One afternoon, the pan was a haven for all types of animals, including bat eared foxes, jackals, spring box, and oryx. The bat eared foxes and jackals were fighting again. The male fox fluffed up his fur to make himself look big, and this seemed to impress the two jackals, who turned tail and ran!
A great sighting one afternoon of 20 blackbacked jackals feeding on a deadspringbok. It’s unlikely that they managed to kill the springbok, rather that they came across it, or possibly chased a cheetah of its kill.
With leopards in the dining room at Lebala, it was only fitting that the lions of Tau Pan began their month in a similar fashion, with mum and four cubs deciding the workshop was a fabulous place to spend quality play time. One cub spent over half an hour playing with a paint brush, before abandoning it for more lion-ly pursuits.
The coalition of males had not been seen for a week, but five of them were found in the second week of the month resting at Mawelewele pan. Two days later, one more male was found near the airstrip, calling for his five colleagues, as they had got separated.
We came upon the subadult cheetahs that we recognize, at Sunday Pan. During the green season, they frequent the area around Passarge valley, but with the water gone in that area, the drier times they seem to spend near the water hole at Sunday Pan. The next day we saw them again, they had killed a spring bok and were busy feeding.
Strange sightings – purple gallinule and black crake! These birds are water birds – not normally found in the desert. But they have been seen at the waterhole, perhaps wondering where all the water went?
