Lions, lions and more lions have been the flavour of this week.  We were fortunate to have the 2 Mapogo male lions from the south move into our traversing and kill a fully grown buffalo bull. From the trampled vegetation in the area around the dead buffalo, there seems to have been a tremendous struggle that ensued, with the lions being victors at the end of it. The 2 males fed on the buffalo for the entire week and are still feeding on the buffalo as we speak, two days ago the male ‘Kalahari' left his brother at the carcass and headed south, we could not understand why he would do this, but a day later we discovered he had gone south to fetch the two females and their two cubs of the Styx Pride, so that they could join them at the carcass. Both males, both lionesses and both cubs were all present at the carcass. The buffalo is virtually finished and im sure they will all move away soon.
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The Tsalala Pride also has been hanging around in our traversing area quite a lot, with two sightings of them and their cubs this week. The 2 females were both seen with 6 cubs, this was the first I have seen theses tiny cubs, they range in age from 3-4 months and all seem to be in great condition.
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The rest of the Styx have also been seen this week, it looks as though they have permanently split from the other two lionesses that are spending their time with the two Mapogo males. This could be due to the fact that the other females mated with the Rollercoaster male and he is the father of the other 6 cubs, while the 2 lionesses have their cubs sired by the 2 Mapogos. Due to the fact the males will kill other males cubs they are spending all their time away from the 2 Mapogos.
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The 3 nomadic males have also made their presence felt within our traversing area; on Wednesday we left for drive early in the morning only to find tracks of the 3 all over the camp, past most rooms and in the parking area, we spent most of the morning following these 3 lions tracks to find them at Simbambili Dam hunting buffalo. They are still quite nervous of vehicles, but in time they will adapt to the presence of vehicles and relax, so we can continue viewing these incredible new males. They are all 3 within the ages of 3-4 years old.
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Leopard sightings have also been fantastic this week with 3 sightings of Salayexe's cubs. They are both doing tremendously well, and Saleyexe is a great mother she is placing them in the best possible hiding places so no lion, hyena or other male leopard may find them. They are both very relaxed with the vehicle and we are able to enjoy longer periods with the cubs. The photographs this week have been absolutely spectacular.
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Mafunyane, Safari, Ntima and Kwatela have all been seen this week as well as Jordaan, a big male leopard that we see every so often, that comes in from the North.Elephants, Rhinos and buffalo have been plentiful this week as well as all the general game including Hyenas back at a den site after the lion attack of a few weeks ago. Wild dogs were sighted in the beginning of the week, but moved off the property very soon after.
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Regards
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The Simbambili Team
24 May to 31 May 2009
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Elephants and more elephants have been the flavour of the week. Herds of between 50 - 100 elephants have been on our property and extremely active throughout the week, moving to and from the waterhole in front of the lodge, providing some fantastic game viewing for all the guests from the comfort of their suites swell as from the main deck.
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Other than elephants there have also been some other very exciting sightings during the week, lions have also been quite plentiful with both the Nkuhuma pride and the Styx pride both on our traversing area. We were fortunate enough to have the Nkuhuma pride move right through the camp twice this week and then settle about 300m away from the camp, making lion viewing very easy for the rangers.
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The sighting of the week had to go to the Styx pride, we picked up the pride early in the morning, as they we all milling around a very large termite mound, then 2 of the lionesses got up and went straight to a large warthog hole on the side of the mound. The one female then began to dig inside the hole, the other lioness and the rest of the pride became interested in the digging, and decided to join her. They all dug for about 10min, so we waited and repositioned the vehicle. As soon as the engine had been turned off, we heard a large blood curling scream, they had the pig!!!!They pulled the large male warthog of about 80kg fighting from the hole and placed him approximately 4 meters from the vehicle, and the fight began. The poor warthog fought for about 10min against 10 lions and then he gave his final breath. The lions fed ferociously for a lot of the morning and gave us all some incredible photographic opportunities.
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Leopard viewing has also been great this week, we finally are proud to announce to all the arrival of the two most beautiful leopard cubs that belong to Salayexe. During the week we had our first proper viewing of these two with their mother, they are still a bit unsure of vehicles but in time will relax around vehicles because their mother is totally relaxed. We look forward to the future with these two fluff balls, and many great sightings with them and all the Simbambili guests.
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Tyson the territorial male leopard is still moving around making sure no other males move in on his patch, but the old male Mafunyane takes no notice and is still being seen a lot on drive, he looks to be in magnificent condition, and I am sure he will still be around for a long time to come.Nyeleti was seen on a number of occasions and Mbilo has also been seen inside her mother's territory but always on her own! Ntima was also seen this week, and we hope that she still is looking after her last remaining cub.
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The pack of three wild dogs moved into the area for a day and then moved off west, it looks like theses 3 dogs are still looking for a den site, and we can just sit and hold thumbs, that they might settle on Simbambili.
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RegardsÂ
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The Simbambili Team Â
10 May to 17 May 2009Â
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We have changed over to our winter time schedule with the early morning drives departing just before sunrise at 06h00 and the afternoon drives departing at 15h30 to allow for the earlier sunset. The mornings have been cold with average temperatures of between 8 and 10 degrees Celsius, while the afternoon drives have been comfortable with lovely blue skies and temperatures averaging 29 degrees Celsius. We have seen an increasing amount of general game as the animals starts to concentrate around the remaining water sources in the area. There have been an abundance of giraffe, zebra, blue wildebeest, nyala, kudu and waterbuck.
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A new hyena den has been found with at least 4 pups being seen. The clan of hyena has been very active in the area surrounding Simbambili Lodge and we hear them calling every night. These often misunderstood predators have to be one of the most successful in our area and we were witness to this on one drive this week as we watched the local clan, compete with the Nxuhuma pride, over the remains of a buffalo kill.
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Simbambili means "the place of two lions", and this week we have definitely been the place of two lion prides!!!! Both the Nxuhuma Pride and the Styx Pride have been seen on our traversing area. The Styx Pride has not moved back to their core area out of fear that their cubs may be killed as two of the Mapogo Male lions have taken over their territory. Following the pride at sunset one afternoon we watched in amazement as a lioness and then her two cubs climbed into and lazed in the branches of large Marula tree. This behavior is definitely seen more regularly in leopard and was an absolute treat for the guides and our guests.
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The Nxuhuma Pride has been our star attraction over the last week and half. The sighting of the week happened just after dark on Thursday night. Sitting in camp we heard a buffalo give a distress call out near the waterhole and on following up Matt and Doctor found the entire pride in the process of killing an adult buffalo cow!! One of the more experienced lionesses had the buffalo by the muzzle and was covering its mouth and nose so suffocating it in the process. The pride settled down to feed and we were hoping that they would be present for the next day or two with such a big meal. This was not too be the case because 10 hungry lions made short work of the kill and left the remains which were mostly skin and bone to the hyena clan the next morning!
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Leopards have been relatively difficult to find this week and this could be attributed to the increased lion presence in the area. We have however seen the females Kurula, Salayexe and Safari during the week. Salayexe was seen on an impala kill which she had stashed in the high branches of a Buffalo Thorn tree. She finished the meat and then moved off in a westerly direction back to her den site. We are all eagerly waiting for the first glimpse of her new cubs!! Lazarus and Lucky were lucky enough to watch a large male leopard finish off the remains of a scrub hare that he had killed. This is was an unidentified male in the eastern part of our traversing area although he appeared well fed and relaxed with the vehicle presence. Speaking to the rangers from our neighbouring property we were able to find out that 2 days earlier this male leopard had been seen feeding on an aardvark!!
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Rhino have been seen in small crashes of between 3 and 7 individuals. 2 large herds of buffalo have been moving through the area and one herd was seen in the vicinity of Simbambili Dam for 2 days. The main calving time for buffalo is at its peak in the beginning of winter and the number of chocolate brown calves has increased daily. Elephant have been few and far between with a few bulls being seen as they move to and from the bigger water sources.
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Regards
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The Simbambili Team...
10 May to 17 May 2009Â
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We have changed over to our winter time schedule with the early morning drives departing just before sunrise at 06h00 and the afternoon drives departing at 15h30 to allow for the earlier sunset. The mornings have been cold with average temperatures of between 8 and 10 degrees Celsius, while the afternoon drives have been comfortable with lovely blue skies and temperatures averaging 29 degrees Celsius. We have seen an increasing amount of general game as the animals starts to concentrate around the remaining water sources in the area. There have been an abundance of giraffe, zebra, blue wildebeest, nyala, kudu and waterbuck.
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A new hyena den has been found with at least 4 pups being seen. The clan of hyena has been very active in the area surrounding Simbambili Lodge and we hear them calling every night. These often misunderstood predators have to be one of the most successful in our area and we were witness to this on one drive this week as we watched the local clan, compete with the Nxuhuma pride, over the remains of a buffalo kill.
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Simbambili means "the place of two lions", and this week we have definitely been the place of two lion prides!!!! Both the Nxuhuma Pride and the Styx Pride have been seen on our traversing area. The Styx Pride has not moved back to their core area out of fear that their cubs may be killed as two of the Mapogo Male lions have taken over their territory. Following the pride at sunset one afternoon we watched in amazement as a lioness and then her two cubs climbed into and lazed in the branches of large Marula tree. This behavior is definitely seen more regularly in leopard and was an absolute treat for the guides and our guests.
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The Nxuhuma Pride has been our star attraction over the last week and half. The sighting of the week happened just after dark on Thursday night. Sitting in camp we heard a buffalo give a distress call out near the waterhole and on following up Matt and Doctor found the entire pride in the process of killing an adult buffalo cow!! One of the more experienced lionesses had the buffalo by the muzzle and was covering its mouth and nose so suffocating it in the process. The pride settled down to feed and we were hoping that they would be present for the next day or two with such a big meal. This was not too be the case because 10 hungry lions made short work of the kill and left the remains which were mostly skin and bone to the hyena clan the next morning!
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Leopards have been relatively difficult to find this week and this could be attributed to the increased lion presence in the area. We have however seen the females Kurula, Salayexe and Safari during the week. Salayexe was seen on an impala kill which she had stashed in the high branches of a Buffalo Thorn tree. She finished the meat and then moved off in a westerly direction back to her den site. We are all eagerly waiting for the first glimpse of her new cubs!! Lazarus and Lucky were lucky enough to watch a large male leopard finish off the remains of a scrub hare that he had killed. This is was an unidentified male in the eastern part of our traversing area although he appeared well fed and relaxed with the vehicle presence. Speaking to the rangers from our neighbouring property we were able to find out that 2 days earlier this male leopard had been seen feeding on an aardvark!!
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Rhino have been seen in small crashes of between 3 and 7 individuals. 2 large herds of buffalo have been moving through the area and one herd was seen in the vicinity of Simbambili Dam for 2 days. The main calving time for buffalo is at its peak in the beginning of winter and the number of chocolate brown calves has increased daily. Elephant have been few and far between with a few bulls being seen as they move to and from the bigger water sources.
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Regards
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The Simbambili Team...
27 April to 3 May 2009
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This week has been absolutely phenomenal!! The game viewing and in particular the large predator viewing has been unbelievable and there were many unexpected surprises awaiting us around every corner. The autumn colours have added to this rich bonanza by adding a wonderful backdrop for some exceptional photographic opportunities.
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The cooler mornings have made for some slow starts until the bush warms up, but this has given us some valuable time to locate and track animals, trying to work out the comings and goings of the previous evening as the trackers piece together the story from the tracks and prints they see. It is always a rewarding experience to follow a set of tracks from when you find them and then as if by magic, there ahead of you is the animal that you have been tracking.
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This was the case with one of the few sightings of cheetah that we have had this year, on one afternoon safari, Matt and Doctor had found some fresh spoor of a lone cheetah moving into our property and began following the spoor on foot. It was not long before they walked past a dense stand of Strychnos, where an impala was hiding and appeared very nervous. They then moved on a few metres suspecting that the cheetah was nearby causing the nervous behaviour of the impala. As they began moving forward they heard the distinctive bird like chirp of the cheetah. Coming in with the vehicle they found the young male cheetah on a freshly killed impala. It was getting dark at this point and we left the cheetah to its meal, which we would later discover was appropriated by a large male leopard sometime during the night! This was not to be the last sighting of this young male cheetah and he provided us with three more sightings during the week, all of them memorable as this sleek cat moved through the bush.
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 The wild dogs have been seen almost daily, sightings of these rare predators is something that we as guides and trackers cherish as the dogs never seem to laze around like the large cats. The young dogs which are approaching a year old are the ones who provide the best photographic moments, as they wrestle and practice their hunting moves on each other often landing on the floor in an undignified heap of black, gold and white!! The hunting behaviour of the dogs has been rather difficult to follow and it was only when they killed late one morning near the EP Airstrip, that Al, Mumps and their guests were able to watch them feeding for the first time. It is astonishing how quickly the pack can finish a meal!
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The Styx Pride of lions, made an appearance one morning when Matt and Doctor, where busy watching a Rhino cow and her year old calf. The bush erupted next to them as a herd of giraffe, zebra and impala ran from an as yet unseen predator. The commotion could not have been set off by anything but lions and as we rounded a bend in the road we found the oldest of the Styx lionesses moving towards the startled group of giraffe. The rest of pride was soon seen and the entire pride regrouped and rested in the golden glow of the morning sun as they pondered their next move.
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Leopard viewing has been just as good with Mafufunyane, Safari and Shadow being seen regularly. Mafufunyane was seen resting early one morning and was found in the same spot later in the afternoon, he then proceeded to move off as the sun set. He continued moving in an easterly direction as he tended to the territorial housekeeping by spray urinating and scraping every so often. We left him and to our surprise he was found the following morning feeding on the impala carcass that the cheetah had killed earlier the previous day!
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Elephant have been rather scarce and we have not seen the numbers of elephant that were present earlier in the year but this is normal in an ecosystem like the greater Kruger area as the herds tend to move around. We did have a good view of what must be one of the largest of the modern day big tuskers. White rhinoceros and buffalo were seen in good numbers with a number of buffalo herds being seen as well as a large crash of 6 rhino. General game has been great with large numbers of zebra, giraffe, blue wildebeest and waterbuck being seen at the waterhole during the day.
