It has been another fantastic week for game viewing at Savanna, especially with regard leopard! After not having seen Hlabankunzi much last week at all, she was seen on a number of occasions this week. On Monday, she was found very far east, quite close to our boundary with the remains of an impala kill. The nervous Ndlevane male was also there, but was not seen as he is extremely skittish around vehicles. Perhaps this allowed Hlabankunzi the chance to get into the tree to feed on the kill, which he presumably stole from her! The next day, the Kashane male was seen very close to where the kill was, but Hlabankunzi had moved west. He seemed to starestraight in the direction of the kill, but decided to move away from the kill, perhaps as he was unsure if lions were in the vicinity or not.

One of the best sightings of the week was seeing Metsi taking her two cubs to a kill early in the morning. We followed them for some time, as they headed north along Little Serengeti, giving us many opportunities to get some good photos of the three of them together! She took them to a large male impala kill just off Little Serengeti, south-east of Windmill Kruger.

Very close to Metsi, was the lioness from the Ximungwe pride with the two younger cubs. There was some concern that she might smell the kill, and steal it from Metsi, but the following morning the kill was still there. Metsi and the two cubs, however, had decided to leave the kill and we found tracks of them all heading south away from the kill. Later in the morning, we found Hlabankunzi at the kill, having fed off it briefly before moving off slightly to rest in a tree nearby.

Later in the week, Hlabankunzi was seen actively courting the Xinzele male, who seems to have stamped his authority in the northern part of our concession, and was also responsible for the death of Hlabankunzi’s two cubs. Hopefully she will mate with him shortly, and have a new litter of cubs soon!

The large herd of buffalo have been on our property for most of the week and providing great viewing. The clearings have had a late flush of green, which is attracting them into the wide open spaces making viewing fantastic.

The older lioness from the Ximungwe pride which has the two older cubs, was seen on the Mackenzie Airstrip watching the large herd intently as they moved past the southern end of the airstrip. She was not going to try her luck with the herd, so she moved further west, where she lay down at Robyn’s Landing clearing and gave us a great roaring display!

The Ottawa pride remains in the northern part of our concession, so we do not see them too often. On one occasion we did venture north and found them resting in some tall grass, but viewing was limited, so we were unable to get any good photographs. The young males in the pride are now about 3 years old and should be leaving the pride soon.

The large herds of elephant have also been seen regularly this week. We followed one of these herds on a warm day as they headed north toward Treehouse Pan just south of the Sand River, and were fortunate to have the whole herd drink on either side of us! At another sighting we found a herd of elephant and three rhino on Mackenzie Airstrip having a bit of a standoff. Interestingly the rhino were unfazed, and the elephant backed off and moved into the thickets!

Metsi and Tlangisa have continued their bids for Mambiri’s territory, and although we did not see them having a confrontation, they have been in close proximity to one another, scent marking heavily wherever they go! Metsi was found in a tree near Mackenzie Camp, where she had just been chased up a tree by the wild dogs for a second time this week! After resting there for some time, she came down when she was sure the dogs had left, and continued her patrols!

After following up on some monkey alarm calls, we found Tlangisa near Mackenzie Windmill. She too looked nervous, and presumed that the wild dogs must have come past close to her as well! She scurried up a marula tree, where she surveyed the area for signs of the wild dogs. She also relaxed in the tree, until she felt safe to come down. It turned out that the wild dogs either made a kill, or stole one from Tlangisa, as she headed back into the thickets, and found the remains of an impala kill. She hoisted it into a marula tree, and then headed back out across the clearing to have a drink at a small pool of water in the road.

The relaxed caracal has been seen a number of times again this week, as it moved south through our concession. Once again, it provided us with fantastic sightings and we were able to get all the vehicles through so that everyone could get a view of this rare feline.

The general game has also been very good, and we have had good herds of waterbuck on the clearings around Treehouse Mackenzie. In this herd were four young calves, which entertained us with typical juvenile antics.

The Kashane male was found again later in the week near Mackenzie Airstrip, as he moved further west than we have seen him for some time. After following him for some time, he suddenly seemed to notice something inside a termite mound, and although it was fairly late in the morning, we presumed that there must still be a warthog inside. He stared at the mound for some time, until settling down and falling asleep at the entrance to mound. These animals have immense patience, and he was going to wait for as long as it took for one of the warthogs to come out. We eventually moved out for another vehicle, and at the end of the morning drive, he was still waiting at the mound. During the afternoon drive, we found him with a sub-adult warthog kill which he had obviously made during the heat of the day, in between drives. The next morning he was found again, much further north, having devoured the entire warthog during the night!

We had another fantastic sighting where arrived seconds after the Xikavi female leopard caught a male impala. She was still holding onto the neck of the impala, asphyxiating it, while the rest of the herd stood close by, snorting their alarm calls at her! Once the impala was dead, she quickly dragged it into some nearby thickets, where she finished the kill over the next few days.

As usual, the smaller things have also been interesting this week, with reptiles being prominent. Although very seldom seen, the snakes are making a last attempt to get some food before aestivating (a type of hibernation) for the winter. We have also had good sightings of chameleons, and one particularly large leopard tortoise.