February Ranger’s Reports

The month of February has been a hot and wet month to be sure and, as such, the animals have followed the usual pattern of moving to the northern half of the reserve. This has not decreased the sightings at all.However, it does require the rangers to travel a little further to get the best sightings of the animals, but the results are worth it.

We are often catching our beautiful breeding herd of elephants moving from one green area to the next and always putting on a show, even the old bulls coming out and showing off their impressive size. Though he may be getting on in years, the old bull BFE is always a sight to behold.With all of his character, he is a crowd pleaser.

We have even gotten regular sightings of our resident cheetah brothers,often appearing when they are least expected, but always appreciated whenever they decide to show themselves. They have been getting more and more accustomed to the vehicles to the point where they barely seem to notice our presence!

The daughters of the northern female lioness have started to venture further and further down south since the large lioness that used to control the south has been moved. This is great news as it means the lionesses are starting to expand their territory. With the females moving it, of course, brings the males along and there is nothing like waking up to the lion’s roar as the sun rises.

As February draws to an end,this signals the start of the colder months and the inevitable coming of Autumn and Winter, which often brings the buffalo herd further down south. Surprisingly enough,

they have been spending more and more time on the western plains. They are probably enjoying all the green grass they could ever need.

If you are keen on your birds then it’s exciting to see a new species in an area where it doesn’t usually occur. I have been here for three years and I have never seen an European Roller here and now you will not go a drive without seeing this beautiful bird at least three times.

In other smaller fauna news, we were lucky enough to spot a leopard tortoise just below our lodge, which is a first for this ranger as we weren’t sure they occurred in this area. Nature finds a way I guess!