After the last guests has retired to their luxurious treehouse cabin on stilts, ranger Bjorn and the rest of the nThambo Tree Camp family ensure the lodge is locked-up and everything is secure. Being located in an open camp means there’s all sorts of curious and unpredictable behaviour from wildlife. Certain species love to visit the camp and party when lights go out. They think they the nThambo Lounge is their chill out spot and often come for a quick sniff around. It’s almost as if these cheeky creatures are waiting in the wings for the humans to disappear.
The morning after the creatures of the night left evidence of their partying ways in the lounge and deck area, Bjorn decided to set up a secret camera trap to film the nocturnal antics. This is the first blog post with a quick video of the night and an introduction to our weekly “nThambo’s Camera Trap Secrets“. At this stage, we’ve only got one video to share but we’re building on this, and soon we’ll be delivering fantastic video footage. Bjorn will be setting up the camera tonight and we’re all hoping it captures something unique!
From time to time we’ll move the camera around the inside of the lodge to gain interesting perspectives. Last week we reported the daily diurnal visits from elephant herds and now it’s time to tackle the night time critters!
So, who came to visit? Well, last night saw the return of the honey badgers (obviously), hyena and a lone civet.
The fridges are locked tightly because of the honey badgers and everything is dead bolted. The thing with honey badgers is that they’re intelligent and industrious. They’ll sense an area which is rich with food and approach without any thought to possible danger. They’ve been known to come into the property while guests are lounging around. They disappear swiftly when they realise they’re not alone!
Hyenas are notorious scavengers and successful hunters. They cover a wide range and area constantly on the move in search of carcasses and “free” meals. Hyenas often come to investigate the area outside nThambo.
Civets will pretty much eat anything from mice to frogs and fruit. They are opportunistic scavengers and you’ll often find them outside lodges trying to find food.
Stay tuned for our next instalment of nThambo’s Camera Trap Secrets to find out what happens when you go to bed at night…
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