Early January and we came upon a lone lioness as she walked along the Shindi main road, heading towards the marshes. As she walked, she made low contact calls, as she has obviously hidden her cubs in the marsh area, and wanted to let them know that she is on her way. Although we were unable to locate the cubs that day, two days later, we were able to see two lionesses along the same road, this time, with all seven of their cubs (of varying ages) with them.
Two cheetah brothers were found in the hippo pool area of Splash, quietly watching a herd of zebra and wildebeest, each with young. Although they spent some time and watching and eventually stalking, they were not successful this time, and the zebra and wildebeest moved away.
On the 7th, a pack of 17 wild dogs (including 7 sub-adults) were seen in the area with blood on their faces, having just eaten. They were moving at speed, heading north, and being followed by hyenas, who were obviously hoping such a large pack would soon need to hunt again.
Four male lions attempted to bring down a hippo, but even four of these big males were unable to achieve this, and the hippo, although injured, fought back and managed to get back to the safety of the water. Elsewhere, two lionesses and two lions had better luck and brought down a zebra, and were able to feed on it for two days, being joined by their two cubs.
One game drive we came upon an elephant that was trumpeting and “stomping” up and down as only a very unhappy elephant can. It was only by watching him carefully, that we realised he was upset about something that was in the bushes, as he kept charging to and fro… On closer investigation, we discovered there was a large male lion lying under the fever berry tree! Thanks to the elephant, we got a lovely sighting of a relaxing lion – and presumably relaxing even more when the elephant gave up and left. The next day it was the other animals that indicated to us where a lioness was: three giraffes standing still and staring, and others running away. We were then able to spot a lioness moving through the marshes until she reached a den with a tiny cub waiting.
It’s not just the lions that have the cubs this time around: a very lovely sighting this month of one genet cat with three kittens. The genet was unusually relaxed, sitting in a sausage tree, with her young, and feeding on a tree mouse which the kittens were fighting over.
A relaxed serval cat was found hunting. We were lucky enough to see the kill being successful, and she caught a baby scrub hare. And as with last month, another rare sighting of a water mongoose.
There was plenty of general game in the area this month, with the region around the airstrip and towards the third bridge providing particularly good sightings, with lots of relaxed animals, and the young impala being suckled.
