A lovely start to the month with sightings of the cheetah mother with three cubs, in the area around Bat Eared Fox Den. We saw the family feeding on an impala carcass one day, and the next day they were all relaxing in the shade near the remains of the impala. The two adult males were also seen shortly after that, trying to catch an impala in the Splash Hippo area, but with no success. The following week, the mother and cub cheetahs were still in the same region, and this time the mother was doing some training for the cubs. Although she hunted and brought down a sub-adult female impala, she gave the impala over to her cubs to try and kill. Not a very nice experience for on-lookers, and definitely not for the impala, as it took quite some time for the cubs to finish the process. Another female cheetah was seen at the end of the month in the Splash area… mating with one of the two males. So the chance – in about three months – of seeing another set of cheetah cubs in the area.
The lions were seen almost every day – in almost every location – boat station, camp, air strip, as well as the less heavily human-populated areas! The three young cubs are still going strong, and following their mum in the hunts – though not very successfully. There are likely to be more cubs on the way, too, as a male and female lion were seen mating close to Wild Dog Pan, whilst the other two females relaxed. Sometimes don’t do a lot other than sleep or relax, but it gives us a great opportunity then to get some good photographs. Two male lions were particularly photogenic, when they choose a nice termite mound to relax on, in perfect setting sun-light.
A male lion close to camp found a chance and grabbed a warthog for a meal. A perfect size meal for one lion, he set about enjoying his catch, and savouring each morsel, allowing the game drive vehicles plenty of time to look on. A few days after that, being the fastest antelope in Africa was no help to the tsessebe that got caught by the two female lions with three cubs. Early on in the month we discovered that the wild dogs had denned quite a distance from the camp. We saw the pack of fifteen hunting through the concession from time-to-time, but finding the actual den-site took quite a bit of tracking. After a den is located, the next thing to wait for is the puppies to come out. They normally start to appear when they are three or four weeks old, playing about in the warm sun for a few minutes before tumbling down into the safety of the den again. The Kwara pack puppies finally emerged in late June, and the numbers of them have kept us a little confused! There are either 15 or 16 of them, but getting them to hold still long enough to count properly is not high on their list of priorities. At this stage, their individual markings are only faintly visible – it will take a few weeks before the shapes and colours of their coats start to become more distinct, making them more easily identifiable.
As the weather cools and the grasses begin to get shorter and die off, the elephants forage more towards the permanent waters, on the sweeter grasses and tall trees that edge the area. Small herds will rest in the shade of the trees, with the little ones lying down for a proper sleep, mum and aunt dangling their trunks over protectively, and ready to push the baby up at the slightest chance of danger.
The rarity from last month made another appearance – a bush pig was spotted drinking water at Double Crossing!
