Lions were seen almost every day. We had regular sightings of the two male lions: the “Lebala Boys”. These two lovely males move around the south eastern side of the concession. They are in very good condition, and always look well fed, though we don’t often see them hunting. In the second week we found them feeding on the carcass of an eland. Vultures were surrounding them, up in the trees, waiting for the chance to move in on the remains should the lions move away. The next day when we returned, the hyenas had taken over the remains of the kill (pictured above), with the vultures now on the ground as well, trying to get what they can.
Nearby, along the same road, we came upon four lionesses fighting over a baby zebra they had killed – disgruntled as there was not enough meat for everyone to have a good share!
There is also a pride of five female lions with nine cubs, two sub adult cubs and two big males. This month we followed them hunting, and catching wildebeest. Another day, they were resting up in the sun, with the nine cubs playing whilst the adults tried – in vain – to sleep. And an interesting altercation between lions and hyena, where a lioness caught a warthog, but was still in the process of killing it, when two adult hyenas and two youngsters arrived and fought her for the kill. The hyenas made off with the warthog and began to tear it to pieces….
A great sighting with a pack of 14 wild dogs, which we spent the morning tracking. We found them feeding on a dead giraffe, with vultures also trying to land to get their share of the meat, without getting killed by the dogs!
We also came up on an elephant that had appeared to die of natural causes. A hyena and two jackals were trying to open up the skin of the carcass, in order to start eating.
This month we had a great sighting of a pangolin, and several sightings of a male leopard, who is very very shy. And a very unusual sighting of a crocodile out for a stroll one evening, next to a road! He was out in the open, and appeared to be looking for food.
