The so-called “Blondie” pride were located several times – resting and well fed. We also heard them calling at night. Two very shy lions were also seen early on in December, but they did not stay around for long, perhaps put off by the sounds of Blondie and co in the vicinity. By the middle of the month we realised that one female has produced a litter of cubs, and has hidden them away from sight. We could hear them calling to their mother, but she has not as yet introduced them to the rest of the pride, so they are obviously still very tiny. Another female is also heavily pregnant.
Towards the end of the month, the pride were still being seen, but being rather true to the nature of the lion, and not producing much activity but snoozing a lot!
The first week produced six leopard sightings, mostly of a female that killed an impala and hung it in a tree. The next night a male was also found with a warthog kill. We also saw the two sub-adult brother and sister leopards during the month, and had a great sighting of them on the 26th, where the male went up a tree, being a little shyer than the female. The female spotted a young black mamba snake in a tree, and chased the snake higher and higher into the branches, until she could follow no further, due to her weight.
The Lagoon pack of wild dogs was seen several times, with still one male missing, so now only 8 dogs form the pack. Although we saw the dogs often at the beginning of the month, the density of lions later on forced them to spend more time in the Lebala region, for safety.
The festive season produced a great sighting of a female leopard in the morning followed by a pack of 20 wild dogs located along the Old Lebala Road. This is a pack that is seen only about once a year, which inhabits the far north of the concession – at the moment it comprises of 10 adults and 10 puppies. It was nice of them to visit our area, close to Lagoon, and they had just finished up a kill when we found them, but they are very shy, so they did not stay long with us.
It was not so lucky for three young buffalos however, as the two male lions managed to kill them on the 24th, just in time for Christmas. Blondie lionesses, however, had a hungry Christmas, as the males consumed the buffalos alone.
The beginning of the month there were a few elephants are still around, with breeding herds being seen in the woodland, but not very many now out in the floodplains, now that rain has provided plenty of new growth and available water everywhere. However, by the end of the month, the elephant herds seemed to have got bored with the mopane area, and it was not uncommon to see 5 or 6 breeding herds on each drive.
With the rain arrives the plentiful bull frogs, reed frogs, toads and leopard tortoises. All enjoying the slightly humid conditions after the long dry months.
Unusual sightings this month included two serval sightings, and there appear to be a larger number of eland this year compared to last year.
