Lion seen on camera trap

The birdpool camera trap has continued to catch the regular visitors during the day and night, with impala, waterbuck and duiker having the highest number of sightings.  We always download the latest photos with a sense of excitement as to what we might have captured during the last week or two and this time we were rewarded with our first lion sighting on the camera trap. 

It was a lone male on 18^th October at 10.31 pm, walking in from the side and then standing for a short while at the bird pool, although not taking a drink.   At that time we had been hearing a lot of lion activity during the night and had on several occasions been convinced they were on our entrance road, so it was a real treat to see him come to the bird pool.

Another great sighting happened just two days ago.  We were returning to the lodge when I spotted a jackal on the road just past our entrance.  We stopped to watch it for a few moments and then were lucky enough to see two small jackal pups come onto the road.  They seemed to be fairly relaxed so we quickly drove back to the lodge and picked up our guests hoping to be able to give them a very good view of jackal and pups.  

We returned to the spot a few minutes later and found that the jackals had a den site in an old termite mound right beside the road.  One was asleep in the long grass and the other was being a bit more active – running about and dashing in and out of the den.  We watched for a couple of minutes and snapped a few photographs.  The sleeping pup is well hidden in the grassy undergrowth.   

Finally, I am posting this picture of the moon rising last night over the waterhole.  Every month as the moon begins to wane it rises over the ridge behind the waterhole and makes a magnificent display.  The photograph does not do it justice but the spectacle is worth recording.  Past guests who have been lucky enough to be with us at this time of the month will I’m sure remember seeing it.

‘Gang of Five’ pay a visit

Regular readers to the blog will be waiting to read about the promised elephant encounter that had interrupted breakfast for our lucky guests.......

Ezulwini enjoying his favourite euphorbia plant by Duiker hut

It began with us hearing branches breaking before one of our guests spotted an elephant through the bush between us and the neighbouring property.  Breakfast was quickly finished and we sat down to wait and watch, hoping that what we thought was a single elephant would come closer.  However, as we got a better view we recognised them as the ‘gang of five’ – two big males, namely Soshangane (with a radio collar) and Ezulwini, and three smaller males who are often seen with them. 

Ezulwini spots a tempting, overhanging branch of the marula tree...

Our guests, John and Colin standing on the deck enjoying the spectacle

They made their way through the bush and came out by the corner of Duiker hut.  Ezulwini then proceeded to feed on one of his favourite euphorbia plants close by the wall of the hut. 

The smaller elephants made for the bird bath and drank, and one sampled the very spiky Y-thorn bush beside the bird bath.

The young bulls drink at the birdpool and try the VERY  thorny Y-thorn bush

The marula tree by the splash pool was too much of a temptation for Ezulwini and he broke off one branch before we gently shooed him away.  Marula trees are a great favourite with elephants during the dry season and Ezulwini has several on his list when he comes visiting Leopard’s View.  Unfortunately, a marula tree is no match for a determined elephant and we were slightly worried the tree would come off worst and end up in the splash pool.  We have learned to keep an eye on Ezulwini when he is here and to take action whenever he tries to target our trees - one strong word from Neil is usually enough to deter him. 

Some of the action was picked up by our birdpool camera trap.

Picture from camera trap of the 'Gang of five' moving off into the bush.

We were delighted to be able to share this 'elephant encounter' with our guests - an unforgetable experience.

Lions visit

Evening light catches the lion at the waterhole

During the last week we have had several very good sightings of lions at Leopard’s View.  Our first sighting was a week ago on Thursday 13^th September at 8.00 am.  We were re-laying the top floor of the game viewing tower (more news of that in the next blog), when we saw two lions walking across in front of the water hole.  They did not stop to drink and were intent on going somewhere in a hurry.  Two more lions followed them, but again were moving too fast for us to get any photos. 

Lion seen early yesterday morning

That same evening we saw one young male lion drinking at the waterhole and went down to take a closer look.

He had a limp in his back right leg and after drinking moved off into the river bed where there must have been at least two other lions from the very loud roaring that we heard.  The sound of a lion roaring at night must be the most evocative African sound and can literally send vibrations through the body.  We love to hear it and guests lucky enough to share the experience never forget it. 

This lion seemed to be suffering from a definite surfeit of food

Yesterday, we were treated to another fabulous lion sighting.  We first became aware of lion nearby at 4.00 am, when there were growls that could only have been made by a big cat, although at that time we were not sure if it was lion or leopard. 
 
A couple of hours later we found one male lion very close to the house and were glad we had not chosen that morning to take a walk as he was resting just 150 m away.  Later that afternoon about 5.00 pm the same male came to drink at the waterhole.  He took a very long drink and then lay down to rest.

The lion begins to walk along the road, back to the carcass
Lodge in the background

Not surprisingly, he had a very full belly and took several more drinks before walking off up the hill, and past our house back to where we had found him in the morning.  There he picked up part of a carcass that he had hidden in a thick bush and walked off.  We left him to enjoy the last of his meal, delighted to have had such a memorable sighting.   

We took this picture as he walked right past our vehicle on his way back to the carcass. He looks quite menacing compared to the picture below.

Lion at rest

Spring cometh

Since writing the last blog we have seen quite a drastic change in the weather.  The relatively cool winter’s days and nights suddenly changed in the space of a week and the temperatures soared until reaching a scorching 38.4 degrees about a week ago.  Winter had vanished in a flash and spring was heralded in by the blossom on the knob thorn trees around the lodge and throughout the bush here in Balule.



Knob thorn trees in bloom

Knob thorn trees, Acacia nigrescens, are particularly prevalent in our part of the Lowveld and we always look forward to the burst of flowers and their very distinctive, rather sweet perfume.  The tree is easy to spot in the bush because of the knobbly thorns on the trunk and branches, each knob with a very sharp thorn at the end of it. 

There is a traditional belief that the knobs on the tree can be crushed up and applied to a young girl’s chest to ensure she will later on be well-endowed in that area! 

Knob-thorn trees make up a very considerable part of the diet of giraffes, and they particularly like the flowers and fresh new leaves.  At this time of year they come very close to the decks of the lodge where we have several mature trees and can spend up to two hours browsing there.  It is a marvellous sight and our guests can sit within a few yards of these magnificent animals and enjoy the show.

Other local tree specimens in flower now include the Blue thorn, Acacia erubescens, with a similar yellow-white flower spike and a pair of very sharp hooked thorns.  We have been ‘hooked’ many times by these trees whilst walking through the bush.

  

Male Marico Sunbird

Female Marico Sunbird

The brilliant yellow, pea-like flowers of the Sjambok pod, Cassia abbreviata, make it very easy to identify and it was this feature that stood out amongst all the other trees as I was looking out over the bush from our viewing tower.  Its common name comes from the particularly long seed pods that have a passing resemblance to the “sjambok”, a long whip traditionally made from hippo hide.

An unusually early ‘first rain’ of 19mm last week has given Spring a real kick start and has contributed to the burst of new leaves and grass in the bush.  We are always delighted when the first rain comes but also hope that this is not a false alarm with no more rain for weeks, by which time the new grasses will have burned up.  Having lived in England for most of our lives we never thought we would welcome the rain, but it is the cause for real celebration here in the bush.  Let’s hope there will be plenty more to report on next time.



Animals abound

This week we have been treated to some wonderful sights on the open plain in front of the viewing decks and our guests have enjoyed being able to sit and watch as zebra, impala, waterbuck, and kudu appeared in profusion.  

Three-legs take a drink at the bird pool

The spectacle began one morning with our friend ‘Three-legs’ coming up to the small bird pool for a morning drink.  He is still very much in evidence around the lodge and house, usually with ‘One-horn’ or in a small group of three or four males.

Male waterbuck

A beautiful male waterbuck then joined him at the birdbath whilst further down the slope there was a large herd of zebras, and at the waterhole two magnificent male kudu took a drink.

Two male kudu at the waterhole

 Another male waterbuck with a splendid set of horns came to the birdbath, and I was able to get some great photos in the mid-morning sunshine. 

Zebras at the waterhole

The following day we were treated to another great show when the same large herd of zebras came to the waterhole with seven giraffes all taking a drink together.   

It was a marvellous sight and we were very pleased to be able to share it with our guests.  

Five of the seven giraffes

Giraffes drinking

More and more the dry weather is encouraging the game to come to water as winter deepens.  We have had no rain for several months and the chances of any in the near future are slight so the animals are coming to permanent water with much more regularity. 

A magnificent waterbuck male

Return of the Eles

Ezulwini and three smaller bull elephants emerging from the early morning mist

Regular readers of our blog will remember Soshangane and Ezulwini visited the waterhole a couple of weeks ago.  This week they were back again accompanied by three young bull elephants.  We first became aware of them on Tuesday night as we were sitting around the fire after dinner.  The crack of breaking branches always sounds extra loud in the cool evening air and we were all watching and hoping to see elephants coming into the open area or down at the waterhole. 

One of the smaller elephants

Unfortunately, we were not to see them that evening, but early the next morning, with the mist still hanging in the valley, Ezulwini and three smaller male elephants came to the waterhole and drank.  It was a magical sight. 

They then slowly made their way up the hill towards the lodge and our house. 

  

Ezelwini enjoying a branch from his favourite
marula tree

Soshangane, the other large bull, arrived at the water hole and joined the group.  

Ezulwini has a favourite marula tree on the corner of our house and this is where he was headed. Luckily he only took down one of the small branches and then headed off with the others down to the lodge where they stopped outside Kudu hut and fed on another favourite, a euphorbia plant.  These particular plants receive regular pruning from the elephants, and seem to grow ever bigger because of it. 

Ezulwini outside Kudu hut

The group then turned and headed past our entrance gate, thankfully deciding not to come inside, and then made for the water tanks, where they took a drink from the overflow tank - another favourite stopping point. 

Ezulwini at the gate

 Ezulwini then took another turn around our house, removing several raison bushes whilst the others headed off down the road. 

Bush clearing!

It was another marvellous wildlife encounter for us.  Our final view of the group was on Friday lunch time when they were seen far off on the distant ridge.  We look forward to their return. 

Elephants bath and scratch

We have been treated to a very good elephant sighting in the last few days.  Sitting outside our house a few days ago, we heard the familiar crack of breaking wood and saw a large tree fall over down in the valley.  We quickly went up to the top of the viewing tower and scanned the bush to see if we could see any sign of what we thought must have been elephant activity.  There was nothing to be seen, but as the bush is very thick in places we would not see them unless they were browsing in an open area.  We decided to investigate further and drove down to the waterhole in the game drive vehicle.  Two elephants had arrived before us and had obviously been enjoying a bath as they were very wet and muddy.  We recognised the two big male elephants.  One has a collar and is called Soshangane and the other we knew to be Ezulwini.  They moved away from the waterhole and then spent some time using the trees around as scratching posts – their skin sounded like sandpaper rubbing against the trees.  They then carried on up the slope towards the lodge and passed close by one of the huts before moving off.  We were very pleased to see them as it has been a little while since the elephants have visited the water hole.  
 



Soshangane and a view of the lodge decks

Elezwini enjoys a final scratch

A Tale of Two Impalas



'One-Horn'

Followers of our blog site or newsletter will know about the one-horned impala we have seen around Leopard’s View at regular intervals over the last three years.  Lately it seems that ‘One-Horn’ has teamed up with another impala male with a serious injury and the pair are now seen together often.  This other impala, whom we have named ‘Three-legs’, was first seen in January with a very bad leg injury, which has since quite miraculously healed to a great extent, although as you can see in the photograph the knee joint is very enlarged and the lower leg very thin.  He limps around but is able to run reasonably effectively even with such a damaged leg. 



Injured back leg of 'Three-Legs' 

These two impalas spend a lot of time around about our lodge and house sticking close to the buildings especially at night when the injured male is obviously in danger of being easy prey.  We are always delighted to see them and will keep you posted on their progress. 


'Three-Legs'