Towards the end of the month, we had a wonderful experience with our resident lion pride… First we located one female at John’s Pan, and followed her for about an hour until she arrived at her den. She started calling – a soft contact call – and out popped three tiny two-week old cubs from the bush. The mother lion quickly joined them and took them back into the bush to suckle them.
The following day we came across the rest of the pride with the six more cubs – two that are 8 months old, and four that are 2 months old, making a total of 9 cubs in total when the three tiniest ones join them! Guides came upon the pack of 12 wild dogs resting nearby the remains of an animal. On closer inspection, they discovered that the animal was still alive, as they could see it breathing, but it took some time to figure out what the animal was: an aardvark! The dogs had eaten its ears, and part of its snout, and then left the rest of it alone! Sadly, after the dogs moved away, it was then eaten alive by vultures…..
A hippo had died as a result of injuries sustained in a fight with another hippo, dying in the middle of a pan with muddy water. The scent of death attracted a passing pride of lions, however, only the adults attempted to wade through the muck to get to the free meal. The cubs nosed around the edge of the water, not keen to get wet, but hoping for takeaway. After only a day, the lions gave up and left the hippo with most of the meat still intact – the combination of water, mud, and stinky hippo meat in the sun perhaps was a little too much to bear, even for them.
A male bushbuck has set up residence in camp, sleeping under the deck at night, and browsing between the rooms. Still quite shy of people, but he has sensibly found a convenient and safe place to stay, with plenty of vegetation to eat, since no one else dares venture close!
