Great lion sightings this month, with the resident males being seen regularly, as well as the two different lionesses with cubs – one set of three now eight months old, and the other two around 9.5 months old. One of the lionesses kept pretty much to herself with her cubs, and stayed in the cutline area. The rest of the pride caught several buffalo calves. Around the 23rd of the month, another female from the pride left the main group and moved away for three days – she was heavily pregnant and went off to give birth. Unfortunately, it appears that cubs did not survive, as she does not appear to be suckling.
A few relaxed female leopards have provided excellent sightings this month, though the for some reason the males that we see are much more nervous. It may be that there have been too much overlapping of their territories, and the males are now cautious of where a more dominant male will be coming from. Two of the three cheetah brothers were seen heading north in the second week of the month – the missing one may have gone on ahead, or be loitering looking for a female in the area.
With the main pack having denned in the Lebala area, wild dog sightings have not been as regular as other years this month, but we did find a pack of nine (that is normally 13 individuals) along Baruti Road, feeding on an impala.
Two or three large herds of buffalo seen in the area each day, with many calves. The biggest grouping we have seen so far was around 2000 individuals! This is proving a great enticement for the lions to stay in the area, with so much prey. They are focussing on killing the calves and sub-adults, which are much easier to take down than the fully grown adults. Not only the lions benefit from this supply, but ten hyenas were also found feeding on a dead adult buffalo.
Night drives have been a little quiet of late – but we still have good viewings of honey badger, bush-baby, and a very active clan of hyenas. The hyena den that is located near the airstrip has 4 cubs, all of different ages, so it provides a lot of entertainment with the cubs pushing and shoving each other around.
Sable and roan antelope seem to be increasing in numbers in the area, and we are getting quite regular sightings of these normally more elusive animals. Elephants are making the boat cruises very interesting, as they come down to drink in the late afternoon. As the temperatures rise, more and more will spend at least part of the day on the channel.
