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

Giraffe kill - the lions feed on

After bringing down an adult giraffe during the night of the 25^th/26^th November, the six male lions that were at the carcass at the end of the day on Saturday 26^th were still there, as expected, at dawn on Sunday 27^th.  Their bellies were full and they were spending as much time resting as feeding.  

As the day heated up so they spent more and more time away from the kill and close to our waterhole, where they drank frequently or slept in the thick shade of the adjacent trees and bushes.  From the Lodge we had regular views of one or more drinking.  

During the early part of the morning large numbers of vultures began to fly in, mainly white-backed vultures but a few hooded vultures as well, settling in dead trees anything up to several hundred metres from the kill site:  there they sat, patiently waiting, but since there was always at least one lion at the carcass the vultures didn’t get a look in…… yet!

As evening fell, the lions drifted back to the carcass where some returned to eating.  By now all of the easily accessible meat had gone and so the lions had to tear back the skin from the lower neck, the legs and the back and use their carnassial side teeth to cut through connective tissue and tendons to get small scraps of muscle. 

It was clearly hard work and even in the cool of the evening and the night left the lions panting from the effort.  They made frequent trips to the waterhole to drink. 

 
At one stage, when it was almost dark and when all six lions were at or near the carcass, another adult giraffe approached the waterhole.  As soon as they detected this, four of the lions moved towards it in stalking mode:  after a tense few minutes the giraffe moved off, away from the lions, which slowly drifted back to the kill.

Long-legged friends

Throughout the week we’ve been seeing a group of four-five giraffes browsing in the bush alongside the lodge entrance road. It’s always a beautiful sight with the backdrop of the escarpment behind them and today we managed to creep up and get a few photographs. 

As the bush begins to dry out we’re expecting to see more of the herbivores around the lodge, drawn in by the promise of fresh water (& in the case of the local warthog family, fresh vegetation inside the lodge gardens!). 

The heat is on

Whilst relaxing on the deck yesterday afternoon we were treated to some wonderful displays of giraffe behaviour panning out below us. Counting up to 5 around the waterhole at one time we were constantly entertained watching them drink. 

Whilst 4 of the giraffe were male the 5^th was a young female who seemed to have attracted some attention to herself. The largest of the males spent the hours shadowing the female, never letting her stray far from him, and certainly not in the direction of the other males!