 |
 |
| |
| |
Subscribe to Savannas' Newsletter
|
| |
April 2005 Dear All We are definitely moving into our winter now, while many of you out there will be counting the days until the warmth of your summer. Although there has been some heavy late rain with a couple of short and very violent storms, we are now starting to experience the beautiful sunsets and astonishing sunrises associated with this change of season. The night sky is truly spectacular for stargazers. We are very much looking forward to the finishing touches being put to our redesigned boma and the many companionable evenings ahead we will spend dining around the boma fire. Game viewing continues to be as good as ever. After all the doom and gloom of last month, we are pleased to report that the remaining six cubs of the Ximungwe Pride are doing well. Although suffering from a little mange, they look as if they will get over this and are well on the way to a full and fat recovery on a diet of wildebeest, impala and kudu. The Ottawa Pride has been seen in the north of the reserve with six new cubs. Half of this pride separated off and were seen on a giraffe carcass on the northern boundary. This provided us with fantastic viewing during the past week. We are not sure if this giraffe was killed or died of natural causes but indications are that it died of old age and in doing so certainly provided a wonderful meal for this particular pride. The Ravens Court Pride has given us exceptional viewing too around Savanna Camp. They have seven cubs left out of the original nine. We are not sure how they lost two but we presume it was to hyena. Early one morning, the Savanna rangers came across the Ravens Court Pride with the big male lion tearing a hyena apart. The screams of pain could be heard from kilometers away and this is what alerted the rangers to the battle. However, as soon as the rangers arrived on the scene, the lions seemed to lose interest and the badly wounded hyena was left lying in the grass. We returned a few hours later to check on the hyena but it was no longer there so we are unaware whether it survived the vicious onslaught or not. |
||
| |
Hyenas are very strong and resilient animals so it is possible that it could recover from these exceptionally bad wounds. While our hyena population seems to have dwindled over the past months, we are now beginning to see more of them at leopard kills. This has included lactating females, an indication that we have a den somewhere close. Those of you who have had the good luck to witness a hyena den with all the young will understand our impatience to locate this one as soon as possible. |
 |
|
|
This brings us to the subject of leopard. Kwela and her 15 months old cub are still doing well and we have had amazing sightings of them both on impala and duiker kills. The Wallingford male, known to all as Wallys, has been under a little bit of pressure from the Ottawa male. He has been seen with scratch marks on his face, an indication that a clash has taken place in the last few weeks. Earlier this month some had the chance to see Wallys bringing down a large kudu bull. This is an exceptional feat for a leopard, as a large kudu bull will weigh in excess of 600lbs. Unfortunately, he was unable to keep the kill as lions chased him off. The female leopard, Shangwa, is still looking after her 2 cubs but they are definitely reaching the stage where she is likely to make them independent soon. They too have provided us with great viewing. The Dayone female has not been seen for over 3 months and we are sad to think that the Ravens Court Pride probably killed her and her cubs, although we have no evidence of this. Large and wonderfully relaxed herds of elephant have been seen along the river. This is normal for this time of year as the river provides them with enough food and water to sustain herds of sixty plus. We have had several new rhino calves. The rhino babies always give such delight when they are in the bouncing baby stage. It is incredible so see how light they are on their feet! |
|
|
 |
|
|
Wild dogs made a brief appearance in the north for 2 days before they went east again. There were only 2 this time but we hope they will return with a larger pack in the near future. All the migrant birds have gone back now but we are seeing an incredible amount of resident eagles including bateleur, marshal, tawny, black breasted and brown snake. As most of these are winter breeding eagles the building of nests has been evident. |
|
| |
 |
|
|
We are very sad to say goodbye this month to Andrew and Michelle. Andrew has been at Savanna for many years now and they have both become an important part of our special small team. It is with great regret that we wave them off for a year of travel around Europe. We would like to wish them the best of luck. At least we come to the end of April on a happier note than last month. We have had the pleasure of a very happy wedding here, a special occasion that the staff at Savanna took great delight in. We would also like to thank all of you who have been sending photos to our web designer and hope that you will take the time to view our upgraded website. |
|
| |
 Warm Wishes Paddy and the Savanna Team |
|
| |
S A V A N N A P R I V A T E G A M E R E S E R V E F O R T H E U L T I M A T E S A F A R I E X P E R I E N C E |
| |
Copyright © Photographs taken by Paddy Hagelthorn and Neil Wright Wildlife Interactive |
| |
All contents Copyright © 1999 - 2005 Savanna Private Game Reserve |
