For those of you who have not heard, a cyclone struck the area on the 18th of January which resulted in 380mm of rain falling in just 2 days. The Sand River flooded extensively and reached its highest level since 2000, which was when the last major flood occurred. The river has changed spectacularly with trees having been uprooted and swept away and huge amounts of sand having been shifted and diverting the main river course in some areas. Fortunately all at Savanna remained dry and safe, and no major loss of wildlife was recorded. As the rains ceased the game viewing quickly returned to its usual high standards but it did however make game drives a bit challenging as everything was saturated and even the roads were difficult to navigate, never mind off-road!
The Mapogo and Ximungwe Pride
The Mapogo brothers were the first lions to emerge after the rains and they had killed a young giraffe. One of the Ximungwe females was also present but the males did not let her get close to the kill. The rest of the Ximungwe pride was then found further south and after viewing them for a few days they managed to kill a full grown waterbuck at Mackenzie windmill. The kill fed the pride for two days after which they lazed around and eventually made their way back north. The next morning the pride was near the Sand river again and there was evidence that they had killed an impala during the night. Two hyena’s caught wind of the remains and approached the area cautiously while the pride watched intently. The lions were too full and lazy to chase the hyena’s though and they quickly grabbed the bones and made off into the bush.
Dewane male leopard and Tlangisa female leopard
Soon after the rains Tlangisa was found following the scent of another leopard. She was calling and soon she found the Dewane male, but he was not interested in her and eventually had enough of her advances and attacked her with vicious bites to her hind quarters. Fortunately the wounds were surface wounds and Tlangisa was not injured too badly.
Ravenscourt female leopard
We were then treated to a rare sighting of the Ravenscourt female and she was looking rather round suggesting she may be pregnant. She lazed and rolled around in the road before moving towards a drainage line where she had hidden the remains of a nyala kill.
Metsi female leopard
Metsi was seen a few times throughout her territory. On two occasions she was in close proximity to her competitors namely the Tasselberry female in the south, and Tlangisa in the north. She was intent on marking her territory and climbed trees regularly in an effort to ‘spot’ her foes. No confrontation was witnessed on either occasion though.
Kashane male leopard and Tasselberry female leopard
Kashane was seen regularly and even made an appearance right up at the river near Ottawa causeway. When he made his way south again we were treated to a full morning of following him on his territorial patrol. In the afternoon he picked up the scent of the Tasselberry female that had been in area the night before and sniffed her out. She had an impala kill near Savanna camp which Kashane promptly claimed and fed off the whole of the next day.
