It has been a month of rain, hunts, and newborns. Sometimes all at the same time.
Despite all the astonishing sightings this month, it was a wildebeest that stole the show and our hearts.
One afternoon we happened upon a Blue wildebeest giving birth and we settled into the game drive vehicle to witness a live nature documentary. The calf spent twenty minutes trying to stand, falling over, trying again and generally getting its legs all mixed up. Eventually, with encouragement from the mother, it made it to its feet and started walking. We stayed with them for much of the afternoon and gave quiet encouragement as it went from tripping to stumbling to a confident stride. Finally, it was time to leave the mother and calf to meet the herd, and guides and guests enjoyed sundowners feeling very much like proud parents.
Foxes and hyenas getting along?
Another unique sighting this month involved two subadult Spotted hyenas. We located them at Rhino Pan in the company of four bat-eared foxes. Seeing these animals is always special, but they appeared to be playing together with no sign of the fight or flight reaction that a smaller animal would have when faced with one of the larger predator species. Truly amazing!
What will you see on a walking safari at Lebala Camp?
Walking remains one of our favourite activities because it allows guests to get to grips with the smaller and more intimate side of the bush. One day, on a nature walk near camp we observed a Southern ground hornbill nest (at a respectful distance). Southern ground hornbills nest in the hollows of large old trees and only breed approximately once every three years (if the chicks survive). On another walk, we found three baby aardwolves in their burrow just a few weeks old. This was a fortunate sighting because the aardwolf can have multiple burrows across an area so that doting parents can hide their offspring.
Lebala transformed into a lovely landscape of swaying green grasses and open plains. We watched leopards lolling about this sublime scenery before setting off on several successful hunts, taking advantage of the inexperience of the new impala lambs. We also located a male leopard chasing a warthog and its piglets. The family made it to the apparent safety of an aardvark hole with metres to spare, but that didn’t discourage the leopard. It only had to dig for a few minutes to uncover the hapless warthog before snatching a piglet and climbing a tree. Two days later, we found him in the company of a female leopard while she fed on the carcass of a young impala. As we watched the scene, he slowly got up and walked into the bushes. Curious, we drove around to inspect the object of his attention and found that he had ambushed a baby wildebeest. Ever the showman, he dragged the carcass out into the open (brave behaviour given the other predators who would happily relieve him of it) and ate his fill before returning to the female.
The lions followed suit, and we discovered them on carcasses throughout the month. The split of the Wapuka pride meant we regularly saw two lionesses with their six cubs and three lionesses with nine cubs.
Brown hyena den update
We have been aware of a brown hyena den near camp. However, following some fantastic tracking one morning, we followed brown hyena tracks to a second yet unknown den. The presence of two subadult brown hyenas mentioned above was the reward for a long morning of shifting forwards and tracking backwards through the bush. A true testament to the skills of the guide and tracker.
We also saw a large variety of the smaller predators, with civets, serval, black-backed and side-striped jackals, and African wild cats featuring on both day and night drive expeditions.
Elands, zebras, and wildebeest framed the landscape throughout the month, as have the large herds of elephants moving from the woodlands in the west, to the Kwando River in the east and then back again.
(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, but we felt it was worthy of a feature alongside this month’s Sightings Report!)