Due to all the massive rain we had toward the end of January, we had to combine two weeks’ worth of sightings, as week three was a little low on viewing. This, however, was not the case at the start of February!

There have been many highlights this week, but the viewing of the Ximungwe pride has probably been the best. Early in the week, they were found lying on the large rocks of Makazalitche (‘cold rocks’). This type of sighting is always special, as they are out in the open, with no grass spoiling the view. They had obviously had a long night, and were pretty lethargic, enjoying the early morning sun.

The following day they had moved further south, and we found them in the clearings around Mackenzie Camp. Here too they were initially pretty lazy, but as it warmed up, two of the cubs decided to play and practise their hunting/fighting techniques on one other. Although this seems like lots of fun, many of the techniques they will need as adults are practiced and developed in this way.

Two days later, they returned to the clearings again and continued their playful ways. The following day we had a great sighting of an adult female and a cub in a marula tree! The female was fairly comfortable, but the cub lost all its confidence about half way up! Both of these sightings were unusual, as they occurred during daylight hours, when they are usually asleep and waiting for the cover of darkness.

The large herd of buffalo have remained in the clearings around Savanna this week and many calves have been born lately. After the heavy rains, all the dams around the camp are full and lots of new growth has sprouted providing the perfect habitat for the buffalo.

This has, however attracted the Mapogo coalition to the south. We have had frequent sightings of them on our concession, following the buffalo herd with interest.

On one occasion, while resting near the herd close to Savanna, the older male moved in much closer to the herd while his two brothers remained sleeping on the crest. It was unlikely that he would have any success on his own, but luck was on his side, and a cow gave birth within a few meters of him, providing him with a free meal! He finished it pretty quickly, without the other two having any idea what they were missing out on!

Later in the week, they returned to behaving like male lions normally do, with no apparent grudges for eating without the others!

The leopard viewing has been good, although very frustrating at times due to the waterlogged soil in many places. The area in which Tlangisa has been seen frequently is one of the most affected areas, and so viewing of her has been limited. Having said that, on the occasions that we have seen her, she has been typically accommodating and photogenic! At one time, she used a tree to get a better vantage point, but stopped half way up, to check, before climbing all the way to the top! Here she spread herself across the branches, and posed fantastically for us!

The Dewane Male (Day One) has been seen quite a lot this week as well and on two occasions was seen together with Tlangisa. We were unable to get any photos of these interactions, but Dewane was also very active in patrolling. He seems to be gaining in confidence and seems to be increasing his territory.

Hlabankunzi has not been seen too often this week and we are not sure if her cub is still in the same area. We did have a report that someone did see her move it, but we are unsure where she might have moved to. The cub is now just over 7 weeks old, so hopefully she will start taking it to kills and let us view it. This will be important in getting the cub habituated to the vehicles as soon as possible.

The elephant sightings have been fantastic, with many herds fragmenting and seeking out the marula trees which are dropping a lot of fruit at the moment. They are also still enjoying the large amounts of mud wallows lying around and we were spoilt to an incredible sighting of a herd having a mud bath deluxe! For a video of this, please click here.

As always, general game viewing has been very good with rhino, giraffe and zebra being among the favourite of the guests. For those of you who have been here recently, some good news is that the one female zebra which has been seen regularly near the camp has finally given birth!

For those who enjoy owls, there have been many seen recently, which no doubt has to do with the increase of rodents and insects after all the rain.

We have also had some interesting sightings to end with. The first was an amazingly well camouflaged European Nightjar, which is a nocturnal species and roosts during the day on branches. As it depends so much on camouflage, it is reluctant to fly away and we were able to get quite close to it to get this photo.

The other unusual sighting was a male steenbuck lying close to the road, allowing four hawk moths to feed on the ocular secretions. Although this is seldom seen, it has been recorded before and the moths can infect the eyes with bacteria as they move from one animal to the next. It is interesting then, that these animals allow this to happen, and if there are any benefits to the animal itself.