Category Archives: Ranger’s Report

Reserve management always seems a little busier in the winter months. Colder temperatures, little to no rain, and the appearance of frost signal the time to repair roads and burn fire breaks and sections of veld. Within these burnt areas we often see antelope feeding on the charred vegetation. It is believed to supplement carbon in their diets. With most of the grasses cleared away and the trees left bare, it is possible to identify a few more birds as well. Some interesting species that have recently been spotted include Red-capped Lark, White-bellied Bustard, Fan-tailed Widowbird and Golden-breasted Bunting. The removal of the long grasses also exposes the many termite mounds that are constructed by Snouted Harvester Termites. Many of our guests have enjoyed more frequent and better quality sightings of our territorial aardwolf when returning to the lodge in the evenings. The aardwolf feeds on termites and ants, but is predominantly nocturnal by nature and tends to disappear into the long grasses once it is spotted.

I was out one morning with guests, and we responded to a sighting of lions near one of the southern lodges. The three big cats rewarded us for our patience, and we followed them all the way to our lodge access road. After informing the staff of their proximity to the lodge, the lions went into hunt-mode and began stalking warthogs. In next to no time, they were on our access road and running up into the lodge grounds. The big male made his way along the road to Room 5 and ambled up the walkway in search of the two lionesses. The reality of their paws being on the same tiles as where guests and staff walked a few hours earlier began to settle in, and it was intense!

These images were taken by one of the guests, Thomas. He captured a few excellent videos as well, which we will share on social media.

Field Guide Promise shared a special sighting with his guests recently. Members of the elephant herd visited the fallen bull and could be seen touching the remains with their trunks. This is a rare experience, and an intimate one at that. There is still so much about their relationships and emotions that we need to explore and understand.
June has been a busy time for Umzolozolo in all facets; we have had a full lodge, we are clearing bush in front of the lodge, and we are investigating solar options. July promises to be just as exciting!

To say that the month of May was a memorable one for the lodges based in the south of Nambiti is an understatement! For much of the last two weeks, we had the elephant herd, most of the southern pride, a buffalo herd and the two dominant male lions moving about in front of our lodge or close by. Guests enjoyed hearing the cracking of tree branches, deep rumbles and iconic roaring in the early hours of the morning or late into the night. 

The two male lions took down a young giraffe while the lionesses preferred to hunt warthogs and blue wildebeest to feed themselves and their growing cubs (now roughly 19 months old). It was really special to drive out of the lodge and call in lion sightings on a daily basis. On one misty morning drive, I stopped off for my coffee stop at one of the dams and just as I was about to start taking orders, we heard a clear roar. After getting the guests safely back into the cruiser, I walked towards the edge of the dam and there they were, two sub-adult lionesses and a dominant male. A few minutes later, the other male emerged from the mist and we spent the longest time enjoying their antics.

It wasn’t only our two big hitters that stole the limelight; we also had the cheetah coalition provide us with some brilliant moments in the glorious morning light, the buffalo herd moving through the grassy patches, square-lipped and hook-lipped ungulates popping into the lens every now and again and quite a few good sightings of the African Hoopoe (Umzolozolo).

Our morning temperatures are edging towards the zero mark and game drives are starting at 06h30 for the next couple of months. When you are packing for your safari at Umzolozolo Lodge, remember to add beanies, gloves, scarves, thick socks and perhaps your thermal underwear. Winter safaris may be chilly, but they are glorious too!

Wow, can you believe that a third of this year is already in our rearview mirror? April is always a busy month at the lodges due to school holidays and the Easter weekend. There was also a great deal of activity out on the reserve.

Field Guide (FG) Lymon shared a brief sighting of a leopard with his guests on the way back to the lodge one evening. The elusive big cat did not stay visible for long enough to take any photographs, but those who saw it will remember it fondly.

On any given day we can be visited by warthogs, impala, nyala and kudu at the lodge. At the beginning of the month, our Nambiti elephants visited us in camp! They rearranged a few things around the lodge and left a few kilograms of dung along the roads. The female cheetah also made a brief appearance at the manager’s house. Our resident boomslangs have returned and they seem to have invited a few extras. FG Nols and FG Promise captured and relocated a few of the arboreal snakes that ventured too close to the lodge buildings.

Perhaps the best news for us this month is the fact that most of the roads north of the Sunday’s River have been repaired and reopened. We were subsequently able to catch up with our northern lion pride more frequently and we enjoyed taking guests to the waterfall for coffee stops and sundowners. 

Morning game drives now begin at 6am and the afternoon drives at 3:30pm. The temperatures are crisp in the mornings, warm throughout the day and mild in the evenings. The wind chill factor is definitely something to take into consideration and be prepared for if you are planning to drop by over the next few weeks.

It most certainly has been an interesting month, with unusual and memorable sightings. We have been spoiled with many wonderful encounters with big and small creatures. The herd of elephants has been entertaining guests with their playful splishing and splashing in the dams. We welcomed a new member into the elephant herd and although it has many bodyguards, we have managed to catch a glimpse of it on a few occasions. The southern lionesses have acquired a taste for eland and over the last few weeks have managed to take down three. These large antelope have provided plenty of meat for all eleven lions to eat their full. The kudu calves have been showing well of late and giving us wonderful opportunities for photographs.

With the seasons changing, morning game drives are now starting at 6am and temperatures are cooling down as soon as the sun disappears below the horizon. Butterflies are still quite plentiful and we have identified a couple of species of longhorn beetle, however, the dung beetles are not being seen as often. Ranger Promise reported a good few sightings of porcupine this month and Ranger Nols watched an aardwolf marking his territorial boundary on the way back to the lodge one evening.
As we continue deeper into autumn, grasses will continue to brown and temperatures will continue to lower. The impala rutting season is just around the corner and we will soon have some interesting news to share!

-Head Guide Noleen Turner

KwaZulu-Natal, the province in which Nambiti can be found, is in the eastern half of South Africa, and much of our rainfall comes in the Summer months. During the second week of February approximately 140 mm of rain poured down over the reserve. Rivers burst their banks, roads became flooded and dams overflowed. The Sunday’s River roared as two of the three crossings became submerged. Many of the roads were closed as they were too muddy, but the sightings continued to be fantastic.

After a few days of sunshine, the roads started to dry out and more of the roads became accessible. We welcomed the Elephant herd back into the south of the reserve, the northern pride of Lions were spotted with their six cubs, and the Buffalo herds were out and about.

There were some memorable bird sightings as well. We recorded single sightings of a Lilac-breasted Roller, a Bronze-winged Courser, and a Brown Snake Eagle. The coalition of Cheetah brothers brought down a Kudu bull and this attracted Cape Vultures into the area. Many of the Summer migrants are still around, but they will be leaving us over the next few months.

Considering that this is the first report for the new year, I think it is quite fitting to shine a light on all the new life! There is always excitement emanating from the back of the cruiser when we move into a sighting with baby animals. Impala lambs, Lion cubs, and Giraffe calves are probably some of the most popular, but there certainly has been a baby boom for many species.

Our breeding herd of Buffalo is growing steadily and the youngsters have been full of sass, there are plenty of Blue Wildebeest calves chasing one another around on the plains and then there are the Helmeted Guinea Fowl chicks being taught how to run at full speed in front of a game viewer by their parents!

The fact that mammal babies are perfect miniature versions of the adults never ceases to amaze. They are far more entertaining to watch and always appear to have limitless energy.

Towards the end of the month temperatures cooled down for a few days and the energetic youngsters showed their delight with playful interactions. In the coming weeks we will get to watch them grow!

The festive season has been in full swing at the lodge, and our guests have enjoyed some epic sightings!

Our team of three rangers grew to four when Field Guide, Noleen Turner, joined us early in December.

It has been the lion dynamics on the reserve that have caused the biggest buzz around game drive times. The two dominant males had a giraffe kill in the south and were caught in a bit of a situation when a breeding herd of buffaloes chased them onto a rocky ridge! The two younger male lions have been spending most of their time in the south as well. We spotted them a few times around the lodges, and they seem to be more relaxed around vehicles.

The northern lionesses have been rather scarce as they are raising six new cubs and with the Sunday’s River flowing strongly, their movements are somewhat restricted. It has been a wonderful month for the southern pride (two Tswalu lionesses and their seven sub-adult cubs). They began the month in the southern valleys but soon moved northward to plunder the plains, where most of the game has been grazing.

The lodge has been busy, and we are looking forward to more great game drives as the new year rolls on.

This month has been a fantastic month for sightings in the bush. The birds are chirping and the Impala have started rutting. 

We have been having more sightings of all three of our Cheetahs in the last month – close ups and walking past our game viewers. They are definitely some special moments to experience with the fastest cat in the world.

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The month of March was hot for the first 2 weeks, but as we approached the second half of the month, the weather suddenly changed and we received quite a lot of rainfall, which is very good for nature just before winter comes. We have even seen the last of the young from the Kudu, Impala, Zebra and Wildebeest.

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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!