15 - 21 November

Leopard Diaries 15^th - 21^st November 2010

The bush has finally turned and is back to its' bright green summer coat with most of the trees now carrying leaves and the fruiting trees all carrying blossoms.

The weather has been good with some fantastic summer weather, with blue skies and dramatic sunsets being the order of the day. We did receive some rainfall with just short of 15mm falling on two days during the week.

The game viewing this week has been a bit harder than the last few months, with the abundance of free standing water available the game has dispersed. We have struggled to find elephant and lions this week. However, the remainder of the larger mammals are here in abundance with some great leopard, rhinoceros and buffalo sightings being enjoyed.

Leopard

We were lucky enough to watch as one of our adult female leopards hunted a herd of impala late one afternoon. Although unsuccessful, the patience displayed by the predator in waiting for the right moment to strike is always interesting to witness. Thandi is looking heavily pregnant and it should not be long before we find her with her first litter of cubs.

A special sighting of the two new cubs that were found last week was enjoyed by Grant and his guests. The cubs are both healthy and their mother Shadow is providing them with regular kills. The imminent impala lambing season is going to provide a regular supply of fresh meat for these youngsters.

A number of sightings of the young male leopards who are patrolling our property have been enjoyed this week. Rhulani, was seen on a number of occasions this week, the most notable of which was when he stole a bushbuck kill from his mother Salayexe.

The Rhino Pan male was seen on a large impala ram kill late on in the week. The strength of these spotted cats is something that still astounds all of us; the ability to hoist upwards of fifty kilograms straight up a tree is unbelievable.

Lion

Unfortunately we have had no lion sightings this week, we have found tracks but after spending considerable time and effort following them, all of the tracks have moved out of the area before we could locate the cats.

Elephant

A single sighting of two elephant bulls made up our weekly total of elephant sightings!

Buffalo & Rhino

Buffalo sightings this week have been dominated by  resident bulls that are enjoying the fresh mud wallows created by the rains. Groups of up to nine or ten bulls have been seen enjoying the cool respite offered by the waterholes, from the heat of the day.

Rhinoceros sightings have been really good this week. The return of one of the larger crashes has made for some great viewing of these large pachyderms. The group consists of five rhinoceros and has spent considerable time in our traversing area over the course of the week.

The three dominant bulls have also been seen as they move through their respective territories performing their territorial housekeeping duties.


Regard

The Simbambili Guiding and Tracking Team