The first couple of day of November in Kwara, it was left-overs for dinner each night for two male and one female lions – the hippo they had killed right at the end of October still had enough food left for them. Two days later, four males spent a couple of days feeding on a buffalo they had killed. In fact, there were only two days this month that lions were not found – so it’s hard to detail which sightings were the most interesting. The four ‘Marsh boys’ the big males that ousted the members of the Magnificent seven returned to the area with a female and two sub-adults in tow. They were also found feeding on a hippo.
On the 4th, the pack of 18 wild dogs (11 adults and 7 young) were seen feeding on a lechwe – a big antelope, but a quick meal when split amongst 18 individuals. An even smaller snack for them was a single impala we saw them hunt a couple of days later. With a pack this size, they will normally hunt and catch two to three impala a day, but sadly not always whilst we are watching! From the middle of the month the pack moved out of the easily reached areas of the concession, perhaps seeking new hunting ground, but returned at the end of the month with all members alive and well.
A few months ago a bush fire tore through a section of the concession. At the time, these can be worrying, but there was sufficient water and open areas with less vegetation for it to stop well before it got close to the camps. The area is now like an enormous well-maintained golf course, with a carpet of short bright green grass. Delineated by the tracks, where the fire was unable to cross, the yellow/grey tall moribund vegetation on the other side of the track shows a stark contrast. The problem with playing golf on one of these areas is you are more than likely going to hit an animal. Herds of zebra, wildebeest, tsessebe and other grazers have moved in to consume the luscious grass. Towards the end of the month, these herds were joined by the addition of lots of little hooves: the impala had dropped their young – usually all within a few days of each other – and now there were lots of small bouncy animals ricocheting around the herds on their stick-thin legs. Sadly, this is also a time for predators to be like kids in a sweet shop, with lots of fairly defenceless bite-size morsels readily available.
Game drives are always popular in the Kwara concession, because the variety of animals on offer is so great. However, the mokoros also provide unusual sightings outside of the normal water-lily and bell-frog viewing. A stop on a bank to stretch legs and have a cup of coffee during one mokoro outing provided a complete game viewing experience when a reedbuck was noticed swimming along in the water, being followed closely by a pack/slither/menace (what is the correct collective noun??) of crocodiles…. She escaped unharmed, coming out on a far bank, but the reason for her morning dip was spotted standing on the other side of the Lagoon – a pack of six wild dogs!
In the Tsum Tsum area, an elephant passed away, leaving a true feast for all and sundry. It was an unusual meeting of feeders, with hyenas eating on one side, vultures feeding on top of the elephant, and seventeen crocodiles – some several metres in length – feasting on the other side! Since there was enough meat to go around, there was no squabbling between the sides….
