MANAGERS REPORT

Hello Everyone.

It’s been another bumper month at Leopard Hills. Not only have we had amazing sightings, but Makwela has moved her two youngsters into camp, we have had some magical weddings and met many new friends as well as welcomed many back.

We would like to say a warm welcome and introduce you to Steve Shabangu; he has come in as Restaurant Manager at Leopard Hills. For those that have met Steve and those still to meet him you will notice he has a winning sense of humour as well as a contagious smile. Marius and I have had the pleasure of working with him before and can only sing his praise.

Employee of the Month

This month’s employee of the month was Amosi, who is a true asset to our Kitchen. Amosi was in night scullery, he was also responsible for freshly baked muffins on the morning safari. He has now been promoted to our gardens team and is enjoying the day shifts. He is truly an up and coming Leopard Hills star as he spends his free time training to be a barman.

Congratulations

We have also had the opportunity to host a few magical unions at Leopard Hills. Very big congratulations to Vanessa and Daniel Bowers, Tracey and Gavin Watson and Michael and Catherine Savage. It was very special to be part of your celebrations and we wish you all the best for your futures together.

I would also like to say big Congratulations to Naomi and James Stock who came to Leopard Hills especially to celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary.

Leopard Hills Weblog

We have had an enormous response to our web blog. It is fantastic to read all your comments and your feedback on your safari experience. Big congratulations to Vanessa and Daniel Bowers on getting the most hits on their wedding blog.

General

It was great seeing familiar faces again, Robert and Carolyn; Stephen Farrington; Clifford and Stephanie; Brian and Hazel; Karl and Irina; Ralph and Perdita. It was wonderful to see you again and host you at Leopard Hills. We thank you for your support and look forward to your next holiday.

Maretha has the following news from the community development side.

Community Development

Hello All!

I am sure that most of you have been following the building of Jeremiah Crèche on the Leopard Hills Blog.  I went out there earlier this week, and I am ecstatic to tell you that the building already has a roof.  There are still some touch-ups to be made, such as doors, windows, and a doorstep.

The pictures will give you an idea of the old building and the new building. At the moment there are about 35 children enrolled at Jeremiah, but we will be able to accommodate 60 in the new building.  We will keep the old building as a store room facility.

We are in the process of doing tours to the Dumphries Village which will take guests to Jeremiah as one of the attractions.  Once I have all the information on this, we will let you know.

Once again, thanks to everyone for their generous donations, and interest in this project.

Again let me reiterate: A BIG THANK YOU from the Leopard Hills Team as well as the local community you have helped to make a better place.

Now I will hand over to Marius who will keep you updated with all things wild and wonderful. Also Thank you to Marius for his wildlife pictures.

A big Thank you from myself; Duncan and Louise for a great May in the Sabi Sands

Best Wishes
Vanessa vd Meer

RANGERS REPORT

It is so difficult to try and explain in words the sightings that we have seen in the last month. Day after day we have been fortunate enough to share some of Africa’s most awesome sights with our guests.

For many members of staff seeing Makwela, female leopard, carrying a 12 day old cub in her mouth, was a heart warming experience. And for Raymond who has been on this property for longer than anyone else to see her taking the cub to the exact spot of where she was born 13 years ago it was even more special, as the circle is now complete.

To see 20 different lions, 5 different males, 2 different prides of females and their cubs feeding on a rhino carcass for almost a week was absolutely mind blowing.

Leopard

Makwela, female leopard, is in our eyes the most special leopard that anyone of us has ever had the privilege to witness. After spending thousands of hours viewing her and her off spring over the last 10 years that Leopard Hills has been open, we rangers and trackers can write a book on her life.

But on a cold mid- winter morning she did something that none of us could ever predict. Gary got a phone call from our colleague Temba that Makwela is on her way walking straight to camp carrying a 12 day old leopard cub in her mouth. He and Hannes rushed up to breakfast, got all the guest and less than 50 meters from Duncan’s house saw the most special gift that mother Africa can ever give anyone, that of a female leopard carrying an almost new born cub in her mouth.  We hear the cubs almost daily, calling for mom in their cat like meow less than 15 meters from our breakfast table, stashed securely in the rocky out crop next to our kitchen.

My guests and I followed Makwela’s previous youngster one morning for more than an hour when suddenly she started to stalk something hidden in the grass. For another 20 minutes we watched patiently as she circled the tall grass coming closer and closer to what ever might be lying motionless in the tall grass. My tracker Abraham suddenly spotted a waterbuck calf probably not more than a day old lying helplessly, waiting for its mother’s return. And suddenly I realised that for this new member of Africa its short life would end in a couple of minutes. The leopard leaped forward and with a single movement grabbed the new born calf, and seconds later the waterbuck calf was hanging motionless from the predator’s mouth, providing a much needed meal for this young leopard that has come into her own as another one of Makwela’s fine off spring.

Hannes and his tracker June were tracking fresh male leopard tracks one afternoon. After a call from one of his colleagues that the leopard was seen but lost again Hannes decided to circle the block one more time. As he got to the exact spot of where the leopard was seen a male lion made his appearance. The male lion was following the scent of the male leopard after hearing the leopard’s distinct sawing call. Hannes then found the Wallingford male leopard, whom himself was tracking an intruder in his territory another young male leopard. His guests and he had a fantastic sighting of a male leopard tracking another male leopard and the male lion tracking the two leopards.

The Makubela female leopard has given birth but as no one has seen the cubs we can’t tell how many individuals were born. Shangwa female leopard and her 3 new born cubs were seen in the beginning of the month and in the middle of the month my guests and I got a glimpse of a single cub about 4 months old on the Northern Bank of the Sand River. We presume the cub belongs to the Hippo Dam female as the spot where the cub was seen is right in the heart of her territory.

Lions

The death of a single pachyderm or thick skinned giant provides a meal for many predators and raptors over several days. An adult rhino cow got killed by a bull close to the Sand River and in less than 24 hours was discovered by the Othawa Pride of lions which are made up of 2 female lions and 7 little cubs. The next day arriving at the scene we discovered the Sand River Pride of lions which consist of 2 adult females and their 5 older male cubs had stolen the kill from the Othawa Pride.

The following morning we found the Othawa pride back on the kill and accompanying them is the oldest male of the Mapogo male coalition. But as in life there is always a winner and a  loser and after spending time with the pride one of the females moved away and took us to one of her cubs that got killed during the nights battle. A distant roar from an unknown lioness to the south drew the male’s attention away from the pride and the feast of meat and 2 unknown males were quick to take advantage of the feast.

Strangely enough the pride and the males interacted if they were long lost friends and even the cubs walked up to the males and childishly played with them. That evening the distant roars of the rest of the Mapogo coalition could be heard and we knew that the next morning they would be back taking what was rightfully theirs.

Arriving at the scene the next morning in a red glow, seeing the steam coming out of the rhino’s body, we saw 3 of the Mapogo’s feeding of the carcass.

Cheetah

Once again we had some stunning sightings of the male cheetah that traverse our area. Many hours were spent by our guides following and watching this beautiful feline.

Wild dog

It has become a standard in recent months to write about the fantastic wild dog sighting that we have had. The group of four were seen often in the South of our traversing area. The female in the pack is heavily pregnant and we are all holding thumbs that they will den in our traversing area.

Rhino

As in previous months we have had the most awesome sightings of white rhino. The female with the extremely long horn has given birth and we have had a couple of sighting of the new born calf.

As per usual this time of the year the water holes are drying up and different family groups or crashes of rhino’s are congregating around the remaining pans and dams to quench their thirst. Raymond and his guests had a very special sighting of 17 white rhino’s all together and thus far it is a new record for us.

Elephant

The amount of elephant we are seeing is truly unbelievable. But unlike previous years when the big herds only congregate around the Sand River, we saw elephants everywhere. Even in the Southern most part of our traversing area many herds were seen almost daily. The amount of young calves is spectacular and watching these youngsters trying to use their trunks for the first 8 months of their long lives is always a fun sighting for all.

Buffalo

The huge herd of buffalo that we have written about in previous months haven’t traversed our area in the month of May. But we still had many sightings of all the bulls or “dagga boys” as they are commonly known in our traversing area.

Less than 600 meters from camp an old buffalo bull has made the Mabrak River his home. We see him frequently and some of our guides and trackers even had the unpleasant experience of walking into him.

Specials

By far the most special sighting of the rarer animals this month was that of a young female caracal. On an evening drive my guests and I saw the caracal, that was only my second sighting of this cat ever, lying on top of a termite mount and as we approached closer she ran off. After an extensive search we finally left the area extremely pleased but dying to see more of this beautiful predator. The next evening I got a call over the radio that the caracal was spotted again and after a lengthy drive found the caracal sitting on top of a Marula tree that’s been pushed down by elephants. But unlike the night before we followed the caracal for longer than 25 minutes and finally for almost 5 years I can say I had a proper sighting of a caracal.

Gary and his guests were treated to a rare sight of 6 ground hornbill on an afternoon drive. The ground hornbill is an endangered bird and to see them is very special. The best by far is that the ground hornbills were seen in a cheetah sighting.

Until next month warm African greetings

Marius Coetzee and the Leopard Hills rangers.

Sightings totals for the Month

Note: The above sightings totals reflect the number of individual sightings of animals, not populations of animals in the area. e.g. If we see a herd of 12 buffalo this is noted as one sighting. These sightings are then tallied to get the figure reflected above.