Leopard diaries

Leopard Diaries 27^th December 2010- 2^nd January 2011

december04

We would like to wish all a very prosperous new year and hope that we get to meet many of you and share the wonderful wildlife sightings at Simbmbili over the course of the following year.

The weather has been pleasant over the last week although the lack of rain has a number of us wondering if we are going to have a drier year than last year. The small amount of rain which has fallen has done so mainly at night which has made for a lovely fresh start in the morning.

The highlight of the week however had to be the presence of the wild dog pack, who returned to the property after an absence of approximately two months. The lion viewing has also been good as have large numbers of rhinoceros and buffalo sightings have also been had. The elephants are still scarce but with the marula fruiting season approaching this should not be for too long.

Leopard

A very interesting week of leopard viewing, with almost all, of the resident individuals being seen at some stage through the week. The highlight of the week must be the continued presence of Shadow and her new cub. It is now confirmed that she has lost one of the cubs, which is sad, but expected as this is her first litter and having raised the lone cub to this age is an achievement in itself. The pair was found on a fresh impala kill; early on a morning drive and we had some fantastic viewing of the little ball of spots.

Nsele, the daughter of Salayexe, has also been seen on two different occasions this week. The first sighting was of her as she relaxed in the early morning sun. We had spotted her as she rested on a large termite mound where she spent the next few minutes posing for photographs.

december05

The second sighting we had of this beautiful young leopard was late on Sunday evening when she had a run in with a pack of wild dogs. We had found the dogs which appeared to have stolen an impala kill from a leopard which was sitting uncomfortably in the branches of a nearby tree.

The leopard in question was a young male who has been seen in the area for a few weeks now. It would appear that he had in fact stolen the kill from Nsele who was waiting in the wings to investigate what the commotion was all about. The young leopard female hesitantly entered the area but as soon as the dogs spotted her she was duly chased up another nearby tree. We left the sighting as the dogs moved away with both leopards still uncomfortably sitting in their respective trees!!

Lion

The presence of the four Majingilane males has made for great viewing this week. The coalition of males has spent a large part of the week moving through the northern parts of their territory, they have also been seen in the presence of the Styx pride. We had a great sighting of the males as they woke up from a lazy day. The presence of a female rhino and her sub adult calf got the attention of three of the males who eyed up the par of pachyderms before deciding that the meal was a bit big!

The four females of the Styx pride were found resting on the airstrip on a morning game drive; the pride appeared hungry and watched a herd of impala for most of the morning before conceding defeat and moving off to a shady spot as the day heated up. It would also appear that at least two of the lionesses are pregnant and we are sure that we should have new cubs within the next few weeks.

The pride was seen again on the Sunday afternoon game drive and the most heavily pregnant female was missing from the pride. We will keep you posted but we think that she may have moved away from the pride to give birth.

Elephant

A few herds have been seen this week as they fed whilst moving through the area; one herd in particular was very relaxed and allowed us a fantastic sighting as they fed in the early evening light at some stages passing within a few feet of the game drive vehicle. The presence of these breeding herds has been followed immediately by some large elephant bulls that have been following the herds, in the hope that there may be mating opportunities available.

Buffalo & Rhinoceros

december08

A number of small buffalo herds have been seen during the week. The large waterholes are being utilised, by the buffalo, to cool off during the heat of the day. It is an impressive sight to see upwards of twenty to thirty buffalo resting in the water. The resident buffalo bulls have returned to the area around camp and we are seeing at least four "dagga-boys" utilising the camp waterhole during the heat of the day.

Wild Dog

It was a rather unexpected surprise to find the pack of dogs moving through the western half of our traversing this week. The pack of seven dogs has been seen on three different occasions this week. The highlight was seeing the pack as they chased and brought down two impala lambs. The speed that the dogs eat a fresh kill has to be experienced, it took approximately five minutes for both of the impala kills to be completely finished!!

The dogs were also seen again late on Sunday when they had stolen a kill from the leopard mentioned earlier in the report. We are hoping that the pack will remain with us for an extended stay this year.

New Year Celebrations

december09

We celebrated New Year with some traditional Shangaan dancing which was enjoyed by all of the guests and staff and the festive atmosphere went on long into the night.

We hope that everyone has a fantastic 2011.

Regards

The Simbambili Guiding & Tracking Team

Leopard Diaries 20^th December - 26^th December 2010
december01

At just a glance a lion may look similar to another lion found in a different pride. However when one spends a certain amount of time with certain animals, they begin to reveal individual behaviors. Although it may be scientific taboo to assign human emotions and "personalities" to animals, at Simbambili we have noticed over the years how different each animal really is.

In their autobiography Hunting With the Moon, Dereck and Beverly Joubert also refer to these individual differences with regards to lions:

"We have seen lions come and go over the decade. We will remember them all. Each one was a different character and each one had a different face"

Guides and trackers have come to know and understand certain animals around Simbambili. The cats (lions and leopards), and hyenas are best known, due to the fact that they are territorial and we view them on a fairly regular basis.

Leopard

This week's leopard sightings have reflected the differences between one individual leopard to another.

A young male leopard was seen close to Elephant Plains' airstrip. He was initially sighted from approximately 100m away, feeding on an impala kill in a Marula tree. He instantly became aware of our presence, crouched down and stared intently in our direction. He lost his nerve and quickly descended the Marula, moving into long grass where he felt more secure. He most likely comes from an area to the west, known as Othawa. This property is very large and is driven over by very few vehicles. Some animals coming out of Othawa are thus not relaxed in the presence of vehicles as they have not been exposed to them, and are unaware of their intentions.

Sightings such as this are the crucial points in attempting to gain the trust of a wild animal and ethics plays a very big part. Moving in closer would just have caused the male to run off and abandon his hard earned meal. We moved off to even more of a distance, switched off the vehicle and waited. He eventually returned to his kill, and although warily watching our every move, he began to feed again.

december02

Nyaleti and Mati were both sighted in the south of our traversing, close to Londolozi boundary. Nyaleti, the territorial female of this southern area was seen scent marking to assert her dominance and advertise her presence.

The female leopard in the far east of our traversing, Thandi was sighted twice this week. We are still uncertain whether her newborn cubs survived as they were only ever seen once.

The Ostrich Kkoppie female's cub was seen sleeping up in the high branches of a Marula tree, safe out of harms way while his mother was away.

Lion

Lion sightings this week have been excellent. The Styx pride (four females) was sighted twice this week. On one occasion the eldest female had moved away from the three other females. While sitting with the three females we suddenly heard them start to roar very softly. A distant soft roar was then heard in response. The excitement that swept over the three females as they ran toward the missing pride member was truly incredible. It showed the truly social nature of these big cats and the strength of the bonds between pride members.

december03

The young Styx male was not seen by Simbambili guides this week, but was seen inside Torchwood; a property traversed by Djuma. He appears to be coping on his own and has recovered from his wounds following the fight between him and the four dominant males (The Majingilanes).

A pride very seldom seen, coming from the Manyaleti to the north east was sighted this week. The four Nxuhuma females, joined by the two Kagima males were seen walking north from Safari Airstrip. They were far out of their territory and the males were scent marking consistently. This is a risk as this area is occupied by the four Majingilane males.

Elephant

Not many elephant were seen this week. Sightings consisted mostly of single bulls and one small herd seen moving through very thick vegetation.

A large bull was seen walking along Simbambili Dam wall. The elevated position accentuated his grandeur even more. He then moved east into Vuyatela.

Rhino and Buffalo

Rhino sightings have consisted mostly of the Utah bull, which has been hanging around Elephant Plains Airstrip and had provided us with some great sightings.

Buffalo sighting this week consisted of older bulls in smaller herds. A large herd of bulls, consisting of 15 individuals was sighted at Tree House Pan in the east of our traversing area.

A small herd of one bull and eight cows was seen close to Arathusa Safari Lodge.

Kindest Regards

Shaun D'Araujo

Leopard Diaries 6^th December - 13^th December 2010

The harsh browns and yellows of the Lowveld landscape completely transform in the summer. The rains bring much needed water and nutrients to the vegetation of the area. The new green lush vegetation determines the condition of the herbivores, which in turn play a role in the condition of the predators of the area. In his book, Bushveld Trees: Lifeblood of the Transvaal Lowveld (1993); Malcolm Funston describes the interconnection between all living organisms and the environment as follows:

"The trees of the bushveld are indeed the lifeblood of the eastern Transvaal lowveld (Greater Kruger area), for without them the remaining wilderness of the region would simply not exist as we know it. Certainly the great diversity of wildlife, one of South Africa's most valuable natural assets, would be absent and not only in this country, but the entire world would be poorer from it."

This statement has certainly proved to be true here at Simbambili over the past week. The impala herds have grown substantially as most of the females have given birth to lambs, bringing new life to the Lowveld. These births coincide with the less harsh summer conditions, when food is plentiful, allowing the mothers to produce good quality milk for the lambs.

Leopard

Leopard sightings this week have been amazing. Interesting and new interaction between different leopards has been noted in the area. For instance on one morning drive, the female Nyeleti was seen up a tree, growling aggressively at another young male on the ground, Rhulani. Rhulani, the son of Nyeleti's "younger sister", Salayeshe; had treed Nyaleti and remained on the ground, appearing very confident and satisfied with himself. He did not however, see his father Tyson stalk up behind him. As soon as he saw Tyson he immediately submitted to the much larger leopard. It may be possible that Nyeleti may be coming back into oestrus, which may have attracted Tyson to hang around her for some time.

A few days later, Rhulani was again seen harassing Nyeleti and had stolen an impala kill from her. When Nyeleti's female cub joined the sighting, she was immediately chased up a tree by Rhulani. Nyeleti paced around the base of the tree, frantically contact calling to her cub, now left with nowhere to go as Rhulani had climbed the same tree. Rhulani and the young cub had a scuffle in the tree, after which Rhulani descended and moved off. It is possible that due to his size, he has undergone a huge boost of confidence and has yet to be humbled by another large male leopard (possibly even his own father soon).

Other leopard sightings have included Shadow and the cubs as well as of the young nomadic male we refer to as the Rhino Pan Male.

Lion

Lion sightings this week have been mostly of the younger two of the adult Tsalala females. They were seen on Wednesday on Londolozi boundary and have been hanging around the area, although not sighted every day.

On Monday morning, returning from the far eastern boundary with the Kruger National Park, the four Majingilane male lions were sighted lying in the road just inside of Mala Mala.

The two young Nxuhuma male lions have still been hanging around in the north around Simbambili Dam and on Sunday morning; we tracked and eventually found the two males. They are however still skittish, and if this aspect of them is respected and they are viewed from a distance, we are confident they will eventually allow us to view them close up.

Elephant

A small herd of very relaxed elephants was sighted at Pungwe Pan. The herd trumpeted and rushed toward a Spike thorn thicket. Out of the thicket, on the other side, a young male leopard was flushed out. Even though there is no chance of him killing elephants, they still do not appreciate the presence of a predator.

Bulls have been sighted throughout the property over the past week.

Rhino and Buffalo

Rhino have been plentiful over the last week. The majority of the sightings have been of the Londolozi Bull around Safari Airstrip and Big Dam; and the Utah bull around Elephant Plains.

A large herd of buffalo have been hanging around in the east of the property, close to Arathusa Safari Lodge for about three days. Tracks for other big herds have also been seen further east around Chitwa Chitwa.

Other sightings of buffalo have consisted mainly of older bulls around camp, and in the mud wallows, once the heat of the day has set in by 09h00.

Regards

The Simbambili Guiding & Tracking Team

Leopard Diaries 22^nd - 28^th November 2010

22nov1

What a week of game viewing we have had, with the return of elephants and lions as well as some fantastic leopard interactions!

The weather has been great with a substantial amount of rain falling late in the week, causing the river in front of the lodge to flow briefly. The beauty of an African thunderstorm is still something that we all enjoy.

The return of additional summer migrant birds has made for great bird watching with Lesser Grey Shrikes and European Rollers arriving back through the course of the week. We have also noticed that the Wahlberg's Eagles all have young in the nests we have observed.

22nov2

Leopard

We came across two different leopard in one location on an afternoon drive, these two leopard turned out to be Salayexe and Nyeleti's Female Cub, the younger leopard had been chased up into the top most branches of a nearby tree after a skirmish with the territorial leopard female. Salayexe had taken up a position at the base of the tree and would growl at any movement from the young leopard above her.

Nsele was found on a morning drive with a young impala ram kill which she had stashed into the branches of a large Sheperd's Tree. This young female leopard has proved to be a good hunter and is easily moving towards the solitary adult life of these elusive spotted cats. The surprise of the day was when we found her brother Rhulani in the vicinity of the kill and owing to his bigger size he managed to chase the smaller leopard female from her prize.

The highlight of our leopard viewing this week has been the regular sighting of Shadow and her two young cubs. The leopard family has been seen on most days this week and all three appear to be healthy and the female leopard is providing a regular supply of meat for the growing cubs. The recent impala "baby boom" is providing the family with small but regular meals.

Lion

It was with some excitement that we found and followed two sets of fresh lion tracks early on Wednesday morning. The tracks appeared to be those of two young male lions and it did not take us long to locate the two Nxuhuma male lions as they moved through the riverline close to the lodge. The pair of young males had been chasing a group of buffalo bulls and it appeared that they had still not caught one of their intended prey. The lion pair are not completely relaxed in the presence of the game drive vehicles and we approached with caution. The pair moved off and as we sat with a herd of elephant in the same area the lion pair ran through the herd in pursuit of a young buffalo bull, the buffalo ran off and the lions sensing the unease of the elephants moved away into some thicker bush.

22nov5

These two males were relocated on the following day in the same vicinity but had still not fed and we watched as they attempted to stalk into a herd of zebra but with no success.

The five Tsalala pride lionesses were also seen this week. They were spotted as they attempted to hunt a zebra herd on our southern boundary but the attempt was unsuccessful and the lions decided to rest and wait for nightfall to increase their chances of making a kill under the cover of darkness. The pride was again found on Sunday as they huddled together waiting out the rain that had fallen all morning

Elephant

A large herd of elephants spent the best part of two days moving through the property; the herd numbered approximately twenty and provided us with some good viewing. We have also had a few large bulls moving into the area and it looks like the elephant are finally returning to the northern Sabi-Sands.

Buffalo & Rhinoceros

Buffalo numbers have been relatively low with a few of the resident bulls providing us with the majority of the sightings this week. The herds have been drawn further south into the reserve onto the recently burnt areas which have a nutritious flush of new grass due to the rains.

Rhinoceros sightings have been great with a number of rhinoceros being seen on most drives this week.

Regards

The Simbambili Guiding & Tracking Team

Leopard Diaries 15^th - 21^st November 2010

15nov1

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.

15nov2

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

15nov3

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

More Articles...

<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>