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.

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.

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

Bush baby update

A recent vigil of the viewing tower at dusk showed us that there are now 5 bush babies calling it home. Poking their heads out of the thatch before hopping away in separate directions to begin a night's foraging, it's always a treat to see these tiny primates at such close quarters.

Starry starry night

The night sky has long held a fascination for people and is often one of the things that leave a lasting impression to bush visitors. Away from the light pollution of bright city lights, stars and even galaxies are fully visible if you care to look up. The night sky is also more impressive in the Southern Hemisphere simply because it contains a greater number of stars than the Northern Hemisphere, and a higher density of the brightest ones.  

The night sky changes with the seasons, each having specific constellations which can be identified. The end of May heralds the disappearance of the constellation Orion (the hunter) from our skies as he makes way for Scorpio (the scorpion). Scorpio is made up of 17 stars, and as constellations go is one of the less abstract shapes! It includes the super red giant ‘Antares’, seen clearly with a reddish hue in the photograph of last night’s sky below.

Sunset over the escarpment

Last night’s sunset was truly stunning sending rays of pink in all directions. No photograph could do it justice but this one, taken from the viewing tower, shows the last of light disappearing behind the escarpment

 

 

Who needs Kruger?

We took advantage of some time off last week & decided to take a day trip into Kruger. Whilst being treated to some great sightings of elephants wallowing & many herbivores, we had no luck with the elusive carnivores. Until we returned to Balule that is... where just 5 minutes into the reserve we came across a lone lioness lying across the road. With dusk coming on fast she moved a little way into the bush and began calling softly to pride mates out of sight before eventually heading off into thicker vegetation and dissapearing from view.

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!). 

Rutting reaches its peak in May

If you’ve visited Leopard’s View recently you’ll have become familiar with the variety of loud snorts and grunts emanating from the surrounding bush at all hours of the day and well into the night. Indeed, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the area is under siege by a large group of aggressive carnivores, hungry for their next meal! 

The culprit, however, is one far less glamorous and often overshadowed by the “big and hairies” of the bush – the impala.

For the majority of the year impala are found in two types of herd, bachelor groups comprising males of all ages, and breeding herds of adult females and youngsters. 

 

Come the end of January, however, bachelor herds break up as competition for territories gets under way. Rams attempt to hold those territories which females will find most attractive, such as those with good food and available water. Once a breeding herd enters a male’s territory he will try to keep them on his patch, whilst advertising his status to would-be challengers through patrolling, roaring and scent-marking vegetation. 

Males roar to advertise their status. Their skulls are modified to give greater resonance and so increase the volume of their roars.

May is the peak season of the rut, and with the females finally coming into oestrus the competition for territories is now at its fiercest. For the testosterone-fuelled males their days are divided into herding and mating with females and fighting other males – there is no time for feeding. Territory holding is such exhausting work that at this stage in the game, the average tenure is just 8 days! 

 

These two males treated us to a brilliant display of ‘horn-to-horn’ combat, so engrossed in their task that they remained completely oblivious to our presence!

Within a few weeks, however, the tournament will be over, all the females will have been mated and the bush will return to a state of relative peace and quiet.

A resurgence of spring

Despite the fact that we are heading firmly into autumn, the recent rains have brought many splashes of colour back to the bush with leaves and plants becoming green, and wild flowers appearing once again. Here is a small selection of those that are currently blooming in and around the lodge. 

 Yellow Mouse-Whiskers (Cleome angustifolia)        Impala lily (Adenium multiflorum)

   African wild violet (Aptosimum lineare)          Yellow morning glory (Ipomoea abscura)

           Bush violet (Barleria obtusa)                         Trachyandra saltii

Lodge business

If having read the title you’re already reaching for the Horlicks, fear not. Whilst more often than not business means anything from ‘one’s regular occupation’ to ‘commercial firm’, it is also the collective noun used to describe a group of mongooses.

This morning it was a business of dwarf mongooses which visited the lodge gardens. Weighing in at approximately 270g these tiny creatures are Africa’s smallest carnivore. Not only do they have a fascinating social system but they are also great fun to watch with interactions constantly taking place. Their social groups are highly cooperative units comprising a dominant pair and several subordinates, with the alpha male and female being the only group members guaranteed to reproduce.

Tree of the month - red bushwillow

Autumn colours

There are several representatives of the bushwillow family in the lowveld. Around Leopard’s View the red bushwillow (Combretum apiculatum) is particularly prominent.

Twisted leaves

The red bushwillow is deciduous, shedding its leaves each year. Having sprouted bright green foliage back in September the leaves are now beginning to turn yellowy-brown as we enter autumn and will be unlikely to remain on the tree long past May. The tip of each leaf is noticeably twisted and pointed upwards, allowing the tree to be easily recognised.

The four-winged pods

Like other members of the Combretum family, the red bushwillow produces four-winged pods. The wings of the pods can reportedly be used to make a tea when infused along with the leaves, something we shall have to try now they are so abundant!

The bushwillow family is also known for having very strong wood, and here the red bushwillow certainly does not disappoint. Its termite resistant wood is exceedingly hard, being even denser than the celebrated leadwood tree (Combretum imberbe).

Dung beetles

In the bush, nothing is wasted. A carcass, for example, when finished from our point of view is nothing of the sort. Horns are broken down by the larvae of horn borer moths, old bones are sucked and chewed by a variety of animals from giraffes to leopard tortoises providing vital nutrients.

A dung beetles rolls his ball away

Similarly, dung is not finished with once it hits the ground. The eating of dung, or ‘coprophagia’ is exhibited by a number of animals such as warthogs, scrub hares and leopard tortoises.

But the creatures best-associated with dung are of course the dung beetle species. Yesterday, following the visit of an elephant, we were able to witness the beetles at work, up close and personal! Within minutes of the elephant defecating several dung beetles had arrives on the scene, rolling large balls with incredible speed and precision before rolling them away. 

These balls will most likely be used by female dung beetles to lay their eggs in. Only one egg is laid per ball, keeping male dung beetles busy as a single female may lay up to 60 eggs per season.

These two dung beetles were having a scrap over a particular dung ball

Happy Easter

Elephant beside the water tower

This morning began in quite a different way to the traditional egg hunt: a lone bull elephant appeared on the entrance road to the lodge and spent over an hour working his way around our house.

Feeding by the veranda

Being used to viewing elephants from a vehicle it was wonderful to watch him from the ground, gaining a completely different perspective. We could see every hair, eye lash and wrinkle, not to mention really get a feel for his size.

Towards the end of his round he discovered a freshly dug trench which will form a new soak-away for our shower, giving us a few nervous moments as he promptly stepped down into it. Luckily he decided that it wasn’t worth further investigation, left the pipe and climbed out again before fading into the bush.

Bush baby banquet

Spotted – a lesser bush baby foraging above the sun deck getting a fill of its favourite food source, gum. Gum provides a very nutritious sideline to insects being rich in both carbohydrates, proteins and minerals. In this particular case the bush baby is feeding on the gum of the marula tree. 

A most ferocious dinner guest...

Picture taken from Google

Dinner on Monday night was interrupted when a pair honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) came to drink just metres away at the bird pool. We were alerted to their presence by the reflection of light on their silver back and watched them for a while before they disappeared into the bush.

This black and white colouration is known as ‘aposematic colouration’ and acts as nature’s warning system to deter predators from eating unpalatable prey. Honey badgers produce a strong smelling secretion from their anal gland which is used as a defence mechanism and, coupled with their well-earned reputation for strength, must surely count as unpalatable!

News from the bush babies

It appears that the local lesser bush baby (Galago moholi) family has expanded into another residence. Having moved house from the game viewing tower to the roof of the office last year, dusk down at the deck has become a quieter affair. In the last few weeks, however, the sunset has been punctuated by the tiny silhouettes of three adult bush babies bouncing down the tower on their way to begin a night’s foraging.

The others are still living in the office roof so we’re hoping to discover the identity of the tower three. They may turn out to be last year’s pups or new faces altogether. We’ll be sure to keep an eye out from now on!

Rain at last!

The bush at Leopard’s View has been looking very dry in recent weeks. Dark clouds have threatened tantalisingly on many occasions but have departed without bringing any real relief since 29mm at the end of February. March was incredibly hot with the average daily maximum for the month being 34.6 degrees.

With an average annual rainfall of 450mm, last week's cumulative total for this year's rainy season of 372mm was well below what we hoped for by the end of March. Monday night, however, the promising clouds did not disappoint. 42mm fell in a tremendous storm, with Tuesday’s continuous drizzle yielding a few more millimetres. 

Already the bush has taken on a green tinge again with grasses changing colour literally overnight. We’re very grateful for this latest downpour, and are hopeful that this year’s winter will not be too tough after all.

A visit from the pride

It was with great excitement that we spotted a dark shape lying in the shade beside the waterhole mid-afternoon. It could only be a big cat and the telltale outline of a small tufty mane confirmed it to be a young male lion. He soon moved off to a clump of bushes behind the waterhole but wasn’t lost from sight for long.

Half an hour later, as the sun began to dip and the air became appreciably cooler, the rest of the pride began to materialise. One by one, females, males, and sub-adults came down to drink from the waterhole before gradually making their way off along the road, one of the old adult males taking up the rear and scent marking as he went.

Although they had moved off, their presence was heard late into the night with a chorus of deep roars punctuating the other night sounds. What a treat!

Tree of the month

To give you an idea of what’s happening in the bush we’ve decided to choose a tree each month that’s prominent in our surroundings. This month it’s the turn of the purple-pod terminalia (Terminalia prunoides), also known as the lowveld cluster leaf.

Belonging to the Combretum family, the purple-pod terminalia gets its common name from the deep plum coloured fruits which are present during autumn and winter. The grass in the bush has now lost its colour & many of the leaves are also turning from green to brown, making the inedible purple pods of this tree even more conspicuous.

The wood of the purple-pod terminalia is remarkably heavy, being only slightly lighter than the celebrated leadwood tree (Combretum imberbe). As a result it is used as building material, providing items such as fence posts and axe handles.