The first was a lucky day for a leopard that managed to catch a young tsessebe and take it up a tree to feed on. Sadly for the mother, she wandered around the area calling to her baby, but with no answer.
The pack of eight dogs meant business when they came across an adult warthog in their travels. Intent on hunting it, they chased the warthog, who quickly made his escape down a hole in the ground. Backing in, and then facing out to meet the dogs, the warthog made a successfully ferocious stand, and the dogs realised he was too aggressive a prey to deal with that day!
A most unusual sighting on the night drive one evening, with an even more surprising out come: for some reason, a honey badger and an aardwolf (an animal that looks a little like a small hyena, but eats only ants and termites!) took a dislike to each other and began to fight. What is even stranger, is that the honey badger – one of the most aggressive smaller animals that will happily face off with a leopard – appeared to be the loser of the party, but not before leaving a very pungent stink in the vicinity!
And hundreds of elands were also seen in Lebala area! This phenomenally shy antelope is occasionally seen in small herds, but the summer rains have brought them out in large numbers, gathering together to feed on the grass. Still shy, we have to keep a large distance between us, in order to view them.
The large amounts of rain that began the month, although life-giving to many animals, created an unfortunate situation for a herd of elephants. We came across a large pack of hyenas that were feeding on a baby elephant, that had died some time before, as a result of being stuck in the mud. No doubt that its herd had tried their utmost to free the baby, but it had tired and died. The adult elephants would have remained in the area after the baby died, and the hyenas would not have been able to feast until they had moved off.
