Wild dog pup numbers are now confirmed at 16 – after numerous countings of them since they don’t sit still for long…. The fifteen adults are doing a great job of hunting twice daily for the pack, and then coming back to regurgitate food for the pups and the Alpha female who is left behind to watch over them. The pups are still suckling, but will also chew on any meat that is brought back for them, or in fact, will chew on anything, including each other, as is the norm with any young predator!
With the dogs having lots of extra mouths to feed, guests were lucky enough to witness several hunts this month. The whole process is over very quickly, even if you do get to see it, so you really do have to be in exactly the right place at the right time!
While key activities this month have focused on the wild dogs, as everyone wants to see the cute little pups, other predators also provided some good sightings.
Male lions were seen every couple of days, either resting up, or on a few occasions, hunting lechwe and other prey. The lionesses and cubs kept a very low profile this month, and we only saw them a few times, as the males patrolled the territory. It was a sad day early in the month, when we found an intruder male lion feeding on a lioness – the sister of the lioness who has three cubs – and one cub was missing, so she had probably been killed while trying to defend the cubs. Lions do kill each other from time to time, but it is very rare for them to feed on the meat of any dead lion. At the end of the month, tensions were high, as two males – one regular from Splash and the intruder that had killed the lioness were found fighting each other. Tables were turned this time, and the Splash male killed the intruder male lion!
The cheetahs have also provided us with some tremendous sightings this month. The two males were seen often, and there was an exciting scene when they chased an impala, and caught one. The days following that they were seen snoozing and sunning themselves, and they had obviously made another kill between us seeing them.
A serval was also seen hunting in the marsh – this time for frogs. Experts at focusing in on prey by the sound of it’s movement, they take pouncing leaps to land on the hunted animal.
Lots of general game including red lechwe, large numbers of zebra with young, giraffes and tssessebe. Elephants have also dominated the area, with bulls and breeding herds being seen along many of the game drive routes – and in camp!
