Leopard diaries

7 April to14 April 2009

Winter is once again upon us, the mornings are becoming a lot colder than normal, and the nights are also becoming colder. I think we are probably past the rain, as we haven't received any rain over the last week. We are also seeing the colour changes in the grass and the leaves on the trees, they are moving from the summery green colour to a more greenish- brown tinge. The natural water holes that were filled with water from all the rain are also starting to show signs of drying up!

On the mammal sightings front, there has been plenty of action. For the entire week we have had two different herds of buffalo both numbering about 300 moving in and around the property. The elephant herds have been a bit scarce, but we have had some exceptionally large bulls present throughout the week. One such bull had the most massive pair of tusks, Im sure he could be an up and coming tusker for the future. The rhino sightings have also been fantastic, with a very large ‘crash' of 7 animals seen nearly every day, as well as another 4 separate animals and a female with a young calf.

Our two little hyena pups are not so little anymore, but are doing very well and are growing every day. They are both still based at the den, but on a few game drives we have come across them out hunting with the rest of the clan. These two pups are producing some great viewing for our guests as they are not at all nervous of the vehicles and now come right up to the vehicles and on one occasion the braver of the two even went right under the vehicle to investigate.

This last week we have enjoyed daily lion sightings. The one Mapogo male lion with the broken leg has been hanging around our property and providing some fantastic sightings. He seems to be moving more easily now, and was even able to steal a kill from the female leopard Salayexe which kept him busy for a few days and this allowed him to rest and restore his energy! He was also seen calling frequently for his brothers, and on Friday morning they replied and he began to move south to meet up with them.

News from the south is the Tsalala pride lionesses have had cubs and even though the cubs have not yet been seen the females have been seen with suckle marks, so hopefully within the next few months we will be able to view the new arrivals.

The territorial male leopard, Tyson was again seen this week but later moved south, the other territorial male, Mafufenyane was also seen, but seems to be feeling the pressure a lot more from Tyson and also that of a new male from the north called Jordaan, this particular male is massive and was even seen trying to kill buffalo calves within the buffalo herd this week. He tried to jump onto the back of one but was thrown off and moved into very dense bush after that. We look forward to ongoing sightings of this magnificent male. Of the female leopards both Salayexe and Ntima have definite suckle marks, which is a great sign that they both still have cubs, the White Cloth female and her cub who are resident in the eastern section of our traversing are also doing really well.

Nyeleti was seen during the week on a regular basis but without her cub Mbilo so it appears that she has finally been able to get send her demanding teenage cub out into independence. Shadow was also seen twice on impala kills and Safari was also seen a lot of the time.Thandi was also getting in on the act when we had a great sighting of her posing on a termite mound for about an hour and we managed to get some great photos.

Both cheetah and wild dog tracks were seen this week as well an amazing sighting of a sub adult giraffe that was killed by a crocodile in the east. The giraffe was pulled out of the water which provided us with some incredible viewing of crocodile and hyena interaction and large numbers of vultures were also present. A Cape Griffon Vulture was seen which is an incredibly rare sighting in our area.

The Simbambili Team

30 March to 5 April 2009.

As we are entering autumn it is noticeable that most of the migrating and hibernating animals and birds are preparing for their journeys resulting in fewer sightings of these species. The trees and the grass are slowly losing their lush green coloration and the plains game species are getting more active as the bush become drier.

We have seen more than 17 giraffe this week in one area and zebra and wildebeest almost daily. Elephant were spotted wallowing in Serengeti Dam and we watched them having their famous mud baths in the early mornings. One morning whilst watching the elephant we could hear baboon alarm calls and we followed up to find that Tyson, the territorial male leopard, was the reason behind the baboons distress.

He was lazily lying under a buffalo thorn watching the baboons rallying their youngsters to get out of harm's way.

The female leopard, Salayexe was next on our list and we watched her hunt, unfortunately with no luck!

Nyeleti, another female leopard, was sighted on Londolozi's boundary heading south whereas her 1 year old daughter Mbilo was seen close to Serengeti on an impala kill. If this young female made this kill herself we have hope that she will be a constant sighting in this area and will grow into a beautiful leopard capable of feeding and fending for herself.

The Simbambili Team

23 March to 30 March 2009

Another week has gone by at Simbambili, the bush is still extremely thick and green, and we are still having the odd bit of rain here and there, but nothing to heavy. The mornings are changing rapidly and all of us are having to put on one or two jerseys on before we head off on drive, we can all see that winter is nearing in the bush.

Even though the bush is very thick it hasn't lessened our sightings at all. It has just made us all work a little harder. This has all paid off as the game viewing this week has been phenomenal with lions being seen every day this week as well as leopards. On at least 3 days this week all the big 5 were seen on drive.

On the lion side, we have had 3 of the Mapogo coalition around the whole week, one of the brothers seem to have broken his leg, proberly trying to kill a buffalo or a giraffe. This has hindered his movements quiet a lot, so he has not been able move to much with his brothers and has been separated quite a few times .Even though the other two have been away from him they still seem to make their way back to him. This is very lucky for the injured one as he is unable to hunt for himself, so he is totally dependent on his brothers for food, we will keep you updated on his progress.

The leopards have been plentiful with Mafunyane and Safari being seen on a few occasions mating with each other. Tyson was also seen this week, but spent a day around the area but them moved off. Salayexe was also seen this week and she looked like she was lactating, so we are all hoping that she might have some new arrivals for us.

The highlight of the week on the leopard front was when we found Nyeleti and her cub which now has been given the name of Mbilo which means ‘survivor' on an impala kill, Nyeleti had managed to kill a fully grown male impala and hoist it into the tree. This provided us with great leopard viewing for four days. Nyeleti is still showing a lot of aggression towards the young cub, the cub is obviously just not getting the message from its mother, in sure it is only a matter or of time until the part forever.

Elephants have been everywhere this week, especially around the camp, we were lucky enough to see a baby elephant that was only hours old, it was so small that it was still very unstable on its feet. The mother was very protective of the young one so we gave her and her little on the space they needed.

Rhinos and buffalo also have been great this week with us seeing a very large "crash" consisting of 6 individuals, this is definitely one of the larger crashes I have seen in this area. A buffalo herd of 350 has also been moving in and out this week, this has proved some fine sightings when we have come across them at the waterholes with all 350 buffalo drinking and wallowing in the water.

General game has been great as we have seen loads of zebra, giraffe and wildebeest, and the birds have also been fantastic with sightings of bateleur eagles and brown snake eagles been recorded. Ground hornbills were also seen which is very lucky as they are extremely endangered at the moment.

Regards

The Simbambili Team

9 March to 15 March 2009

The week has seen a definite change in the weather, with cooler morning and evening temperatures being experienced as we slowly head into autumn. The bush however is still very lush and all the pans are brimful of water which should hopefully keep the game happy well into the dry season.

Game viewing has once again not disappointed this week, with three of the Mapogo male lions being seen for a number of days in the beginning of the week. Leopard have been seen almost daily with two of the younger leopards providing some great photographic moments as they lazed away in the branches of large trees.

The Mapogo males were found near One-Eye Pan, a waterhole in the eastern part of the property after they had moved into the area the previous evening. They remained in the area for the next three days and provided some fantastic viewing as they lazed away the days, resting in the dry Manyeleti River bed.

A number of sightings of white rhinoceros have also been had with groups of up 5 of these big animals being seen. Elephant have been a little scarce but a herd was seen near the end of the week which had a very young calf which the guides estimated to be about 2 weeks old!

Leopard sightings this week were dominated by Nyeleti and her cub, they were seen in the Serengeti area and the tension between mother and daughter has grown and the young cub is now being forced by Nyeleti to become an independent young leopardess. The cub was seen on two consecutive mornings by herself and provided us with some wonderful moments as she watched us from her elevated position as she rested in a large Marula tree.

Shadow, another recently independent leopard cub was seen early one morning as she stalked a band of dwarf mongooses. Although she was unsuccessful at catching any of them watching her stalk them was a real treat. She then went and rested in the branches of a fallen False Marula contemplating her next move.

Some very good news is that Ntima, the leopardess we suspected of having had cubs about three weeks ago, has three new cubs which were seen for the first time on a neighboring property!! We will definitely keep you updated with their movements.

Regards

The Simbambili Team

02 March to 9 March 2009

Once again Simbambili received a lot of rain this week, we were fortunate enough to see the Manyeleti River flowing again in front of the lodge. We watched it start from a trickle and within 15 minutes it had become a very fast flowing river. All this rain has made getting around the reserve much more of a challenge for all of us.

Even though it has been a challenge getting around, the animals have not had any problems with the weather as we have had some magnificent sightings over the past week. The general game viewing has picked up tremendously with sightings of more than 12 giraffe and 40 zebra recorded all together in one location.

The elephants have made it a little more difficult for us. With all the water around they are able to move greater distances as there is water everywhere. We have had a few sighting of the herds but this week the old mature bulls have formed the bulk of our sightings. We have had two very big bulls that have taken up residence around the camp and were even brazen enough to give the staff a heart attack up at the staff village when they decided to enjoy the marulas around everybody's rooms.

Rhinos and buffalo's have been plentiful with some great sightings, the herd of buffalo of about 350 has been moving in and out of our area again, this herd has a large number of calves and hopefully they will all survive and the herd will swell in numbers. This herd was also seen with 5 rhinos among them who also thought they were buffalos as they hung around with the herd for quite some time providing us with some great sightings. The old bull buffalos around the lodge prove to be a common sighting for all our guests as they lie around in the pan in front of the lodge all day.

On the leopard front we have had some interesting changes, these changes started to develop in the last leopard diaries when we found Nyeleti mating with Tyson. Everybody thought this was Salayexe at first but on a closer inspection we identified the female as Nyeleti. This was odd due to the fact that Nyeleti still has her cub which is not yet independent and is seen on a regular basis with her cub. Although on a drive this week we picked up the call of a female leopard in one of the riverbeds, on following up we found Nyeleti and her cub together, the calling was the cub calling for its mother. While we were following these two cats down the road we started to see some extraordinary changes between mother and daughter. Nyeleti was growling and snarling at the cub constantly. This is one of the sure signs of a mother trying to tell her cub it is time to go. This was proved later on when we found Nyeleti on a kill a day later with the cub but she was not allowing the cub to feed with her at all. So the time is nearing for the little cub to move away and start her own solitary life. Hopefully in a few months time Nyeleti might have new offspring. This week the White Cloth female and her cub were seen in the east of our traverse area and they both gave the rangers and guests a great sighting. The cub is estimated to be between 3 and 5 months old and we look forward to more sightings with these two.

Mafunyane and Tyson the two territorial males were both seen as well as the female Thandi, so leopards again stole the show at Simbambili. Other notable sightings included the two hyena pups, which come out of the den everyday playing around the puddles and vehicles and giving our guests opportunities to get some great photos and some life long memories.

With all that news from this week we look forward to what might be install for us in the week ahead.

Regards Simbambili Team

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