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Category: Wildlife

Rangers Journal Festive Time

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Hello again to all our fans !!

Hope you all had a great festive time, as we had here in the savannas of Madikwe.

The lodge was super busy… as always, and we had some amazing gusts join us for this very special time.

The rains have come on thick so far this year, so the bush is looking really pristine, and I myself have not seen it like this for many years now, as it seems the drought of the last 5 years has given up a little to Modjadji, the rain Queen.

Ok so this is a joint newsletter including the highlights from December and January all in one.

 

So let’s start with Andre’s highlights from December…

 

Greetings from the Tuningi team we hope you had a lovely festive season and a happy new year.

We had a huge amount of rain this month, and with all this rain magical things tend to happen in the bush. Madikwe looks like a green emerald jewel exploding with new life, by new life I mean its baby season folks.

The impalas and Blue wildebeest are giving birth, and we are having so much fun watching these little babies enjoying their new life. All the babies are bouncing and running around with youthful energy and exploring their new world. Unfortunately, with the abundance of babies around they also fall prey to the carnivores, especially the Wild dogs that’s why we have not released our 2nd pack yet.

The Wild dogs are doing great and looking very healthy. The pups are keeping up with the adults and getting fed well. With a lot of mouths to feed they need to hunt every day and we’ve been lucky to witness brilliant sightings close to our lodge this month. We cannot wait for the 2nd pack toe be released that we can have more sightings of these wonderful animals.

Monomoholo and Kwandwe the 2 male coalition still rule in the Southwest and the Northwest of the park. It is clear our local Southern pride the Mica and Jamala pride prefer the presence of Monomoholo. He is busy mating with the females so hopefully in 3 and a half months we will have cubs in the South west.  Mica the old lady of the pride is busy showing her daughter Jamala X the ropes of leading the Southern pride because she is getting ready to retire as she has started to lose condition.

The 2 Cheetah brothers are a very successful hunting combination every time we see them, they tend to be full and lying in the open and posing for the camera. On a sad note the female cheetah that was pregnant lost her cubs. It’s a big shock to us and everybody in Madikwe.  The cause of losing her cubs are unknown , hopefully she learned from her mistakes and it will make her a stronger cheetah and more experience mother.

Our local territorial male Leopard, Munye kept himself rare as per normal, but we managed seeing him few times. The most memorable sighting was on the 31st December stealing the show just he like he knows how. We followed him threw some nasty rocky areas and we were awarded seeing him jump into a Marula tree. A new female Leopard starting to show herself more and more. Unfortunately, she is still very skittish, and only allows us to see her from a distance. Hopefully in the future she will be more relaxed and giving us amazing sightings.

All this rain makes the heavy weights very happy, Rhino black and white, Buffalo and Elephants sightings were out of this world. The big herds of buffalo approaching a waterhole is a sight to see. The big water holes are changing into swimming pools for elephant herds, and it brings a lot of joy on our guests faces and making for some memorable sightings. It’s always a nice surprise seeing a rhino wallowing in a secretive pan full of mud keeping himself cool in the mud on warm summers day.

From me and the Tuningi team have a blessed new year full of love and enjoyment

Andre

Ok, thanks Andre for that great news from December. So let’s get into the highlights from January….

So, I will continue with the heavyweights of the bush, the elephants. They are living in “ELEPHANT HEAVEN” at the moment with all the waterholes full to the brim and all the natural mud wallows providing them with all they need to manicure their thick skins on a hot summers day.

Swimming and playing in the water is a daily chore now, as they splash around in the muddy happy holes, lowering their core body temperatures, and also just for the pure enjoyment of the mud on their skins as it sloughs off the insects which pester them this time of the year.

Who says it is only in East Africa where you can see tree-climbing lions?!

They have been sighted here in Madikwe too… Yep I witnessed on one crispy post rainy morning our southern pride females jumping into a very random bush, from which they seemed to use as a better vantage point for something they may have been hunting earlier.

Now lions are not known for their grace in trees, but they do seem to enjoy the challenge that gravity has put before them, as their 150kg bodies hang on to the bark splitting claws as they jostle for a more comfortable position.

While we are talking about the southern pride, the Mica female, the prides “rock“, has been showing signs of deterioration, as she has just gone past her 18th birthday in late November, and she is now the oldest lioness in Madikwe’s history.

She still has decent looking teeth, so as long as she can still stay with the pride on a regular basis, to eat, she will break all age records for lionesses in the wild.

Monomoholo, the dominant of the 2 males here in the south pride has also been playing “ bodyguard” for the last month, and has been seen hanging out in an area where we think 2 of the females may have cubs in the hills around the airstrip. We are keeping a beady eye on this development, and hopefully next month we will show you some images of brand new lion cubs !!

The north pride has also been taken care of by Kwandwe, and he has been seen with the females a lot this month, as he knows that Monomoholo has the south covered, but joins him at the drop of a hat, when they suspect trouble is imminent.

 

We had one sighting of jackal pups that pushed the cute factor through the roof. There were 3 of the little buggers, and I will leave the images to speak for themselves, as they waited on their parents to return from a hunt one morning.

The next series of images shows elephants digging up soil and eating it, at very special areas here in the bush, called mineral hotspots, and basically all of the herbivores utilise these areas to boost their systems with minerals they do not get, such as sodium, calcium, magnesium etc in the plants that they eat. The term we use for this behaviour is called “GEOPHAGIA” which means to eat soil.

This time of the year the savanna pops up among the pallet of greenery, splashes of colour in the form of wild flowers. There are hundreds of different species popping up everywhere, much to the delight of the Brown Veined White butterflies which stop by these flowers to sip some sweet nectar as they continue their epic journey from the northern cape all the way to the Indian ocean where they lay their eggs on the way and then mysteriously just die in the middle of the ocean.

The wild dog pack is doing very well, and the puppies have just been given their bi-annual rabies shots, and seem to be in tiptop condition. The adults have been killing regularly, and are keeping the ravenous pups well fed. The other pack in the holding facility will hopefully be released this month sometime, and we eagerly wait for the number of sightings to increase twofold.

I found them one morning on the northern fence line where they had killed a huge male kudu, and were in a very playful mood after filling their bellies to exploding levels. They have a very strict social structure among their ranks, and so playing is a vital part of wild dog politics.

Ok.. well that’s it from me… I will leave you all with a few bonus images…

All the best,

Gavin and the T-Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rangers Journal November 2019

Posted on by Focus Online Dev

RAIN, RAIN BEAUTIFUL

It has arrived!

 

(ALL IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT: RUAN SCHUTTE)

We received our first good rains for the season. There is nothing that smells so good then fresh like raindrops on the dry African soil.

So let us start with the great bird and insect life that nice rains have brought us. A lot of our migrants are back and the birdlife is good. All our small and big creepy crawlies have also woken up and are out and about. It is nice looking at the smaller things as well and not just the bigger animals.

All our beautiful wild flowers are coming up and making this wonderful place look even prettier.

Let us talk about what is happening with our lion soapy.

Kwandwe and Monomoholo has been hanging around together for some time down in the South where both of them had the opportunities to grab them each a beautiful girl ( Jamala and Matlapa)and mated  with them, so hopefully we should have some little ones in the coming new year.

We had some very good lion sightings lately of lazy, playing, mating, killing and eating lions.

 

 

The yellow tag female cheetah has moved more towards the North West of the reserve where she is looking for a good and safe place to give birth . Yes you heard me right, to give birth! She should be giving birth anytime soon in the next weeks. It is sooo exting as Madikwe have not produced baby cheetah for a very long time. EXITING TIMES AHEAD.

Our resident tom leopard Munye has been seen a few times, and has given us some good sightings of him patrolling his territory and also feeding on a young warthog.

Gavin also found a new young female leopard around Inkwe pan which is very exciting news. Hopefully we will see her more often.

The dogs are out and about with the youngsters but are hanging around the East of the reserve for now.

Rhino sightings have been out of this world of both Black and White. We had great Black rhino sightings and as you know they are actually a lot more difficult to find than the white.

For now, I will say Goodbye and farewell, and will pray for more Rains to come.

Greetings Ruan and the T-Team

 

Rangers Journal October 2019

Posted on by Focus Online Dev

Welcome back to yet another instalment of our Rangers Journal !!

Suicide month is almost at its end with the promise of rain in the air becoming more and more apparent as we are all on our knees praying for the life-giving liquid to fall out of the sky and kickstart the transformation from dry and dusty to clean, green and fresh.

There are already signs of the amazing event that will unfold within the next few weeks as soon as the first big rains are expected to arrive within the next week, such as this Devil’s trumpet flower amongst the dead grass, which exacerbates the struggle of Life vs Death.

However, it seems as if “Life” will always win.

Ok, let’s get into what is the latest bushveld politics here in Madikwe for this month.

To Start with the cheetahs, Savannah, our local female has been doing really well, and has been seen regularly also making various kills this month, and she continues to impress us with her tenacious ability to pull down prey items such as full-grown male impala. This will bode well for her as she prepares to have her cubs… Yip, she has been showing us signs of her advanced pregnancy stages with her teat line getting bigger by the day. We are super stoked for her, and we wish her well for her last month of pregnancy.

The two Phinda males have for the most part been spending all their time in the north west of the park, and are also looking supreme, and seem to be ruling the north of the park. They are also almost never struggling to kill prey, as they seem to always be full bellied when we see them.

Our local lion pride have been acting rather weird this month, as on one occasion they ganged up on the Monomoholo male and inflicted bite wounds to his back legs, which put him out of action for a week or so, but he has fully recovered, and seems to have reinstated his dominance over the girls.

The Kwandwe male has been spending most of his time without Monomoholo in the north west looking after the Tchaba pride. This seems to be the boys way of keeping the females from both prides happy, and also making sure that there is dominant presence from these two brutes everywhere inside their now massive territory.

There is however a threat which is growing in power to the east. This comes in the form of the Kwandwe male’s sons… The Mahiwa brothers, which means “GIFT”, and are seemingly setting up territory in an aggressive fashion around the Vlei pan area and further eastwards towards the river, but every now and again are finding themselves wondering into the far eastern boundaries of their father’s territory, so we are very anxious to see how this story will pan out in the near future once these 3 young males will find their confidence and possibly come west to challenge Monomoholo and Kwandwe for the right to own the females.

They have also been absolute killing machines this month and have been responsible for killing on a regular occasion, and also brave enough to pull down even the strongest of adversaries, the old male buffalo.

The Mica Pride with its mix of experience and youth has given us some great photo opportunities. One fine morning we located on the pride at Vleisfontein, the old missionary station which is situated on the ancient ivory trade route between Mafikeng and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, and is now our park headquarters.

On arrival, the 2 youngest members of the pride, Boipelo and Bontle were in a jolly mood and for the next half hour, they entertained us with their acrobatics and power display which the photos will show you below.

On the other side of the waterhole was the legendary Mica female which is now over 17 years old !! Yeah, she is a living legend and is till looking as majestic as the first day I saw her almost 14 years ago for the first time.

Her teeth are still looking good, and as long as she can eat, she should be ok, especially as she has passed on her finely-honed hunting skills onto her daughters which will definitely be looking after this awesome lioness as long as they can.

General game in the area has been epic, as large herds of zebra and wildebeest are always great to see, as they fill up the blank spots between the predator sightings, and if you really sit and look at their behavior for a while, it can create some good photo opportunities.

Munye has been a little evasive this month and has had us pulling our hair out a little as he has been spending a lot of time to the west of the lodge in the rocky sections which we cannot access easily. However, we had one awesome tracking session on him this week, with me and Andre going out after breakfast to see if we could track him down for the afternoon safari. It was a successful attempt, and after about 3 hours we eventually found him chilling out and taking a siesta underneath a guarri bush trying to avoid the now intense sun.

On returning in the afternoon with our guests, he had not moved an inch, until much later where he headed out in search of his next meal.

We also had a great sighting of the ridge monster ! This guy is huge , and he was on one of the mountain slopes one morning, where we watched him carry his honey badger kill into the rocks to eat it in peace.

I unfortunately could not get any images of him, but we are excited that he made no attempt to run away from us as he usually does, so it seems like our persistent attempt at habituating him to the vehicles is paying off slowly, and we will not give up, until we have his trust in our pockets.

We also had a good sighting of a pair of ostriches that were presenting us with their brand-new offspring, and it was awesome to see the little chicks trying to keep up to their giant parents as they trundled down the road.

Rhino and elephant sightings are off the charts this month, as the heat of the midday gets them all down at the waterholes. The cacophony of mud splashing and baby elephants screaming for their mothers to open the front legs to free the teat is sometimes deafening while you are sitting in the hide only meters away from them at the lodge.

Out there in the bush, waterholes are a good place to get your fair share of paciderm bliss as the sunsets and or dramatic dust bathing will get your shutter burning up.

We have had awesome black rhino sightings too this month, and on many an occasion the feisty buggers have come to within meters of the vehicles as they show us why you do not want to bump into them on foot out here, stopping in a cloud of dust and then snorting before turning tail and disappearing into the distance with the sound of the bush cracking as they charge off.

There is also something about being in the presence of the gentle giants of Madikwe, in the form of the old elephant bulls, which just exude the immense enormity of the largest land-based mammal on this planet. When they get close to you, you will not believe the power they possess as they quietly walk past without a sound.

We also located on a giraffe which had died from natural causes, and had some lions feed on it before leaving it once it became a little too rancid for their liking. This gave the opportunity for the scavengers to move in and remove what was left. The stomachs of these beasts must be made of cast iron, as that rotting meat will put most of us mere mortals into the grave without a doubt. We are thankful for their role in the system as they can clean the environment of all the bacteria which could possibly otherwise create a disease outbreak here in the bush. Madikwe is one of the few places in South Africa, where you can find both the Brown and Spotted hyena living in harmony.

Well…. Until the rains come….

Catch you again next month….

Gavin and the T-Team.

Hyena Facts You Didn’t Know

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Wildlife Highlights from 2019 (so far)

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Introducing the Shy Five of Madikwe Game Reserve

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Tuningi Ranger’s Journal March 2019

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Hot, Dry and Dusty… Best description for March

With temperatures rising close 40 degrees Celsius and no rain, we have had some challenging days.

The animals moved far for water and food, interrupting their normal movements which challenged us in finding

them a bit more.

But we have had some incredible sightings through out the month and a massive variety of animals.

At waterholes we were properly entertained, from all the big ones to birds.

The waterhole at the lodge was incredible, almost no need to go on game drive. At times you could easily mistake it for the Serengeti.

The two male lions from the north that took over the southern part of the park are making their rounds all over

the extended territory.  Some nights they would easily walk 10 to 15 kilometres patrolling.

The single male cheetah has settled in his solitary lifestyle and is doing well.  We often saw him with a full belly.

We were also lucky enough to see both the packs of Wild Dogs, even when the full moon made it difficult to determine where they would be next.

The original pack of 6 are still doing well.

The newly bonded pack of 8 are still settling and sorting out the hierarchy but they all healthy.

We truly struggled with leopard sightings. There were no tracks of any leopard for us to follow for a long time.

We finally got to see Munye which ended the dry spell of more than a month of leopard sightings.  This made the finding so much more rewarding. We tend to forget how easily they can disappear for a day, a week or a month.

Time is running out, but we hope for some rain.

There are very few of the waterholes with water which is not a good sign as the water there is will have to last the coming winter.

The month had its ups and downs with game viewing, but that is what the African bush is about, it will decide what we get.

With every sunrise we are reminded that not one day is ever the same, not every season is the same, but what will remain is the beauty of Africa.

Cornelius and the T-Team

 

Tuningi Ranger’s Journal February 2019

Posted on by Focus Online Dev

A fiery hot welcome to all our fans once again !!

Yep!! Its been hot, steaming hot…. With not to much rain I must add.

Temperatures have been climbing this month from a rather cooler January, but still we have not had our big rain yet that would make sure that all the dams would fill up and carry us through the winter. Albeit saying that, we have had regular rain in small amounts which has had a very good effect on the bush, and is looking surprisingly well for the total rainfall so far been a bit meagre.

Anyway, lets get the bad news out the way….

The first bit of bad news is that 2 of the 3 female cheetahs have died caused by a disease which they picked up which made their bodies weak, and as a result could not hunt. The vet did try to treat these female cheetahs, but was sadly in vane.

The remaining female has been doing really well, and continues to carry our hopes of one day producing some cheetah cubs for Madikwe.

The cheetahs have had a real bad month as one of the Sable males, the ones that used to frequent the south west very often. Has died of his injuries from a fight with the Phinda males from the north as reported by Cornelius last month . We presume that the 2 coalitions had come into contact with each other in the north of the reserve one day. The female was also in the same area at the same time, so it could have been a fight for the mating rights on this female as she was showing signs of been in estrus.

The vet also tried to treat his injuries, but they were too severe and died the same night.

The remaining male has been doing well under the circumstances, and has been making regular kills and he is looking supreme.

The other bad news was that Tsala our resident leopardess was injured in some fight too. We think she was involved in a skirmish with a prey item she was attacking, and seemed to have come off second best. The injuries were quite serious, and what made it difficult for us to do anything with her, was the fact that she is old, and the vet was concerned that she might not come out of the sedation drugs if we had to tranquilize her.

BUT… she has been seen again.. yes, the legend that is Tsala, is still alive and well, even making her own kills again, so we hope she makes a full recovery so that we can spend more time with her, as she heads into her twilight years here in Madikwe.

The Mica pride to the south has still been very nervous of the regular incursions from the Males from the Tchaba pride from the north, and have been seen on many occasions very far out of their normal territory boundaries. The Chimbro males have been very quiet, and are not showing any signs just yet, that they are wanting to challenge the Kwandwe and Monomoholo males.

We did find the Mica pride on a giraffe kill this month, so they are still not doing too badly as far as their confidence goes in the hunting department.

While the bush conditions are in good condition, the bigger herbivores like the rhinos and buffalos have been in heaven, as they have abundant food supply, and are loving the fact that they can just go to their local water puddle to quench their thirsts and take a well deserved mud bath to irritate the parasites on their skin, and also cool them from the searing heat beating down on them.

The elephants are also living the “Elephant Dream”, as conditions are super favorable for them. The lodges’ waterhole has also been a hive of activity, and with the hide been in such an awesome location, you are able to get within touching distance of these juggernauts as they splash and drink and bathe in the fresh water provided for by our eco-purification plant.

Munye was not found too regularly this month, and was found on the very far reaches of his territory on a few occasions, but did come home just the other day to brag with a zebra kill he had made, and even dragged into a marula tree for us to view him in his full glory.

The clan of hyenas in the south have appeared once again at the culverts under the airstrip, and seem to have 2 new editions to the party with 2 8 month old cubs that are very curious of the vehicles, and are a welcome addition to our sightings, especially early in the mornings, or late at night when they come out of their safe haven to groom, and socialise with the other members.

The other feel good story from this month, was that the second pack of wild dogs was released into Madikwe, after spending nearly 4 months in the holding BOMA in the north of the park to bond with the 4 new males that came from kwazulu natal. Things have been going really well for them, and they have made the best start to their new life together, and are making kills left, right and centre. So we now have 2 packs again in Madikwe, which is probably the best place to see wild dogs in the wild right now in South Africa.

So we cant wait for them to choose their den sites for this year, and hopefully our wild dog population will get back on track as it was in previous years.

Well, that’s all I got for you all this time….

Best Bush regards,

Gavin and the T-Team.

 

December 2018 Rangers Journal

Posted on by Focus Online Dev

Hello to all our most loyal fans once again !!

HOLY COW or is it BUFFALO..? !!

HOW THIS YEAR HAS FLOWN PAST !!

After a very successful Christmas period we here at Tuningi have finally received some rain, and it is falling as I write this letter…..BLISS !!

So within the next few days these dry scenes should transform, as the grasses should start growing pretty quickly, as well as the trees all sending out new leaf recruits, all to the biggest approval of all the residents in Madikwe.

So…. Lets get into it…

The big news is that the Kwandwe and Monomoholo male lions have officially taken over the south west of the park, having driven the Chimbro males very far to the east, and have been with the females on more than one occasion. So this will be very interesting to see what they are going to do with their females from the north. It is possible that they can run both prides, but it will be a super lion effort if they will keep other males out from both sides of the ridge.

The other news from the lions, is that the Matlapa lioness which gave birth here to 3 boys 3 years ago, has returned to her original pride after getting her 3 boys to the point where they are almost ready to leave her and go in search of territories of their own. This will be very interesting to see how they cope without their legend mom.

We have had 1 or 2 sightings of the wild dogs, which was great, and we eagerly await the release of the new pack back into Madikwe after the bonding process in the boma of the new males with our females is complete, That will give the sighting opportunities a big boost, as our chances will double to get to see these super rare mammals

I also have some bad news, in that Tsala our local resident leopardess has been injured in what seems to be a fight with an impala or the like, as she has sustained wounds to her chest and arms, and seems to be losing condition. She is estimated to be around 14 years old, which is getting old for a leopard, and we are still looking for her, so that we can get a vet in to treat her wounds, as she means so much to us over the years as far as the sighting value she brings our guests. So once we locate her again, we will hopefully be able to treat her wounds and give her a fighting chance, HOWEVER we also need to raised some funds for this project, and if you would like to help, please contact the lodge mail at : lodge@tuningi.co.za if you would like to help us out. We will need R7000.00 to do what we need.

THIS WOULD HAVE TO BE DONE ASAP, BECAUSE AS SOON AS WE LOCATE HER WE WILL BE CALLING THE VETS TO COME IN.

As far as the rest of the usual suspect are concerned, the 2 cheetah boys gave a splendid sighting one stormy afternoon in the north of the park where they chased and killed a large wildebeest right in front of our very eyes.

Munye has also been doing his rounds, and has been spending more time on the ridge around the lodge, and we are always grateful to spend time in his regal presence.

 

We also had some amazing sightings of the rarely seen small cats such as the Caracal which we found hunting in the plains in the north one afternoon, and tried to catch a bird or two while we followed her for around 20 minutes, which was one of the highlights of my year.

Also we managed to see a Serval in the tall grasslands on Ophir plains to the south, which was also a female, and adamantly hunting some francolin in the grass. The jumping powers these cats possess is something else, but unfortunately she did not show us her capabilities, as she was bounding in and out of the grass tufts.

We also have had the privilege of coming across this tiny white rhino calf which could not have been more than a day or 2 old, and was been defended by her very chuffed mother who was keeping another young male at bay. The rhino situation in the park has been very good, and we have lost only 2 animals and we hope that this may last going into the new year !!

So to finish off on this note I would like to wish everyone….

A SUPERSPLENDID AND PROSPEROUS 2019 FILLED WITH MANY SAFARI TRIPS TO TUNINGI SAFARI LODGE !!

 

 

 

South Africa’s Ugly 5: Who To Look Out for in Madikwe

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5 Reasons to Choose Madikwe Game Reserve as Your Next Safari Destination

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Tuningi Ranger’s Journal September 2018

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Welcome back to a very dry and parched landscape which is Madikwe this month. And with the rains only expected in November, things are not going to get any better for now.

The winds have been relentless, blowing dust into the air, which creates some seriously frustrating moments for us on safari, as you stop for a sighting, and the dust envelopes the vehicle, but… it also creates some awesome sunsets and sunrises, as the dust illuminates in the crepuscular times of the day. The winds are called the TRADE WINDS, and are a very important part of the weather cycle in south Africa, as they bring the moist air in from the equator downwards to us, as described next…..

As part of the Hadley cell, surface air flows toward the equator while the flow aloft is towards the poles. A low-pressure area of calm, light variable winds near the equator is known as the doldrums,[7] near-equatorial trough,[8] intertropical front, or the Intertropical Convergence Zone.[9] When located within a monsoon region, this zone of low pressure and wind convergence is also known as the monsoon trough.[10] Around 30° in both hemispheres, air begins to descend toward the surface in subtropical high-pressure belts known as subtropical ridges. The subsident (sinking) air is relatively dry because as it descends, the temperature increases, but the absolute humidity remains constant, which lowers the relative humidity of the air mass. This warm, dry air is known as a superior air mass and normally resides above a maritime tropical (warm and moist) air mass. An increase of temperature with height is known as a temperature inversion. When it occurs within a trade wind regime, it is known as a trade wind inversion.[11]

The surface air that flows from these subtropical high-pressure belts toward the Equator is deflected toward the west in both hemispheres by the Coriolis effect.[12] These winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere.[13] Because winds are named for the direction from which the wind is blowing,[14] these winds are called the northeasterly trade winds in the Northern Hemisphere and the southeasterly trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere. The trade winds of both hemispheres meet at the doldrums.[7]

 

So, besides the dust we have had a good month, and we will start with Munye… that’s our local male leopard for those who don’t know, and he also felt the need to pack his bags and go on a holiday to the north west of the park. Yes, he walked from one end of the park all the way across to the opposite end, and spent a few days up in unfamiliar territory, even killing an impala and relaxing in a very tall tree for s couple days. He has since come back home, and has got a lot of us puzzled as to the need of his traveling ideas!!

The wild dogs have also come back to town, and have spent most of this month in our areas close to the lodge, and of the reports that started with 12 puppies been seen, only 2 are now left, and we think that they have had contact with either lions, hyenas, which killed the other pups… this is all speculation though. But they still get the blood flowing when they go hunting, as the excitement amongst us guides gets very high, as we know that if you can stay with their pace, you may experience a wild dog killing its prey.

On the lion front, the local boys have been chasing the threat from the east, and have in fact managed to kill one of the invaders. So peace has now resumed, and the pride is still not together as much, because of this. However the males did give us a very good sighting when they managed to kill a zebra for themselves.

The cheetah boys who we see almost on a daily basis, have also been spoiling us with amazing sightings once again, and we had them in hot pursuit of many prey items this month, and they seem to have a fetish for young zebra. Watching them get up to speeds of over 100km/hour is something you want to come and see for yourself, because it is blistering !!!

That’s it for this month..

Hope to see you all here for the first rains, and the transformation of this dry land to the amazing fresh new growth coming soon…

Regards,

Gavin and the T-Team