30th April - Good Cats Once Again!

Today was another nice and warm ‘winters’ day, clear blue skies and great temperatures. The game viewing was not too bad either, with some good lion and leopard sightings.

I headed down to south to go and see what was happening with the three male lions and the buffalo carcass. The general game was a bit quiet, although there were tracks for a rhino that had wandered past the camp during the night. We arrived at the buffalo carcass and were greeted by a group of vultures hanging around waiting patiently for their chance to feed, but as one lion was still at the carcass, it wasn’t going to happen. The other two lions were resting in the shade, but the one at the carcass decided to move what little remained under some cover, and dragged the carcass into a small drainage line before picking up a piece and sauntering off into the bush.

Tracks for the Sohebele pride were also around the area of the carcass, but clearly they were dissuaded from going closer due to the presence of the three nomads. Herald later found the Sohebele pride, including the adult females right up north near Concrete crossing! After seeing some kudu, waterbuck and impala, as well as coffee with another hippo and some crocs, I headed back north hoping to relocate on either Mbali or Kuhanya female leopards; both of whom were found this morning – Mbali at Madash Dam, and Kuhanya at Concrete crossing.

I was about to pop into the lions when Herald found Mbali again, so chose to go see her first. We followed her for a while until she spotted some impala and looked set to stalk them. She then lost interest and headed off to the east and we left her to go and see the Sohebele pride.

It was already late in the morning and they had settled down for the day, not even a passing giraffe or a group of nearby waterbuck got their interest. Some of the sub-adults came and rubbed up again mom before flopping down in the shade to rest once again. On the opposite side of the river, we also saw a large group of bull elephants. Heading back we had some warthog and the mother giraffe and her baby on our airstrip.

The afternoon drive found the Sohebele pride still resting around the same area before they eventually got mobile to the north, no doubt heading back towards Ingwelala. No leopards were found in the afternoon, but I ventured south and had some zebra, kudu, impala, a day-time sighting of an African Wild Cat, a spotted hyena at Hide Dam, and then the large herd of buffalo grazing south away from Entrance Dam. I ended off the drive with a short sighting of the Sohebele lions before they headed towards a private camp and we had to leave them be!

I just hope that the Sohebele’s do not disappear for too long again!

28th & 29th April – The Lions are Back!

The lion sightings over the last two days have been really good. Unfortunately for the Sohebele sub-adults, those three nomadic young male lions pitched up at some stage during the early ours of Tuesday morning and stole the dead buffalo carcass away from them. I had a sneaking suspicion that the Sohebele male would soon show up there as well, and on Tuesday afternoon, the old lion was found less than 100m away from the dead buffalo!

Tuesday afternoon also featured two other lion sightings; one was of three of the Sohebele sub-adults sleeping off a bit of the nights meal at Lion pan, some distance from the carcass it must be said. There were no signs of the other two lions from that group. Giyani had also no sooner finished his sundowners, climbed back in the Land Rover, then drove around the corner and bumped into two of the Timbavati male lions! He followed them as they headed to Vielmetter trough to have a drink then wandered back south to their territory. It has been a long time since these lions ventured this far north!

Tuesday also produced sightings of the large buffalo herd, the odd bull elephant, a skittish male leopard near Makulu dam, as well as a well-fed Rockfig female leopard sleeping in the Machaton River just south of Vielmetter camp.

Wednesday morning saw the welcome return of a herd of elephants to the property, not far from Nkombi pan on our western boundary. Giyani had a brief sighting of Java Dam female leopard before she moved off into the bush and was not followed. The three nomadic lions were still feasting on the buffalo, and Sohebele male was in close attendance!

The afternoon drive (my first one back in a few days) was a really good one. There was good general game up north; I ticked off warthog, impala, kudu, three groups of waterbuck, a male giraffe, a large elephant bull and two bushbuck between camp and Concrete crossing. I enjoyed a nice sundowner with a crocodile and a hippo at the far end of Mbali dam before heading down to the main event of the drive; the lions and the buffalo carcass!

However, as I got into the area, one of the southern vehicles bumped into Nkateko female leopard a few hundred meters further down the road! She had just caught a scrub hare, so I decided to temporarily pass on the lions and go and see the leopard. As we arrived, she jumped up a marula tree with her fresh kill, but she was playing with it so much it fell off the branch! She jumped down, retrieved the hare and went to another marula tree. Repeat this above sequence twice, and she eventually moved to a third tree where she eventually found a nice spot, and began feeding without any clumsy antics!

Five minutes later we were watching two of the nomadic male lions rip into the well-ripened buffalo carcass (the smell about as pleasant as you could image a three-day-old dead buffalo to be!). The most interesting thing for me was that the Sohebele male was lying right there! Literally, he slept right next to the carcass, one paw on the front leg of the buffalo, while the two other lions fed less than 1m from him! Besides the odd growl, there was no real interaction between these adversaries, and they seemed to have settled on a truce agreement that allowed all four of the male lions to feed in peace!

We headed back home, and spotted a side-striped jackal milling around the area of the buffalo carcass, but besides that, the nocturnal creatures avoided us. Still, it was a great drive to see two kills a few hundred meters apart – lets hope this continues for a while!

26th & 27th April – Good Lions, but Not Many Elephants

The last two days have been a bit quiet, but still not too bad from a Big 5 point-of-view. Sunday morning started out with us tracking some lions that we suspected to be the Sohebele Pride, but when my tracker found them, it was in fact the three young nomadic male lions. At first they ran away, but Herald managed to relocate them in his vehicle and got a fair sighting of them. In the afternoon, I attempted to find them again, and although we saw signs of where they had been trying to hunt some buffalo, after the tracks went down into the riverbed, we decided to leave it.

Sunday also produced sightings of the young Machaton male lion in the company of one of the younger females from the same pride. They were seen lying together in the morning, and in the afternoon I followed them for a while as they wandered around in the area of Elephant dam.

The large buffalo herd that have been moving around were again seen during both morning and afternoon drives, unsurprisingly moving between Makulu dam and Entrance dam (just for a change!). Elephants remained scarce, with no signs of any breeding herds up north, although around camp we once again saw a lone bull elephant. Andrew found Nkateko female leopard in the afternoon wandering around near Vielmetter camp, but she went down into the Machaton River. She eventually crossed out where Giyani relocated her sleeping on a termite mound. I was already on my way to see the Machaton lions, so I never got a chance to see her.

Andrew also managed to see the old Sohebele male lion who was found sleeping in the Nhlarulumi riverbed in the late afternoon.

Monday morning was also a bit quiet on the general game front, and although the large buffalo herd was reported down south at Elephant dam, none of the Motswari vehicles responded. We did all manage to go and see the five Sohebele sub-adults resting in a Mopane thicket near Makulu dam. They were looking alright, not well-fed, but at the same time, not particularly hungry. Even if they were, thing changed with a stroke of luck! While some of the guides were following them in the late evening, they chanced upon a dead male buffalo! A free meal is always welcome in the bush, and especially for these youngsters.

The leopards were represented today by Nkateko female who was found late in the morning. I spent over an hour with her; starting off with her resting on a shady rock, then spotting a squirrel up a bushy purple-pod cluster-leaf that she jumped into in pursuit of the critter, but it was too thick even for her to move around in! She ignored three giraffe, then went and climbed up a nice marula, napped for half an hour before continuing to wander around. We eventually left her when she climbed up another marula tree and went to sleep. I spent much of the morning tracking Mangadjane male leopard, but had no luck. In the afternoon, I believe that Palence did see Mangadjane in the vicinity of Makulu dam, but the highlight was for Herlad who was following him as he headed towards some impalas on the airstrip outside of Java camp. While watching the impalas, Mangadjanes attention was drawn to Rockfig female who came out onto the airstrip and was promptly chased up a marula tree! The sighting was not over, as Nkateko also came and joined the party, as did two hyenas!!! So there Herald was watching three leopards up one tree, Mangadjane growling at the other two who took refuge in the flimsy top branches, and two hyenas walking around the bottom of the tree as they thought their might be a kill - not a bad way to end off the day! Andrew then also got to see the always impressive but infrequently seen Argyle male leopard right at the camp as he was returning home from his drive last night.

25th April – Mtenga-tenga Rhino

Today started with three buffalo in front of the lodge, and continued with some exciting news; that a pack of eight wild dogs were seen just 2km north of the camp, but they had moved off into the adjoining property. We drove around a small piece of land called “Motswari Wedge” in the hope that they would crossing back, but it didn’t happen. About an hour later, an off-duty guide called to tell me that he had picked up the pack of wild dogs in the very north western corner of the reserve at Voël Dam! Unfortunately they only milled around the area for a few minutes before continuing in a westerly direction and out of the Timbavati. It is not the same pack of 18 that usually frequent the area, and we will have to wait and see if this pack hangs around, or if they were merely passing through.

The south was where all the action was this morning, and we were invited to go and see the three Timbavati male lions who were in the company of two of the Machaton females. They were rather lazy, although only one male looked well fed? They spent the morning resting in the shade and didn’t show any signs of wanting to get active.

The large buffalo herd that has been cycling between the southern and central waterholes was again found at Entrance Dam. I was taken aback by how many babies were present in the herd! At some stages, at least every second female that walked past had a baby with her, and most of the babies were tiny, only days to weeks old! It must only be a matter of time before the lions start pestering them!

A few hundred meters south of Entrance Dam, we had a rare visitor; Mtenga-tenga male rhino! Entrance Dam and the rest of the Vielmetter property used to be the heart of his territory until he moved much further south at the beginning of 2008. It was great to see him in the northern reaches of his territory, as he grazed around the vehicles, totally unphased by all the attention!

The drive finished with an elephant having a drink at our trade entrance dam.

I didn’t drive at Motswari in the afternoon, instead I had the afternoon off and went for a drive on the neighbouring shareblock property called Ingwelala. I saw one of Argyle Junior’s one-year old leopard cubs there, and it was literally right on the Motswari boundary near our Sharalumi Cottage! Unfortunately he moved off deeper into Ingwelala and not Motswari. I also found Giyani and Andrew a bit later in the afternoon at Voël dam where they were watching the Argyle male rhino having a drink. As with the Motswari guides, I had no luck finding the Sohebele pride who had been seen in that area in the morning. There was also no sign of the wild dogs during the afternoon.

Herald did see Nkateko female leopard not far from Java camp in the afternoon as she headed towards a small rocky outcrop in the area.

24th April – Nkateko Living Dangerously!

After yesterdays feast of lions, the guide’s attention turned to looking for some other creatures. I headed down south for the morning, and was rewarded with a good sighting of that large herd of buffalo that have been hanging around the area over the last week. They had slept near Vielmetter camp, and slowly got mobile towards entrance dam. Rockfig had been seen in the area by one of the southern vehicles, but was lost going down into No Name River. I circled the area but had no luck, and as I was about to go past the buffalo herd once again, Herald called to tell me that Nkateko was sitting on a termite mound watching the buffalo. I joined him and watched as she seemed to stalk the buffalo herd, and quite nonchalantly walked into the middle of the herd!

Quite expectedly, the large buffalos took exception to this and ran around chasing her; Nkateko naturally fled, but she ran deeper into the herd and we didn’t manage to find her again, and were a bit concerned that she might end up in some serious trouble. Fortunately she was seen in the afternoon by Andrew and was in good working order, unscathed by her close encounter!

After coffee, I responded to a sighting of Nthombi female leopard on our southern boundary. This always-active leopardess was on one of her usual walk-about’s and moving quite quickly. We followed her for a while, but it was not the easiest terrain to navigate, and considering the good leopard sightings we had had already, we left her.

The general game wasn’t too bad this morning either; impala, steenbok, a male giraffe, a small herd of zebra, kudu, banded mongooses, side-striped jackal, a lone dagga boy drinking at Voël Dam, as well as two bull elephants that arrived to join him for a drink…but surprisingly, no lions!!!

23rd April – Lion Crisis?, What Lion Crisis???

With all the lion sightings today, the trouble we had finding them last week seemed to disappear! There were four different lion sightings this morning which ensured a great mornings viewing.

At the start of the drive, the southern stations had picked up the young male lion from the Machaton pride south of Makulu dam, not far from where a skittish leopard had an impala kill up an apple leaf tree. I decided to head that side, but soon found tracks for the three nomadic male lions on our airstrip road. I decided to give it a go and follow up, especially when we heard one of them roaring not too far off. Tracks were hard to find, but luckily I heard the alarm call of an impala, and went off-road and found the three lions together. They soon got up and headed west, where they spotted a group of three buffalo. The young lions proceeded to stalk them before charging in, but it turned out to be a weak attempt and the buffalos bolted and got away unscathed.

In the mean time, the old Sohebele male had been picked up near Tamboti Wallow, right near a small herd of buffalo. His roaring no doubt caused them much anguish and they soon moved off. While heading down to see the lion, the five Sohebele sub-adults were also found, not far from the male (who from all accounts had been chasing them around last night!). I went and had a look at the five lions who were now sleeping on a termite mound just off the road, but rather inactive it must be said. While watching them, Johannes tracked and found Nkateko young female leopard not far from us, but I decided to go have a look at the male lion first. He was sleeping in a Mopane thicket, and had ceased his roaring for the morning, and as with the last sighting of him, he just slept; age clearly getting the better of him!!! It was the first time in four months that he had been back to the heart of his old territory, and we will have to wait and see what his motives are and how long he stays!

From the sleeping lions, we came across that herd of buffalo a few hundred meters away as they slowly grazed to the south. Nkateko was looking a bit nervous (possibly something to do with the tracks for two different male leopards around that area) and went into some thick bush and wasn’t followed. Not to worry, as Kuhanya was found up a marula tree back in the north.

The guests decided to skip on coffee and head over to see the leopard who was watching the three young nomadic lions that were no more than 100m away. While we sat enjoying the sight of a leopard in a tree, we heard the sounds of something crashing through the trees, and looked up to see the lions hot in pursuit of a buffalo! In a predicament, stay with the leopard or follow the lions, we chose to rush over and see what happened with the buffalo, but the lions were unsuccessful, so we returned to the leopard before heading home where we were greeted by a lone bull elephant drinking at the pond behind camp.

The afternoon was not as eventful, but still a good one. Palence and Andrew went to see the Machaton young male lion who was also trying his hand at harassing a herd of buffalo, but was duly chased away! They also saw another quite large herd of buffalo that were slowly making their way towards Makulu dam for a drink.

I managed to find those a nice herd of zebras on kudu pan clearing, and then headed towards the three male lions that were sleeping not far from the same three buffalo. Johannes found them and at first thought the one lion might have been injured as he was not moving or reacting to the vehicle at all – rather strange for a lion that is nervous of the vehicles. He eventually got up, and after the three buffalo ran away, the lions retired to the thickets along the riverbank, so I opted not to respond.

Instead I headed over to a leopard that Herald had found, the Java Dam female. She is one of our least relaxed resident leopards, and although we see her a couple of times a month, it felt strange actually responding to a sighting of her! She normally runs at the sight of a vehicle, especially if you pursue her off road. It was thus a shock to hear Herald saying she was quite relaxed and that I should pop through. As I approached the sighting, she was lost as she crossed a drainage line. I tried in vain to relocate, especially in lieu of the golden light that was bathing the bush in wonderful colours! I had just given up and was driving back towards the road, trying to find a way through a Mopane thicket when my tracker spotted her hiding in the grass no more than 10m away! How he saw her is beyond me, as she was perfectly camouflaged, and even with binoculars I couldn’t see her at first! We pulled closer, to within 5m, and she didn’t run away…in fact, she didn’t even move! She obviously thought that we couldn’t see her, but whe she realized we had, she jumped up, growled and then trotted off a few meters before slowing to a walk. We followed behind as she joined on of the roads where she carried on walking, only occasionally giving us a glance over her shoulder. It was a positive sign to see her for so long during the day, but I think that she is set in her ways and won’t change her spots and relax a great deal more! At least this gives a glimpse of what leopards usually act like, and also makes us appreciate how lucky we are to have the relaxed leopards we do here at Motswari.

No one managed to find the Sohebele male, and the Sohebele sub-adults eluded everyone except Johannes who found them on his way home as they headed to Lion Pan.

The cloudy weather had left us, and while sitting enjoying the stars, fireflies and a few of the night sounds near Mbali dam, we got serenaded by the roaring of three lions a few hundred meters away – it was a fitting end to another great day at Motswari!

22nd April – Mangadjane Returns!

I was the only Motswari vehicle out on drive this morning, and desperately needed leopard and rhino for some guests who had not managed to see these creatures while staying at another lodge.

I wasn’t too worried about finding leopard, but didn’t realistically expect rhino considering we hadn’t been having much luck lately. The overcast and windy weather had left us, and clear blue skies greeted us, although it was still a bit chilly. We managed to find three buffaloes near Madash dam, but didn’t have any luck with tracks for Mbali around the area. It didn’t bother me much, as the stations down south had found both Nhlangula male rhino, and Mangadjane male leopard!

Upon hearing this, I headed down south. We didn’t see a great deal of general game this morning, the odd waterbuck and usual impala herds, but it was a bit quiet. I left my tracker to follow the spoor of the rhino while I went to go and see Mangadjane. He was sleeping in the Machaton river, but at least showed some more signs of life than the lions last night! He was awake and kept moving south along the river bed, scent marking occasionally before lying down again. We left him as he wandered still further south along the Machaton. We then went to go and see the rhino that my tracker had relocated. The rhino was however in some thick bush, and the wind that blew every now and then wasn’t doing him any favours and he seemed a bit on edge. He eventually moved a bit more into the open when he stood for a couple of minutes before we had to leave him and head back to camp.

On the bush walk we saw a group of five giraffe as well as kudu, impala and warthogs.

The afternoon drive was a quiet one. Although we saw some decent general game including some nice kudu along with a couple of impressive bulls, waterbuck, steenbok, hippos and a crocodile at Mbali dam and loads of impalas, there was not a great deal on the Big 5 front. The Sohebele pride had been located this morning no more than 500m from where they were sleeping off their fat bellies yesterday, but in the afternoon, they appeared to have gone into a thicket of reeds and sedge in the middle of the Nhlarulumi riverbed where it was inaccessible to the Land Rovers. Attempts at driving around the area after dark to see if they had moved were unsuccessful, so we shall have to follow up tomorrow morning.

I was a bit despondent about the drive, but the last few hundred meters around camp before closing down for the night picked up the drive somewhat! It started with nine zebras and hordes of impalas on the airstrip, then a lone bull elephant munching on some Mopane trees near the soccer field, and that was followed by a group of four hyenas near our trade entrance pan. They were from our local clan, and included the heavily pregnant female, two youngish cubs, and a fourth adult member. The two adults ran off to join some more hyenas that were literally laughing on the other side of the staff village, but the cubs stayed around the waterhole and had a drink; and it was also my favourite sighting of the afternoon, and probably the day!

Now I just hope that we can see the Sohebele lions up and about tomorrow, and a sighting of Rockfig and/or Nkateko would not go amiss either!