Once again, the Wapoka Pride of lions took first prize for sighting of the month at Lebala. The two pride males took down a baby buffalo right in front of the game viewer. Not content with killing their original target, the two males rather rashly decided to try and tackle another two adult buffaloes at the same time, pouncing on one each. Wapoka means “crazy” in Setswana and on this occasion, the lions lived up to their name. Rather than help each other out, each male stubbornly hung onto his own prey animal, but the buffalo managed to take advantage of this situation and were successful in standing their ground, chasing the lions away. The two buffalos stood up and rejoined the others as the herd ran away, leaving the lions to make do with the calf that they had originally killed. They were seen in another confrontation with buffalo later in the month with the hunter and hunted chasing each other for three hours. They were also located hunting along the river chasing red lechwe but were not successful. Whilst following the lions we saw them come across hyena and behave aggressively towards them.
The hyena den was very active and the puppies were getting ever more inquisitive, coming to inspect the vehicles closely and even trying to bite the tyres. The adult hyenas were now starting to bring meat to the den. At another time, two spotted hyenas had disembowelled a hippo outside one of the natural watering holes. The hippo escaped by running into the water where the hyenas couldn’t damage it further, but the hyenas waited for days on the periphery of the pan for the hippo to come back out. Even whilst the hippo was still alive some white-backed vultures started to feed on it.
The resident cheetah brothers, who have been working in a coalition since they left their mother last year, got more than they bargained for when they tried to take on a herd of wildebeest. They didn’t manage to single any one animal out and then the antelope turned on them, chasing them until they drove one cheetah up a tree in its desperate attempt to escape. A different single cheetah was found marking territory and enjoying a warthog kill before drinking and disappearing into the mopane woodlands.
Other notable sightings during August included a lovely view of a very relaxed African Wild cat and a huge African python seen at basking at Nare Pan
As the natural watering holes dried up in the mopane woodlands found to the west of the concession, large numbers of elephants started to herd towards the Kwando River which will provide their main source of water for the next few months. Breeding herds with several young elephants were often seen close to the lodge. As guests were eating dinner they enjoyed hearing elephants munching the vegetation nearby. One evening at a sundowner stop, a herd of elephants started to approach the vehicle. The guide advised the guests to get into the safari vehicle and stay still. As the herd passed, the guests were awe-inspired by the matriarch staring straight at them.
Other herbivores seen included herds of buffalo, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra and impala. Following the good rains this year there was still plentiful grazing and the animals appeared to be in good condition.
Birdlife was also very rich, especially on the almost dried water catchments where storks, herons and other water species fed on insects and frogs stuck in the mud.
(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!)
