Wild dogs were denning near to camp throughout the month of May. Two separate females had conceived within our resident pack of six and they made den entrances approximately fifteen metres apart. Towards the end of the month four puppies emerged from den and could be seen suckling. The second litter was born on the 24th May. The dogs tended to stay fairly close to the den and were seen feeding on kudu, warthog and impala. We witnessed them regurgitating food for both pregnant females after their hunting missions.
A mother leopard known as Mma Maporota (Mrs Sausage Tree) was seen on an almost daily basis, with her two subadult cubs, one female and one male. Sometimes they were seen apart and other times feeding or hunting together; when they had a kill they tended to stay in the same area for several days. The adult female spent a good amount of time marking her territory by scent marking and clawing trees.
After a lot of patient searching by our guides we located two hyena dens in the area. Evening visits were particularly rewarding as we were able to see the adults socialising with their young and greeting each other before setting off on patrol. At one of the dens there are five cubs, ranging from several weeks old to approximately 8 months. They were very playful, sometimes curiously approaching the vehicle.
The coalition of two cheetah brothers continued to cover huge areas but were seen often in the Lagoon side of the Reserve. The guides suspected that they were trying to stay away from the Bonga Pride who were located more towards the east. The males were located patrolling their territory and also hunting various species including impala, warthogs, tsessebe and even young kudu.
Four young male lions were still in the area, having come from the north. They were generally seen on the move and were still skittish around vehicles, but we hope that they will relax over time. They sometimes split up to track females and could be heard roaring in the early mornings. A lioness with one cub was seen hunting impala and zebra along the woodland, but they also seem to specialise in warthogs and could be seen checking out burrows looking for prey. One time after they had brought down an impala the hyena clan came and raided their kill. Two new pale-coloured lionesses seem to have taken up residency in the area and were seen in the vicinity of an elephant carcass. After a few days they were joined by two big male lions and were seen mating with them. Towards the end of the month two separate prides were seen fighting over the elephant carcass; the dispute continued over a three-day period. In the end a coalition of three lions disrupted and pushed away the four younger males. A female from the Bonga Pride was also seen towards Halfway Pan; she looked like she was nursing, so it is likely that she had split away from the main pride to give birth. It seems that the Bonga Pride are starting to move back towards the Lagoon side of the Kwando Reserve, having spent the last few months in the Lebala area.
General game was very good along the floodplains. There were two relaxed herds of sable and roan antelope and plentiful zebra and wildebeest. As the weather cooled, hippos were seen out of the water during the day more frequently. Elephants, buffalo, eland, tsessebe, giraffe, impala, steenbok, kudu and hartebeest were also seen.
There were good sightings of smaller mammals including African wild cats, bat-eared foxes, civets, genets, bush babies and servals. Aardwolf were seen several times towards the end of the month, though sadly we found aardwolf carcass at the vacated hyena den (one was also found the previous month).
As usual, there were good numbers of raptors and vultures in the Kwando Reserve. A family of endangered Southern Ground Hornbills were seen frequently. Ostrich were seen graving alongside plains game.
Crocodiles could be seen during the boat cruise and monitor lizards were seen mating.
(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!)
