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Ezulwini Game Vehicle Gets Close to a Lion Pride

Staying at the Ezulwini Game Lodges certainly has its perks in terms of game viewing. Getting up close to the big cats of the Balule Nature Reserve is one of these perks. Rangers possess the knowledge and skills to follow lion prides closely; and are pretty talented when it comes to tracking large predators. They also have incredible skills when it comes to driving game viewer vehicles and can navigate tough terrain in order to “drop anchor” in prime game viewing spots.

Over the past few days, the Ezulwini team have been rewarded with awe-inspiring sightings of lions. The Olifants West Pride sightings seemed to be particularly dominant at the beginning of this week. The vehicles managed to get close to the Olifants West Pride on three occasions, providing guests with incredible close up photographic opportunities.

The Olifants West Pride of lions comprises 3 adult lionesses, 1 dominant male and 6 cubs. The cubs are nearing the sub-adult stage which will be interesting in terms of lion pride dynamics. When the testosterone of the young males kicks in, we may have a few showdowns on our hands. The Olifants West Pride seem to congregate in the south of the reserve and this is where we’ve seen them during the course of this week.

The Balule Pride, the River Pride and the Olifants West Pride – which pride will Ezulwini see next?

Week in Pictures: Africa Magic

If you’re not already smiling because it’s Friday, here’s something to convert even the most determined frowner: The Week in Pictures! Fantasatic photos out of the Klaserie and Balule Nature Reserves in the Greater Kruger, and some breath-taking shots from the Okavango Delta, Moremi Game Reserve, Savute Marsh, and Khwai in Botswana.

Afrika Ecco Safaris conducts some of the most authentic mobile journeys through all of Botswana, and as a result, guests enjoy some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities possible. Photographers Em Gatland and Kevin MacLaughlin recently joined a camping tour through the Delta, Moremi, and Savute, and captured a couple of award-winning moments on camera.

Down south in the Kruger National Park’s private safari sector lie the Klaserie and Balule Nature Reserves. And within those pristine, wild regions are the hidden gems of the Greater Kruger: Africa on Foot, nThambo Tree Camp, and Ezulwini Game Lodges. At this time of year, the bush has sprouted some green leaves from the much-needed rain, but the thickness of the full summer bushveld has not yet arrived making this the best time of year for game viewing.

In both Botswana and Kruger, there have been awesome big cat sightings, while the birdlife is growing all the more interesting as the migrants arrive. Buffalo are being stalked by lions in Klaserie, while elephants are endlessly clearing the Okavango waterways of reeds. Monkeys play the fool in Khwai, while vultures, hang gloomily over lion kills in Balule. This is an exhibition of some of our top shots from a week on safari, and we know you’ll enjoy them!

The Balule Pride: The Young and the Fearless

You’ve probably been inundated with photos and videos of the lion prides within the Balule Nature Reserve. Ezulwini River Lodge and Ezulwini Billy’s Lodge is proving to be a hub of lion activity and we’re on a mission to share our lion safari experience with all and sundry. There are daily reports of guests seeing huge lion prides on the move. The Olifants West Pride seems to be the dominant mega-pride of the area – however, there are many smaller prides traversing certain pockets around both lodges.

Most of the smaller prides are split-offs from the original Olifants West pride. They’re young lions who’ve discovered a new turf they call home. Normally a pride is named after the area where they’re most commonly seen. This helps with understanding the dynamics between individuals and prides within a reserve.

Today we’d like to introduce you to the Balule Pride. Our photographic team, Jochen and Mira, have spent quite a bit of time observing the various lion pride dynamics and have captured their journey on film. With the input from rangers and “those in the know”, they’ve provided us with an influx of insightful knowledge about the inner workings of the Balule’s incredible cats.

Here’s the deal. The Balule Pride is a small pride of youthful looking lions who dwell mainly in the area surrounding Ezulwini River Lodge. There are 6/7 members within the pride, of which two are sub-adult males – easily identifiable by their barely-there manes resembling stylish mohawks. The entire pride, including the adults, is a rather young looking pride. There does seem to be cohesion within the pride which hopefully will remain in tact during the coming years. The Balule Pride seems to have made their home within the northern reaches of the reserve, which is just north of Olifants Road.

A huge pride, called the River Pride, often venture close to the river in the northern reaches where the Balule’s hang out. However, the River Pride always seems to remain ever so slightly west of the Balule Pride.

Stay tuned – during the course of next week we’ll introduce you to the River Pride of lions…

Catch up with Ross Breakaway lion cubs

There’s been a short silence after a celebratory overload of lion cub updates involving our first sighting of the two little males, the gut-wrenching moment one almost got trampled by a buffalo, their worrying separation from their mother, the oh-so-cute display they put on playing with a lioness’ tail, and then the first time we spotted them on a kill with the 2 adult Ross Breakaway females. At Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp, the furry bundles were spotted once again yesterday afternoon after a couple of days keeping out of sight.

Last week, the 2 lionesses and both cubs were seen sleepily lazing around just off one of the main cutlines, offering yet another adorable sighting to new guests arriving at the camps. The youngsters were full of beans while the adults tried to get some sleep, and guests snapped away as one cub bounded over his mother, and cuddled with the other lioness. It was a demonstration of their close bond, and also of the patience these lionesses have!

Over the weekend, the cubs and the Ross Breakaways kept quiet and we didn’t see them once, but then last night’s game drive delivered the goods and we had another fantastic sighting of the family of 4 finishing off a young buffalo. The cubs are over 2 months old now and are not yet eating meat, but they’ve showed some curiosity and interest in the carcass. It’s not long now until we could see the little males joining in on the feast, as cubs usually start eating meat after 3 months old. They will however, continue to suckle until about 6 months old.

There’s so much excitement in the bush and one can never tell what’s around the corner, but these cubs are a real highlight for both guests and guides and we love watching them grow. It’s still a dangerous world out there for them, and each time we see them we breathe a small sigh of relief!

The Epic End to a Day on Safari

Some people look forward to sundowners more than the safari itself, which of course is ok when you can expect such a stellar show of incomprehensibly bright skies and candy-coloured visions from Ezulwini Game Lodges‘ private Kruger location.

We wouldn’t recommend snoozing through the safari, though, because what awaits out there in the Balule thicket is some of the most pristine bushveld there is; crawling with a variety of game species, alive with big lion prides, armed with buffalo, and all dwarfed by great herds of elephant. Interesting interaction between birds of prey, intricately patterned snakes, special caracals, porcupines, leopards, giraffes, and zebra; nothing is out of the question at Ezulwini and game drives are nothing short of thrilling.

When the harsh, midday sun starts to sink in the west it adopts a softer, golden glow, it is our queue that it is time for a safari! Cameras come out and capture the glow of amber lion eyes, the shadows beneath eyelashes (yes, you get that close), leathery creases in the skin of Africa’s largest land mammal, neatly folded feathers, and the bright beaks of oxpeckers between the hairs on a buffalo’s back.

There is so much to see during the hours of an afternoon drive. Once the sun falls even closer to the horizon and adopts the familiar tangerine glow, Ezulwini rangers park off at one of their most scenic spots in the bush and unpack that highly anticipated gin and tonic, while guests unfold themselves from their seats and take to the ground at this famously beautiful time of day.

Deep orange turns to a ruby red, pink, and then lilac, as the watermelon-sized sun sinks even lower onto the Drakensberg Mountain Range, silhouetting the famous granite boulder hills in a wine-stained hue that signifies the end of the day.

The Balule Nature Reserve is one of the Greater Kruger’s private properties, sharing unfenced boundaries and located in possibly the most ideal location for overlooking sunsets such as these.

Rare Sighting of a Caracal at Ezulwini

Jochen and Mira are in the enviable position of staying at the Ezulwini Game Lodges in the Balule Nature Reserve. This dynamic photographer/videographer duo are privy to incredible lion sightings of the River Pride and the Olifants West Pride, but last night they stumbled across a different type of cat species – a caracal! Like the majority of cats, the caracal is a nocturnal species which boasts finely tuned stalking skills. What a superb sighting of such a solitary cat.

The caracal’s general hunting technique is similar to that of a leopard’s. They ambush their prey, which normally consists of dassies, grey rhebok, rodents and small carnivores, and then stash it high up in a tree. They are incredible predators and will even kill a tawny eagle. With their supremely powerful hindquarters they can leap 5 metres into the air without needing a running start.

Caracals are territorial loners notorious for ambushing and flushing out unsuspecting birds at waterholes. When they come across birds at waterholes, they simply smack them out the way with one swift swat of their paw. They’ll devour the entire bird in one sitting.

Farmers resent the fact that caracals steal their livestock and these agile cats do come under threat from humans. However, caracals actually play a pivotal roll in rodent/pest control in farming areas.

These opportunistic carnivores are admired for their speed and agility. What a rare sighting of this pointy eared cat!

Week in Pics: Gallery of Birds and Beasts

Lions, leopards and big game are in the limelight yet again. There seems to be a plethora of lion cubs spread across our Kruger camps, which is good news. Lion cubs have such a low survival rate in the wild, so it’s nice to see these tawny bundles heading towards maturity. We’ve also seen a hurricane of activity from our bird species. Their kaleidoscope of wing colours always contrasts the dull greens and fawn colours of the surrounding vegetation. There isn’t much we haven’t seen this week.

Here is your update ! Enjoy your week of birds and beasts.

nDzuti Safari Camp

During our weekly Live Bush Feed session the team from nDzuti saw two lionesses with their cubs. One of the lionesses is referred to as the “pale female” and the other one is a tawny. Both lionesses appeared to have a solid bond and were settling down together. The pale lionesses has a litter of three healthy cubs. Unfortunately, the tawny lioness hasn’t revealed the number of cubs in her stash.

Ezulwini Game Lodges

As per usual, the Olifants West pride of lions have been making quite a spectacle of themselves. This handsome mega-pride of mottled tawny lions certainly don’t shy away from the limelight. Like clockwork, after each game drive the office based team receives reports of Olifants West Pride sightings. If it’s not the Olifants West Pride, then it’s the Mohlabetsi pride/York Pride or the lesser spotted River Pride. There’s also been plenty of hyena activity in the area, which is quite normal when there’s a huge lion pride around. They’re waiting in the wings, desperately salivating for a lion carcass to steal.

The Kruger is still incredibly hot at the moment and buffalo need to drink twice a day. Huge breeding herds of elephant and buffalo have been spotted cooling off in available water sources.

nThambo Tree Camp and Africa on Foot

Healthy lion cubs are roaming free in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve. Both camps are being rewarded with lion cub sightings on a weekly basis. The cubs have reached the confident and curious stage; where they bumble around smacking and gnawing on swooshing tails. They’ve even managed to devour their first kill with the adults. It always looks like a frenzy of activity during a feast and this is because males are incredibly aggressive when feeding. Cubs have a low survival rate in the wild, so it’s imperative we report on all of our lion cub sightings. The world of the king of beasts can be brutal!

All three of the Trilogy boys have been seen hanging out together. Their presence is quite distinct – they tend to command respect where ever they go. Just this morning they were seen taking down a buffalo calf! There’s always some kind of drama surrounding this trio of trouble.

Rhulani the leopardess and her cub have been making their presence known on the nThambo and Africa on Foot turf. This week, the camps enjoyed yet another leopard sighting. We speculate it was Rhulani again but cannot confirm identification. The leopard disappeared into the thicket because a pride of lions approached the vicinity with obvious intimidation tactics.

The African painted dog is an endangered species and sightings are considered rare. A while ago, a pack gave birth to pups but resumed their nomadic lifestyle when the pups were old enough. The pack were spotted recently and seemed to enjoying their old turf!

And in other news…Camps have seen hippo, buffalo, elephants, a myriad of waders and a fluttering of birds.

Enjoy your weekend – the Sun Destinations team.

Guest Blog: Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp

We’ve just arrived back in the UK after another great few days at Africa on Foot and nThambo Tree Camp – our ‘home from home’ in South Africa. As always we had a warm welcome from everyone at both camps. We arrived early at Africa on Foot and were greeted by an ever friendly Hennie, Mike and Enoch – host, ranger and tracker. At nThambo, Lily, Matt and Jacques were waiting with our usual drinks (Amstel and Savanna) chilled and ready for drinking, all be it at 11am. Game viewing, as always was exceptional – seeing lions, elephants, buffalo and rhino many times, only the elusive leopard evaded us this time!

It was great to catch up with 2 of the Triology male lions, then the Ross Breakaway lionesses lounging around, doing what they do best – sleeping. However it’s always good to see them a bit more active – late one evening we found the 2 girls trying to dig out warthogs from an old termite mound. We watched them for about an hour in the darkness, until they gave up, exhausted. On our last drive we just missed seeing their 2 young cubs that mum had just been feeding, but they had gone back to the safety of their den site out of our view.

Ross Breakaway females giving up on warthog

We even got to catch up with 4 of the Ross Pride (a lioness and 3 sub adults), who we haven’t seen since the 3 cubs were only a few months old. We cut our morning bush walk short to go and see them, chomping on a warthog! However, our highlight was again seeing wild dogs, including wild dog puppies, running past our tent and across the open area in front of nThambo early one morning. We all clambered on the Land Rover and started game drive early trying to relocate them. After driving the property for quite some time we eventually found them on a impala kill.

The great thing about these 2 camps is the chance to walk through the bushveld – its such a great feeling being at one with the surroundings. Enoch, Mike and Jacques are all really knowledgeable and share their knowledge about all aspects of the bush, from trees, plants and of course, animal spoor (aka tracks). We were lucky to come across a large herd of buffalo on one of our walks, where obviously we had to be really quiet and crouch down to watch them, watching us!

Learning about safari details on walk with Jacques

The hospitality was second to none and the food, wonderful. We were lucky to be at Africa on Foot for “National Braai Day”, where we all got involved in cooking on an open fire – well done Hennie, what a great idea. The fun evening continued as we all migrated to the bar afterwards for a good South African drink and a catch up with friends. Other guests always add to the Safari experience – at nThambo we spent a great time with wonderful guests and as always exceptional hosting by Lily and Jacques, who both went out of their way to make our stay memorable (and in the process converting 6 Americans to life-long English Rugby supporters – well it is the Rugby World cup!).

Well it’s all a great memory now we are back in the UK, but it’s time to switch on the Internet and book our next trip back to the Klaserie in January – see you all next year.

Video of Elephants Drinking from nThambo’s Splash Pool

“We watched the elephant herds drinking from the small splash pool at nThambo Tree Camp and I realised we were part of something significant. In this moment I realised that Africa had stolen a place in my heart. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a friendly herd of jumbo socialising and interacting adjacent to where humans are doing exactly the same thing! A delicate divide between the human and animal world. So different, yet so similar.” – Carolynne Higgins

Sometimes you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your lodge to enjoy an epic big five sighting. nThambo Tree Camp in the Kruger’s Klaserie Private Nature Reserve is no stranger to “from the lodge sightings”. The camp is open, which means large predators and other wildlife can roam freely throughout. The resident elephant herds seem to love the fresh, crisp water of nThambo’s splash pool. From time to time, they are caught soaking up water with their trunks. And guess what? The elephants were seen drinking from the pool just less than a week ago.

Here’s what happened.

While guests were quietly enjoying a traditional South African lunch in the open dining area, they noticed a herd of elephants in the distance. The dining area at nThambo comprises wooden decking and unsurpassed views of the Klaserie. It’s an idyllic spot for lunch. Clearly the elephant herds wanted a slice of what guests were enjoying, so they slowly ambled over to the lodge.

What happened next was incredible. The herd decided to drink from the splash pool in front of the lodge and created quite an animated spectacle for guests. A huge bull decided to join in the fun and came from behind the boma area of the lodge. He casually sauntered across the path and approached the herd in a rather excited, but bolshy manner!

Watch how the bull pushes the calf out of the way – clearly there is a social hierarchy at play here! If you look closely at the video you’ll notice a new born calf stretching over the rim of the pool to slurp up water with its clumsy trunk. In the background you’ll see another herd approaching the swimming pool. With so many herds wanting a slice of the action, we think that the nThambo maintenance crew will be spending the next few days filling up the pool.

When Brett took this video, the temperatures in the Klaserie had reached a searing and uncomfortable 37 degrees celsius. Although the rainy Summer season is approaching, nThambo hasn’t seen much rain. It’s still quite dry, which means the herds need to find readily available water sources to replenish their thirst and find respite from the heat. And let’s face it, the pool at nThambo Tree Camp is a perennial, reliable source of fresh water. Even elephants need to quench their insatiable thirst and they have the ability to drink up to 100 litres of water per day!

The breakfast table and lounge is well-positioned to take advantage of wildlife strolling past. While you’re digesting your food or latest novel, take the time to cast your eye across to the pool – you never know what you might see.

And you thought it was only humans who spend hours drinking, wallowing and socialising at the poolside…

Hyenas and Cubs Parade at Ezulwini

A little less handsome than lions, yet far more entertaining, are these cackling creatures of the bush: spotted hyena. Ezulwini Game Lodges encountered a clan of Crocuta crocuta on game drive in the Balule Nature Reserve – a bunch of adults plus their cute and fluffy cubs. Fondly known as the ‘laughing hyena’ and characterised as such in the Disney classic, The Lion King, the spotted hyena has a variety of calls and vocalisations, which indicate different things to their clan mates or an opposing clan.

These notorious meat-eaters are in fact the most successful large carnivores in Africa, and can be classified as ‘super predators’ of the African wild. With unbelievable endurance, extremely strong neck and jaws, specially designed teeth, and social structures that are brutal right from birth; it is no wonder that these misunderstood creatures take on lions, and win. Famous documentaries feature the hyenas as the lions’ most feared enemy. Of course, one on one, a hyena would be foolish to take on a lion, but when hyenas outnumber lions, they fearlessly attack the king of the jungle and cheekily steal their meals!

Leopards are even more fearful of the bone-crunching strength of a hyena, and will almost readily give up a heard-earned feast to avoid injury should this thieving predator attack. The female spotted hyena in particular is larger and more dominant than any male in the pack. They pack more testosterone than the males, and they even have a pseudo-penis, making them all the more masculine!