The Northern pack of 12 wild dogs were located a few times including on kills of roan and tssesebe. After leaving the area for a few days we next located them just a kilometre from camp apparently having just fed given the copious blood on their mouths and necks. The alpha female is pregnant and we believe that she is due to give birth towards the end of July so are hopeful of seeing her denning soon.
We have been following with interest the behaviour of the two male lions further to their dramatic fight at the end of May when the dominant male lion status changed hands from Old Gun to Sebastian. At the start of the month the two huge lions were still trying to find peace, often hanging near camp with the female, Sebastian still dominating her.
The rest of the Wapoka pride were seen almost daily, usually in a group of 3 lionesses and 8 cubs. We saw them kill a warthog right in front of the game viewers and at other times on kills that included zebra and wildebeest. The female with two younger cubs of 2-3 months sometimes split away from the main pride and was also found with the two males. At one point, they fed together for 4 days on a buffalo carcass along the road to the airstrip. When she did decide to reunite with the main pride it was a noisy affair with lots of roaring from all the lions until they located each other. Drawn to the scene by the commotion, guests were able to watch the tender interactions and play as she and her cubs rejoined the rest of the pride.
Hyena were seen during the month, usually hanging near to the Wapoka Pride hoping for the opportunity to clean up their carcasses. One particular individual was seen patrolling through camp as the waiters were preparing for dinner. It seems that the animal got more of a fright than the staff as it skidded all over the place in its hurry to get away.
The coalition of two cheetah males were successfully tracked a few times and seem to be doing well. On one occasion we were busy tracking them when the guide and tracker heard the alarm calls of impala. They quickly made their way to the spot and found the two males with a freshly killed impala ram, dragging it under some bushes. Another time we found them eating a warthog piglet.
A female leopard was seen a few times often mobile and hunting but unsuccessful with her attempts to kill when we saw her.
Elephants were often seen moving through the woodland towards the river as temperatures warmed up during the day. Some herds numbered up to 100 individuals and elephants were often seem drinking from the river right in front of camp. One herd was seen swimming across the main Kwando River to reach the Zambezi region. Big herds of buffalo, some over 150 in size, were also moving through the mophane region. They were ever watchful for the Wapoka pride of lions who followed their movement.
Lots of plains game and woodland species were seen drinking at the waterholes including zebra, wildebeest, impala and giraffe. Sable herds were located in in very relaxed groups of up to 20, including 4 young. A herd of roan antelope were to be found in the mophane forest.
Smaller mammal sightings were excellent during June. Guests were lucky enough to get a good view of a caracal, although it was a little shy. Two serval cats were located hunting in tall grass to the north of the camp. Night drives successfully yielded civet, honey badger and small spotted genet. Four different mongoose species were seen during June, the slender mongoose, yellow mongoose, banded mongoose and smallest of them all, the dwarf mongoose.
Bird sightings included numerous raptors and vultures. Two Bateleur eagles were seen dramatically fighting a Giant Eagle Owl. Another time a Tawny Eagle and Bateleur were seen together scavenging on a carcass. A beautiful Giant kingfisher was spotted perching on a tree near the water, a more unusual species to add to the pied and malachite kingfishers which are more commonly seen in the area. Massive flocks of red-billed quelea are feasting on the abundance of grass seed produced following this year’s good rainfalls.
(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!)
