Leopards certainly seem to be doing well in this area of late, since the lions are spending more time in the south of the area. There were two sub-adults aged just under one year, found in an island about ten minutes drive from camp. They were both relaxing in their own individual trees, and provided one of the best sightings of the month. A female was also seen drinking from the lagoon in front of camp during siesta time!
One dog from the Lagoon pack appears to be missing, so there are now 12 adults and 8 sub-adults, down from 21. The pack in itself is still doing well, and warthog continues to be the currently most often chosen prey, with several meeting their end this month
Perhaps following on from the wild dogs’ experience – or is it a plague of warthogs?? – a female leopard also caught a nice piece of pork for her dinner early in the month.
Having not seen the three brother cheetahs in several months, we were surprised to find tracks of a solitary cheetah moving close to the camp. A few days later, the cheetah was found, and it turns out to be the one brother of the three who had previously separated from the coalition for a month. We wonder if this is it for him, and he won’t return to his brothers? Or will his brothers follow him too?
A lovely herd of around 100 eland were found along the cutline, but these animals are always very shy, so we were not able to watch them for long before they moved off
Elephants are also in large numbers, with the breeding herds back. These herds are normally too shy to come through the camp, but cross the channel just to the west of the camp on most days. Bull elephants, however, are much more confident around human habitations, (the elephants were obviously there before we were!) and two males are found ‘hanging out’ between the kitchen and the dining room on most days. This makes for some long detours for the plates and food if they are too close to the pathway….
Night drives have been a little quiet, as the grass is so tall in most areas. It should only be a few weeks, and the long grass will fall flat, enabling great visibility.
