Leopard diaries

We've been very fortunate this week to have seen both resident male leopards, Mafufanyane and Tyson. They seemed to be more interested in their territorial patrols than actually hunting! Matimba the young male leopard managed to avoid the two dominant males and it is pleasing to that his limp has improved a lot in the last month. We also managed to see the old female leopard Safari killing two steenbuck in one night and then had the privilege of spending the next three days watching her finish her meal in the vicinity of Simbambili Dam. A younger male leopard, Mvula, who has been spotted on occasion in the area before, was seen joining her but only temporarily. He also managed to kill an adult baboon but lost it to the hyenas. In addition the female leopard Salayexe was seen marking her territory on Piccanin Uthla.

Lions have been sighted regularly over the last week with guests being fortunate enough to have more than one sighting of them. We didn't see any of them making kills but had a sighting of them a on a kill of two Impala and also found the remains of another two. All the Mapogo males were in the area but separated so we did not see them form their notorious alliance.

We've also been extremely lucky to have seen cheetah move through the area. A female with her sub adult male cub killed a Nyala and managed to hold on to it for roughly 2 hours before a big male leopard came and took it from them. They were sighted this morning moving in a southerly direction.

Buffalo sightings have been excellent with the large breeding herd of Buffalo seen drinking at Simbambili Dam and also at Arathusa Safari Dam. Elephants have been more prolific than Impala it seems this week with some large breeding herds moving through the area and making their way to drink at the waterhole in front of the lodge on a regular basis. The elephant relocation team was also kind enough to allow us to be involved in the capturing and relocation of two young bulls. The elephants were darted and then loaded by a crane onto a massive truck. Our guests got to touch them once they had been darted which was a highlight of their stay.

Simbambili Team

The mornings have started to heat up over the past week. As a result of the increase in temperatures the hot water bottles haven't been such a necessity on the early morning safaris! The game viewing has been superb as usual although the lions have continued to be somewhat elusive. They have been moving through our traversing area briefly before moving off on to other properties. However, we had a great sighting of lions this week. Both the lions and the herd of buffalo were testing each other by using a road as a boundary. They would each come closer and closer and then retreat. It was fascinating to see them interact like this.

We have been seeing a lot of leopards lately. We started off with an amazing sighting of the territorial male leopard Mafufunyane up a Knobthorn with a young Impala. We believe the kill was more than likely made by the one-eyed female Leopard, Safari and then stolen by Mafufunyane. It wasn't long before the hyenas made an appearance. He managed a balancing act and managed to only lose the half eaten leg of the Impala to the greedy hyenas. After the incident, Mafufunyane moved off and was seen a few days later with Ntima, a young female leopard. They have regularly been seen mating over the past few days.

Matimba, Safari's sub-adult male cub managed to catch himself a duiker. It is more than likely one of his first kills that he has made on his own. The fairly inexperienced young male learnt the hard way and dragged the Duiker up a Tamboti tree which wasn't the best choice of tree. It is covered with strong, sharp twigs and he injured his front left paw in the process. The injury was not too serious but still seemed to bother him quite a bit.

This week we have also been blessed with sightings of large herds of buffalo and elephant that have been moving through the area.

Simbambili Team

One morning as always the safari started with some warthog sniffing around the waterhole as we were having our first cup of coffee and as we departed from the lodge we came across some very fresh leopard tracks with a difference, these tracks were accompanied by two sets of cub tracks !! We were excited and after some intensive tracking we found Nyaleti and her two cubs in the Manyeleti River. The cubs went in to hiding but Nyaleti came very close to the vehicle and started calling for the cubs as if wanting to show them off. One of the cubs came out after about 10min. A great sighting for ranger, tracker and guests.

We were treated to an even better sighting a day later when Nyaleti was found with her cubs on a bushbuck kill close to Big Dam. Mafufunyane has been seen marking his territory on a regular basis and we were even treated to a sighting of him killing a young warthog right in front of our vehicle.

The male leopard Tyson and the female, Salayexe were spotted early one morning on our southern boundary. When we got there they started mating which was great and made for a truly memorable sighting. After they had mated they moved further south and we were unable to follow. It was not until later in the week that we were able to track and relocate Salayexe moving west past Simbambili Lodge. During the week the female leopard Ntima and her cub were also seen in the south of our traversing area looking great as always.

Another great sighting during the last week was of a cheetah that had just killed an impala. We were watching some baboons basking in the morning sun when they all of a sudden went crazy and alarm calling. We followed their gaze and found the cheetah that had just made a kill. He started feeding straight afterwards.

We had 3 females and one male lion (Tsalala pride) in our area for a few days during the week and this pride made two kills before moving south again. The herd of approximately 300 buffalo is still in the area and providing regular viewing. The elephant sightings have also been exceptional since it is the middle of winter and water is scarce.

Simbambili Team

As we approach the new week the surrounding bush remains dry & visibility is good so as a result in general game sightings have improved over the last few days

A kilometer from the lodge we currently have a known hyena den with a very relaxed four month old cub and we often stop by for a look. Whenever we arrive the cub is lying at the entrance of the den with the adults nowhere in sight. On one occasion this week when we arrived at the den we spotted 6 of them about 300 meters away; all running towards the waterhole where two of them were already sniffing & howling around a bush.

A large male baboon was sitting in a tree but was so spooked by the hyena that he tried to hide by jumping onto a fallen tree. Unfortunately the hyena did not miss this opportunity and attacked the baboon. We noticed that the baboon had a broken jaw. The hyenas swarmed over the baboon biting at it and causing severe blood loss. The large baboon tried to defend himself but this was truly a losing battle as the dominant female hyena grabbed it by the throat and suffocated it slowly. The hyenas then fed on the baboon and fought with each other to rip pieces off the carcass before the dominant female dragged it off to the den & her cub.

Leopard sightings have been plentiful this week and we were fortunate enough to find the female leopard, Nyeleti & her 4 month old cubs in one of the denser areas on the reserve. As the cubs are now getting used to the vehicles they are also getting a lot easier to view. We found her again the next day, drinking at the dam early in the morning as the bush was just waking up and a full belly proclaimed that she had managed to kill & feed the previous night

Simbambili Team