Rangers’ Report November 2011

This month started off on a high… the arrival of the babies! Impalas, blue wildebeest and warthogs are just some of the herbivores which will give birth during the start of the rainy season. The first babies arrived on the 5th of this month and they just kept coming from there. Although we have not had a lot of heavy rain yet, the effect of the 66mm we did get is showing! With the rain, also comes the heat. Our days are getting quite hot now and with an average max temperature of 32˚C we are feeling the heat of summer! With all the aspects of summer being here, the Woodlands Kingfishers got all excited and we now have them calling overtime during the day and sometimes even during night time! The frog choir in the fishpond next to reception is entertaining our guests with their beautiful sounds during the evenings.

Elephants

Hyenas cooling down in Rampan by Morné Fouché

Even though some breeding herds have moved out of our area, we still have our fair share of good elephant sightings. With the rainy season here, all trees are wearing their new green leaves, including the Mopani trees. Elephants are very fond or these trees and as soon as the new leaves are visible, they will move to an area where there are plenty of these trees. At this stage we see a lot of young males who have been kicked out of the big breeding herds. These young males are now unsure of where they fit in, as they are no longer welcome with the breeding herds or with the older males. The young males get kicked out of the herd at a certain age (usually between 12-15 years) and then they will sometimes link up with other young males or with an old male who is willing to have him tag along, learning the tricks of the trade.

Buffalo

We had good sightings of a generous sized breeding herd during this month and we are also still getting a visit from the old bulls every now and again. Overall, the dominant bulls are in great shape, with all the nice green grass. Whenever you see them, they are either eating or resting and cooling down in a mud wallow. Buffaloes have massive cheek teeth and broad incisors with a prehensile tongue, which gathers and bundles grass before each bite. This enables the buffalo to feed efficiently in longer grass. Buffaloes are ruminants, meaning they have a 4 chambered stomach. Their diet mostly consists of grass, but they will also eat herbs and leaves which will make up 5% of their diet when there is not enough grass to eat.

Lions

We had some fantastic lion sightings this month! We saw the Tsalala females, Nkuhuma males and also two of the big boys, the Majingilane males. By the looks of things, the Tsalala pride has split up. BB rejoined her two older daughters and their cubs. The one older daughter also lost her tail and she now looks just like her mother! The four younger Tsalala females are still moving around in order to avoid the Majingi males. The youngsters are doing really well for themselves, now hunting and killing big and small animals. This might be why BB left them, as she knew she did her part and it’s up to them to do the rest. It can also be that she is coming into oestrus and she doesn’t want to put their lives at risk when looking for a male to mate with. It is unknown at this stage if they will join up again, but the bush always holds some unexpected surprises, so you never know!

Leopard

Breeding herd of elephants drinking water by Morné Fouché

Salayexe is looking really good. It can’t be long before she will give birth and she now even looks a bit uncomfortable when walking around. The father of the cubs is not Tyson as we predicted, but a new young male who came into our area and claimed a small territory for himself. Tyson has actually been very scarce the last few months and he is seen more in the south at this stage. Mafufunyana was seen in our area, again moving around in his old territory. It really looks like the old worrier is coming to the end of his reign. It will be sad to see him go one day, but this is how it works in the wild: survival of the fittest. Kurula is a good mother and she has done very well with raising her cubs. They are a year old now and their chances of reaching adulthood are looking good. Kurula is still maintaining her 100% success rate as she has raised both her cubs with all three litters successfully, touch wood. With the first litter it was the two girls: Thandi and Shadow. The second litter, two boys: Nduna and his brother and now one of each – this is remarkable if you ask me!

Special Sighting

This month we actually had more of a special merge taking place, rather than a special sighting. The young Styx male lion joined forces with the four young Tsalala females. It looks like the four young females realized that a male will be a good asset to their group and as they say, the more the merrier!

Did you know?

The word ‘tadpole’ is derived from the Greek words “tad” meaning toad and “pole” meaning head. Come to think about it, a tadpole does look like a small frog head, with a little tail…

Hope you enjoyed this month’s report. See you out on game drive soon!

Morné Fouché

Rangers’ Report October 2011

October is usually a good month for game viewing, with the weather and sightings all working together. This month was no exception. We had nineteen wild dogs in our area, causing chaos amongst the impala and also with some hyenas who tried to steal their kill! Regarding the weather, the mornings and evenings are still cool, but lovely. The afternoons are warm, but not too hot yet. We’ve had 50mm of rain up to date. Although this is not much, every drop is a blessing and the bush is transforming into a beautiful green landscape. Although the average maximum temperature for October was 30˚C, the temperatures went scouring high during some days, with the real feel temperature being well above 40˚C. I can safely say that summer is here!

Elephant

Hyena by Morné Fouché

With the rainy season on the way, the breeding herds are splitting up into smaller groups as rain brings more water and more vegetation. Within each group there’s a leader called the matriarch. She will decide on the direction of the next move and will have the best instincts on where the next, closest water source, food and minerals are. The survival of the herd depends on the decisions she makes. When there is an abundance of food and water, she will split the group, giving her sisters and sometimes even her oldest daughters, their own group to lead. We are very blessed to have elephants moving past the lodge during the day and some of our guest had amazing sightings of breeding herds in front of the lodge, while they were having lunch or relaxing on their viewing decks.

Buffalo

The big breeding herds were nowhere to be seen the past month, possibly because they are spending more time close to the firebreaks that have been burned. This is normally where the first sign of green grass would be after the winter. Now, as we’ve had some rain and the grass in the bush is growing and becoming green again, they will slowly return. The older and dominant males stayed around and we saw them on a regular basis. Either eating, drinking or just cooling down in the water. The buffalo sightings were actually bitter sweet as we saw a lot of buffalo kills made by lions this month.

Lion

The lion sightings were unbelievable. We’ve had lions interacting, hunting, feeding and mating! The Majingi males moved north this month and spent a lot of time in our traversing area. This move might be related to the six Matimba males who are currently moving southwards. While in the area, the Majingi’s provided us with a lot of interesting sightings and photo opportunities. Within the first week, they chased around BB the lioness and her 4 youngsters, splitting them up. They also brought down a buffalo cow and her calf. They chased the two Nkuhuma males off their buffalo bull kill as well. As if this was not enough for a week, two of them then mated with BB. The mating took place right after the males chased BB and the youngsters apart. BB’s motherly instincts kicked in and she went straight in the direction of the Majingi’s, following them. She knew that by mating with them, she would lead them away from the youngsters and that they would then be safe. The two Ottawa males are also doing well and still moving around our area. The young male of the Styx pride is also doing well. The two Nkuhuma males are now slowly getting more used to our vehicles and we are certain that they are productive hunters because every time we see them, their bellies are full.

Leopard

Wildebeest by Morné Fouché

Tyson is somewhat skittish at the moment. We do not see him very often, but do get a glimpse of him every now and again. Salayexe is moving all over her territory, making sure that no other leopards are hanging around in her area. We have our fingers crossed that she is actually looking for a safe place to give birth, as this is normally what pregnant females will do beforehand! Kurula and her cubs are in a very good condition and the cubs are growing up very fast. They will be with mum for another few months and then they will be kicked out to start their solitary life. I have some interesting news as well this month. We have a new young male that has moved into our area! He came from the south and took over part of Nsagwen’s territory, in his absence. To the north of him, lies the territory of the older and more experienced male, Mafufunyana. It was just a matter of time before the young male would meet his match. What a sighting this was! The standoff took place over a period of two days until, eventually, the more experienced leopard prevailed. It is good to see that Mafufunyana is not yet pulling back and still has some fight left in him.

Special Sighting

We were very fortunate to spend time with a pack of nineteen wild dogs. It is something out of this world to see this majestic animals hunt and take care of their pups. We got to see them kill two impala’s right in front of the lodge when they came to our open are to drink from the waterhole. I am sure that our active Africam viewers also enjoyed this sighting! The best sighting with them, however, must have been when they killed an impala right next to one of our game drive vehicles.

Did you know?

An elephant’s tusks are in fact modified, elongated upper incisor teeth, which consists of a unique combination of dentine cartilaginous material and calcium salts.

Hope you enjoyed this month’s report. See you out on game drive soon!

Morné Fouché

Rangers’ Report September 2011

September can be best described as a month of ups and downs… We had some awesome wild dog sightings, as well as fighting leopards, fighting lions, lion cubs and to top all of that, a huge breeding herd of about 1000 buffaloes! The downside of the month I will only share with you later on. We experienced some really hot days, with the average maximum temperature for the month being 31˚ C. We still had some cold days in between, but the temperatures mostly reminded me more of summertime than spring. Morning game drives are becoming more pleasant with the sun rising earlier and therefore the hot water bottles will not be needed for much longer. The surrounding vegetation is still pale brown and dry, but there are still some nutrients left in the grass and this will be sufficient until we have our first proper summer rainfall.

Elephant

by Robin Hester, South Africa (Elephant Plains Guest)

We have some big breeding herds in our area. In each of them you will find newborn and month old babies. Elephants breed throughout the year, but most births occur during early summer. Cows are only in estrous for 3 to 6 days and their gestation period is a full 22 months, that’s almost 2 years! One baby is born at a time and there have been very few recordings of twins being delivered. When a calf is born, it weighs around 100kg and stands 90cm to the shoulder. The calf will suckle on mum and is normally weaned between the age of 3 and 5 years, just before the birth of the next calf. Baby elephants will get their little tusks between 18 and 20 months, if it is a male and 27 and 30 months, if it is a female. The females, or cows, will stay in the breeding herd and the males will leave the herd after about 12 years.

Buffalo

Buffaloes remain one of nature’s strangest animals. One minute they seem calm and the next they are stampeding! As they are the smallest of the Big Five herbivores, they are easier targets for predators like lions. Large packs of wild dogs will even attempt to catch the calves. Buffaloes might appear aggressive if lions are in their immediate surroundings and they will sometimes take their frustrations out on anything, including the surrounding bush. These temper tantrums can sometimes be quite funny to watch! The majority of the females in the breeding herds have round bellies at the moment. Buffaloes do not really have a breeding season, but nearly all the births will be in the summer. Females occurring in the Kruger Park area will mostly give birth between January and April. The reason for this would obviously be an abundance of water and food.

Lions

September turned out to be a great month for lion viewing. The two young Nkuhuma males are having a really tough time. Firstly they got chased around by the Majingilane males and then they had a fight with the two Ottawa brothers. The Nkuhuma males decided not to accept the young male (that was seen with them last month) into their coalition and they are yet again moving around alone. The Ottawa brothers are exploring more and more, going further east every time. They are also now looking for females and an own territory, as they are still maturing. BB and the 4 youngsters of the Tsalala pride are still avoiding the Majingilane males. They are all still very healthy and fit and are now strong enough to take down a buffalo every now and again. But with all this happiness comes a sad end. The two other Tsalala females brought their 8 cubs into our area a few days before the end of September. The four smallest cubs are believed to be 3 months old. Tragedy struck when the two females went after a breeding herd of an estimated 1000 buffaloes. Two cubs got trampled by the herd but the other six were luckily not harmed. It was heart breaking to see the lionesses return from their successful hunt, only to find two of their cubs killed. These two members of the Big 5 will always remain one another’s biggest enemies.

Leopard

Saddle-billed Stork at Bush Camp Pan

Our resident leopards were all out and about this month, although some of them were a bit shy and hard to find at times. Whenever there is a high lion population in a certain area, smaller carnivores tend to hide away a bit. We had some good sightings with Salayexe and she appears to be pregnant once again. On the other hand, it was a sad month for Ntima, as one of her cubs got killed by Mafufunyana. This definitely confirms that he was not the father of the cubs. It is very common for males to kill any cubs they did not sire.

Special sighting

Have you ever witnessed teamwork and survival of the fittest at its best? BB, the 4 youngsters and a young Styx male lion was in the process of bringing down a buffalo bull when they got interrupted by two of the Majingilane males. The males chased them off of the buffalo and killed him themselves. How is that for crossing the line?

Did you know?

Ruminants have a 4 chambered stomach. These include the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.

Hope you enjoyed this month’s report. See you out on game drive soon!

Morné Fouché

Rangers’ Report August 2011

The month of August was a very productive month where game viewing is concerned. As if all the wonderful sightings were not enough to make every day exciting, we had lovely weather conditions as well. Some days were a bit chilly, but I can definitely feel that summer is on the way! The days are overall pleasant with an average temperature of 26˚C. The 13.5mm of rain we had also brought along some new green grass, especially on the firebreaks. Some acacia trees are now also wearing a new, green outfit. As the sun is rising earlier in the morning and setting later in the evening, we will shortly change over to our summer times, meaning early morning wake-up at 05:00 to start the 05:30 game drive. Our afternoon drive will depart at 16:00.

Elephants
It is wonderful to see all the elephants coming back to our area for the different vegetation found here in the northern part of the reserve. The more southwest you go, you will come across open plains, less trees and more grasslands. Elephants have the largest environmental impact than any other mammal, except for man. The root of the problem is the increasing concentration of elephants in one specific area within parks. Tree destruction is a normal elephant activity and when spread over a wide area, it contributes to habitat diversity and soil turnover. Therefore it is actually a positive action for elephants to move out of a specific area for a season, in order to give trees and vegetation a chance to rehabilitate and grow, in order to feed other animals during the next season.

A herd of giraffes

Rhino
What a treat it was to welcome two new babies this month! Before giving birth, a female rhino will look for dense cover where she will deliver the calf and hide there for a few hours. The calf can walk within the first hour of birth, but is a bit wobbly for a few days, until he gets used to moving along with mom. Within a month after birth, the female resumes her normal routine with her new baby by her side. Rhino babies are weaned at the age of 2 months and will then graze together with their mothers. The rest of the rhinos are doing very well. Shorthorn has left the female group and joined up with a young male and female who came into his territory. We also saw Londoz a few times, still chasing after the females as usual.

Buffalo
This last month we were lucky enough to have a breeding herd of about 400 buffalo that came into our area for a few days at a time. It is interesting to sit amongst such a big herd and witness all the different personalities and structures within the group. Same as last month, we had the buffalo bulls of about 20-25 in a group that mainly stick to a waterhole or mud wallow. Although males and females occasionally take mud baths, dominant males and dagga boys wallow more frequently and may spend a couple of hours a day in mud wallows, especially during the hottest hours of the day. For the buffalo, it’s a great way to cool down when they take a mud bath or go into the water, but also a prevention method against parasites.

Lion
When it comes to lion sightings it has been another awesome month. We saw the Tsalalas, Ottawa brothers, Nkuhuma brothers and a few other young males. To start off, it looks like the Nkuhuma brothers have accepted another young male into their brotherhood as the three of them were seen feeding together on a buffalo kill and they are still walking together. I think the brothers might have realized that having another member in the coalition will be a great asset for them, hunting wise. Young males will sometimes join other young males to form a bigger coalition. The Ottawa males are coming into our area more often, but don’t stay very long before moving west again to a more familiar area. It might be because of the absence of the dominant males that they are now exploring new areas. The last update we got was when they linked up with the Sparta pride and were busy mating far southeast. BB and the 4 youngsters are doing very well and they were in our area for most of the month.

Full moon in the bushveld

Leopards
All the resident leopards were out and about and really provided us with unbelievable sightings. Salayexe was seen mating with one of the unknown young male leopards and also with Tyson. It sometimes happens that female leopards mate with more than one male to ensure that she conceives. Shadow was seen mating with Nsagwen for 4 days, so hopefully in the next 110 days she will have new spotted bundles of fluff. Kwatile and her cub are doing very well. Safari is still moving all over everyone’s territory. Ntima is the main attraction, with the small cubs, walking with her and climbing trees. Kurula and her cubs also gave us a big surprise when we found them on a kill. She called the cubs and suddenly 3 cubs appeared. We saw the 2 younger cubs and their older brother from her previous litter.

Special Sighting
At last the long wait is over. August 8th was a very special day as Ntima finally brought her cubs out for us to see. I couldn’t believe my eyes when she called the cubs and then stood up, fetched them and brought them out. The 2 was about 8-9 weeks old by the time and looked very healthy. Hopefully during the next few weeks she will bring them out more often and introduce them to everyone.

Did you know?
Giraffes will sometimes eat sand and chew on bones. They do this, not because they like the taste of mud and meat, but to obtain precious minerals.

Hope you enjoyed this month’s report. See you out on game drive soon!

Morné Fouché

Rangers’ Report July 2011

Being situated in the Lowveld, we are very fortunate to usually experience mild winters, but this year has been extremely harsh. We’ve already had five cold fronts, with more being predicted. Due to the colder temperatures, game viewing had a roller coaster effect on some days, but we cannot complain as our sightings statistics are still out of this world!  The average maximum temperature for the month was 22 °C and we even had 5 millimetres of rain.

July has been a very productive month for elephant viewing as there were really big breeding herds of 60 – 100 elephants moving in and out of our area. When on game drive, you might notice some trees lying on their sides with branches into the road, almost as if a big storm swept past. In the winter months, when the trees have shed their leaves and the grass is dry, elephants will push over trees to expose the roots, which stores water reserves. They will also strip the bark in order to reach the cambium layer, which transports water from the roots to the rest of the tree. An adult elephant can eat between 200 to 500 kg of vegetation per day. They have a poor digestive system and will only digest 41% of what they eat. Therefore they have to eat a lot more than what is actually used up by their enormous bodies.

Elvis the hippo entertaining guests with his antics

We saw bachelor groups, but also a few breeding herds of buffalo this month. The breeding herds are on the move, searching for food and water. In the winter months the smaller groups will sometimes merge to form a larger herd – safety in numbers against predators. In some of the breeding herds, the last calves have arrived. They are very vulnerable at this stage as they are the slowest, at the back of the moving herd. A buffalo calf will be able to run within the first few hours after birth. Although this will not be very fast, it will be sufficient to keep up with the herd for a little while, especially when predators like lions or hyenas are in the area.

Londoz, the rhino bull, was following a group of females, trying to keep them in his territory. It is my privilege to inform you that he succeeded and that he has also started the courting process with a young female! If everything goes according to plan, we might see her with a newborn calf in about 16 months. A young rhino cow will have her first calf at the average age of 5 years. Skewhorn is still keeping a low profile, but the times we do see him, he is still chasing after the females as usual. Shorthorn on the other hand, has joined up with a group of females and other young males. He is desperately trying to push the younger males out, in order to have all the females to himself.

The young Styx pride male is doing very well. He brought down a giraffe cow all by himself and fed well, until two of the Majingi male lions chased him off his kill. He stood his ground for a while, but later on reluctantly left the kill, only to hide and watch the other males devour it from a distance. The Majingi’s are expanding their territory as they are going very far south in the reserve. We still see them on a regular basis, either mating with females of the other prides, or trailing the buffalo herds. BB the lioness and the four youngsters are still moving around trying to avoid any contact with the Majingi’s. If the four young females can survive another few months, chances are good that the Majingi’s will accept them in the same way they did with the young Styx female. BB’s 2 older daughters are a bit shy at the moment – we got word that both of them have cubs, sired by the Majingi males. It is good to know that the Styx pride is growing in numbers once again! We also had three unknown young males in our area one night, but there was no sign of them again the next day.

A female cheetah sitting on a termite mound scouting the vicinity for impala

We are very fortunate to have very good leopard sightings. Last month we saw Salayexe mating and now in July, she is scent marking her area and calling often to let Moya her niece and Nzele, her daughter know that she is still active in the area. We saw Safari quite a few times during the month and the old lady is looking as strong as ever. There is only one word to describe Safari – she is legendary! Nsagwen, the big male leopard is seen on a regular basis while scent marking and he is expanding his territory each month. Mafufunyana is getting older, but is still holding on to his small territory. We still have not seen Ntima’s small cubs. Leopard cubs will stay hidden for the first 6-8 weeks after birth, so hopefully mum will show them off soon.

This month, we were very fortunate to see Moya and Mati’s brother, Matifuma. His name means “the independent one”. We last laid eyes on him over a year ago! Mati had a kill on Mamba Road. Not long after we pulled into the sighting, his aunt, Salayexe joined him. Suddenly another young leopard appeared out of nowhere! I could not believe my eyes, but it was indeed Matifuma! So this sighting was special in more than one way, not only did we see him for the first time in a year, but we also had three different leopards in one sighting!

Did you know?

Out of the water, a hippo can run up to 36km/h. So be sure never to come between a hippo and its waterhole!

Hope you enjoyed this month’s report. See you out on game drive soon!

Morné Fouché