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     We have experienced the most glorious month weather-wise. Although we suffered briefly from the back lash of the snow that fell in Cape Town and our temperatures plummeted, the sun has continued to shine ceaselessly. Because we have had no rain, there has been a fair amount of dust in the air and the sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular and glowing red, as they do at this time of year. The early morning dew causes the hammock spider’s webs to stand out like a jewelled “chandelier” display

     This month has been the month of the elephant. We have had enormous herds moving in and out of our area. A lot of these herds seem to be new elephants that have pushed through from Kruger Park. They are not as relaxed with the vehicles as some of the herds that we have had in the past. A few of the rangers have had some interesting encounters with concerned matriarchal females. However everyone has come out unscathed and we are hoping that these herds, with the constant viewing, will become more relaxed in the future.

     It is an extremely impressive sight to see over 100 elephants going across the clearings at Cheetah Flats. It is at this time of the year, when the bush is starting to dry up, that the herds of elephant constantly come down to the waterholes at Savanna Camp. This has already begun and the guests are having regular viewing of elephant at the water from their rooms.

     It is almost certain that the second Sand River female is pregnant. She will have approximately one month to go before she produces her cubs and we are all holding thumbs that she will produce some female cubs to boost the strength of the Sand River Pride for the future. Her sister’s two male cubs are doing extremely well at just over 4 months and are growing rapidly. They have become exceptionally relaxed with the vehicles.

     The Ximungwe Pride, which was the big pride that frequented Savanna’s property, has now been reduced to 6 animals. These have come back onto the property again, having spent a long time away from us in the East and they have once again found the wildebeest boma, which was re-erected for the release of another 600 wildebeest this year. The Ximungwe Pride has been camped at the boma, longingly watching a meal that they are unable to get to. A few nights ago, a pack of hyena were also patrolling the exterior of the wildebeest boma and came into contact with the Ximungwe Pride. The hyena, numbering approximately 20, chased the lions and all six ended up in two different trees. The hyena kept them up there for at least 45 minutes before they wandered off to look for better pickings. The lions then gingerly climbed down to resume their fruitless patrolling. Hyena will often confront and take on lions, especially females and youngsters, once their numbers exceed the number of lions.

     We have seen a lot of the Wallingford male this month and it never ceases to amaze us how good this leopard looks even though he is becoming an old man. He must be 14 years old and yet he is still able to hold a sizeable territory. We have got a few younger males who are trying to make inroads into this territory but as yet they have not succeeded. Mkwela and her cub are still doing well and still being seen fairly regularly but not as much as previous months. Mambiri, with her 7 month old cub, are being seen on a regular basis on Savanna property where she has staked out her territorial boundaries now. The Makubela female has also been seen on Savanna’s Eastern boundaries. She has been marking vigorously and calling for a male so we are hoping she will claim this area as hers which will give us two wonderfully relaxed females to view in the southern part of our traversing areas. There is a new male that has moved into the south but he is very shy and will not allow himself to be viewed by vehicles. We have only had the odd glimpse of him running away.

      We had an interesting research team from the Cape Leopard Trust this last month. They came to dart and take samples from the leopards for DNA testing. These tests will determine how closely related all our leopards are. They were fortunate enough to get DNA samples from 9 different leopards. This was done by shooting a hollow dart at the animal. This immediately fell out, removing with it about 1mm of skin and tissue. This method does not cause the animals any stress, merely a small pin prick, and most of the leopards were hardly aware that they had been darted. Click here to read about leopard conservation at Savanna.

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     We seem to have had a baby boom amongst the rhino as we are seeing at least 3 females with tiny new calves. Two of these are exceptionally relaxed and have given us unforgettable viewing as these little grey bouncing bundles have come right up to the car full of curiosity. Our rhino population still remains very high within the reserve and rhino viewing is exceptional.

     The big herd of buffalo has not been on our property this month but we have had groups of old bulls on a daily basis frequenting the numerous water holes around us.

     We had a fascinating sighting of the side-striped jackal out on our clearing at the back of the camp. He was seeing off another jackal and what was amazing was the control that an animal like this has over the hair on his whole body where he could make every single hair stand on to make him look double the size! This was enough to deter the intruder who retreated without any physical contact being made.

     We would be very pleased to receive more guest photos to put on our website. If any of you have any special or amusing photos taken during your game drives, we would be very grateful if you could send them directly to Christa, our website designer at christa@mweb.co.za, not larger than 1 megabyte please.

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