The last two weeks have seen the rains finally arrive in force, with over 136mm falling. This has made off-road driving a bit tricky, but has not dampened the game viewing at all. The grass in the clearings on Savanna has continued to get greener and this has attracted the big herds of buffalo back to the property, with a highlight being the arrival of the first buffalo calf of the season. The favourable grazing has also attracted herds of zebra and a herd of wildebeest, both of which have also started producing their young.

The Sand River has remained at a high level, but fortunately the Ximungwe pride and Mapogo brothers had crossed southwards before it flooded. Two of the Mapogo brothers got wind of the buffalo in the south and, when leaving on drive one morning, we found them with a young buffalo kill right outside the entrance to the lodge. Unbeknown to us at the time, the two young Ottawa male lions (the Mapogo’s sons) were also in the area and by the looks of it, the two younger males had been responsible for the kill, as they were covered in mud, but then they lost the kill to their fathers.

The next morning we found the Ximungwe pride in the south as well and they made an attempt at hunting the herd of buffalo, but without success. They eventually met up with the Mapogo brothers and remained in the south for the better part of a week, perhaps attracted not only by the buffalo but also by the zebra and wildebeest.

The pride was not seen to make any substantial kills, however, and this may have convinced them to head back north, as the next day they were 7km away and back near the river again. We were watching them lazing about one morning when suddenly one of the lionesses noticed something and began to stalk. All of a sudden, there was a commotion as all the lionesses jumped up and ran to where their sister had disappeared. When we followed, we found that the 13-month old cub who had been wondering around on his own for the last month had finally found the pride. However, it was not the happy family reunion that we had hoped for, as the lioness started attacking the youngster. What happened next, though, was very surprising, as the Mapogo with the mohawk came in and fought off the lionesses. He then stood over the youngster and continued to protect it against the hostile females (Bernie Han and Ali Dinsel who were guests at Savanna at the time managed to get this amazing video). We know that this Mapogo is not the father of the cub, so it was interesting to see this behaviour. It did, however, suggest that the future for this cub is very uncertain now, as the lionesses do not appear to want to accept the youngster back into the pride.

Leopard viewing has been as good as always and the Kashane Male has continued his dominance in the south, with many patrols. He was also seen courting with the Tasselberry female again and we hope that this time it will result in some cubs in the New Year.

The Dewane Male continues to make his presence felt and looks to be expanding his territory eastwards. As also happened a few months ago, he managed to kill an adult female kudu, no easy accomplishment even for a male leopard. On closer inspection, we also found a dead kudu calf which suggests he must have killed the mother and then the calf when it came back to find its mother. Unfortunately, we were unable to get any pictures of this, as he had dragged both kills into some very thick vegetation.

Hlabankunzi has been seen regularly, although most sightings of her have only lasted a short while before she disappeared back towards her den where her cubs are hopefully doing well. There was a heart-stopping moment when we found her and the Dewane Male in the same area near where we believe her den is. We did not see her courting with this male, so he is unlikely to be the father of her current cubs, which means that he would kill them if he found them, in order to bring her back into season so he could father her next cubs. Both leopards eventually moved in opposite directions and there was no drama.

We watched Tlangisa one evening as she stalked some impala from a termite mound. As she fixed her gaze on the antelopes, the rain started coming down and she abandoned the hunt to seek refuge under a bush. The next morning she was found with a young impala kill, so she did have some success after the rain had abated.

The rhinos continue to make the most of the abundant mud wallows that have now been created by the rains, and the numerous youngsters born during the year are all still looking healthy.

The elephant viewing has also remained good and once again we had some fantastic viewing of some bulls sparring and swimming at Nkombe Dam. Not far from the dam, two of the Mapogo brothers were sleeping off the remains of the buffalo kill, when one of the bulls saw them, and chased them into some thickets nearby!

Perhaps another highlight of the week was the birth of a baby elephant to one of the herds that frequent Savanna. Some guests were fortunate enough to see the baby just after the birth and actually saw it take its first steps!  A video of this is available here.

There are still some migratory birds that are arriving for the summer and the first Carmine Bee-eater was seen on the 22nd December. We are, however, still waiting for the arrival of the European Rollers that seem to be a bit late this year. Paddy also witnessed some amazing interaction between a group of Ground Hornbills and a Wahlberg’s Eagle.

The rains have also triggered the activity of a number of frog species, most noticeably the African Bull Frog (do you have a pic?), and also the dung beetles who are furiously rolling their dung balls around and even attempting to hijack dung balls from each other! For a video of two dung beetles fighting, click here.

We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and that the New Year ahead will be most prosperous! We look forward to seeing many of you back at Savanna in 2012.