Rangers Report April 2009

With the African Bush slowly drying up and the day time temperatures cooling down the game viewing in April was nothing short of phenomenal. With the return of 3 male Wild dogs at the end of the month, the numerous lion sightings and fantastic leopard sightings our guests and guides were blown away yet again as we have been for the last 11 years.

Leopard

The most impressive leopard sighting in the last month was without a doubt seeing the Tai Dam female leopard for the first time in the last 6 years on our property. Her territory is around the Sand River and seeing her all the way down South was a real treat. The reason for her short visit was that she was “tracking “down the Tekwaan male leopard that frequents the area around our lodge. On a perfect morning safari, in perfect golden light we found the Tekwaan male lying in a massive Marula Tree. On our arrival my tracker Abraham spotted another leopard, a female, on the ground. She jumped into the tree and what followed was absolutely amazing from a viewing and a photographic point. Tai Dam tried everything she could to get the males attention and as we left them later on she followed him through the bush.

 

That evening after extensive tracking we found the two cats right in front of our lodge mating less than 5 meters away from our game drive vehicle, a phenomenal sighting indeed.

Another extremely special sighting (only my second in almost 6 years) was seeing two male leopards “strutting their stuff” sizing each other up in the Northern part of our traversing area. The Wallingford male (the oldest territorial leopard in our traversing area.) was slowly but surely being driven out by the younger Tekwaan male using loads of snarling and low grumbling noises to claim his dominance.

Lion

For the first time in many months our lion sighting was absolutely phenomenal. We saw the Othawa pride on a regular basis and accompanying them were 3 male lions from the Mapogo Male lion coalition. The three males spent almost a week less than 800 meters from our lodge and their roaring sounds echoed through the African bush.

Even better news was the fact that one of the Ximungwe females gave birth to two cubs. Unfortunately one of the cubs died, we are not sure what happened, but the remaining cub has been seen frequently and is doing well and growing up fast. Our only concern is that female lions don’t normally put in the effort to raise single cubs, but will keep you up to date in next months report.

 

 At least two other females of the Ximungwe Pride were seen mating with the Mapogo males, and hopefully if they conceive the Ximungwe Pride might be back to their former glory of 4 years ago.

Cheetah

Two different male cheetahs were sighted in the last month. The younger male who lost his mother in January is doing well on his own and is growing up fast.

Wild Dog

Further great news regarding the predators is that a pack of three wild dogs have been seen frequently North of the Sand River. We really hope that they will den in our area as it will be a first for so many of us. Seeing wild dog pups is truly an amazing experience and hard to beat.

Elephant 

We truly had elephants all over the reserve in the last month. Single bulls and massive herds were seen daily on almost every drive. We are also seeing numerous herds drinking from the pan in front of the lodge, which is great viewing for our guests at lunch time.

Rhino

As per normal, our rhino sightings never let us down. The greatest sighting of all the numerous sightings was coming across a female and her approximately 3 month old calf, late on an afternoon safari. Unlike previous encounters with females and small calves, they didn’t crash through the vegetation but continued feeding meters away from us, the mother being completely oblivious of our presence. The youngster on the other hand loved his new friends and continuously ran up to our vehicle, just to jump into the air with all four feet of the ground, turning around running back to his mother, just to repeat his action again and again, truly a remarkable and fun sighting.

Buffalo

The big herd of buffalo was seen for most of the month in our traversing area and numerous groups of herds of bulls (a.k.a “dagga boys”) were seen around the river.

Specials

Gary and his guests saw a porcupine, Africa’s biggest rodent one evening on their way back to the lodge. For us as guides it is so special seeing the nocturnal creatures.

Until next month.

Marius Coetzee and the Leopard Hills guides.