Wildlife Weblog – October 2021

There’s a change within the air at Savanna. We’re presently within the transition interval between summer season and winter, the place we nonetheless have the yellow and brown winter palette throughout the concession, which is usually interrupted with a small flash of recent and vivid inexperienced or the distant calls signalling the arrival of the migratory birds. Whereas sightings have been fast-paced, thrilling and always transferring, it has been superb to witness the sluggish transition from winter to summer season. 

Whereas on the subject of birds, the guiding workforce right here at Savanna has enrolled in a nationwide competitors referred to as the Kruger Chicken Problem, which has challenged chook watchers throughout the nation to try to {photograph} 400 totally different Kruger chook species over 400 days. Seeing 400 chook species in 400 days is tough sufficient, however attempting to {photograph} the sometimes-brief sightings is the place the true problem lies. Here’s a assortment of a few of the ones the workforce loved capturing.

Lions

There was an excessive amount of motion and a few attention-grabbing developments within the dynamics of the lion prides on the concessions. 

The majority of the Mhangene satisfaction was not seen through the first three to 4 weeks of the month, however a lone lioness from the satisfaction partnered up with the final remaining male of the Nwalungu coalition, beforehand often called the Nkuhuma male. We had been fortunate sufficient to see the courting pair on a number of totally different buffalo kills through the previous month. At this level, we are able to solely speculate and hope that the younger Nwalungu male will full the satisfaction takeover, and all of the grownup females rejoin and settle for him as their satisfaction male. He’s nonetheless younger and has a little bit of rising to do, but when he carries on together with his present trajectory, he’ll take full management of the satisfaction and we hope to see him sire many cubs.

The Ottawa satisfaction has been fairly sedentary through the previous month, particularly in comparison with the extremely nomadic lifetime of the Mhangene satisfaction, and they’re spending most of their time near the Sand River. We’re very comfortable to report that each one six cubs are nonetheless doing very nicely beneath the steering of their skilled moms and protecting fathers.

The three lionesses often goal small to medium-sized prey, however on the finish of the month the small satisfaction introduced down a younger giraffe which offered a banquet for the hungry and ever-growing cubs as soon as once more.

The 2 Tumbela males are wanting very assured for the time being, with the fixed enchancment within the smaller male’s situation and power. It appears as if the coalition is in comfy management of the Western Sector. We have now been rewarded with many nice sightings of the duo throughout the concession, roaring later within the night on most nights. The bigger Tumbela has been seen with the Ximungwe feminine a number of instances, however is in any other case primarily with the Ottawa satisfaction.

Leopards

Tlangisa and her two seven-month-old cubs are nonetheless doing very nicely. Tlangisa is an outstanding huntress, and he or she has saved up her good kill price this month. Most kills are stashed away within the deep inaccessible drainage strains far north on the concession. Though this isn’t conducive to good and even frequent viewing, it is extremely good for the long-term survival of the cubs. When the kills are nicely hidden, it makes it tougher for different predators to seek out, and the cubs can eat and play comparatively undisturbed. 

Tisela has been by a tough few months, with a latest critical altercation together with her brother, Hlambela. She limped away from the interplay with a really dangerous damage to her entrance proper leg and he or she was seen resting and recuperating on a termite mound for the next 5 days! With some concern for her possibilities of survival, we had been elated to listen to her title on the radio this month. We had a number of lovely sightings of her, together with one the place Aidan was fortunate sufficient to see her resting in a drainage line, at eye degree, through the lovely afternoon mild. Dan had an equally photographic sighting of her atop a termite mound and it appears that evidently her leg is nicely on the best way to therapeutic.

Thamba continues to be proving to be an thrilling leopard to view and observe, not solely as a ravishing male, but in addition as a chunk within the chess recreation that’s the leopard dynamics within the concession. He’s wanting larger and stronger at nearly each sighting. 

On one event, we had been fortunate sufficient to see him in motion! Initially patrolling and marking his territory within the coronary heart of Savanna, he modified tack inside a second and confirmed us the unbelievable velocity of those huge cats as he pounced on a warthog firing out of its gap. Surprisingly, he dragged the kill far into the gap, previous many appropriate timber, till he lastly put the kill up a small skinny silver cluster leaf. One other bush thriller that we’re comfortable so as to add to the numerous collected in day-to-day bush life.

Not all leopards are acclimatised to autos and will be fairly skittish. This could both be the results of coming into the Sabi Sands from an space the place they weren’t uncovered to autos, or as a result of their mom was a nervous leopard and they didn’t get the habituation from a younger age. That is the case with Ntoma, who at almost eight years outdated, has all the time been fairly skittish round autos. Her mom, Mobeni, can also be a nervous particular person who managed to cover her as a cub from sightings, and he or she was due to this fact seldom uncovered to autos. We see her very often, however a number of months in the past we seen her and two six-month-old cubs operating away into the evening. This month we had been extra lucky and, after discovering a drag mark, we discovered a gray duiker hoisted in a tree. There was no signal of both grownup or cub however once we returned that afternoon, we had been handled to each grownup and cub feeding on the kill. This gave us the chance to habituate Ntoma and her cub a bit of extra and we hope to have many extra sightings of the mom and daughter duo. It appears as if the cub has some injury to its proper eye and though it appears to be doing high quality, solely time will inform if the damage is everlasting.

African Wild Cats

Extremely, we’re getting extra superb sightings of the resident wild cat and her now fast-growing kitten. What is really attention-grabbing is how relaxed they’re with the autos, particularly the kitten which, if all goes nicely, will make it to maturity and take over a few of its mom’s territory, thus sticking round Savanna and offering continued viewing of this shy species. However for now, this pair has been such an unbelievable addition to a recreation drive, and we’re having fun with each second watching them! For a video of the 2 click on right here.

Cheetah

Our resident cheetah continues to be making his common visits by the gorgeous open areas of Savanna. He often has fairly a strict routine, and there are areas, sure termite mounds and even the Savanna signal we regularly discover him on.

Generally, a distraction resembling a herd of impala will draw him away from that routine. One set of visitors was lucky sufficient to be current on such an event. As he handed the lodge on his normal route, a herd of impala in entrance of the lodge caught his consideration. After fairly a protracted stalk and a fast chase, he managed to catch an grownup feminine simply earlier than darkish. As he knew hyena would quickly be lively, he needed to keep vigilant as he ate as a lot as he may earlier than darkish. 

Hippo

The hippo pod within the dam in entrance of the lodge is doing nicely and giving us sensible sightings as we exit the lodge, with a new child hippo as well. The considerably resident pod all the time units an excellent tone as we begin our drives, particularly within the mornings when the fast-rising golden mild of an African dawn offers the backdrop to the hippo pod and dam.

Elephants

Elephant numbers appear to be on the rise on the concession, probably in anticipation of the approaching marula season. With the mixed warmth of the season, we expect increasingly improbable sightings resembling massive herds on the clearings, and bulls swimming and sparring to chill off within the warmth of the day!

Common Recreation

The overall recreation appears to be on the verge of a delivery explosion as nicely, with most animals making ready to coincide the delivery of their offspring with the approaching summer season rains and ensuing season of a lot. We expect to see loads of infants within the coming weeks and months, and hope that you may be right here to take pleasure in them with us.

With heat needs
Neil, Natasha and The Savanna Staff