Surprise visits and big news
The month of May continued on from April by putting on the most spectacular display of sunrises and sunsets. It has been a very busy month in many aspects and I have found it challenging to report on the highlights! Anyway, here we go!
Let’s begin with the animal updates! The two remaining cheetah cubs have been blessing us with some wonderful sightings this month. Mum has chosen the southern plains as her base of operations for the last few weeks and we have observed the cubs as they venture out on hunting lessons. The two young male lions from Kwandwe were released onto Nambiti this month. They are exploring the south eastern section of the reserve at the moment, but getting good views of them has been tricky. Our spotted hyenas remain in the boma enclosure for another few weeks. It would seem that one of the females gave birth to some cubs and this will extend their time in quarantine to protect their chances of survival. We have managed to catch a glimpse of them from strategic viewing points that provide a long distance vantage point for sneak peaks. The youngest cheetah mum and her male cub have gone their separate ways. To protect the young male, reserve management has placed him in a boma and he will soon be translocated to a safer environment. The hyenas are not the only ones who welcomed new additions, our alpha wild dog has also given birth to a litter of pups. The den site location is expertly hidden from the road and we await the first sighting of the pups with much anticipation! With so much going on, there is still more to be excited about with the increase in leopard sightings around our lodge and in the south.
This next part of the report is going to highlight some interesting behaviours that we have observed while out on game drive during the month of May. May temperatures have been typical of the winter in that the mornings and evenings are icy cold and the middle of the day is mild and warm. At the beginning of the month, we had a strange afternoon with thunder, lightning and a burst of heavy rain. I was with the herd of elephants at Elephant Rock Dam as the weird weather descended on us. When the entire herd climbed into the dam to enjoy the water, we watched the raindrops bounce off the surface as the sunset colours lit up the scene. It was rather magical and I was in no hurry to leave!
With the mother and two cubs spending more time down in the south, they have had the attention of the two males more frequently than usual. It is well documented that male lions will kill the cubs of a rival male to ensure that their genetic line dominates, however, that is not necessarily the same for cheetahs. On an afternoon drive, we observed how aggressive and protective the female behaved in response to having the two males so close to her and the cubs. She isn’t likely to want to mate while the cubs are still so dependent on her, so she has to demonstrate a more hostile reluctance to ward off their advances. At one point the one cub got too close and received a dismissive swat from the male. It was a tense moment, but things settled down shortly after.
We are acutely aware of the fact that we have leopard activity around the lodge. From time to time we can hear their rasping call in the dark, and we have found tracks on the roads surrounding us. Field guide Promise was returning from an afternoon game drive when he caught the first footage of a leopard moving in the open patch to the west of our access road. It was a fleeting moment, but the big cat was mobile towards the lodge! Our trail camera also captured the same leopard strolling past our access sign at around 02:25am! I was returning home from a morning game drive, fashionably late as usual, when I spotted a big cat on the road in front of us. My initial thought was that we had finally located one of the lionesses! Almost within that very same thought, I uttered these words, “no, no, that’s a leopard”. There, only a few metres ahead, walked a big male leopard! What was even more remarkable was that we tracked and followed him for almost 15 minutes as he closed in on a herd of impalas.
The action in the southern region of Nambiti continued throughout the month. Witnessing a kill is a rare sighting, but two on one day is almost unheard of! We headed out on sunrise safari and soon realised that the day had something magical in store for us. The two cheetah brothers stepped out into the road in front of us as we were driving towards the southern carpark. I called the sighting in on the radio and usually other guides respond quite quickly to join the loc. When this wasn’t the case, it dawned on me that something else must be hogging their attention. It became clear what that something was when my cheetah sighting merged with a lion sighting! Having these two species in such close proximity to one another is almost intense. Our situation got even more unusual when the lioness burst forth out of the long grass and pinned down a large warthog! It took her quite some time to make the kill, but she and her sister eventually carried it off into the thicket. We were not the only ones who witnessed the whole event, the cheetahs saw it too, and they quickly used the distraction to make a hasty exit. Having returned to the lodge for breakfast, I was driving down to my house when I caught a glimpse of the same two cheetahs dropping down off Hippo Dam wall towards an unsuspecting nyala and her lamb. I made my way closer and took up a position on Woodlands Dam wall to watch everything unfold. The antelope left the safety of the water’s edge and moved out into the open. This was all the cheetahs needed and they exploded into action. A few strides later, the nyala lamb was in the jaws of a cheetah and the boys settled under a tree to enjoy their quarry. Over in seconds, but the memory will last forever!
We have enjoyed cheetahs in the mist, lions in the golden sun, elephants at dusk, wild dogs in the moonlight, a serval in the long grass, giraffes at sundowners, and hippo roadblocks! May has been a-May-zing! Autumn birding isn’t usually considered a fruitful season, but I have logged 164 species on the reserve. Some of the big highlights include African Fish Eagles displaying up at Cascades, Grey Crowned Cranes on the southern plains, a Mountain Wheatear on carpark highrise, a rare Greater Kestrel on Python Lane, an African Marsh Harrier around Links Dam, a juvenile Black Crake at Weaver Dam, a European Honey Buzzard at Twin Dam, a flock of White Storks at Mnandi’s Reservoir, and a Tawny Eagle scoping out a cheetah kill at Mushroom Crossing.
Things have been busy around the lodge, too! We hosted some digital creators (Tay-Tay and the Tantalising Twins!) who spent a few days capturing footage of our beautiful lodge. The floors in the main lodge got a makeover and it has really elevated the space. A new staff accommodation block is being built and the area around Hoopoe Dam is also undergoing some upgrades. We have also hosted a few sundowners, bush dinners and breakfasts down at the dam.
Chilly weather persists and things will only continue to get colder as we move into winter. Remember to pack warm jackets, beanies, gloves and scarves to ward off the cold, and to bring your own bottles with you to help us reduce plastic and paper waste.
See you soon for your next safari adventure! Stay wild!