Three lions from the North were calling whole night by the river front by the lodge. One day whilst we were transferring guests by vehicle to Lebala camp we saw a female lion and followed her. She led us to a den where there was another lioness and four cubs aged 3 to 4 weeks old. This maternity ward turned out to be for the Rra Lebant pride. The following day we saw two male lions and a different female by the river bank opposite room 1 and they were feeding on two hippos. Lion tracks were seen passing very close to the staff village and one night two males roared in camp all night long. Four hungry lionesses with ten cubs of different ages were seen for three consecutive days.
Every now and again we saw leopard tracks in camp and once we heard the impala uttering alarm calls and then heard a leopard call in that general direction. We suspected that it was the resident male leopard nicknamed Rodgers.
The wild dogs relocated from the first den that we found them at and still had four puppies remaining.
On cool winter mornings hippo could be seen grazing out of the water and crocodiles were also taking the opportunity to warm up in the early morning sun. As the weather got hotter during September, super-herds of elephants and buffalo came out of the woodlands each day to quench their thirst at the river. It was amazing seeing the elephants crossing the lagoon in front of the main area, drinking and bathing as they went. Hippos could be seen in dominance displays by opening their mouths in a wide yawn to reveal their tusks. In some cases, a physical battle ensued.
There was very good general game around camp including zebra, impala, sable antelope, tsessebe, wildebeest, warthog, giraffe, kudu, waterbuck and red lechwe. Troops of baboons were foraging on the river banks, often mixing with the herds of impala.
A rock monitor lizard made himself a temporary home under the deck at back of house and was seen feeding on a waterbuck carcass that died of natural causes. Two porcupines and a honey badger were foraging around the main area at night. One night there were three honey badgers and they managed a breaking and entering operation into the main kitchen. Luckily there was not too much destruction and they just knocked over the dustbins.
A lovely group of ten wattled crane were sighted on the banks of the river opposite camp. Ground hornbills were feeding at the airstrip. Other species identified included, fish eagles, tawny eagles, little egrets, African jacanas, goliath herons, starlings, green pigeons, saddle-billed storks, Meyer’s parrots, hadeda ibis and bee-eaters. Several birds such as grey-backed camaropteras, fork-tailed drongos, red-billed hornbills and arrow-marked babblers were seen aggressively mobbing a slender mongoose. Different species of vultures were observed scavenging on an elephant carcass.
(Note: Accompanying picture is from our Kwando Photo Library which consists of all your great photo submissions over the years, it may not be the most up to date, but we felt it was worthy of a feature alongside this month’s Sightings Report!)
