Greg Coates Photography

Mapogo Male Lions

The brothers have been somewhat disjointed this past week with Makhulu leaving Skoro with the Ximungwe pride after the buffalo kill was finished. Makhulu made his way north and to everybody’s surprise joined up with Sataan who returned from the north after a two week absence. The two spent the day sleeping and then awoke to give an impressive display of roaring around sunset. Makhulu then left his brother and was found the next morning having stolen an impala kill from Hlabankunzi and her cub. Makhulu remained with the kill for the rest of the day while Sataan once again disappeared. On the same day Skoro was still with the Ximungwe pride and lazily observed from the shady comfort of a bushwillow tree as the lionesses chased an old buffalo bull. The next morning we found Sataan in the area where the Ximungwe pride had been, very well fed and calling for the pride. The pride had however avoided him by heading north, perhaps to protect the cubs, and he had to spend the day on his lonesome. Skoro chose to keep following the pride and ended up way in the north while both his brothers met up again in the south. Sataan was still looking very well fed and so did Makhulu who seems to have stolen another kill during the night, this time from the cheetah with the drooping bottom lip (Makamisa).

Ximungwe Pride

The three females and two older cubs were not seen for a couple of days as they no doubt slept off the remains of the buffalo they killed the week before. They then surfaced in the familiar area of Cheetah Flats where the mother has been keeping the cubs for the last few months. The pride lazed about for the morning with the cubs continuing there playful ways, but were rudely interrupted by the large herd of buffalo who came to drink at the dam. The pride showed some interest but then decided to rather keep a low profile, perhaps because of the presence of the cubs. The buffalo eventually moved off and the pride settled down for what was going to be a hot day. They were found in the same place in the afternoon, but things quickly started happening as an old buffalo bull lagging behind the herd happened to walk straight towards them. The lionesses flanked and eventually gave chase but it was a rather half hearted effort. Perhaps it was yet again another ploy to rather chase the buffalo off to protect the cubs rather than actually hunting it.

There was also a sighting of the lioness with the end of her tail missing (Stompie) and her two cubs. The cubs appear to be very relaxed given the limited exposure they have had to vehicles which is great news. She kept them in the thick bushes though and chose to move them during the day so they were not found again thereafter.

Ottawa Pride

The Ottawa pride has spent most of the last week on our concession which has been great as we don’t see nearly as much of this pride as we would like. Most sightings however were of them just lazing about as they preferred to get active later in the evening once all the game drive vehicles had returned to camp.

Kashane Male Leopard

Kashane made us work for the privilege of spending time with him this week. His tracks were found in the southern part of his territory but as he covers such vast distances they had to be followed a long way before we got close.  He had headed into a block of thick bush but fortunately it seemed as though he was following the scent of where Hlangisa had walked a few days before. This gave us an idea of where to look for him in the block and he was eventually found. We followed him as he continued along the trail of the young female, but he eventually gave up and moved more north where he was left after dark. 

Shinzele Male Leopard

Shinzele was seen twice in the last week. The first sighting we had him very sleepy as he rested the whole morning in the shade of some bushwillows. He lifted his head every now and then but his eyes would soon close and he would fall flat and do what these big cats do best during the day – sleep! The second sighting was far more entertaining as he took vehicles on a 4 x 4 expedition along the banks of the Sand River. The vehicles did well to keep up with him and as just reward he climbed a large Jackalberry tree and posed for some great photos. He was left fast asleep in the tree where he no doubt enjoyed a catnap in relative peace.

 
 

Mashiyambanje Male Leopard and Unidentified Female

The tracks of a male and female leopard lead us to Mashiyambanje and a female leopard we have not seen before. The female was an older looking leopard and a little skittish, but she was actively courting the young male. He was somewhat reluctant though and reacted quite viciously to her advances. Due to the females shy nature they were not seen to actually mate, but audio from the thick bushes suggested that the female did get her way a few times. Mashiyambanje was seen again the next day in a similar area but the female was gone suggesting she had returned to her own territory beyond our concession after getting what she wanted.

  

Hlabankunzi Female Leopard and Cub

Hlabankunzi was found drinking from a pan one morning and when followed, she lead us back to an adult male impala kill she had made during the night. Her cub was also in the area and both seemed to have had a good feed already. The carcass was however still too heavy for her to lift into a tree which proved to be costly as Makhulu Mapogo stole it during the night. The following morning the two leopards were still in the area but observed the male lion from the safety of the branches of a nearby marula tree. The male lion however left very few scraps and the leopards had to move on without gaining substantially from the kill.

 
 

Hlangisa Female Leopard

Hlangisa was uncharacteristically found quite far north, right in the heart of Hlabankunzi’s territory. This is proof that she is gaining in confidence and looking to explore and hopefully expand on her core territory in the south. A vehicle returning from drive the next day was alerted by the distress calls of an antelope in the area where Hlangisa was headed the day before. Upon following up, they found her holding a young duiker which she proceeded to ‘play’ with for over an hour. She would let the young antelope go and then chase it down again and again, and even climbed a tree with it still alive. Eventually she disappeared into thick bush with it and all noises seemed to stop suggested she did finally kill it. The continued calling of the duiker must almost certainly have attracted the attention of other predators in the area and when Hlangisa was seen the next day she seemed not have been well fed, suggesting she probably lost the kill. She moved into the area where Makhulu Mapogo was sleeping off his recently acquired impala kill from Hlabankunzi but luckily managed to avoid him, even after he seemed to catch her scent and followed for some distance. 

Xikavi Female Leopard

The sounds of an alarm calling kudu lead us to the location of Xikavi one morning. When we arrived in the area it was a bit strange as the kudu did not flea as is normally the case upon detecting a predator. Instead this kudu intently stared at the leopard and kept barking. Only then did we see that Xikavi had in fact caught the female kudu’s calf! The distraught mother was desperately trying to intimidate the leopard into releasing the calf but Xikavi took no notice and killed the calf in minutes. She then dragged the carcass towards a drainage line where she hid it from vultures and other opportunistic predators. Unfortunately the terrain was inaccessible so we were not able to view her on the kill but the events we had just witnessed were enough to have us completely thrilled. As it turned out she did lose the kill to a male leopard that was seen in the area the next day.

Cheetah

The last week has provided very good cheetah viewing with two separate male cheetahs being viewed. The first was a younger male who made an attempt on some impala on the McKenzie airstrip but unfortunately failed. He moved east and just as it was getting dark he managed to catch a steenbok. He was left feeding after dark (as we cannot shine a spotlight on diurnal hunters) but was not relocated the next day. This suggests he moved further east and off our concession.

A couple of days later the familiar form of the male with the drooping bottom lip (Makamisa) was silhouetted against the dawn sky. He was found lying on top of a termite mound in one of his favourite hunting grounds, the aptly named Cheetah Flats. He spotted a herd of impala in the clearing and seemed interested but decided against making an attempt. Instead he moved back south and bumped into the Ximungwe pride and Skoro. The startled cheetah took off at pace and headed away from the lions where he no doubt concealed himself as he was not relocated for two drives thereafter. He did eventually show himself again in the afternoon, this time in the clearings to the west and moved north to avoid another encounter with the lions. He again spotted a herd of impala and this time he did give chase. He was lost as he entered the thick bush but some persistent following up by guides at the sighting revealed that he had been successful in catching an adult female impala. He rested a while before feeding and was left as dusk fell.

Wild Dog

We were lucky enough to have the pack on the property for most of the last week. We saw them on four consecutive drives which was fantastic as they usually don’t stick around very long. They were initially found north of the river where they had just finished off an impala and were looking to rest. In the afternoon they did try to catch more impala but failed. This took them down to the Sand River where we had an amazing sighting of them on a sandbank with the river as the backdrop. The water was still quite high but they were looking to cross nonetheless. Very warily the pack searched up and down the banks to take the shortest and shallowest route across. Unfortunately we lost visual of them in the reeds before they crossed but vehicles following up in the afternoon found them well south of the river, somewhere they have not been for months. It was not long before another impala fell victim to these voracious predators, but unfortunately it was also the end of the sighting as they moved east and off our concession soon afterwards.