The big lion pride – 17 of them – was found feeding on a zebra carcass nearly half way between Lagoon and Lebala camps. The carcass was almost entirely gone, but it seems that everyone had had a fair share, as they were relaxing around the kill, all with full bellies. The next day, they were found close to the same area, again relaxing, with one of the couples mating. A few days later, we found four cubs on their own, relaxing under an apple tree. The next day, the pride was back together, attempting to hunt lechwe and warthog. And proving that fact that a Botswana lion is always a delta lion, the entire pride, little cubs included, safely crossed a deep water channel as part of their transit towards our airstrip.
There’s not just baby dogs in the area at the moment, but also baby hyenas – four cubs are often seen at the hyena den site, alternately resting, playing, and trying to chew their siblings ears or tails off. This is something to take relatively seriously, when an adult hyena has enough jaw strength to happily break down bones, but luckily for the cubs, their powerful jaw muscles haven’t quite developed to full strength yet.
A late afternoon visit to the dog den site is often very productive, as when 14 adults return from hunting and try to feed 15 puppies by regurgitating their food, it can be quite chaotic! 29 dogs running around yipping and begging for food and scraps, and tails wagging everywhere is a lot of fun to watch. The adults are having to do a lot of hunting to ensure that there is enough ‘on the table’ for everyone, so regularly there are a few members of the pack missing when we get to the den, still busy out hunting. However, in the middle of the month, the adults began to take the puppies out on the hunts, with them following at a distance as they cannot keep up the same pace.
And you pretty much hunt wherever you can get the opportunity – including right in front of the camp. At 1845, just as the sun was going down, 14 of the dogs caught an impala on the flood plain in front of the main area, and quickly ate it. Two hyenas came and cleared up the tiny bits that were left over from the feeding dogs.
It’s not just the predators that are coming in large numbers at the moment – huge herds of buffalo have congregated in the Lebala area, averaging around 300 in a herd, but with some herds joining together and comprising of around 1000 individuals. With drought conditions over the last two years, this is going to be a tough year for them, and they need to keep finding enough grass to feed on. For now, there is sufficient along the floodplains and river banks to provide for the large herds.
An unusual leopard sighting – a female and her cub were found feeding on an African civet – quite a rare kill for a leopard, of another shy animal. A few days later, another leopardess was found, this time with two cubs, crossing a small channel.
