Giraffe kill

Between 8.00 and 9.00 p.m. on the evening of Friday 25^th November, five giraffes (one male and four females) visited our waterhole and spent some time there.  Later on in the night the male was caught and killed by 7 male lions in the dry river bed around 150m away. 

The first indication we had of this was two male lions drinking at the waterhole around 6.15 a.m. on the Saturday morning.  When we drove down to investigate we discovered the carcass and the 7 lions, some feeding, some drinking and some lying in the shade nearby. 

About an hour later, four of the young males suddenly stood up and moved away to the north:  we followed and found the four teasing a large white rhino bull.  The lions approached, the rhino came at them, they ran off and so it went on until the rhino moved off past the carcass to the waterhole and drank.

No sooner were we back watching three of the lions sleeping in the shade than jackals harassing an impala doe and fawn caused the impalas to run along the river bed veering away from the giraffe carcass, up the river bank and between our vehicle and the three lions sleeping some 8m away.  Despite very full stomachs, instinct took over and several of the lions chased the impalas, coming close to catching the fawn.  We caught up with the impalas a little while later. 

During the hotter part of the day the lions spent most of the time in the shade, several resting in the bushes adjacent to our waterhole, appearing at intervals to drink. 

As dusk approached and the temperatures cooled all the lions returned to the carcass and continued feeding or rested next to it.  There were now six lions – one of the big pride males, looking very weak and walking with a pronounced limp in his back left leg, and five sub-adult males (although these five are getting quite large and their manes and are starting to develop.) 

Given the size of a giraffe, we knew the lions would be there for a considerable time to come, so…………………..:  to be continued!

Any pillow will do

“One-horn” is back



The one-horned male impala

As mentioned in a previous blog, most impala look alike and once they reach adult size cannot easily be identified, other than as male or female.  However, there is one male in our area with only one horn and he has been around for over three years now.  We were pleased to see him again late in the afternoon of the 12^th November, moving past the stoep of our house with several other males.  It’s good to know he is still alive.  Like all the herbivores he will undoubtedly be very happy at the moment:  after unusually early rains (with the crazy hailstones!) in early October we have had several good downpours since and the bush is extraordinarily lush and green for this time of year. 



Our waterhole now, surrounded by green

We only hope that the rain will continue and that we don’t end up later on paying the penalty with a big gap when everything dries up and dies back.