2005 : January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November |
2006 : January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
2007 : January | February |

     The short month of February seems to have passed us by in a flash, hence the delay in the Newsletter. The good rains have continued and the amount of rainfall far surpasses any year since the great flood of 2000. While game drives have been a little more difficult we have still been able to get out and have had some remarkable viewing.

     One of the most outstanding experiences that the guests had was with 6 new male lions that have moved into our area and neighbouring properties. These males cause huge dissension within the lion ranks where ever they go. These males, we presume, have come in from Kruger and are at this stage nomadic, looking for a territory to take over. It is unusual to have this many male lions forming a coalition and if they do take over this area, we are sure that their territory will be huge.

     During first reconnaissance into our area, they met up with the Ottawa Pride, consisting of the old male in the North, 2 females and 6 cubs. The old male put his tail between his legs and is probably crossing into Mozambique by now! However, we were witness to the 6 males meeting with the females and cubs of this pride. The males chased the cubs and the females through some fairly thick bush and a lot of fighting took place in front of the Land Rover. Due to the wet terrain, we were unable to follow their pursuit of the cubs so we are not sure if any were killed. It seems that these 6 have had a run-in with the Ravenscourt Pride as well and one cub from that pride is missing. We will keep you informed as to any further action.

     The last female in the Ximungwe Pride has now produced cubs and brought them out for us to see. They are approximately 4 ˝ months old now and have adapted to the game viewing vehicles extremely well. There are 3 of them and have been viewed on an impala kill with their mother. Although looking like adorable little bundles of fur, they are still fairly viciously fighting for their portion.

     We have been very privileged to have regular cheetah viewing - mainly of a female with 3 sixteen month old cubs. These 4 have been on our property for the past 4 weeks. She has made several kills, and on one occasion was seen bringing back a young impala and releasing it in front of the cubs so that they could learn how to kill it. We were also able to walk our guests into them and got to within 30 meters. The cheetahs showed no sign of stress and nor did the guests! They were over the moon that they could experience these animals without the protection of a Land Rover.

     During the heaviest part of our latest wet spell, we had a drought of leopards and for 3 days we battled without success to find them. However, just before a total decline set in with all the rangers, the female leopard, Mkwela, appeared and we had magnificent viewing of her spread eagled in a tree enjoying the few rays of sunlight. It is now known that she has lost her cubs. We believe that the Wallingford male was not fooled by her antics, and even though he mated with her several times, he probably killed them.

     Since this sighting, all other leopards seem to have come out of the woodwork. Guests watched open mouthed as the Ottawa male, chased by 2 lionesses, perched precariously on a very thin branch of a tree. He could not have gone any higher and the lionesses were less than a meter below him but luckily stopped by their inadequate climbing skills. Shangwa and her cubs have been very evident and they always provide extremely good viewing. As of this morning, she was on a big impala kill, which should last her several days if hyenas do not steal it from her. The Makubela female, one of Shangwa’s cubs from her previous litter, has also been sighted regularly.

     Rhino are a little difficult to find at the moment because of the thick bush but we have had up to 10 coming out and grazing on what we refer to as the “village green” at the back of camp. One night 4 hippo and 3 buffalo bulls joined them – a nice way to end an evening drive.

     The bush is particularly beautiful with flowers at this moment and because of the late rains they have bloomed again. With all the long green grass, interspersed with pinks, reds, blues and yellows, it is a sight to behold. Most of the migrant birds have started on their journeys back to summer in Europe. Only the odd diehards are left. These include steppe buzzards, woodlands kingfishers - we hardly hear them calling anymore - and the odd wahlberg’s eagle.

     We are now beginning to feel a definite nip in the air in the early mornings as autumn is upon us and easter just around the corner. We can start looking forward to many clear and beautiful starry nights out in the bush and around the boma fire. As usual, we have to emphasize that it is wonderful to see so many of you returning to Savanna so early in the year and we hope for many more before 2006 is over.