were taken during that experience.







Wild Dog and Leopard are by far my favourite of the predators, but the sightings we had of Cheetah and “Super Cub” were magnificent. Then the really special sightings like Saddle Billed Storks, a LBR eating a grass hopper, a Golden Orb injecting a butterfly with venom, a very close encounter with Elephants and Rhino, and Hippo mating to name but a few. I could carry on for days writing, but let it be known that Leopard Hills will forever remain the location of my fondest wildlife memories, and having a mother working in African nature conservation for almost 20 years, I can assure you that I have spent my fair share of time in the bush. I have so many pictures from my time at Leopard Hills, and following are a few of them.











My last drive was with Marius and AB. We headed towards the lodge pan, and drove down into the river looking for Hlaba Nkunzi who had been spotted from the lodge deck earlier making an Impala kill, before dragging it into the river. Some excellent direction from AB, and some really great driving by Marius placed us on the lip of the river drop, and right next to Hlaba Nkunzi while she lay next to her kill, recovering from the experience. Knowing it was my last drive, and after having captured some decent images of her earlier thanks to Gary’s great instincts and predictions, I chose to take just one picture, place the camera down and simply indulge in the sighting, which encapsulates the circle of life in nature.

For those of you who are following the blog, and yet to visit Leopard Hills, I will inform you upfront that your expectations of wildlife viewing will almost certainly be exceeded. This photo, taken from Gary’s vehicle, clearly shows how close Marius and his guests are to the spectacular animals that roam freely in the reserve.





Leopard Hills is a magical experience and one that will stay with you forever. The knowledge, and constant information flow from both Gary and Marius on not only the large animals, but the small little bugs and critters, will enrich your experience of the African bush, and certainly expose the fact that all the animals and small wonders to view, do not aimlessly wander through the bush, but each have a unique and definite purpose, as well as means of survival. Knowing all these little intricacies make the experience even more powerful and endearing.

I will not mention any names in particular, for fear of forgetting a few, so to the entire compliment of Leopard Hills staff, “Inkomo shinene” (Thank you)

Kind Regards

Andrew Cairncross
]]> Game Drives http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=326 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:39:33 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=325
The little cub which I named "super" cub is growing stronger and faster every day.



Unlike other lion cubs of her age she started to move with the pride covering massive distances at the age of 2 months. Normally females will have cubs of her age hidden in den sites and at approximately 3 months introduce them to the pride. Adult lionesses will normally not spend the time and energy in raising a single cub, but "super" cub almost insisted in being part of the pride.



This morning my guests and I had the most splendid sighting of the little cub. The Ximungwe pride and the cub were feeding on a wildebeest that they caught 2 nights ago. The 2 females was feeding while the big male was lying nearby resting and trying to digest the food in its massive stomach. "Super" cub was running around chasing the tails of the 2 females, jumping on top of the male (which was extremely relaxed) and killing the now very dead wildebeest over and over.



We left after half an hour all amazed at the antics of this little lion cub surviving against all odds. We will keep you updated on the progress of "super" cub in the months to come.]]> General http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=325 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:54:47 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=324


It was a sweltering day in the harsh African sun, but the teams brought their game faces and a tough game of soccer was played.



Despite the heat, both teams each managed to score a goal and even a red card was issued.







Thanks to everyone for a fantastic day!]]> General http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=324 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:55:31 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=323 Congratulations to a beautiful couple that celebrated their nuptials on Saturday the 6th of February at Leopard Hills.

Christine was stunning in her designer gown and the groom was clearly smitten.

From all at Leopard Hills we wish you both many years of love and happiness and many more safaris in your future together.


May your celebration with family and friends when you get home be as special as your day in the bush.

]]> General http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=323 Mon, 8 Feb 2010 14:33:48 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=322 We have arrived back in cold , misty and wet Yorkshire.
Wow what a fab time we had with you all at Leopards Hill.One of the highlights was when Tom , Bente , Frankie , Stephen and I were having a quiet lunch when the mother leopard decided to stroll round the decking and visit us ! Beautiful but a little scary when Frankie and Stephen realised they were viewing her at a distance of about a metre in an area where there was no glass!!!!! Lunch was never the same after that !So many memories - like when Frankie and Adam entertained us on our final evening with some show songs- a magic moment !
Hope you had a good Birthday Gary !
Best wishes
Robina

]]> Guest Experiences http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=322 Sun, 7 Feb 2010 13:10:34 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=321
The greatest news of all is that the Hlaba Nkunzi female leopard walked straight into camp with her new born cubs. As her mother, the legendary Makwela, has done for so many years before she was born; she chose the rocky out crop behind our kitchen as her first choice den site.Leopard

As mentioned in the introduction the Hlaba Nkunzi female walked straight into camp with her new born cub. Duncan wrote a beautiful article on our blog, http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=318 about this very special occasion.
Even though we have had great rains and the African bush is thick and lush we have still managed some great sightings of leopard. All the different greens of the summer vegetation accompanied by numerous species of wild flowers provided the perfect back drop for photographing these elusive cats.



We also have had numerous sightings of a male leopard in his prime known as the Lisbon male in the Southern part of our traversing area. We all hope that he will become the resident male in the South and that we will s
see him as often as we get to see the “ruler” of the North and Central part of our reserve, the Tekwaan male leopard.

Lions

Both our prides of lions was seen regularly and their cubs are getting very accustomed to our presence. Gary and his guests had some great sightings and on 2 occasions he has seen the female carrying and leading her cubs over the dry river Sand River bed.



To our astonishment the single cub of the Ximungwe pride is still alive. Normally lionesses won’t spend too much time and energy in raising a single cub and even though the cub covers massive amounts of terrain with the pride it is healthy and growing daily. We are all hoping that the other 4 females in the pride will give birth soon as all of them have been mating with the Mapogo male lions towards the end of last year.



The formidable Mapogo male lion coalition also spent most of the month in our traversing area and was seen in the company of both prides on several occasions.

African Wild Dog

For the first time in more than 6 years I can write about our “regular” wild dog sightings. We have had the most amazing sightings of two different packs, a pack of 6 dogs and a pack of 9 dogs. For our guests and readers that is as interested in these highly endangered carnivores as we are I will do a quick break down in our “dog” numbers for the last year.

An original pack of 8 wild dogs moved into the Western sector where we are based last year. Several members of the pack were killed by lion and hyena including the Alpha male. The pack was left with only 3 members the alpha female, a young female and a young male. Shortly after that a pack of 4 adult males moved into the area. They chased away the young male and formed a pack of 6, which is the main pack that we see on a regular basis.



Then a second pack of 9 dogs (sexes unknown but will keep you updated) moved into our reserve. Unfortunately we don’t see this pack as regularly but sure hope that any one of these 2 packs will settle and den in our area.

To top all of this one of our fellow guides had tracks of another pack of four around the Sand River a couple of days ago. We will update you on our blog as soon as we have a sighting of the “new” pack and hopefully we will have some photographs to share as well.

Cheetah

Once again we have had some regular sightings of the male cheetah that traverses the open plains in the Southern Part of our traversing area. Seeing and photographing a cheetah on safari is definitely a highlight on anybody’s safari agenda.

Buffalo, Rhino and Elephant

A big herd buffalo numbering more than 300 individuals was seen on several days in the last month. Due to the summer heat these bovids were seen regularly in and around the various waterholes moving around the Southern and Central part of the reserve.



Elephant sightings were abundant with sightings almost daily of big herds numbering up to 70 -80 individuals. We also had spectacular sightings of massive bulls around camp.

As per usual we have had some phenomenal and regular sightings of rhino. To our surprise rhino sightings North of the Sand River is now becoming regular and it is great to see these extraordinary animals in most parts of our reserve.


Special Sightings

It is difficult to pin point the most special of our “special” sightings in the last month. Gary, our guests and I had an incredible sighting of a Thick-Tailed Bush baby also known as a Thick- Tailed Galago in the South of the reserve, we normally only get to see these special primates in the North along the banks of the Kloof River.

If you are into herpetology (snakes)?, Leopard Hills was definitely the place to be in the month of January.

My guests and I saw a massive Black Mamba, Africa’s most venomous snake, killing a scrub hare on an afternoon safari. More about this on the blog:http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=312

Gareth and his guests also had a phenomenal sighting of an African Rock Python trying to kill a Duiker Antelope. Unfortunately for the python the Duiker was far too big and the snake lost its meal.

Until Next Month

Marius Coetzee and the Leopard Hills Guides
]]> Rangers Reports http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=321 Tue, 2 Feb 2010 12:05:31 +0200 http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=320
My life in the bush is very blessed and I never take anything for granted, I am not very good in the city, but hopefully I can tell you which bird “that” is.



Eight years ago the owners of Leopard Hills kindly opened a school here at the lodge. All my schooling has taken place here, the school now has 4 children in it, I being the oldest, and Promise who is almost 13 and has been with us 9 years, and Kiara my sister is 10 and Storm who is also 10. So, we have an all girl’s school! Our wonderful teacher Marlise has been teaching us for just over a year, she makes learning fun and gives us all individual attention.



My home is a lovely house on the property and along with my Dad, Mum and Kiara we also have 3 dogs. Jessie our staffie is almost 9, Mister Bojangles our blond Labrador is 3 and Ginger Rodgers another Labrador is just over a year. Having dogs in the bush takes a lot of watching, they cannot be on their own outside at all, leopards and lions would attack them, even baboons and warthogs are a real danger to dogs, all this AND of course the snakes! Can you believe we even have our own dog trainer! Dear friends of ours, Perdita and Rolf are very regular guests who also happen to be dog trainers, they are from Germany and often tell us we “have Vunderful dogs” Thanks to you both for your time and energy with our 4 legged friends.



As children growing up in the bush we have also had to be vigilant of animals and snakes, our daily dangers are very different to those of children growing up in the city, everyone has dangers in life; ours are just a bit different to others!
On any day we can have elephants, lions or any type of animal outside our veranda at home, we have been sitting on at our dining room table doing homework and had a leopard lying on the pool loungers on the veranda just a few feet away from us, thankfully the doors were closed!. We have even had a Leopard sitting on our roof!!




Many a time we have had elephants eating our garden, when they eat my Mum’s spinach it makes her really mad! The baboons also love her marrow, thankfully they don’t eat herbs.



I have been fortunate enough to meet many special guests here who have become great friends of ours over the years. Trevor and Theresa who we have been fortunate enough to be able to have an amazing trip to lake Kariba with 18 months ago, fishing and having fun, can’t wait we are all going again in a months’ time with Van and Marius to Upper Zambezi, can’t wait!, Tom and Enid, Alan and Ruth, and countless others. I have also made some very special from the amazing staff here, some I have known for 12 years, including Sophie who has worked in our house with us since before I could even walk!

Kiara and I have helped over the years to raise money for the orphanage Leopard Hills supports, we spent many many hours beading and making jewellery to sell in the shop, with all our endeavours we managed between us to raise R6000.00. We also give all our toys that we have grown out of to the children as well; I hope this has helped them over the years.
I am also so lucky that my Nana gets to visit us about twice a year from England and other family members, what a privilege to be able to show them where I live; I just wish they could be here more often.

I often get to go on game drives or out with friends for an afternoon, it doesn’t matter whether I see animals, just being in the bush is special enough, but I have to say I have not even been out and not seen something, even a beautiful sunset or clear stars with a full moon is spectacular, especially as we have no light pollution here.



We have been very fortunate in the past to have been able to go out with the Rangers and experience such things as Rhino darting, when they are doing research on the animals, it is so amazing to able to see this animals up close and be able to touch them. I don’t think many School children can say this forms part of their school projects. Once we even witnessed the darting of a Male Cheetah that had been injured, it recovered fully, and we still see it in the bush today.
Picture Rhino darting. Cheetah darting.



Once Marius even had to rescue a Buffalo Calf that had been left behind when the herd was attacked by a Pride of Lions, again it was a happy ending, and it was successfully reintroduced into the herd a day later, it was so special to see it reunited with its mother.



Being able to lie in bed at night and hear the lions roar, the hyenas cackle or the nightjars singing is incredible; falling asleep in the city is not easy without these sounds.
I am often asked “what is my favourite animal” how do I answer that? They are all special from the magnificent elephants that walk so quietly through the bush you can hardly hear them, the Lion that looks right through you as if you are not there, and the buffalo that always looks at you like you owe it money! But I also love the shy bushbuck’s that graze outside our house every day, the monkeys that are always on the lookout for something to eat, the warthogs on their knees mowing the lawns, the swallows that are nesting under the eaves of our roof every year they return to the same nests and just upgrade them. Every possible part of the bush is God’s home and I am extremely blessed and privileged to be able to call this place my home and able to share it with everyone that comes here.

Do I miss the city and a big school? I don’t know what they are, so how can I miss them! It is nice to go shopping and eat pizzas, but I would rather have what I have right here at home.

Imagine one day being able to tell my children where I grew up, I just hope these wilderness areas are still here for the animals to still roam freely in. That is something only man can decide and I hope he treats it with respect as I do.


]]> General http://www.leopardhills.com/blog/index.php?itemid=320 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:18:20 +0200