The lions are being quite sneaky – lots of tracks are seen moving in and around the water cut area, but only one male lion seen in a couple of weeks, snoozing.
The middle of the month heralded the return of the leopards after a quiet week before: two different leopards were located, including the female with two cubs. Another relaxed female was found hunting, but she was very relaxed and did not bother about the car being in her vicinity.
Since the long absence of the three brother cheetahs from the area, good news in the form of a female cheetah with two sub-adult cubs – a male and a female – were seen moving through the area.
Lagoon pack of wild dogs being seen fairly regularly, in spite of covering large distances moving to the northern sections of the concession, and then down towards the Lebala camp. The dogs are often followed by jackals at a distance, hoping to scavenge any tidbits left over from the kills the dogs make. The tables turned quickly one day, when the dogs had had enough, and turned tail on the jackals, chasing them instead of their more normal prey! This was just enough to make the jackals think twice about following them at such close quarters!
Breeding herds of elephants abound and are very entertaining to watch, particularly in the afternoons when they come down to the river to drink. They cross the water slightly to the west of the lagoon in front of camp, in a wonderful parade of trumpets and rumblings.
Although the month started with mostly buffalo bulls, by the middle of the months, the large breeding herds had begun to move in. This is just the beginnings of the groups, and the numbers will slowly increase until we can be viewing herds of more than a thousand individuals.
Two grumbling honey badgers – the only way to describe the funny noise they make in their more vocal moments were seen on a night drive, fairly close to camp. The staff often have to contend with these individuals as they are also seen moving around the outskirts of the staff accommodation, in the hope that something has been accidently left out to be carried off into the bush.
