August has been yet another glorious month and the temperatures are really beginning to rise signaling the arrival of spring. We have also had another amazing month of game viewing, with numerous changes taking place within the hierarchy of certain territorial species. The August winds, as predicted, have continued to blow this month and hopefully this will mean good rains in October or November.

     We do have a bit of bad news concerning leopards. One of Mkwela’s cubs, barely 3 months old, was killed earlier in the month by the new Tegwan male. Mkwela then took the other 2 cubs out of the reserve and into the communal area surrounding the Sabi Sands, where she kept them hidden for the past 3 weeks. Some good tracking done by other lodges verified that she still had 2 cubs in a rocky outcrop outside the reserve less than a week ago. However, she was found back inside the fence on the last day of the month with 2 male leopards, one being the Tegwan male and the other an unknown leopard of similar age and size to the Tegwan. There was a lot of conflict and growling going on between them when they were first found. As the vehicles approached the skittish male ran off with the Tegwan in close pursuit and Mkwela also slunk off into a thick drainage line where she could not be followed. However, it was noticed that she had a deep gash on the inside of one of her hind legs. We believe and hope that this is just a flesh wound and will heal in a short space of time. As yet, we have been unable to ascertain if the 2 remaining cubs are still alive and whether she has brought them back into the reserve or not. Only time will tell but I personally do not hold out much hope for these cubs as the new males vying for territory will kill them to bring Mkwela back into season where they can sire their own cubs.

     Earlier this month Mkwela’s previous cub, now called the Hlabankunzi female, also met up with the Tegwan male. She followed him around for 4 days and was displaying in front of him as if in season, beckoning him to mate with her even though she is far too young.. The Tegwan male accepted her, even though he showed a lot of aggression when she came close to him. This is normal behaviour between male and female leopards.

     The Tegwan male seems to be expanding his territorial area and is moving both north and south from the river far more frequently. It is almost a foregone conclusion that he will be the new territorial male taking over from the Wallingord male. The Wallingford male still looks in prime condition but is obviously not prepared to put in the mileage to cover huge territory anymore.

     Early this month, we had the excitement of a visit from 4 wild dog that have made their den to the east of our property. They came over and killed a young kudu. The rangers heard the commotion while they were sitting with the Ximungwe Pride of lions and immediately the pride stood up and ran in the direction of the feeding frenzy. The lions soon found the kill and chased the wild dog off. The wild dog left the scene and within half an hour had killed and devoured a duiker. It is a real privilege to have these intermittent but fairly regular sorties of wild dog in our area again.

     This has been a good month for lions and for most of the month we have had the 3 prides, Ximungwe, Sand River and Ottawa, constantly traversing our area. The Ximungwe Pride, unusually for them, killed a big male buffalo on Savanna property which gave us fantastic viewing for 2 ˝ days. They were harassed, however, by the resident clan of hyena, whose whooping calls could be heard several kilometers away at the lodge. The Sand River Pride has been on the north western side of the property and the Ottawa Pride has been near the river around the north eastern side of the property. We were very fortunate to have a Top Billing film crew with us a few days ago, taking photos and footage for a South African television program, and they were witness to the Ximungwe Pride killing an impala right in front of the Land Rover. While these kills are always very gruesome and gory, they make wonderful viewing and I believe they got some exceptional footage. Three of the Mpogo have spent a lot of the latter part of this month over on our side. It is always a bonus for us to be able to show these huge males to the guests. The poor old male of the Xmungwe Pride continues to limp along but seems to be a little more comfortable now that the weather has warmed up. He still spends most of his time on the south western side of our property.

     The Sabi Sands have caught a few more elephant bulls this month to be relocated to Natal where we believe they will be used for breeding purposes in some of the smaller reserves. Unfortunately, with the disruption that the capture caused, our resident elephant bulls have moved on. We hope that they will return in the near future. However, we have had 7 buffalo bulls that have taken up residency in and around the camp. On two occasions, they have broken the perimeter electric fence and have moved into the lodge. It took some coaxing to get them out again and a lot of hard work to mend the fences! We hope that they have now learned to stay on the outside but they are good value to view at our waterholes in front of the lodge.

     We have located a new hyena den with cubs that are no more than 3 weeks old and because we have been viewing them virtually since the day they were born they have become exceptionally relaxed at this very early age. Photographic opportunities are superb as they come right out of the den and are so inquisitive with the Land Rovers. There is a second den on the south western side of Savanna property that is also very active and there are at least 3 older cubs that are now also interested in the cars. It is good to see our hyena population developing and the interaction between them and the other predators makes for excellent viewing.

     A lot of the migratory birds have already arrived and the Wahlbergs Eagles have started to rebuild the nests that they vacated in March this year. They are one of the first eagles to return and they start nesting immediately so that they have time to rear their chicks and prepare for the migration back to North Africa. The variance in colour in the Wahlbergs is phenomenal as one can see in this picture of a pair nesting on Savanna property.

     Other late winter nesting birds have also started to nest, such as the Senegal Lapwing(or Lesser Blackwing Plover – the old name) We have spotted one nesting near Mackenzie Windmill and she is so relaxed with the cars that we can drive right up to her, providing us with wonderful photographic opportunities.

     Just a quick update on the white impala – this young male now truly established, is still doing fine. His horns are getting big as you can see in the photo and we can only hope he reaches maturity and we will have a chance to see him as a fully developed male impala.

     The breeding herds of elephant have concentrated along the river as they did last month. There is a new herd that has moved into our area from the Kruger and this is very evident by the fact that they are not totally relaxed. This has taken a few of the younger rangers by surprise having become a bit blasé with the elephants that they have been viewing for the past few months. Herds have joined together and we are seeing from 30 up to 100 animals. It was on one of these occasions that we viewed this calf playing with its mother.

     We have had an influx of repeat guests this month. It has been wonderful to see so many of you back again and we look forward to many more in the months to come.