At the beginning of the month, the dogs were seen every day, either hunting – most times successfully – or at the den site with their puppies. The adults passed through the camp several times, on their hunts. One of the adults managed to kill an impala, but with the rest of the pack too spread out, three hyenas made a beeline for him, and pushed him off his kill before the rest of the dog pack managed to catch up.
We spent a morning tracking the two young leopard cubs that are seen often near the camp. We eventually found one of the cubs at Old Hippo Pool, but there was no sign of his sibling or mother. Returning to the same location in the afternoon, we found the two cubs together. Two days later and we had a wonderful sighting of an adult male leopard – lying down near a pan. It is unusual for us to see a very relaxed male leopard – they are often quite shy – but this one was totally unbothered by our presence. The next day, and a relaxed female was found in the branches of a tree. She came down the tree, and began hunting, only to return to a tree to scan the area again for potential prey.
On the 13th of the month, we found the mother leopard with one of her cubs. The second cub was missing and was not seen for several days. The mother had bad wounds on her legs – we are not sure what occurred, but possibly she gained them as a result of fighting with warthogs or baboons. By the 18th, we managed to relocate the two cubs, but this time the mother was not around, and the cubs looked hungry. It seemed to have a happy end to the month, as the mother was again found, and whilst we were watching she stalked and killed an impala. When we returned to the kill later, she was feeding on it with one of the cubs.
A single male lion was found following a herd of buffalos along Fish Road. He soon left them, and began heading north, looking for the rest of his pride, sniffing for scent marks and calling regularly. A few days later and he had rejoined his brother, they were feeding together on an elephant. The pride of 17 lions – without the males – also were seen in the area – looking a little skinny. A few days later, and the southern pride (5 lionesses and 7 youngsters) were seen attempting to hunt, with the cubs in tow. The two males were not far away. Towards the end of the month, the pride males killed an adult buffalo near the camp.
