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April has been the most wonderful month with lovely clear skies during the day and slightly cooler evenings now drawing in. We are reminded just how amazing this time of year is at Savanna. The daytime temperatures are perfect and we can really start to appreciate the coming of autumn and the fire in the boma in the evenings.
The game viewing has continued to be sensational. The photographic opportunities with the early morning light are absolutely exceptional. Our sunrises and sunsets are something to be marvelled at on a daily basis.
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The big male cheetah has been visiting us regularly just recently. His sorties into our area at least once a week are something that we look forward to and seem to be as regular as clockwork. A few days ago he killed a young kudu on one of our clearings and was driven off this kill by at least 60 vultures. However, he looked extremely full and had managed to eat most of it before he was forced away. What does worry us a little is the shortage of females in this area and we will endeavour to find out from our neighbours how the cheetah populations are faring on their properties for the next Newsletter.
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Our female leopards have been giving us wonderful viewing. Last month it was obvious to us that Mkwela was pregnant. This month we are very happy to announce that she has had yet another litter of cubs although we are as yet unsure how many. We have seen her several times on different kills and she is lactating very heavily. It should be a few weeks before she allows us to view them. We also believe that Makubela has cubs. We had a report from another lodge that she was lactating but this has not been confirmed yet. Shangwa has been giving us special viewing with her 3 cubs that are now 11 weeks old. She seems to be keeping them in the river and bringing them out to kills that she has made. She took them to a big male impala kill several days ago and we sat and watched them feeding of the carcass. It was one of those drives where we were unable to get back for breakfast until after midday! It was also one of those days when having come back for a quick breakfast, the guests were keen to go straight out again! On the following day, we returned once again to the kill. It had gone and there was no sign of Shangwa and the cubs. However, the area was riddled with hyena tracks. We found Shangwa returning to this area about an hour later and watched her collect a cub that had been hiding in the long grass. We can only hope that she had already taken the other 2 cubs to her den in the river. A very interesting fact about one of the cubs is that it has bright blue eyes. Leopard cubs normally lose this colour at about 8 weeks old. This is a very unusual phenomena and it will be interesting to see if this cub’s eyes stay blue as it grows.
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Mambiri, the leopard that is often seen on Savanna property, has been moving more and more into Mkwela’s territory. Some of you might remember that Mambiri is Mkwela’s daughter from a litter about 6 years ago. This can only end in a huge clash between the two. This has been the case with her and one of the cubs from her last litter that has just been made independent.
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The Mpogo, the coaliton of male lions, have been conspicuous by their absence this month and only one male has been seen. The highlight of this month’s sightings was the Ottawa Pride that has come over to our property several times. They have brought with them seven four month old cubs. It is wonderful to see so many young lion cubs again.
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The Sand River Pride has spent most of its time north of the river on the Northern edge of our property so unfortunately we have not seen them often this month. However, the Ximungwe Pride has been invaluable as they continue to utilise our area on a daily basis. The two males that are in this pride, the old male and the young male, continue to invade the Mpogo even though they have been chased to the Southern most edge of our territory where they have kept themselves hidden for a few days before venturing out again. The older male, who was once part of the Castleton Pride, still has a bad limp. He was injured about 3 years ago. We are not sure how but it continues to worry him.
What does seem amazing is that the adult female in the Ximungwe Pride and one of the grown-up cubs have left the pride several times and found one of the Mpogo to mate with. It is interesting to note that they have not mated with the Castleton male but have gone searching for the dominant Mpogo clan. So far there does not seem to have been any success with the mating but we hope for positive results in the months to come.
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On returning from a game drive one morning, we saw 2 Crowned Lap Wings acting very strangely. On investigation, we found a nest and not far from it was a large Egg Eater snake. We sat and watched while the Lap Wings lifted their wings to try and distract the snake. However, this proved futile and the snake promptly swallowed one of the eggs and disappeared into the grass.
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We have been very excited to see wild dog on 3 separate occasions this month. The Savanna rangers were able to stay with a pack of 2 males and 2 females following them on their hectic dash through the bush for more than 1 ˝ hours while they hunted impala. They did not succeed in a kill but then flushed out a skittish young male leopard that they chased up a tree. They kept him there for a few minutes before losing interest and dashing off into the bush again. To describe the adrenalin rush that one gets from following wild dog is difficult but usually 3 Land Rovers are needed so as not to lose them as they zig zag madly and at such speed. One of the females was very pregnant and we are hoping that she will find a suitable place to den on our property
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We are having fantastic viewing at the hyena den. This is an old den that they are re-utilising. At present there are 3 young hyena cubs but numerous adults are constantly visiting the den so we hope there could be more babies to follow. These hyena dens are such good value. One is able to sit and watch how these mis-interpreted animals interact with their young. As we have mentioned before, hyena have had a lot of bad press. Magazine articles and the Lion King did not do them any favours. They are an extremely efficient predator and it is hard to believe how gentle they can be with their offspring
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The buffalo herd has been visiting the Lodge on a regular basis this month and this was partly due to the fact that the waterholes around the camp are still full. It is very impressive to see between 400-500 buffalo coming down to the waterholes in front of the Lodge. As it is getting so dry, these large herds will soon split up into smaller groups so that there is not so much competition for grazing and water |
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With contributions from guests and a monthly donation from Savanna, we are able to supply the newly founded orphanage in Mabarule with food for their sixty children |
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We would like to impress of all of you again who are feeling the call for the bush that autumn is the most wonderful time of year to visit The bush is drier, animals are being drawn to the waterholes and the sound of rutting impala can be heard constantly.
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