Leopard diaries

8 June to 13 June 2009

 

As the bush begins to get browner and browner and the waterholes begin to dry up, the morning drives get colder and colder and the guests all grab the hot water bottles provided so as to warm up! Winter is now in full force here at Simbambili and the days are getting ever shorter which of course makes the rangers work even harder in the daylight hours to deliver the usual exceptional game viewing we are accustomed to at Simbambili.

 

This week the game viewing has been exceptional, especially on Friday morning 12 June, we all set out to follow up on the Styx Pride of lions that we had found the night before. Within the first hour of the drive we had picked this pride up only after we first had come across the female leopard Shadow and a new male from the Manyeleti both feeding on an impala that Shadow had killed. This extremely large male had decided to move in and ruin her party. After that the call came over the radio that the Styx Pride were now moving towards the hyena den that we have close by, so we rushed straight there. One of the lionesses began to stalk close to the den where outside the den the adult hyenas were all lying down enjoying the warm morning sun and a little cub was doing the same. Within seconds the first lioness charged and surprised the whole hyena clan, the adults fled in all directions but the poor cub was so surprised by all of this that he turned and ran right into a branch behind him. The lionesses were on him within seconds, leaving the cub motionless.

 

The pride then began to investigate the den, what they did not know was that the clan had come back with more reinforcements this was now ‘Eternal Enemies' the hyenas regrouped and forced the lions back all the time yelping and howling, the lioness then had to move her cubs to a safer place so one of the lionesses moved back and took the cubs to safety while the others stood their ground and fought the hyenas. The noise was unbelievable and deafening, we all sat in amazement as we watched this once in a life time sighting unfold. This was not over! The Tsalala Pride that has their core territory to the south of where this was all unfolding obliviously heard this happening and rushed straight in to investigate. They were also not alone but in the company of a Mapogo male and he was roaring in defiance.  When the Styx Pride heard this they fled for their lives as if the Tsalala pride had of caught the Styx within their territory they would have had the upper hand being with the Mapogo and would have almost certainly killed the cubs present at the sighting. What an incredible morning!

 

This was not the end of the excitement; for on our way back to camp we heard the noise of wild dogs. We rushed into the area where this was coming from, and we found 3 dogs running down the road towards us, we followed them for about 20min before they crossed our boundary and moved into the Manyeleti.

 

This was morning that everybody involved or anybody who knows the African bush will never take for granted and never ever forget.     

 

The Simbambili Team

1June to 8 June 2009

 

 

Crisp mornings and cold evenings is what has greeted us on drive this week. The morning game drives are made a lot more comfortable with the presence of the hot water bottles and a lot of warm blankets. However it is not even always necessary to venture out on safari as the lodge waterhole has proved to be the place to be with hundreds of elephants moving into drink on a daily basis. Buffalo, kudu, impala and zebra are also seen all day around the waterhole, making breakfast, lunch and even dinner extremely exciting for the guests.

 

Lion sightings have been great again this week at Simbambili, with more sightings of the Tsalala Pride with their cubs as well as with the 2 Mapogo males from the South, The Styx pride has also been on the property this week but the sad news is that one of the cubs seems to be missing, as we are only seeing 4 females with 5 cubs instead of 6 cubs. Other additional members of the Styx pride have also been seen in our area with two females that haven't been seen for along time in these parts, that also brought with them 2 new cubs that are still very young.

 

The leopard sightings as always have been exceptional, we were fortunate enough to have Salayexe bring her cubs to their first kill; she managed to kill an impala and brought them to it for all of us to see. What an great sighting this was as the cubs are becoming a lot more relaxed with vehicles and allowing us more time with them and ample photo opportunities for all our guests. The old female, Safari is highly mobile in the area and the distance she is covering is getting a lot bigger than she normally would do, this could be due to the pressure she might feeling from other territorial female leopards like Nyleti and Salayexe.The queen is definitely nearing the end of her dominance but still refuses to give up. Mpilo was also seen this week after a few days of not seeing and she is getting bigger and bigger as we speak. Her mother was also seen once this week. Tyson and Mafunyane were also seen this week, Mafunyane almost every day, he is giving us exceptional sightings as always.

 

The pack of 3 wild dogs moved into our traversing area this week, and seems to be hanging around a lot more than the pack of 12 of dogs that we normally see. We can only hope that this pack of 3 has a more successful time this year, than it did last year, as there were 10 pups and 4 adults last year and all 10 pups died as well as one adult. Hopefully this year they will have more pups and raise them successfully and make this pack a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

 

As for hyena's we have found a new den with 2 tiny baby pups as well as 2 sub adults and quite a lot of adults. This will provide us with guaranteed sightings of these amazing animals.

 

 

The Simbambili Team

21 June to 28 June 2009

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Regards

 

The Simbambili Team

24 May to 31 May 2009

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

Regards 

 

The Simbambili Team