The resident Wapoka pride of lions were still hunting very successfully. Over recently months they have mainly been hunting buffalo, but interestingly they seem to have recently changed their focus. They were found feeding on wildebeest carcasses most of the time, though also killed zebra and buffalo during the month. Some guests were lucky enough to see them stalking and pouncing. They seem to have gained experience in taking down buffalo and are now managing to make the kills more easily and without injury. It was the time of the year when most of the antelopes had given birth and the lions were deliberately targeting the easier prey. The pride was also seen feeding on smaller mammals such as warthog and more unusually with a honey badger carcass. Sadly, we have not seen one of lionesses with her two cubs recently; the last time the guides saw the lioness she was not in a good condition as she was getting too old to keep up with the rest of the pride. Guides suspected that the cubs were involved in a fight with the hyenas and were killed as they have seen the pride several times and the cubs were not there.
A pack of twenty-five wild dogs was seen hunting and successfully making a kill, these dogs were specializing in young antelope such as impala, tsessebe and wildebeest. The ongoing war between this pack of wild dogs and the resident hyenas is not over; they were found fighting for carcasses, but the large wild dog pack seems to be winning most of the battle through strength in numbers. This pack of wild dogs was doing very well, the adults seem to be doing a great job of feeding their eleven puppies and well making sure that they are protected from the other predators.
Hyenas were also seen trying to take a meal from a lioness but she managed to fend them off, although during the month the clan was seen scavenging on different carcasses. Some of the guests were lucky enough to see hyena cubs playing around their den.
A male leopard was seen going into burrows searching for warthogs and other small mammals; he was also found feeding on lechwe. He was being smart, most of the time immediately after making a kill taking it up a tree before the hyenas could arrive. He was also seen resting on top of the trees during the day in a very relaxed manner. Unfortunately we did not see the resident female leopard Jane and her cubs in the month of December; we suspected that she moved away from this predator-dominated area to raise her two cubs and she will return once they are old enough to survive encounters with lions and hyenas.
General game sightings were very good as most of the antelopes were giving birth, and they spent most of their time in open pans so that they could see predators from a distance. Some of the guests watched a fight between two hornbills and wild cat, but in the end the wild cat lost a fight and ran away. They also watched two hippos fighting; initially the encounter started in the water but the massive animals came bursting out of the channel and started chasing each other through the bushes.
The bird life was very interesting as we had different species of birds such as African skimmers and bee- eaters in good numbers. True to their name, African skimmers are entertaining to watch as they fly just over the water with their lower bill ‘skimming’ the surface to feed. Guests also saw different species of vultures feeding on leftover carcasses.
(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!)
