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Week in Pictures: Solid Gold

Solid gold could describe the rich ambers and apricots of the sunsets and the sunrises of the bush, or the immeasurable value of the safari offerings in the secret corners of the Kruger Park and northern Botswana. Solid gold is an expression used to describe the best of the best, the most treasured, the most precious. When we arrive at Friday, we get to reflect on the past week’s wildlife activity, sift through all the sighting reports, relive the early morning and afternoon game drives and bush walks, and remember just how spoilt we have been. From the mound of memorable moments, we have the tough task of selecting what we deem to be solid gold. This week, the ‘gold’ theme has been carried through the almost-winter sunsets, which have glinted so promisingly through the trees at the end of each day.

Some of our most captivating occasions took place at this golden hour, where the landscape was set aglow; while other favourite moments were chosen because they boasted gold status of another kind. A tender moment between two young elephants; a perfect image of the moon and all its craters; a fierce stare from a buffalo in the shadows; or a perfectly positioned leopardess; we have gathered our top shots of the week and aptly called them Solid Gold. Enjoy this Friday’s edition of the Week in Pictures.

Africa on Foot, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger Park

nThambo Tree Camp, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger Park

Umkumbe Safari Lodge, Sabi Sand Wildtuin, Greater Kruger Park

Ezulwini Game Lodges, Balule Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger Park

Tuskers Bush Camp, Kwatale Conservancy, Northern Botswana

Top Safari Sightings at Africa on Foot and nThambo

We are in the quarter-year holiday phase (already!) and it looks like the bush is in as high spirits as we are about it. The long Easter weekend produced some serious excitement, and game drives at nThambo Tree Camp and Africa on Foot were filled with mud-loving elephants, sneaking leopards, sister lionesses, sunlit buffalo herds, and mating rhinos – and that is only to name the Big 5! Among other phenomenal wildlife sightings are zebra, giraffe, baboons, birds of all sorts, hyenas, and those extraordinary African wild dogs. Everywhere we look, we are astonished by nature’s bounty, lapping it up as quickly as we can before we wake up and realise it was all a dream…

Perhaps the most prominent and frequent sightings over the last week have come from the rarest and most endangered of the carnivores. The wild dogs have been spotted both at sleep and at play, clearly quite settled in the area, indicating that they could have a den nearby. This is the time of year during which the pack settles down for the alpha female to give birth to a litter of pups in the safety of an old termite mound that has been burrowed out by the likes of an aardvark. The whole pack works to take care of the newborns and ensure that they grow into good, strong pups, and are able to follow the pack as they resume their nomadic lifestyle after 3 months at the den. Incredible animals we are privileged to be able to sit and watch at close proximity as they live out their wild lives.

The old Ross Breakaway sisters have kept a low profile lately, with the Hercules Pride growing and gaining strength in the area, but over the last couple of days we spotted the pair of them hanging out together. We’ve had such great experiences with the pair of them over the years and it is always fantastic to catch them in the neighbourhood, as relaxed and unfazed in our presence as always.

Leopards! Where do we start? Some of the prominent characters starring in our recent safaris are Cleo – elegant and sophisticated cat we have been watching for years; Ross Dam – mother of cubs and a real beauty of the bush; Bundu – Ross Dam’s handsome male cub who is still in his mother’s vicinity, but practicing being independent; and an unknown male leopard we suspect might be mating with Cleo! The excitement doesn’t end when it comes to these sleek cats. A couple of days ago, Greg found an unknown male dragging a carcass for about 1km through the bush, and soon discovered Cleo was trailing him, clearly not interested in losing sight of the feast. Either she made the kill and this tom made a quick getaway with it, or perhaps it was rightfully his kill and she thought she might try her luck at getting in on the meal. After following the pair of them for a while, the male leaped, impressively, into a suitable tree and stashed his prey safely in its branches. Cleo stayed hidden in the shadows, obviously wanting to avoid confrontation. Smart move!

Turning our focus to the large mammals reveals just as much in terms of how lucky we have been. And speaking of luck, the long Easter weekend started with one earth-shattering downpour! After a million rain dances, we were finally rewarded with some serious bucketing-down rainfall, if only for a brief time, and the impact it had on the landscape is incredible. Mud wallows popped up all over the show, and with the full waterholes and inviting puddles, elephants and buffalos flocked with gratitude. We watched some very excited elephants kneeling, face-planting, in the mud and flinging trunkfuls over their heads.

The buffalo came in herds, large and small, gathering at waterholes and munching on the greenery. The sunset glowed deep orange through the trees, bathing the ferocious animals in mesmerising light. Moody skies predicting rainfall turned the skies a deep purple, and the slithers of sunlight sliced through the clouds, creating the perfect backdrop for a tree full of baboons, which ended the day’s sightings just perfectly.

Umkumbe Leopard Update : (Return of the Max) Once Again

Mark Morrison’s 1996 hit single “Return of the Mack” is a fitting background song for this blog post. When Nadia Bester from Umkumbe Safari Lodge animatedly told us that Mxabene the male leopard had returned to hallowed ground, we rejoiced with excitement.

Max is a firm favourite on the Umkumbe traverse and is often spotted a few times during the course of a week. He does, like most male leopards, cover a wide range and can disappear from time to time. Of course, we don’t actually know whether he’s there lurking in the shadows or if he has gone walkabout.

When Nadia alerted me to his return, I had the ridiculous lyrics “Return of the Max” twirling around in the big cat part of my brain…

While Nadia, new ranger Kyle and their guests set out on morning game drive, things took a turn for the better. After moments spent gazing at dazzles of zebra, staring at ill-tempered buffalo and just listening to the endless birdsong of this-and-that bird; things quickly escalated.

Mxabene was spotted enjoying his latest feast, a duiker. Leopards don’t gorge themselves on a kill and will savour their prey. They stash their kill in a tree for safekeeping and will return to their “dinner plate” over a period of a few days. Seeing him the morning with the kill meant that rangers could safely assume that he’d be in the area for evening game drive.

Max decided to stash his kill in a decrepit tree which required a fair amount of awkward clambering. Nadia says, “He had to get up the tree fast. The huge clans of hyena were waiting patiently underneath hoping he drops a piece!”. Luckily, Max managed to devour his entire meal in an effortless and graceful manner. The hyenas? Well they were refused a meal that night but they continued to hover around.

But that’s not the end of the Sabi Sand leopard action. While everyone was watching dear Max, he literally froze on the spot. Suddenly, he was on high alert and glanced into the distance. Out of the blue sauntered White Dam’s male cub. Max very kindly let the cub approach his tree and shared the tree with the cub. White Dam’s cub was cautious when approaching the area and Max was extremely patient with the newcomer.

While male leopards are notoriously territorial, they are fairly tolerant of youngsters exploring new areas. A female leopard may mate with a number of males in the area in order the confuse the males of the paternity of the cub; thus making each territorial male tolerant of cubs.

If Max could talk he’d probably say :
(You know that I’ll be back) here I am
(Return of the Max) once again
(Return of the Max) pump up the world
(Return of the Max) watch my flow
(You know that I’ll be back) here I go

Kwatale Concession : Tuskers Bush Camp Lions Caught in the Act!

Our lion sightings in the Kwatale Concession appear to be snowballing, and our tawny beasts are no longer wanting to remain hidden in the dense shrubbery surrounding Tuskers Bush Camp. Their behaviour is so brazen at the moment that they feel no shame in mating right out in the open, in front of the game viewer. We promised another lion follow-up and now we’re delivering on that promise. Leading photographer Daniel Dugmore managed to capture some rather intimate big cat moments through his lens. Before we regale you with stories from Dan’s Botswana lion expeditions, let’s delve into the history of these lions.

This is what we’ve discovered :

1. A large male lion was photographed on our secret camera trap over a period of a couple months. There is confirmation that we have four lions in the immediate area and one large, dominant male. The large male appeared to be rather fond of tent 3 and plenty of tracks were noticed in and around camp. We introduced you to a few of the Kwatale Concession lions in August last year – two males, two females and a powerful male. They seem to be the local and dominant pride of the immediate area.

Feeling lost? Read our Meet the Lions of Tuskers Bush Camp blog post.

2. Two months ago, Dan and guests spotted two males and two females at the pan in front of camp. One lioness appears to be quite a bit older than the rest – at least 4/5 years old and there’s speculation that she is the mother of at least two of the lions . Shortly after the sighting, Dan spotted three of the lions hiding in the thickets. They seemed quite skittish so it was tricky.

Want to keep in the loop with the lion sightings ? Read our Tuskers Bush Camp : Piecing Together the Lion Puzzle blog post.

3. During the course of last week, a burly male was seen mating with a lioness. We can safely assume it’s the well-built strapping male seen towards the end of last year that favours the winding paths between the tents at Tuskers. The romantic couple were mating in the open and took a well-deserved break on the banks of the pan.

Lions will mate consecutively for days on end, averaging at four days, but can mate for up to 7 days. Lions are known to mate for up to six times in an hour. That amount of mating over four days can leave our Panthera leo species rather exhausted ! They mating pair will normally split from the pride to find a place of solitude and remain in close vicinity until the “ritual” is over. There are occasions when a coalition of two will take turns with the lioness to relieve one another of their copulating duties. Hopefully the lions will be located close to the area where we saw them last.

The actual act of mating is quick, ruthless and quite uncomfortable to watch. There’s no pomp and ceremony, delightful mating dances and attractive romantic displays. Lions simply “go in for the kill”! A male lion has a barbed penis and when it retracts the barbs are incredibly painful for the lioness. The lioness generally yelp/growls in pain and snaps at its suitor.

Let’s hope the lions are still mating when we head out on drive this week.

Week in Pics : Roll on the Festive Long Weekend

The long weekend is approaching and there are many of us looking forward to the well-earned break. If you’re celebrating Easter, then consider these images a gift from the Easter bunny. If you’re not celebrating Easter, then consider this a visual and virtual gift to be enjoyed over the long weekend.

Highlights from the Week :

Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp

The wild dogs have returned to the Klaserie traverse and will remain on our territory until August time. The beginning of May signifies the start of their denning period. The highlight of the Klaserie camps is the varied sightings of these gregarious “painted wolves”. Another interesting sighting was a brief glimpse of a lone male lion on the northern reaches of our traverse.

Tuskers Bush Camp in Botswana

Photographer Dan, who is based at the camp, constantly hears the lions calling at night. He has seen them a few times down at the pan in front of camp, but a few nights ago he enjoyed close-up sightings and great visual. We’re still awaiting his award-winning photos as proof of the sighting! Seems the lions of Tuskers Bush Camp are slowly emerging from the confines of the surrounding bush and into the open.

Umkumbe Safari Lodge

Yet again, the leopards of the Sabi Sand take centre stage in this week’s highlights. Ranger Nadia reports sightings of the Bicycle Crossing male and slender leopardess, Tatowa.

Ezulwini Game Lodges

Last night during our #LiveBushFeed game drive, guests were lucky enough to spot Chavaluthu, a resident male leopard from the area. Of course, before returning to a boma dinner under the stars they also saw a lone lioness – 50 metre’s from where Chavaluthu was relaxing. Now imagine the two had collided?

We hope you enjoy the “week in pictures”. Have a safe and festive long weekend!

Spotting Giraffe While on Safari with Ezulwini Game Lodges

Long eyelashes hover over soulful eyes like a much needed hat on a hot summer’s day. Awkward bodies with knobbly joints tower over the landscape below. Brown cobblestone patterns fit like puzzle pieces on beige fur. A winding tongue, slightly purply and graphite in colour, snakes its way around fresh shoots and leaves.

If you hadn’t already guessed, we’re describing the attributes of our gentle giraffe, one of the most attractive looking of all the plains game. The giraffe is the tallest land animal and the collective noun for a herd is “tower”. We’re not surprised at the terminology given the height of a giraffe that averages at a whopping 4 – 6 m tall. These gentle giants are found in abundance in the Balule Nature Reserve, which provides plenty of lush thickets and variety of flora.

Here are a few interesting facts about giraffe :

1. Consider it a momentous occasion when you see a giraffe cross-legged and about to drink at a waterhole. Giraffe only drink every couple of days and gain most of the moisture content from the vegetation they digest. When they bend down to drink it puts them in a very vulnerable position, making them an easy target for predators.

2. A baby giraffe falls a good few metres to the ground when born because the mother gives birth standing up. They literally “hit the ground running” because they have the innate ability to start running within an hour of being born.

3. Both male and female giraffe have hairy horn-like protrusions on the top of their skull. These are called ossicones and they’re made from cartilage. Males use them when sparring with other males in the quest for dominance. You’ll find the top of their ossicones appear quite hairless from frequent necking/intertwining with other males during battle.

4. Diet wise, giraffe will adapt to what is available in the area. They are browsers which means they typically eat leaves and buds on shrubs or trees. They have an excessively long tongue which is dark in colour and immune to the sun’s harsh rays. This is important because the tongue is continuously exposed while being wrapped around twigs in search of the finest greens.

5. Over a span of 24 hours, a giraffe only needs roughly 30 minutes sleep. Even when asleep they are on high alert and on the lookout for predators. They don’t sleep solidly for that duration and rather take a series of short naps throughout the 24 hours.

The View from nThambo Tree Camp, Klaserie

Relaxing on your private balcony, raised to eye level with the treetops, enjoying the cool breeze and the presence of birdsong is a dreamlike reality for some, and at nThambo Tree Camp, it is where the fun only begins. Vistas from the guest’s special treehouse-style chalets include a panoramic look at the Drakensberg Mountains on the horizon, and the ambling Klaserie terrain that unfolds before them. Roaming between the marula trees, gnarled leadwoods, scaly tambotis, and scattered shrubs and thickets are Kruger Park’s famous inhabitants. This is a wild sanctuary, unfenced and free-flowing, allowing for the migratory movements of wildlife within the vast boundaries of the Kruger National Park. nThambo Tree Camp chalets overlook this expansive wilderness, which is bound to be populated by wandering members of the wild!

nThambo’s 5 chalets are positioned alongside the main lodge, boma, and plunge pool, and face an open clearing between the trees, which houses an active little waterhole. Over the years we have witnessed a host of unexpected species sneaking a drink at the pan, adding incredible value to our guests’ experience. On occasion, we’ve arrived at the lodge after an evening game drive only to be surprised by a hyena or two, a leopard, honey badger, civet, or porcupine (to name a few) rustling around at the waterhole in the dark. It is certainly a popular little drinking spot for the local wildlife, and is the gift that keeps on giving for us at the lodge!

Recently, camp manager, Nadia, has kept her camera close at hand to capture the waterhole activity during the day, and there has certainly been a lot to see! Herds of elephants frequently move through the open clearing in front of nThambo, sometimes even bypassing the waterhole and making a beeline for our swimming pool – an absolute delight for guests relaxing in the lounge which overlooks the pool. There are no fences around the lodge, so the Klaserie’s wildlife moves freely throughout, and at any point during the day or night, the lodge can be the location of a safari parade!

Elephants are some of the most highly frequenting visitors, which is incredibly special for guests who have travelled to South Africa to see these wild giants in their natural habitat, but the fun does not stop there. Over the years, the nThambo open area has been the location of predator action, with both lion and cheetah kills taking place right in front of our eyes, while herds of antelope and ungulates have moved in unison to the waterhole and beyond.

It pays to raise your gaze to the trees, where birds of enormous diversity perch and sing, spying insects on the ground and flitting between branches competitively. Other tree-dwelling creatures we’ve spotted at nThambo Tree Camp are bush babies, snakes, monitor lizards, and monkeys, which are fantastic photographic subjects. It is just as rewarding to sit on the balcony, or lounge at the pool and absorb the surroundings, as it is to head out on game drive… Well, almost!

Week in Pictures: Winter is Coming

Gradually, quietly, the thick summer jungle is thinning out, bronzing, and revealing the timber beneath its leaves. Could it be true? Winter is coming. It seems a particularly difficult summer to let go of this year, after last year’s drought, which all but strangled the life out of Kruger. The summer months brought relief when the skies finally succumbed to the heat building up in the clouds, and the cracked earth was finally nourished and resuscitated. Months later, the Kruger had blossomed and flourished, and the days were thick with humidity as moisture clung to the earth and baked under the sun.

Now, we are looking around at a landscape of yellowing grass, and falling leaves. Change is once again upon us. The chill in the early morning air is full of winter’s promise of cooler days and nights, while the golden hues developing in our surroundings are warning us of the dry months to come… Just like we do every year, we watch in awe as nature carries on regardless of what we think, feel, or desire. We are here for the show, and this week, we’ve noticed winter is entering as the next Act.

nThambo Tree Camp, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger

Umkumbe Safari Lodge, Sabi Sand Wildtuin, Greater Kruger

Africa on Foot, Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger

Ezulwini Game Lodges, Balule Nature Reserve, Greater Kruger

African Wild Dogs at Sunset

The start of May signifies the end of the impala rut. Rams are exhausted from mating and they roam the bushveld with waning stamina and little emotional energy. They become weak and vulnerable prey for predators and an easy take-out meal for eager carnivores. Co-indecently, the beginning of May is also the start of the African wild dog’s denning period. This is all perfectly timed. The once nomadic dogs lead a more sedentary lifestyle while they raise their pups. With such pressure to raise the perfect family, it goes without saying that they need an easy and predictable source of prey. Enter the tired rams!

The nomadic dogs appear to have arrived early this year in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve. Our first sighting a couple of weeks ago we assumed was a once-off. But now that April is creeping towards May and the sightings are more frequent, we think the dogs are here to stay, which is great news given that the dogs have enormous home ranges. Wild dogs are seasonal, co-operative breeders so this time of year brings plenty of wild dog sightings. Closer to August we see the emergence of growing pups.

Over the weekend, while the sun was casting its golden rays and rangers were out on drive with guests, the wild dogs were spotted. The images Em Gatland capture on camera truly reflect the playful and gregarious nature of the wild dog. Here are they are, just casually strolling, frolicking and chittering down the road while guests marvel in awe. The dogs weren’t phased by the gentle hum of the Land Cruisers in the background and casually engaged in a ceremonious greeting while their antics were observed.

Were these dogs on the hunt for food or in search of a potential den site? Time will tell.

Let’s hope we are rewarded with sightings of wild dog pups in the near future! In the meantime, we’ll just enjoy these mesmerising images of the Klaserie landscape framing the silhouettes of wild dogs.

3 Facts About the Wild Dog Denning Period :

1. Pups will remain stashed in a den for the first 3 months of their life. The pack will remain with the pup and help with daily activities while the mother nurses the young. This means that the other pack members will conduct hunts and deliver food to her via regurgitation. Pack members also take turns in babysitting and becoming den-guards.

2. Only the alpha male and female breed. There is a beta pair that will step up should anything happen to one or both of the alphas.

3. Females have the ability to whelp on an annual basis and there are normally an average of 10 pups but there have been recorded numbers of up to 20. Pups will only leave the den when they are roughly a month old.

Over the next few months we will see a more heavy presence of wild dogs and hopefully they’ll reveal their pups later on in the year before their nomadic lifestyle resumes.

Twitchers Be Crazy! Birding in Botswana Has Never Been Better

Calling all Twitchers! Tuskers Bush Camp has become a birding destination of dreams over the wet season, which has brought heavy and widespread rains to Botswana. The vast Kwatale Conservancy, in which Tuskers is exclusively located, offers unchartered territory and its network of pans have filled to the brim, inviting a smorgasbord of both resident and migrant bird species to its waters. From local specials to Lifers, the birding activity at Tuskers is at an all time high.

Recent visitors to Tuskers have ticked off some bucket-list birds, from the Near-Threatened pallid harrier, to the lesser moorhen, and the enchanting crimson-breasted shrike. Veteran bird watchers claim to have travelled far and wide to spot the pallid harrier without success, until now with, incredibly, 3 sightings at 2 different locations at Tuskers.

Pans are fringed with sedge and lilies and the grasses are filled with seed and blossoms, inviting an abundance of waders and water birds, and flocks of seedeaters. Some of the highlights from recent birding trips at Tuskers include dwarf bittern, little sparrowhawk, kori bustard, shikra, black-shouldered kite, and buttonquail, to mention only a few!

Now is the time to enhance your birding checklist and tick off those tricky characters, or if you’re not already a crazy twitcher, to discover the excitement of identifying a hawk in flight, or a perching kingfisher. Close your eyes and open your ears to hear the melodies of the bush and test your skills in call identification (a true twitcher’s talent), or practice your photography (and patience) as you struggle with the weight of a 600mm lens, waiting for the thing to fly! A couple of days spent at Tuskers Bush Camp, binoculars and bird books at the ready, is tremendously rewarding, offering once in a lifetime opportunities for passionate bird-watchers.