The spotted hyenas continued to grow from strength to strength and asserted dominance from their base of operations near the airstrip. As mentioned last month, they have new cubs, and the clan’s power gives these little ones an ideal family environment to thrive.
Despite being typecast as scavengers, spotted hyenas hunt their own prey as much as lions do. We saw them repeatedly, and sometimes, the animals wandered through camp. They have also taken to stealing kills from leopards. After losing kills to lions last month, these cats can’t seem to keep any food for themselves!
Leopard growth at Pom Pom?
The resident leopards are still thriving, however. Four different individuals (with offspring and the occasional mate in tow) have territories across the Pom Pom Private Reserve. One young female born to the south of camp occasionally hunted the bushbuck that rest out of the harsh sun under the guest tents. It also seems like the healthy Pom Pom Leopard population is about to get a bit bigger! We noted one future mother about to give birth, and two other females were seen with males.
The best Leopard sighting goes to an early ambush. One morning we found two sets of cat prints threading through the bush, and patient tracking led us to a young leopard creeping towards an impala herd. Using the long dry grass as cover, she slowly inched towards the antelopes as they fed quietly below a Jackalberry tree. Once within a few metres, she waited five long minutes while the impala cropped at the grass. After what seemed an eternity (everyone holding their collective breath), one impala wandered within range, and the leopard pounced like a coiled spring. After a futile battle, the animal succumbed to the fatal predator throat bite within 15 metres of our vehicle.
Animals gave the airstrip a wide berth
After the sad loss of the African wild dog puppies last month, the pack took a sabbatical and vanished for a week. However, they re-emerged with a bang chasing an animal through camp. The impala sprinted to the water in front of Pom Pom Camp and dashed to safety after much splashing and jumping. The following day, however, the wild dogs won. We were following a hunt through the bush and kept our distance, shadowing the last dog trailing the pack.
We followed that African wild dog until it came across another pack member trying to hold on to a frantic Impala. The dog entered the fray, joined shortly after by the rest of the pack, who got to the gruesome job of taking down the herbivore and eating their fill. Since then, we saw the pack hunting and patrolling on several occasions close to camp and further afield while definitely avoiding the airstrip!
The jackals avoided this area too. Late in the month, we located a side-striped jackal den east of the airstrip. Both jackal species mate for life, and this monogamous pair had five puppies. We had the good fortune to watch them relocate the tiny jackals to a new den during the day. At night, we spotted African wild cats, servals, African civets, and genets when heading back to camp.
Return of the raptors
Guides noticed plenty of raptor action, and birds seen across the reserve included eagles, harriers, kites, Pel’s fishing owl and a Verreaux’s eagle-owls that took over a Hamerkop nest near the boat station. Even more exciting, we spotted a chick in the nest. Verreaux’s eagle-owls leave their nest after approximately two months, although they do tend to hang around and be fed by their parents for some time.
The gradually falling flood waters revealed more and more of the floodplains, which led to an influx of game onto the islands as they re-emerged from the Delta. Large herds of elephants, buffalo, giraffes, kudu, tsessebe and plains zebras graced the landscape. Some zebras liked to feed in the water to get at the choice shoots along the water’s edge. They’ll need to keep an eye peeled, though, as some sizeable crocodiles cruise these waterways. We often saw the reptiles sunning themselves on the banks.
Finally, to the Pom Pom lion pride. The pride (one male, four females and 10 cubs) took advantage of the herbivores passing through the new corridors that formed as the floods fell and made two wildebeest kills. We watched the hunters bring the whole family to one of the kills and they devoured an entire Blue wildebeest overnight. While they remain a powerful family, the growing hyena clan also vied for dominance. On multiple occasions, the lions moved through the hyena’s territory, causing scuffles and violent encounters. As pride and clan have many small mouths to feed, there is cautious respect from both sides. As the guides in camp put it, they don’t see “eye-to-eye”! Will this “truce” hold, or will we see some serious fallout?
(Please note: For the safety of the animals, we do not disclose the location of either rhino or pangolin sightings. Accompanying pictures are from our Kwando Photo Library, which consists of all your great photo submissions over the years, it may not be the most up-to-date. Still, we felt it was worthy of a feature alongside this month’s Sightings Report!)