The Lagoon bar is a popular spot for everyone to gather, and enjoy a drink or two before dinner. When the temperature drops, as it does in July, everyone normally grabs a drink and heads straight for the fireplace. One evening, guests and their guide were sitting around the fire waiting for the remaining guests to come from their rooms, so the bar was a little quieter than normal. Quiet enough, that a leopard decided to come into the lounge, saunter along the floor of the bar, and then head off towards room 1!
The next day, an eagle-eyed guide spotted a jackal 8 meters up in a tree next to the managers house, not far off the main pathway to the guest rooms. Jackals are not known for their tree climbing skills, so it had obviously required some assistance at getting up there, courtesy of the bar-visiting leopard. The evening game drive finished with a walk back to the guest rooms before dinner, and a rare on-foot viewing of the leopard high up in the tree near its kill. It is not unusual for leopards to kill other predators that they see as competition, but it is rare for them to eat them. This leopard seemed not too bothered about the rule book, and dined on jackal.
The good news is that the cheetah coalition of three males, which has been missing from the concession for many months, made a return in July, and was seen every day for over a week in the middle of the month. Where they have been all this time, and why they have come back, remains a mystery, but we are glad to have them return.
The Lagoon wild dog pack has provided excellent sightings of action hunts, in spite of not having denned in the traditional time. There is the possibility that she will den later in the year, or, if she is finally beyond her breeding years – and she has had litters for more years than the majority of Alphas – that one of the younger females in the pack will take on the role of Alpha female. The dogs were sighted nearly every day, often leading us in a grand adventure as they hunted, missed, and hunted again, whilst trying to avoid other predators. One morning they left from their overnight rest stop near the camp, and headed out towards one of the islands, only to quickly back track as they found six lions already on the island. Having had a narrow escape with the lions the tables were turned as the 14 dogs then ran through another wooded area, and flushed a leopard up a tree!
Predator sightings were excellent this month, as apart from the dogs, we had regular sightings of the pride of six lions, and the coalition of three male cheetahs spent a whole week with us. One day the three cheetahs killed two baby eland, a very successful mornings hunting. The lions provided some good action sightings, as one morning they killed a warthog, and then had a tug of war, with the female that made the actual kill dragging the warthog and three attached lions several meters in a bid to gain a bit of the meat. Leopards were also prevalent, with some individuals being so relaxed that they allowed the vehicle to follow them for several hours – wandering along the road, resting for a while on top of termite mounds, before finally climbing a tree and lying on a branch to catch the afternoon sun. One hungry leopardess spent a very determined morning… the game drive vehicles watched her slowly stalking a herd of impala, with great concentration. Waiting patiently, she finally judged the moment was right, and focused on one individual impala in the herd. Unfortunately for her, the impala had exceptionally quick reflexes, and dived out of the way. In the confusion, an adult kudu that was mingling with the impalas suddenly found itself with an equally surprised leopard attached to its ‘undercarriage’. Far too big a prey for a small female leopard, the leopard quickly dropped off and scuttled out of the way before the kudu could do some serious damage to her. She was still as determined as ever, and spent another hour carefully stalking another group of impala, before the guests had to leave to catch a plane!
The hyena den is as productive as ever, and there is one very young cub, still all brown and looking more like a bear than a hyena. The cub remains at the den, whilst the rest of the hyenas come and go.
A couple of unusual spots whilst on the boat cruise – a leopard was seen at bee-eater island, and a sitatunga with calf was seen on the 18th July – the first of the year.
Other general game sightings included herds of sable – around 50 individuals, herds of roan, eland, large herds of buffalo (around 500 strong) and of course the elephants in their breeding herds, seen out and about on drive, and also drinking in front of the camp.
