The month of October was full of action at Lebala with the Wapoka pride often seen stalking and chasing their prey. This is a is a very experienced pride and highly successful when it comes to hunting. The sub-adult cub that was injured in a buffalo stampede the previous month in sadly did not survive. Buffalos were still in the area but during October the lions seemed to be more cautious and were waiting for the right moment to attack, having learned a hard lesson the previous month. Two new male lion intruders were seen in the concession. At one time they ventured too near the hyena den for the clan to be comfortable, resulting in a fight between these mighty predators. These two males did not linger in the area; they seemed to be avoiding the resident males of the Wapoka Pride and a potentially life-threatening confrontation.
The hyena den was still very active; some of the guests were lucky enough to see the females nursing their cubs. Every time the guides visited the den they saw least see one or two hyenas looking after the cubs to make sure they were safe. These hyenas were continuing their strategy of stealing carcasses from the leopards but the leopards were doing their best to out-manoeuvre their competition by taking their carcasses up trees wherever possible. Often the hyenas were seen waiting beneath the branches hoping for some meat to fall to the ground. Hyenas were also seen on several occasions scavenging on left-overs from lions.
Guests were treated to very special sightings after a familiar female leopard, known as Jane, gave birth to two cubs. Jane is a very good mother and the daughter who she successfully raised previously is still in the area and managing well now that she is independent. It will be interesting to see how Jane manages to look after two cubs in terms of feeding, protecting and training them. Jane was seen up a tree with her kill staying away well away from hyenas. She was also spotted five minutes from the camp with her cubs feeding on an impala. Jane’s daughter was also located not far from the camp hunting, she was investigating warthog burrows to search for prey, although unfortunately was not successful on that occasion.
There were good wild dog sightings. A pack of twenty-six dogs was seen on several occasions, successfully hunting and feeding on impala and warthogs on several occasions. One time, the pack was seen chasing an impala but the antelope evaded them by leaping into the river. The guides continued to follow the dogs who returned to the den. The poor puppies were begging for some food, but unfortunately this time the adults had nothing to regurgitate for them. On another occasion, two dogs were spotted chasing an impala but with no luck. Afterwards the pair came across a honey badger face to face but the dogs backed off. This was a very smart move by the dogs; honey badgers are one of the toughest animals and even female lions will not readily fight with them
Two cheetahs were located one evening although the guides could not spend much time with them as it was getting dark. We do not use a spotlight on cheetahs in case it exposes them to the other predators.
General game was great as most animals are still concentrating on the riverside. There were a good number of elephant breeding herds, hundreds of buffalos, wildebeest and zebras.
The area was getting nice and green giving photographers an attractive backdrop for their pictures. Birdlife was becoming increasingly productive as returning migrants such as carmine bee- eaters, European rollers, lesser grey shrikes and red-backed shrikes were spotted in the area.
(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!)
