The six wild dogs seen last month were back again at the beginning of the month for a couple of days, moving over the open pans looking for prey. Whilst we watched them in the area of West Road, they began hunting, and we were lucky enough to see them catching a springbok, and devouring it between them all.
A day later, and the pride of lions had managed to pull down a giraffe during the night in Baobab loop, as we found them feeding on it in the morning. They took about two days to finish off the meat – divide one giraffe by 17 hungry lions and you can see why it only lasted two days! After finishing their meal, they moved off to the nearby waterhole to drink.
On the same day the lions were found with the giraffe, the cheetah family were seen near to West Road, resting up under the shade of an umbrella thorn tree.
28th December and the predators were still in the area – seeing lions, wild dog and cheetah all in one day, is pretty good going at Nxai Pan! However, the last three days of the month, the prey species were able t relax, as no predators were seen. The zebra migration was growing in number, and there is probably plenty for the predators to eat elsewhere, so the ones near camp remain unmolested!
Although there are no elephant herds around, the bulls still remain in the area, swaggering up to the water holes to drink their fill, and then moving off to the tree-line to feed on the vegetation. This is a pleasant time for them, as the rains have made sure there is enough water in pans for them to drink regularly, and the cooler temperatures make life a little easier.
