At the start of the month we could hear a big commotion between lions at night. In the morning we found Sebastian, one of the resident males, with a big scar on his face and it appeared that he had fought with his brother lion, Old Gun, over the mating rights to one of the females from the Wapoka Pride. They had been together for a week and were both looking very skinny having had other things on their mind apart from food. Old Gun appeared to be the winner of the battle for dominance and was growling at his brother when we saw them the next day. We watched a sensational kill on an impala by the Wapoka Pride; one female circled around and drove the impala right into the mouths of the rest of the lionesses. The same pride also killed a wildebeest and we saw one of the young males on an elephant carcass.
The Bonga pride of nine lions were found close to camp and one time fighting with a honey badger, although the smaller creature managed to get away. One of the Bonga lionesses who has cubs of 3-4 months old was discovered feeding on a fresh warthog carcass and was also seen hunting lechwe along the marsh. At one stage this young family was joined by the two big resident males. Four new lions, three young males and a female, were located seen feeding on a buffalo. These animals haven’t been seen in our area before and were quite shy.
Our resident female leopard, Jane, reappeared back in the area after having been absent for a long while. When she left she had two cubs, but there now appears to be just one remaining. When we first saw them they were feeding on a red lechwe carcass that seemed to be a few days old. Some lionesses came and took the kill from them, but they seemed like they had a good feast before they were robbed. A few days later they were hunting in camp and managed to kill a bushbuck and drag it under some bushes to eat. A tom leopard was located very close to camp and we followed him as he was hunting along the edge of the marshes. A male leopard who is a brother to the resident Fisherman was identified as he was found finishing up a reedbuck that he had killed a couple of days previously.
One afternoon we were lucky enough to come across an elephant who had only just given birth. The calf was still covered in blood and helplessly trying to get up. The rest of the herd gathered around to help. A truly magical time was had watching a huge herd of elephants bathing and splashing in the marshes.
The resident pack of two wild dogs came through the camp a couple of times hunting bushbucks but didn’t manage to make a kill.
The two cheetah brothers were seen in the Lebala side of the Kwando Reserve, sometimes posing beautifully on termite mounds or on their marking trees. One time we were following them and they came across mating lions who chased them away. Luckily the cheetah managed to escape.
On evening drive we were lucky enough to find a pangolin; an incredibly rare species that we are doing well to find a few times already in Lebala this year. Two honey badgers were seen chasing mice near to the airstrip. Black-backed jackals were also in the area.
A large number of carmine bee-eaters started to flock into the area for breeding season and could be seen gathering at John’s Pan.
(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!)
