February was a great month for spotting some of the more elusive animals. One evening as a game drive was returning to camp and we thought that all the action was over, the sharp-eyed tracker suddenly asked the guide to stop and reverse, whereby he proudly pointed out a pangolin – a highly prized sighting. An aardwolf was also spotted on a night drive as the guides were game driving back to the camp; the aardwolf was very relaxed and going into the termite mounds looking for food. An African wildcat was also seen.
During February the Wapoka pride split into three separate groups, but the majority of the lions were still in the Lebala area. The guides frequently located one female with three cubs and two male lions, as well as a different group of six males with one female. The rest of the pride were not located during the month of February. One of the main reasons why big prides split is if they do not get well fed, or possibly the six sub-adult males were now old enough for the dominant male to eject them from the family group. All two different prides located were being very successful with their hunting, the mother with three cubs and two males was spotted one of the morning feeding on kudu. The same pride was also seen feeding on a zebra carcass, making for some great photographs for our guests. The six boys were found feeding on a giraffe carcass, and they were also seen stalking wildebeest.
A pack of sixteen wild dogs were seen regularly and appeared to be doing well in the area as they were seen hunting and feeding on impala on more than one occasion.
Resident female leopard Jane and her two cubs were back in the area which was very good news as she has been not around for some time. Having been located, she immediately thrilled the guests by chasing and killing a warthog. She took that up a tree where she stayed for a day feeding along with her two cubs. Guests were able to get some fantastic photos. A male leopard was also located feeding on an impala carcass one of the afternoon.
Two male cheetahs were located resting as they were on a mission of patrolling the area, it was getting dark so the guides did not spend much time with them.
The hyenas moved from their den after the lions spent most of their time nearby and posing a great threat to the hyena cubs. The clan were spotted feeding on left over carcasses, and there was one hyena who regularly came through the camp at night.
General game was good and there were large numbers of wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, kudu and breeding herds of elephant. Honey badgers were also located in the area busy looking for something to eat. Hippos could be seen enjoying the natural pans which had filled with water after the rains.
Bird life was abundant due to the summer migrants. Species seen included a breeding pair of endangered wattled cranes, carmine bee-eaters and African skimmers.
(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!)
