The green season is always a lovely time in the Kalahari – the antelope congregate in numbers, there is sufficient grass for everyone to eat, and the predators have plenty to choose from (when they are not tasting such foreign delicacies as donkey.) About 1000 springbok were seen on the pan, pronking (the particular style of springing/jumping in the air with their back arched which is peculiar to springbok) and dashing around in a fun mood. We also saw a great tussle between two male oryx, battling it out with their horns clashing and knocking together. One of the males vented his frustration on a nearby bush, horning it and thrusting it about.
Obviously there is a lot of testosterone in the air at the moment as a few days later, a bat eared fox and a black backed jackal were seen fighting. Interestingly, the bat eared fox won the fight, and the jackal slunk off! No indication as to what the fight was actually about!
The two big blackmaned lions that frequent Tau Pan, were found feeding on an animal at the end of the runway. The fact that it was a donkey, caused a lot of surprise. Particularly as it was the 1st of April… was this some practical joke somehow manufactured by someone/something? But no, it was simply a matter of domestic animals wandering where they will during the green season, and poor care by the owner. It would have been a very easy hunt for the lions, with a donkey being unused to combat with superpredators.
A few days later and the pride had grouped together – the males, four lionesses and three sub adult males. They moved through the camp, and headed to the waterhole to drink, after they had been feeding on something – a change from the donkeydiet.
Towards the end of the month, a wonderful coalition of six males came through the area, following two females from the Tau Pan pride. They got separated, but spent several days in the area. The males sought to establish their dynasty mating with the two females. They spent five days in the area, whilst one of them was quite badly injured down his chest and along his right leg.
We had several sightings of the male leopard who’s territory forms part of Tau Pan. He is very shy, so when we do see him, it is normally at a distance. From the times we have seen him, we can work out that his territory is very large – larger than would occur in the delta area. The size of territories are normally related to the availability of prey, and encroachment from other male leopards. Females can move through a male leopard’s territory, allowing the opportunity of mating with more than one individual. A very unusual day at San Pan – three leopards! Two males and one female, seen at different times and all very shy, running away from the vehicle!
We saw a male cheetah from the camp, and tried to follow it, losing it temporarily. When we managed to catch up with it, the cheetah made a kill right in front of the camp!
