The Tau Pan Pride was firmly established around the pan during July, with the permanent waterhole and surrounding game providing good reason to stay close.
The pride was found gathered around a large gemsbok carcass, with adults and cubs feeding until they were thoroughly full. Seven females and the resident male were known to use the area, although several lionesses spent time elsewhere during the month.
The combination of water and prey kept the lions close to Tau Pan. Greater kudu, steenbok, scrub hares and common duiker all used the surrounding habitat, while gemsbok remained an important prey species for the pride.
A leopard hunts in the evening light
A female leopard provided a memorable afternoon when she was found stalking a steenbok. The antelope spotted her before she could get close enough to attack and quickly moved away.
Rather than ending the sighting, the failed hunt gave guests time to watch the leopard in the late afternoon light as she moved through the vegetation.
Leopard spoor was regularly found along the sandy roads during July. With dense vegetation offering plenty of cover, following those tracks remained an important part of working out where the cats were moving.
Three male cheetahs were also encountered around Passarge Valley. The coalition was still wary of vehicles and moved away quickly, but their presence added another interesting predator dynamic to the wider Tau Pan and Passarge area.
A caracal goes mouse hunting
One of the smaller cats had considerably better hunting luck.
A relaxed caracal was found on the pan hunting mice and successfully caught several while guests watched. Mice remained abundant after the strong rainy season, providing an important food source not only for smaller predators but also for many of the area’s raptors.
Black-backed jackals, Cape foxes and aardwolves were also recorded, while yellow mongooses were seen more frequently than slender mongooses. Ground squirrels remained active around their burrow systems.
Elephants arrive in numbers
As winter progressed, wildlife movements shifted beyond Tau Pan towards other pans and valleys, with Passarge Valley particularly active.
Gemsbok, steenbok, red hartebeest, common duiker, greater kudu and occasional eland were recorded, while elephants sometimes gathered in groups of up to 30.
The movement towards Passarge Valley was also linked to food. Several underground plants and tubers formed part of the Kalahari’s dry-season resources, including different Ipomoea species.
These seasonal changes were increasingly visible across the landscape. Grasses had dried to tawny and golden shades, while several tree species retained green foliage, including shepherd’s trees and buffalo thorns.
When a pan stops being a pan
One particularly interesting feature of the July landscape was the spread of trumpet thorn (Catophractes alexandri) across some of the older pans and valleys.
The shrub established itself particularly well on the harder, clay-rich soils associated with former pans and sediment deposits. Its seeds could be dispersed into these areas, where accumulated organic material helped support new growth.
Over time, dense stands of trumpet thorn could change the appearance of an old pan considerably. Guides pointed out areas where the vegetation had become so established that the open ground once defining the pan was gradually disappearing.
It was a good example of how the Kalahari landscape was not static. Vegetation, rainfall, soil and wildlife continually influenced what guests saw from one season to another.
Raptors compete for mice
The abundance of mice produced some entertaining bird activity too.
Lanner falcons were seen competing over prey, and on several occasions their aerial disputes resulted in a mouse being dropped. Tawny eagles below were quick to take advantage of the unexpected meal.
Other winter sightings included an Anchieta’s cobra moving towards old ground squirrel burrows on the pan and a black mamba crossing a road in camp before disappearing into the bush.
African monarchs, broad-bordered grass yellows, brown-veined whites and orange-tip butterflies were among the insects still active during the cooler conditions.
Kalahari knowledge on foot
San walks remained an important part of the Tau Pan experience during July.
Guests joined Tau Pan’s local San trackers on foot, learning about traditional ways of living in the Central Kalahari and how generations of knowledge were used to interpret the surrounding environment.
Plants, tracks and signs that could easily pass unnoticed from a vehicle became part of the story on foot. It was a chance to understand the Kalahari not simply as a place to find wildlife, but through the knowledge of people whose history and culture were closely connected to this landscape.
